- A
LRS
Why wrong: LRS keeps copies only within a single datacenter in one region.
- B
ZRS
Why wrong: ZRS protects against zonal failure but not a full regional outage.
- C
GRS
Why wrong: GRS provides secondary-region replication but not zonal replication in the primary region.
- D
GZRS
This best matches the requirement for both zone and region resilience.
Question 642 of 1,170
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.
A business-critical application uses an Azure storage account. The company requires that data remain available even if an entire Azure region becomes unavailable. Which redundancy option should you choose?
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
✓
GZRS
D (GZRS) is correct because it combines zone-redundant storage (ZRS) within a primary region with geo-redundant replication to a secondary region, ensuring data remains available even if an entire Azure region becomes unavailable. This meets the business-critical requirement for regional disaster recovery while maintaining high durability and availability.
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
Why it's wrong here
LRS keeps copies only within a single datacenter in one region.
When this WOULD be correct
A question that asks for the lowest-cost redundancy option while still protecting against local hardware failures within a single data center, with no requirement for regional or zonal disaster recovery.
- ✗
ZRS
Why it's wrong here
ZRS protects against zonal failure but not a full regional outage.
When this WOULD be correct
When the requirement is to protect data within a single region against zone-level failures (e.g., datacenter failure), but the application can tolerate a regional outage or uses a separate disaster recovery mechanism.
- ✗
GRS
Why it's wrong here
GRS provides secondary-region replication but not zonal replication in the primary region.
When this WOULD be correct
If the question specified that the application requires geo-redundancy but does not need zone-level redundancy within the primary region, and cost is a concern, GRS would be the correct choice. For example: 'You need to replicate data to a secondary region for disaster recovery, but you do not require availability zone support in the primary region.'
- ✓
GZRS
Why this is correct
This best matches the requirement for both zone and region resilience.
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.
✓GZRSCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
This best matches the requirement for both zone and region resilience.
✗LRSWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
LRS (Locally Redundant Storage) replicates data three times within a single data center in a single region, so it cannot survive an entire Azure region becoming unavailable.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A question that asks for the lowest-cost redundancy option while still protecting against local hardware failures within a single data center, with no requirement for regional or zonal disaster recovery.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may choose LRS because it is the cheapest redundancy option and they might overlook the requirement for region-level availability, assuming 'redundancy' alone is sufficient.
✗ZRSWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
ZRS replicates data synchronously across three availability zones within a single region, so it does not protect against a full regional outage.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
When the requirement is to protect data within a single region against zone-level failures (e.g., datacenter failure), but the application can tolerate a regional outage or uses a separate disaster recovery mechanism.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse 'zone-redundant' with 'region-redundant' or assume that availability zones span multiple regions, leading them to believe ZRS provides regional failover.
✗GRSWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
GRS provides region-level redundancy but only within a single secondary region, not across multiple regions. The question requires availability even if an entire Azure region becomes unavailable, which GZRS meets by replicating to a secondary region with zone redundancy.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
If the question specified that the application requires geo-redundancy but does not need zone-level redundancy within the primary region, and cost is a concern, GRS would be the correct choice. For example: 'You need to replicate data to a secondary region for disaster recovery, but you do not require availability zone support in the primary region.'
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think GRS is sufficient because it replicates to a secondary region, overlooking that GRS lacks zone redundancy in the primary region, which GZRS provides. They might also confuse GRS with GZRS due to similar names.
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 GRS with GZRS, thinking GRS provides zone redundancy, but GRS only uses LRS in the primary region, making it vulnerable to zone-level failures within that region.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
GZRS uses synchronous replication across three availability zones in the primary region for high availability, then asynchronously replicates to a secondary region using LRS. This provides a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of typically less than 15 minutes for geo-replication, and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of hours for manual failover. In a real-world scenario, if the primary region suffers a catastrophic failure, you can initiate a failover to the secondary region, minimizing data loss and downtime.
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.
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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: GZRS — D (GZRS) is correct because it combines zone-redundant storage (ZRS) within a primary region with geo-redundant replication to a secondary region, ensuring data remains available even if an entire Azure region becomes unavailable. This meets the business-critical requirement for regional disaster recovery while maintaining high durability and availability.
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
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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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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