AZ-104 Implement and Manage Storage Practice Question
This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of implement and manage storage. 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.
Exhibit
Storage account: prodarchive01
Kind: StorageV2
Current redundancy: GRS
Primary region: East US 2
Secondary region: Central US
Requirement notes:
- The application must remain available if one availability zone in East US 2 fails.
- If the primary region becomes unavailable, analysts must still be able to read from the secondary copy without waiting for a manual failover.
- The workload reads blobs directly during recovery.
Based on the exhibit, which redundancy setting should you choose before deploying the storage account?
Exhibit
Storage account: prodarchive01
Kind: StorageV2
Current redundancy: GRS
Primary region: East US 2
Secondary region: Central US
Requirement notes:
- The application must remain available if one availability zone in East US 2 fails.
- If the primary region becomes unavailable, analysts must still be able to read from the secondary copy without waiting for a manual failover.
- The workload reads blobs directly during recovery.
A
LRS, because it keeps three copies within one datacenter and is the least expensive option.
Why wrong: LRS protects only against a local hardware failure inside one datacenter. It does not provide zone resilience or geo-redundant read access, so it cannot satisfy both requirements in the exhibit.
B
ZRS, because it replicates data across availability zones in the primary region.
Why wrong: ZRS helps survive a zone outage, but it does not provide a readable secondary region for regional recovery. The exhibit requires both zone resilience and read access to the secondary copy.
C
GZRS, because it combines zone redundancy with geo-replication to another region.
Why wrong: GZRS adds zone resilience and geo-replication, but the secondary region is not readable unless failover occurs. The exhibit explicitly requires read access to the secondary copy during an outage.
D
RA-GZRS, because it provides zone redundancy and read access to the secondary region.
RA-GZRS is the only option listed that meets both business requirements. It protects the primary region with zone-redundant storage and also allows read access to the geo-replicated secondary endpoint. That means the workload can continue reading data during regional recovery scenarios while still benefiting from zone-level resiliency in the primary region.
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 provides zone redundancy and read access to the secondary region.
RA-GZRS (Read-Access Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage) is the correct choice because the exhibit shows a requirement for zone redundancy within the primary region and read access to the secondary region in the event of a primary region outage. RA-GZRS provides zone-redundant storage in the primary region (synchronously replicating data across Azure availability zones) and asynchronously replicates data to a secondary region, where it is stored with LRS. The 'RA' prefix enables read access to the secondary endpoint, allowing applications to serve read requests from the secondary region even when the primary is unavailable.
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.
✗
LRS, because it keeps three copies within one datacenter and is the least expensive option.
Why it's wrong here
LRS protects only against a local hardware failure inside one datacenter. It does not provide zone resilience or geo-redundant read access, so it cannot satisfy both requirements in the exhibit.
When this WOULD be correct
A question asks for the cheapest redundancy option for non-critical data that can be lost in a regional disaster, with no need for geo-replication or read-access to a secondary region.
✗
ZRS, because it replicates data across availability zones in the primary region.
Why it's wrong here
ZRS helps survive a zone outage, but it does not provide a readable secondary region for regional recovery. The exhibit requires both zone resilience and read access to the secondary copy.
When this WOULD be correct
If the question specified that the storage account must be resilient to zone failures within the primary region but does not require geo-replication or read access to a secondary region, ZRS would be the correct choice. For example, a scenario where high availability within a region is needed without cross-region failover.
✗
GZRS, because it combines zone redundancy with geo-replication to another region.
Why it's wrong here
GZRS adds zone resilience and geo-replication, but the secondary region is not readable unless failover occurs. The exhibit explicitly requires read access to the secondary copy during an outage.
When this WOULD be correct
A question that asks for zone redundancy and geo-replication but does not require read access to the secondary region, such as 'You need to ensure data durability even if an entire region fails, but you do not need read access to the secondary region.'
✓
RA-GZRS, because it provides zone redundancy and read access to the secondary region.
Why this is correct
RA-GZRS is the only option listed that meets both business requirements. It protects the primary region with zone-redundant storage and also allows read access to the geo-replicated secondary endpoint. That means the workload can continue reading data during regional recovery scenarios while still benefiting from zone-level resiliency in the primary region.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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 provides zone redundancy and read access to the secondary region.Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
RA-GZRS is the only option listed that meets both business requirements. It protects the primary region with zone-redundant storage and also allows read access to the geo-replicated secondary endpoint. That means the workload can continue reading data during regional recovery scenarios while still benefiting from zone-level resiliency in the primary region.
✗LRS, because it keeps three copies within one datacenter and is the least expensive option.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The question requires read access to the secondary region for disaster recovery, which LRS does not provide. LRS only replicates within a single datacenter and offers no geo-redundancy.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A question asks for the cheapest redundancy option for non-critical data that can be lost in a regional disaster, with no need for geo-replication or read-access to a secondary region.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates often choose LRS because it is the lowest-cost option and they overlook the requirement for geo-redundancy and read-access to the secondary region.
✗ZRS, because it replicates data across availability zones in the primary region.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The question requires read access to the secondary region, which ZRS does not provide. ZRS only replicates data synchronously across availability zones within a single region, with no secondary region or read-access option.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the question specified that the storage account must be resilient to zone failures within the primary region but does not require geo-replication or read access to a secondary region, ZRS would be the correct choice. For example, a scenario where high availability within a region is needed without cross-region failover.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse zone redundancy (ZRS) with the read-access capability of RA-GZRS, or incorrectly assume that ZRS includes a secondary read-access endpoint.
✗GZRS, because it combines zone redundancy with geo-replication to another region.Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The question requires read access to the secondary region, which RA-GZRS provides but GZRS does not. GZRS only supports failover to the secondary region without read access.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A question that asks for zone redundancy and geo-replication but does not require read access to the secondary region, such as 'You need to ensure data durability even if an entire region fails, but you do not need read access to the secondary region.'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse GZRS with RA-GZRS, assuming that geo-replication automatically includes read access, or they may overlook the 'read access' requirement 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?”
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse GZRS with RA-GZRS, assuming that geo-replication automatically provides read access to the secondary region, but only the 'RA' prefix enables that read-access capability.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, RA-GRS uses LRS within each region (primary and secondary) to protect against local failures, while geo-replication asynchronously copies data to the secondary region with a typical Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 15 minutes. The read-access feature is enabled by setting the 'AllowBlobPublicAccess' property or configuring the storage account with the '--kind StorageV2' and '--sku Standard_RAGRS' flag, which exposes a separate read-only endpoint (e.g., <account>-secondary.blob.core.windows.net). In a real-world scenario, if the primary region experiences a disaster, applications can fail over reads to the secondary endpoint without waiting for a manual failover, ensuring business continuity for read-heavy workloads.
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-104 question in full detail.
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: RA-GZRS, because it provides zone redundancy and read access to the secondary region. — RA-GZRS (Read-Access Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage) is the correct choice because the exhibit shows a requirement for zone redundancy within the primary region and read access to the secondary region in the event of a primary region outage. RA-GZRS provides zone-redundant storage in the primary region (synchronously replicating data across Azure availability zones) and asynchronously replicates data to a secondary region, where it is stored with LRS. The 'RA' prefix enables read access to the secondary endpoint, allowing applications to serve read requests from the secondary region even when the primary is unavailable.
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.
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