RA-GZRS: Zone Redundancy with Read Access to Secondary Region
A business stores audit logs in Azure Blob Storage. The account must remain available if an entire availability zone in the primary region fails, and analysts must still be able to read the data from the paired region if the primary region becomes unavailable. Which replication option should the administrator select?
Quick Answer
The answer is Read-access geo-zone-redundant storage (RA-GZRS). This replication option is correct because it combines zone-redundant storage (ZRS) within the primary region to survive an entire availability zone failure, with geo-replication to a paired region for disaster recovery, and crucially enables read access to the secondary region data even if the primary region becomes unavailable. On the AZ-104 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how RA-GZRS uniquely satisfies both high availability during a zone outage and continuous read access during a regional disaster, a distinction that often trips up candidates who confuse it with standard GZRS (which lacks secondary read access). A common trap is selecting GRS or RA-GRS, which provide geo-redundancy but not zone-level protection. Remember the mnemonic: "RA-GZRS = Zone + Geo + Read" — if you need to survive a zone failure and still read from the secondary, this is the only option that checks all three boxes.
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse GRS with RA-GRS or ZRS with GZRS, failing to recognize that the requirement for both zone-failure resilience within the primary region AND read-access from the paired region uniquely points to RA-GZRS, not RA-GRS or GRS alone.
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
✓
Read-access geo-zone-redundant storage (RA-GZRS)
C is correct because Read-access geo-zone-redundant storage (RA-GZRS) combines zone-redundancy within the primary region (surviving an entire zone failure) with geo-replication to a paired region, and crucially provides read access to the secondary region data even if the primary region is unavailable. This meets both requirements: availability during a zone failure and readable data from the paired region during a primary region outage.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Zone-redundant storage (ZRS)
Why it's wrong here
ZRS protects against a zone failure within one region, but it does not provide a readable secondary regional copy.
When this WOULD be correct
A scenario where the requirement is only to tolerate an availability zone failure within the primary region, with no need for geo-redundancy or read access from a secondary region. For example, a company wants high availability for its blob storage within a single region and does not require cross-region disaster recovery.
- ✗
Geo-redundant storage (GRS)
Why it's wrong here
GRS adds a secondary regional copy, but it does not provide zone redundancy in the primary region or read access to the secondary.
When this WOULD be correct
A question that requires data to be durable across regions but does not require availability during a zone failure in the primary region, and read access from the secondary region is not needed.
- ✓
Read-access geo-zone-redundant storage (RA-GZRS)
Why this is correct
RA-GZRS is the only option here that combines zone redundancy in the primary region with geo-replication to a paired region and read access to the secondary copy. That satisfies both requirements: survive a single-zone outage and still allow analysts to read from the secondary region if the primary region is unavailable.
- ✗
Read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS)
Why it's wrong here
RA-GRS provides a readable secondary region, but the primary copy is not zone-redundant, so it does not meet the zone-failure requirement.
When this WOULD be correct
A scenario where the requirement is for read access from a secondary region during a primary region outage, but the primary region does not support availability zones or zone-redundancy is not required. For example, if the question specifies a region without availability zones, RA-GRS would be the correct choice.
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.
✓Read-access geo-zone-redundant storage (RA-GZRS)Correct answer▾
Why this is correct
RA-GZRS is the only option here that combines zone redundancy in the primary region with geo-replication to a paired region and read access to the secondary copy. That satisfies both requirements: survive a single-zone outage and still allow analysts to read from the secondary region if the primary region is unavailable.
✗Zone-redundant storage (ZRS)Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
ZRS replicates data synchronously across availability zones within a single region, but does not provide geo-replication to a paired region. The question requires read access from the paired region if the primary region fails, which ZRS cannot fulfill.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A scenario where the requirement is only to tolerate an availability zone failure within the primary region, with no need for geo-redundancy or read access from a secondary region. For example, a company wants high availability for its blob storage within a single region and does not require cross-region disaster recovery.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse 'zone-redundant' with 'geo-zone-redundant', or think that ZRS provides cross-region failover because it offers high availability within a region, overlooking the geo-replication requirement.
