The answer is GZRS, or Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage, because it uniquely combines synchronous replication across three Azure availability zones within the primary region—providing the required datacenter failure protection—with asynchronous geo-replication to a single paired region for disaster recovery, all without enabling read access to the secondary copy during normal operations. This directly satisfies the workload’s need for zone-level fault tolerance and regional backup while keeping secondary access inactive. On the AZ-104 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of how GZRS bridges the gap between ZRS (zone protection only) and GRS (regional protection without zone resilience); a common trap is choosing GRS, which lacks zone redundancy, or RA-GZRS, which adds unnecessary read access. To remember: think “GZRS = ZRS + GRS, but no read,” meaning you get both zone and geo protection, but the secondary stays offline until failover.
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 workload uses Azure Blob Storage for customer uploads. The team wants protection against a datacenter failure within the primary region and wants data copied to a paired region for disaster recovery, but they do not need to read from the secondary region during normal operations. Which redundancy option fits best?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "best"
Why it matters: Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
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.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
GZRS
GZRS (Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage) is correct because it combines ZRS within the primary region (synchronously replicating data across three Azure availability zones) with asynchronous geo-replication to a paired secondary region. This provides protection against both a datacenter failure (via ZRS) and a full region failure (via geo-replication), while the lack of read access from the secondary during normal operations matches the requirement exactly.
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.
✗
ZRS
Why it's wrong here
ZRS protects against a zone outage, but it does not replicate data to another region for disaster recovery.
✓
GZRS
Why this is correct
GZRS protects against zone failure and also replicates data to a paired region for disaster recovery.
Clue confirmation
The clue words "best", "primary" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
RA-GZRS
Why it's wrong here
RA-GZRS adds read access to the secondary region, which the team does not need in this requirement.
✗
GRS
Why it's wrong here
GRS copies data to a paired region, but it does not provide zone-redundant protection in the primary region.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse GRS with GZRS, assuming GRS provides zone-level redundancy, but GRS only uses LRS in the primary region, leaving data vulnerable to a single datacenter failure within that region.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, GZRS uses synchronous replication across three availability zones in the primary region (similar to ZRS) to ensure durability against zone failures, then asynchronously copies blocks to a paired region. The asynchronous geo-replication has a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of typically less than 15 minutes, meaning some data loss is possible during a regional disaster. In a real-world scenario, if a primary region datacenter fails but the other zones remain operational, GZRS ensures no data loss; if the entire primary region fails, the secondary copy is available for manual failover (without read access until failover is initiated).
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: GZRS — GZRS (Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage) is correct because it combines ZRS within the primary region (synchronously replicating data across three Azure availability zones) with asynchronous geo-replication to a paired secondary region. This provides protection against both a datacenter failure (via ZRS) and a full region failure (via geo-replication), while the lack of read access from the secondary during normal operations matches the requirement exactly.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "best", "primary". Signals that multiple options may be partially correct. Choose the option that most directly solves the exact problem described, not the one that sounds most complete.
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 →
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 finance team stores monthly reports in Azure Blob Storage. The data must remain available if one datacenter in the Azure region fails, but the company does not need read access from a secondary region. Which redundancy option should the administrator choose?
easy
A.Locally redundant storage (LRS)
✓ B.Zone-redundant storage (ZRS)
C.Geo-redundant storage (GRS)
D.Read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS)
Why B: Zone-redundant storage (ZRS) replicates data synchronously across three Azure availability zones within a single region, ensuring durability even if one datacenter (zone) fails. Since the requirement specifies no need for read access from a secondary region, ZRS meets the high-availability need without the cost or complexity of geo-replication.
Variation 2. A finance team stores PDF statements in Azure Blob Storage. The workload must survive a zone failure in the primary region, and if the entire region becomes unavailable, auditors still need read-only access to the copies in the secondary region. Which redundancy option should you choose?
medium
A.ZRS, because it keeps copies across zones but does not replicate to another region.
✓ B.RA-GZRS, because it combines zone redundancy with geo-replication and read access to the secondary region.
C.LRS, because it keeps three copies in a single datacenter and is sufficient for regional resilience.
D.GRS, because it provides geo-replication and always allows direct reads from the secondary region.
Why B: RA-GZRS (Read-Access Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage) is the correct choice because it combines zone redundancy (synchronous replication across Azure availability zones within the primary region) with geo-replication (asynchronous replication to a secondary region), and crucially enables read access to the secondary region even when the primary is unavailable. This meets the requirement to survive a zone failure (via ZRS) and provide read-only access during a full regional outage (via the read-access geo-replication endpoint).
Variation 3. You are designing a disaster recovery strategy for Azure Blob Storage. The storage account is configured with geo-redundant storage (GRS). Which three of the following statements about GRS and failover are true? (Choose three.)
medium
✓ .With GRS, data is replicated asynchronously to a paired secondary region.
✓ .In the event of a regional outage, you can initiate a customer-managed failover to the secondary region.
.After a failover, the secondary region becomes the new primary and replication to the original primary is automatically established.
✓ .GRS provides three copies of your data within the primary region and three additional copies in the secondary region.
.GRS guarantees zero data loss if a failover is triggered.
.Once a failover is completed, you cannot fail back to the original primary region.
Why : Geo-redundant storage (GRS) replicates data asynchronously to a paired secondary region, ensuring durability even during a regional outage. In such an outage, you can initiate a customer-managed failover to promote the secondary region as the new primary. GRS maintains three copies (LRS) in the primary region and three additional copies in the secondary region, providing six total replicas.
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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