- A
Use a Recovery Services vault with Locally Redundant Storage (LRS) and enable cross-region restore
Why wrong: Cross-region restore requires geo-redundant storage (GRS); LRS stores data only in the primary region, so it cannot be restored to a secondary region.
- B
Use a Recovery Services vault with Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) and enable cross-region restore
GRS replicates backups to a paired region, and enabling cross-region restore allows restoring VMs to that secondary region, meeting both requirements.
- C
Use Azure Site Recovery to replicate the entire VM to the secondary region
Why wrong: Site Recovery is for disaster recovery with continuous replication, not for backup with long-term retention. It does not provide the backup compliance features required.
- D
Manually copy backup snapshots to a storage account in the secondary region
Why wrong: Manual copying is not automated, prone to errors, and does not integrate with Azure Backup's management and retention policies.
AZ-305 Design business continuity solutions Practice Question
This AZ-305 practice question tests your understanding of design business continuity solutions. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 company backs up their Azure VMs using Azure Backup. They need to meet compliance that requires backups to be stored in a separate geographic region. Additionally, they want to be able to restore the entire VM to that secondary region in case of a regional disaster. What should they configure?
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 a Recovery Services vault with Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) and enable cross-region restore
Option B is correct because Azure Backup with a Recovery Services vault using Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) replicates backup data to a paired secondary region, meeting the compliance requirement for geographic separation. Enabling cross-region restore allows the entire VM to be restored in that secondary region during a regional disaster, as the backup data is already available there.
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.
- ✗
Use a Recovery Services vault with Locally Redundant Storage (LRS) and enable cross-region restore
Why it's wrong here
Cross-region restore requires geo-redundant storage (GRS); LRS stores data only in the primary region, so it cannot be restored to a secondary region.
- ✓
Use a Recovery Services vault with Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) and enable cross-region restore
Why this is correct
GRS replicates backups to a paired region, and enabling cross-region restore allows restoring VMs to that secondary region, meeting both requirements.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use Azure Site Recovery to replicate the entire VM to the secondary region
Why it's wrong here
Site Recovery is for disaster recovery with continuous replication, not for backup with long-term retention. It does not provide the backup compliance features required.
- ✗
Manually copy backup snapshots to a storage account in the secondary region
Why it's wrong here
Manual copying is not automated, prone to errors, and does not integrate with Azure Backup's management and retention policies.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Azure Site Recovery (continuous replication for DR) with Azure Backup (snapshot-based backup with cross-region restore), leading them to select Option C, which does not meet the backup compliance requirement for stored backups in a separate region.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Backup's cross-region restore feature works with GRS vaults by storing backup data in the paired region (e.g., East US to West US). When enabled, the backup metadata includes the secondary region location, allowing restore operations to target that region without needing to copy data manually. Under the hood, Azure Backup uses the Azure Backup Management Service to orchestrate the restore from the secondary region's storage, ensuring consistency and compliance with geo-redundancy requirements.
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.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
- →
Design business continuity solutions — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
- →
Design business continuity solutions practice questions
Targeted practice on this topic area only
- →
All AZ-305 questions
999 questions across all exam domains
- →
Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert AZ-305 study guide
Full concept coverage aligned to exam objectives
- →
AZ-305 practice test guide
How to use practice tests most effectively before exam day
Related practice questions
Related AZ-305 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions.
Design data storage solutions practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to Design data storage solutions.
Design business continuity solutions practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to Design business continuity solutions.
Design infrastructure solutions practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to Design infrastructure solutions.
SAA-C03 VPC practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC.
SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions.
SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions.
SAA-C03 IAM policy practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 IAM policy.
SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions.
SAA-C03 CloudFront practice questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 CloudFront.
SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions.
SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions
Practise AZ-305 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions.
Practice this exam
Start a free AZ-305 practice session
Short sessions build daily habit. Longer sessions build exam-day stamina. Try a timed session to simulate real conditions.
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-305 question test?
Design business continuity solutions — This question tests Design business continuity solutions — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use a Recovery Services vault with Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) and enable cross-region restore — Option B is correct because Azure Backup with a Recovery Services vault using Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) replicates backup data to a paired secondary region, meeting the compliance requirement for geographic separation. Enabling cross-region restore allows the entire VM to be restored in that secondary region during a regional disaster, as the backup data is already available there.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 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 →
Keep practising
More AZ-305 practice questions
- A company has multiple Azure virtual networks (VNets) in different regions and an on-premises data center connected via…
- A company is designing hub-and-spoke networking. Spoke VNets must use a central Azure Firewall for outbound internet tra…
- A company has virtual machines in Azure that need to be grouped across multiple fault domains and update domains to ensu…
- A company plans to migrate on-premises applications to Azure. They require users to authenticate using their existing on…
- A company has multiple Azure subscriptions and wants to enforce that all administrators must use multi-factor authentica…
- A company has two on-premises data centers and an Azure subscription. They need to connect each data center to Azure wit…
Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This AZ-305 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-305 exam.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.