✗Geo-redundant storage (GRS)Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
GRS provides geo-redundancy but does not include zone-redundancy within the primary region, so it cannot remain available if an entire availability zone fails in the primary region.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A question that requires data to be durable across regions but does not require availability during a zone failure in the primary region, and read access from the secondary region is not needed.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse GRS with RA-GZRS, thinking geo-redundancy alone satisfies the zone failure requirement, or they may overlook the need for zone-redundant storage in the primary region.
✗Read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS)Wrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
RA-GRS provides geo-redundancy but not zone-redundancy within the primary region. The question requires resilience to an entire availability zone failure in the primary region, which RA-GRS does not offer.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A scenario where the requirement is for read access from a secondary region during a primary region outage, but the primary region does not support availability zones or zone-redundancy is not required. For example, if the question specifies a region without availability zones, RA-GRS would be the correct choice.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse RA-GRS with RA-GZRS, thinking that 'geo-redundant' implies zone-redundancy, or they may overlook the specific requirement for zone failure resilience in the primary region.
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?”
Quick reference
Azure Blob Storage Tier Comparison
| Tier | Storage Cost | Retrieval Cost | Latency | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot | Highest | Lowest | Immediate | Active data, frequent reads |
| Cool | Lower | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / month |
| Cold | Lower still | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / quarter |
| Archive | Lowest | Highest + rehydration delay | Hours | Long-term compliance retention |
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
Blob storage
Blob storage is a cloud service for storing large amounts of unstructured data, such as text or binary data, like documents, images, and videos.
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Same concept, more angles
3 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 analytics team stores exported reports in a storage account. They want the data to survive a zone failure and a regional outage, and if the primary region becomes unavailable they also want read-only access to the replica while failover is being planned. Which redundancy option should you select?
medium- A.GZRS
- ✓ B.RA-GZRS
- C.RA-GRS
- D.ZRS
Why B: RA-GZRS (Read-Access Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage) is correct because it combines zone-redundant storage (ZRS) within the primary region with geo-redundant replication to a secondary region, and crucially provides read-only access to the secondary replica even when the primary region is available. This meets the requirement for data survival during both a zone failure and a regional outage, while allowing read-only access to the replica during failover planning.
Variation 2. A business stores audit exports in Blob Storage. The account must continue serving writes if one availability zone fails, and reporting users in the paired region must still be able to read the replicated data if the primary region becomes unavailable. Which redundancy option best meets the requirement?
hard- A.ZRS, because it protects against a zone failure inside one region.
- B.RA-GRS, because it provides read access to the secondary region but not zone redundancy.
- ✓ C.RA-GZRS, because it combines zone redundancy in the primary region with read access to the secondary region.
- D.GRS, because it keeps a full second copy in another region.
Why C: RA-GZRS (Read-Access Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage) is the correct choice because it combines synchronous zone-redundant replication across three availability zones in the primary region (protecting against a single zone failure) with asynchronous geo-replication to a paired secondary region, and enables read access to the secondary region if the primary becomes unavailable. This satisfies both requirements: continued writes during a zone failure and readable replicated data from the paired region during a primary region outage.
Variation 3. A business-critical storage account must keep data available if one availability zone fails in the primary region. It must also keep a readable copy in the paired region so administrators can verify data during disaster recovery testing before failover. Which redundancy option should be selected?
medium- A.LRS, because it stores three copies in one datacenter and is the lowest-cost option.
- B.ZRS, because it replicates data across zones in the same region but not to another region.
- C.GRS, because it replicates to the paired region and supports a secondary copy for recovery.
- ✓ D.RA-GZRS, because it provides zone redundancy in the primary region and read access to the secondary region.
Why D: D is correct because RA-GZRS (Read-Access Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage) provides synchronous replication across three Azure availability zones within the primary region, ensuring data remains available if one zone fails. It also asynchronously replicates data to the paired region, where a read-only copy is available for verification during disaster recovery testing without requiring a failover.
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.