AZ-104 Implement and Manage Storage Practice Question
A reporting system requires a storage account that is zone resilient in the primary region and also keeps a geo-replicated secondary copy that can be read during an outage. Which redundancy option should you select?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse GRS with RA-GZRS, overlooking that GRS lacks zone redundancy in the primary region and does not provide read access to the secondary copy unless explicitly enabled via RA-GRS or RA-GZRS.
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
✓
RA-GZRS, because it combines zone redundancy, geo-replication, and read access to the secondary region.
RA-GZRS (Read-Access Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage) is the correct choice because it provides synchronous replication across three Azure availability zones in the primary region for zone resilience, asynchronous geo-replication to a secondary region for disaster recovery, and enables read access to the secondary copy during an outage. This meets all three requirements: zone resiliency, geo-replication, and readable secondary region.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
ZRS, because it protects against zone failure and also provides a readable secondary region.
Why it's wrong here
ZRS synchronously replicates data across three availability zones in the primary region, so it survives an entire zone going down. Yet ZRS provides no asynchronous geo-replication to a paired secondary region and no read-access endpoint for a secondary copy. Even though it satisfies the zone-redundancy half of the requirement, it cannot support the reporting workload's need to read from a secondary region during an outage or for offloading read traffic. Thus, ZRS is not sufficient.
When this WOULD be correct
Select ZRS when the requirement is only for zone-level resilience within a single region, with no need for geo-replication or read access from a secondary region.
- ✗
GRS, because it stores a secondary copy in another region but does not offer zone redundancy in the primary region.
Why it's wrong here
GRS asynchronously copies data to a paired secondary region, but the primary region's three replicas are stored with LRS inside a single data center. That means GRS offers regional disaster recovery yet provides no zone redundancy in the primary region; a zonal failure in the primary can make data inaccessible until failover. Additionally, standard GRS does not permit direct read access to the secondary copy—only RA-GRS or RA-GZRS do—so it also fails the reporting system's read-access requirement. For these reasons, GRS alone is incorrect.
When this WOULD be correct
A scenario where the requirement is geo-replication for disaster recovery without needing zone redundancy in the primary region, and read access to the secondary region is not required. For example, a backup storage account that only needs to be restored in another region during a regional outage.
- ✓
RA-GZRS, because it combines zone redundancy, geo-replication, and read access to the secondary region.
Why this is correct
RA-GZRS provides the strongest fit for this scenario. It combines synchronous zone redundancy in the primary region with asynchronous geo-replication to a secondary region, and it allows read access to that secondary copy. That combination meets both the availability and reporting requirements described in the question.
- ✗
LRS, because local replication is enough when the workload already has application-level retries.
Why it's wrong here
LRS (Locally Redundant Storage) copies data synchronously three times within a single physical data center in the primary region. It offers no zone-level redundancy and no geo-replication to a secondary region, so a fire, flood, or rack failure that takes down that data center can make all three replicas unavailable. Application-level retries only mask transient network or throttling errors; they cannot reconstruct data lost during a datacenter-level outage. Therefore, LRS fails both the zone-resilience and geo-replication requirements of this reporting system.
When this WOULD be correct
LRS would be correct for a question specifying that the storage account is used for non-critical, transient data that can be easily regenerated, and where cost minimization is the primary goal, with no need for high availability or disaster recovery.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The AZ-104 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓RA-GZRS, because it combines zone redundancy, geo-replication, and read access to the secondary region.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
RA-GZRS provides the strongest fit for this scenario. It combines synchronous zone redundancy in the primary region with asynchronous geo-replication to a secondary region, and it allows read access to that secondary copy. That combination meets both the availability and reporting requirements described in the question.
✗ZRS, because it protects against zone failure and also provides a readable secondary region.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
ZRS provides zone redundancy but does not include geo-replication; it does not maintain a secondary copy in another region, let alone one that is readable during an outage.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
Select ZRS when the requirement is only for zone-level resilience within a single region, with no need for geo-replication or read access from a secondary region.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may mistakenly think ZRS includes geo-replication because the name sounds comprehensive, or they confuse it with GZRS which does include geo-replication.
✗GRS, because it stores a secondary copy in another region but does not offer zone redundancy in the primary region.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
GRS does not provide zone redundancy in the primary region; it only replicates data to a secondary region. The question requires zone resilience in the primary region, which GRS lacks.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A scenario where the requirement is geo-replication for disaster recovery without needing zone redundancy in the primary region, and read access to the secondary region is not required. For example, a backup storage account that only needs to be restored in another region during a regional outage.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse GRS with RA-GZRS, thinking that GRS also provides a readable secondary copy, but GRS does not allow reading from the secondary unless a failover occurs. They might overlook the zone resilience requirement.
✗LRS, because local replication is enough when the workload already has application-level retries.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
LRS only replicates data within a single data center, providing no zone resilience or geo-replication, which fails to meet the requirement for zone resilience in the primary region and a readable geo-replicated secondary copy.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
LRS would be correct for a question specifying that the storage account is used for non-critical, transient data that can be easily regenerated, and where cost minimization is the primary goal, with no need for high availability or disaster recovery.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may choose LRS because it is the cheapest option, and they might incorrectly assume that application-level retries are sufficient to handle all failures, underestimating the need for zone and geo-resilience as specified in the question.
Analysis generated from the official AZ-104blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Managed Identities for Azure Resources
Key term
Availability
Availability is the measure of how often a system or service is operational and accessible when needed, typically expressed as a percentage of uptime.
Key term
Storage account
A cloud storage account is a container that holds a set of cloud storage services and their data, providing a unique namespace and access policies for storing and managing unstructured data.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way 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. A business-critical storage account must survive a zone outage in the primary region and also keep a read-only copy in the paired region for reporting if the primary region becomes unavailable. Which redundancy option should you choose?
medium- A.ZRS because it protects against a single datacenter failure.
- ✓ B.RA-GZRS because it provides zone redundancy and read access to the secondary region.
- C.GZRS because it provides a readable secondary region by default.
- D.RA-GRS because it provides zone redundancy and read access to the secondary region.
Why B: (RA-GZRS) is correct because it combines zone-redundant storage (ZRS) within the primary region, ensuring data survives a zone outage, with read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS) to the paired region, providing a readable secondary copy for reporting if the primary region becomes unavailable. This meets both requirements: zone-level fault tolerance and read-only access to the secondary region during a primary outage.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.