Question 268 of 881
AZ-204 Develop for Azure storage Practice Question
You develop an application that stores large binary files (up to 1 GB) in Azure Blob Storage. The application must minimize latency when reading these files from different geographic regions. The files are updated infrequently (once per month) and must be read-only for the application. You need to configure the storage account for optimal read performance and cost. What should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse RA-GRS with GRS, forgetting that only RA-GRS provides a read-only secondary endpoint for active reads, while standard GRS requires a manual failover to access the secondary region.
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
✓
Use Azure Blob Storage with read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS) and serve reads from the secondary region.
Read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS) provides a secondary read-only endpoint in a paired region, allowing the application to read from the closest region to minimize latency. Since files are updated infrequently (once per month) and are read-only, RA-GRS offers cost-effective geo-distributed read performance without the premium cost of CDN or Premium Blob Storage.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use Azure Blob Storage with Premium Block Blob Storage and enable geo-replication.
Why it's wrong here
Using Azure Blob Storage with Premium Block Blob Storage is generally overkill and more expensive for large binary files that are read infrequently. Premium Block Blob Storage is optimized for high transaction rates and very low latency, typically required for workloads like interactive applications or databases, not for static, infrequently accessed content. While geo-replication provides data redundancy, the Premium tier's cost-performance profile does not align with the stated access pattern.
- ✗
Use Azure Blob Storage with a Content Delivery Network (CDN) endpoint.
Why it's wrong here
A CDN caches content at edge nodes to reduce latency for repeated reads, but the files are updated only monthly and are read-only, so the primary latency bottleneck is the initial fetch from the origin storage, which a CDN does not eliminate for the first request from each region. This option is tempting because CDNs excel at distributing static content globally for frequent access patterns, and would be correct if the application required sub-second delivery of the same file to many concurrent users across regions.
- ✗
Use Azure Files with a Premium tier and geo-redundant storage.
Why it's wrong here
Azure Files is primarily designed for shared file systems accessible via SMB or NFS protocols, making it suitable for traditional file shares or lift-and-shift scenarios. It is not optimized for direct application access to large binary blobs in the same way Azure Blob Storage is. Although it can store large files, using a Premium tier with geo-redundant storage for infrequently read blobs would incur higher costs and complexity compared to Blob Storage, which is purpose-built for object storage.
- ✓
Use Azure Blob Storage with read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS) and serve reads from the secondary region.
Why this is correct
Azure Blob Storage with Read-Access Geo-Redundant Storage (RA-GRS) is an excellent choice for this scenario. RA-GRS asynchronously replicates data to a secondary region and allows read access to the data in that secondary region, significantly reducing read latency for geographically dispersed users. Serving reads from the secondary region ensures global availability and improved performance for infrequent reads, while the cost remains acceptable given the infrequent update pattern and the critical need for data redundancy and global accessibility.
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 |
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 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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