Question 222 of 1,170

Implement and Manage Storage →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

Quick Answer

The answer is Zone-redundant storage (ZRS). ZRS replicates your data synchronously across three Azure availability zones within the same region, so if a single zone fails, your blobs remain available and durable without any manual failover or automatic read access from a secondary region. This directly meets the requirement for single-region availability with zone failure protection. On the AZ-104 exam, this scenario tests your ability to distinguish ZRS from geo-redundant options like GRS or RA-GZRS, which introduce a secondary region and often include read-access features you don’t need. A common trap is choosing GRS because it offers higher durability, but that adds a second region and automatic failover, which the question explicitly excludes. Remember: ZRS = three zones, one region, no secondary. For a quick memory tip, think “ZRS = Zero Remote Secondary” to keep your focus on local zone redundancy.

AZ-104 Implement and Manage Storage Practice Question

This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of implement and manage storage. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.

A finance team stores application blobs in an Azure Storage account. The data must remain available if a single availability zone in the region is lost, and the team does not need automatic read access from another region. Which redundancy option best meets the requirement?

Clue words in this question

Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.

Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.

Question 1mediummultiple choice

Full question →

A
Locally redundant storage (LRS), which keeps three copies in one datacenter only.
Why wrong: LRS protects against local disk and server failures inside one datacenter, but it does not add zone-level resilience.
B
Zone-redundant storage (ZRS), which replicates data across availability zones in the same region.
ZRS stores multiple copies of the data across availability zones within one region, so the storage account can remain available if one zone is lost. This matches the requirement for zone failure resiliency without introducing cross-region read access or the extra complexity of geo-failover. It is the least expansive redundancy option that still provides protection against a zone outage.
C
Geo-redundant storage (GRS), which replicates data to a paired region and supports failover.
Why wrong: GRS adds replication to a paired region, which is useful for regional disaster recovery, but the question does not require cross-region continuity.
D
Read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS), which allows reads from the secondary region.
Why wrong: RA-GRS is designed for workloads that want secondary-region read access. That is unnecessary here.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

Answer choices

Why each option matters

Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.

Correct answer & explanation

✓

Zone-redundant storage (ZRS), which replicates data across availability zones in the same region.

Zone-redundant storage (ZRS) replicates your data synchronously across three Azure availability zones within the primary region. This ensures that if a single zone fails, the data remains available and durable without requiring any manual intervention or failover, meeting the requirement of no automatic read access from another region.

Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

✗
Locally redundant storage (LRS), which keeps three copies in one datacenter only.
Why it's wrong here
LRS protects against local disk and server failures inside one datacenter, but it does not add zone-level resilience.
✓
Zone-redundant storage (ZRS), which replicates data across availability zones in the same region.
Why this is correct
ZRS stores multiple copies of the data across availability zones within one region, so the storage account can remain available if one zone is lost. This matches the requirement for zone failure resiliency without introducing cross-region read access or the extra complexity of geo-failover. It is the least expansive redundancy option that still provides protection against a zone outage.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "best" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Geo-redundant storage (GRS), which replicates data to a paired region and supports failover.
Why it's wrong here
GRS adds replication to a paired region, which is useful for regional disaster recovery, but the question does not require cross-region continuity.
✗
Read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS), which allows reads from the secondary region.
Why it's wrong here
RA-GRS is designed for workloads that want secondary-region read access. That is unnecessary here.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

The trap here is that candidates often confuse 'availability within a region' with 'disaster recovery across regions,' leading them to choose GRS or RA-GRS when the requirement is only to survive a single availability zone failure, not a full regional outage.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

ZRS uses synchronous replication across three availability zones within the same region, ensuring that all write operations are committed to all three zones before acknowledging success. This provides a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of zero and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of zero for zone failures, but it does not protect against a region-wide outage. In a real-world scenario, a finance team might choose ZRS to meet compliance requirements for data residency while maintaining high availability against localized disasters like power failures or cooling system issues in a single zone.

KKey Concepts to Remember

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.

TExam Day Tips

Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.

Key takeaway

Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.

Real-world example

How this comes up in practice

A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.

What to study next

Got this wrong? Here's your next step.

Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this AZ-104 question test?

Implement and Manage Storage — This question tests Implement and Manage Storage — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Zone-redundant storage (ZRS), which replicates data across availability zones in the same region. — Zone-redundant storage (ZRS) replicates your data synchronously across three Azure availability zones within the primary region. This ensures that if a single zone fails, the data remains available and durable without requiring any manual intervention or failover, meeting the requirement of no automatic read access from another region.

What should I do if I get this AZ-104 question wrong?

Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.

Are there clue words in this question I should notice?

Yes — watch for: "best". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.

What is the key concept behind this question?

Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.

About these practice questions

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Same concept, more angles

2 more ways this is tested on AZ-104

These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.

Variation 1. An application writes transaction logs to a storage account in a region that supports availability zones. The business wants the account to stay available if one datacenter or zone fails, but it does not need a secondary region replica. Which redundancy option should you choose?

medium

A.LRS, because it keeps three copies within a single datacenter and is enough for any zone failure.
✓ B.ZRS, because it replicates synchronously across zones in the same region and survives a zone outage.
C.GRS, because it adds a geographically replicated secondary region for disaster recovery.
D.RA-GRS, because read access to the secondary region is the best protection against a zone failure.

Why B: B is correct because Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) synchronously replicates data across three Azure availability zones within the same region. This design ensures that if one datacenter or zone fails, the storage account remains available and durable without requiring a secondary region replica, exactly matching the business requirement.

Variation 2. A team stores application logs in an Azure Storage account. The logs must remain available if an entire Azure availability zone in the primary region has an outage, but the team does not require a secondary region copy. Which redundancy option should you choose?

easy

A.LRS
✓ B.ZRS
C.GRS
D.RA-GRS

Why B: Zone-redundant storage (ZRS) synchronously replicates data across three Azure availability zones within the primary region, ensuring durability even if an entire zone fails. Since the requirement explicitly states no secondary region copy is needed, ZRS is the correct choice because it provides intra-region zone-level resilience without cross-region replication.

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