This AZ-104 practice question tests your understanding of implement and manage storage. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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.
You need a storage redundancy option that keeps data available if an entire availability zone in the primary region fails, but you do not need cross-region replication. Which redundancy option should you choose?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "primary"
Why it matters: Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
LRS
Why wrong: LRS only replicates within a single datacenter and does not protect against zone failure.
ZRS
ZRS protects against the loss of a single availability zone in the primary region.
GRS
Why wrong: GRS adds cross-region replication rather than zone-only protection.
RA-GRS
Why wrong: RA-GRS includes geo-replication and read access to the secondary region, which exceeds the requirement.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
ZRS
B is correct because Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) synchronously replicates data across three Azure availability zones within a single region, ensuring data remains available if an entire zone fails. This meets the requirement of no cross-region replication while providing zone-level fault tolerance.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
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 only replicates within a single datacenter and does not protect against zone failure.
ZRS
Why this is correct
ZRS protects against the loss of a single availability zone in the primary region.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "primary" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
GRS
Why it's wrong here
GRS adds cross-region replication rather than zone-only protection.
RA-GRS
Why it's wrong here
RA-GRS includes geo-replication and read access to the secondary region, which exceeds the requirement.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse ZRS with LRS, thinking LRS provides zone redundancy, but LRS only replicates within one data center, not across zones.
Detailed technical explanation
ZRS uses synchronous replication across three availability zones, each with independent power, cooling, and networking, providing a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 0 and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) typically within minutes. In contrast, LRS offers 11 nines of durability but only within a single zone, making it vulnerable to zone-wide outages. A real-world scenario where ZRS is critical is a regional application that must remain available during a zone-level disaster without incurring the latency or cost of geo-replication.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Implement and Manage Storage — This question tests Implement and Manage Storage — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: ZRS — B is correct because Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) synchronously replicates data across three Azure availability zones within a single region, ensuring data remains available if an entire zone fails. This meets the requirement of no cross-region replication while providing zone-level fault tolerance.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "primary". Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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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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