Quick Answer
The answer is Zone-redundant storage (ZRS), along with Locally redundant storage (LRS) and Geo-zone-redundant storage (GZRS), as the three Azure Storage replication types that provide high availability. ZRS achieves this by synchronously replicating data across three Azure availability zones within a single primary region, ensuring that if an entire zone fails, the data remains accessible from the other zones without any downtime. On the Microsoft Azure Developer Associate AZ-204 exam, this concept tests your understanding of how replication choices map to specific availability and durability guarantees, often appearing in scenario-based questions where you must select the right option for a given SLA or cost constraint. A common trap is confusing LRS with high availability—while LRS protects against rack and drive failures within one datacenter, it does not survive a full datacenter outage, making it a durability feature rather than a high-availability one. Remember: ZRS = Zone-level survival, LRS = Local durability only, and GZRS = Geo + Zone for maximum uptime.
This AZ-204 practice question tests your understanding of develop for azure 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.
Which THREE of the following are features of Azure Storage replication that provide high availability?
Locally redundant storage (LRS)
Replicates within one datacenter.
Geo-zone-redundant storage (GZRS)
Why wrong: Already covered by ZRS+GRS; not a separate option.
Geo-redundant storage (GRS)
Replicates across regions.
Zone-redundant storage (ZRS)
Replicates across availability zones.
Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Why wrong: Caching, not replication.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Locally redundant storage (LRS)
Locally redundant storage (LRS) replicates data three times within a single physical location in the primary region, protecting against server rack and drive failures. This provides high availability within a single datacenter, making it the most cost-effective option for scenarios where durability within one facility is sufficient.
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.
Locally redundant storage (LRS)
Why this is correct
Replicates within one datacenter.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Geo-zone-redundant storage (GZRS)
Why it's wrong here
Already covered by ZRS+GRS; not a separate option.
Geo-redundant storage (GRS)
Why this is correct
Replicates across regions.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Zone-redundant storage (ZRS)
Why this is correct
Replicates across availability zones.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Why it's wrong here
Caching, not replication.
Common exam traps
Microsoft often tests the misconception that CDN is a storage replication feature, but it is a separate service for content delivery and caching, not a redundancy mechanism for Azure Storage accounts.
Detailed technical explanation
LRS uses three synchronous replicas within a single availability zone, ensuring a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of zero and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of minutes for most failures. In contrast, ZRS spreads replicas across three availability zones in the same region, offering higher resilience against zone-level outages, while GRS provides asynchronous replication to a paired secondary region for disaster recovery. The choice between these depends on the required SLA: LRS offers 99.999999999% durability (11 nines) over a given year, while ZRS and GRS provide 99.9999999999% (12 nines) and 99.99999999999999% (16 nines) respectively.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
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FAQ
Develop for Azure storage — This question tests Develop for Azure storage — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Locally redundant storage (LRS) — Locally redundant storage (LRS) replicates data three times within a single physical location in the primary region, protecting against server rack and drive failures. This provides high availability within a single datacenter, making it the most cost-effective option for scenarios where durability within one facility is sufficient.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
This AZ-204 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-204 exam.
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