- A
Yes, because backup alone guarantees immediate failover to another region
Why wrong: Backup can recover data, but it does not automatically provide immediate regional failover for a running application.
- B
No, you also need disaster recovery replication such as Azure Site Recovery
Azure Backup protects data for recovery, but it does not keep the application running during a regional outage. Disaster recovery replication is needed for failover capability.
- C
Yes, as long as the VM has a backup policy
Why wrong: A backup policy controls when copies are taken, but it does not keep the workload online during a region-wide outage.
- D
Yes, if diagnostic settings are enabled on the VM
Why wrong: Diagnostic settings help with logging and troubleshooting, but they do not provide application continuity during a disaster.
Quick Answer
The answer is no, Azure Backup alone is not sufficient for regional disaster recovery. While Azure Backup protects your data by creating recovery points for VMs and files, it lacks the continuous replication and automated failover capabilities required to keep an application running during a full regional outage. For true disaster recovery, you need Azure Site Recovery, which replicates workloads to a secondary region and orchestrates failover with minimal downtime. On the AZ-104 exam, this distinction tests your understanding of the shared responsibility model and the difference between backup (data protection) and disaster recovery (business continuity). A common trap is assuming that restoring from a backup is fast enough for high-availability requirements, but backup recovery can take hours, whereas Site Recovery enables failover in minutes. Remember the mnemonic: Backup protects the past, Site Recovery protects the future.
AZ-104 Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of monitor and maintain azure resources. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 line-of-business app must keep serving users if an entire Azure region becomes unavailable. Is Azure Backup by itself enough to meet this requirement?
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
No, you also need disaster recovery replication such as Azure Site Recovery
Azure Backup is designed to protect data by creating recovery points that can be used to restore VMs or files, but it does not provide automatic failover or continuous replication to another region. To meet the requirement of keeping an app running during a regional outage, you need a disaster recovery solution like Azure Site Recovery, which replicates VMs to a secondary region and enables orchestrated failover with minimal downtime.
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.
- ✗
Yes, because backup alone guarantees immediate failover to another region
Why it's wrong here
Backup can recover data, but it does not automatically provide immediate regional failover for a running application.
- ✓
No, you also need disaster recovery replication such as Azure Site Recovery
Why this is correct
Azure Backup protects data for recovery, but it does not keep the application running during a regional outage. Disaster recovery replication is needed for failover capability.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Yes, as long as the VM has a backup policy
Why it's wrong here
A backup policy controls when copies are taken, but it does not keep the workload online during a region-wide outage.
- ✗
Yes, if diagnostic settings are enabled on the VM
Why it's wrong here
Diagnostic settings help with logging and troubleshooting, but they do not provide application continuity during a disaster.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse data protection (backup) with high availability/disaster recovery, assuming that having backups automatically means the application can continue running during a regional outage.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Site Recovery (ASR) uses continuous replication at the VM disk level (using change block tracking) to maintain a synchronized copy in a paired region, and it supports planned/unplanned failover with recovery time objectives (RTO) of minutes. In contrast, Azure Backup typically uses snapshot-based backups with a recovery point objective (RPO) of hours and requires a full restore operation, which cannot achieve the sub-hour RTO needed for high availability during a region failure. A real-world scenario is a critical e-commerce platform where even 15 minutes of downtime during a regional outage would cause significant revenue loss, making ASR essential.
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
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
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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Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-104 question test?
Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources — This question tests Monitor and Maintain Azure Resources — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: No, you also need disaster recovery replication such as Azure Site Recovery — Azure Backup is designed to protect data by creating recovery points that can be used to restore VMs or files, but it does not provide automatic failover or continuous replication to another region. To meet the requirement of keeping an app running during a regional outage, you need a disaster recovery solution like Azure Site Recovery, which replicates VMs to a secondary region and enables orchestrated failover with minimal downtime.
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.
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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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This AZ-104 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the AZ-104 exam.
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