A company runs a critical application on Azure VMs in a single region. The database tier uses SQL Server on Azure VMs. They need to implement disaster recovery to a secondary region with an RPO of 30 seconds and an RTO of 10 minutes for the database, and an RPO of 5 minutes and RTO of 1 hour for the VMs. The solution must minimize data loss and be cost-effective. Which combination should they use?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
Distractor review
Azure Site Recovery for VMs and SQL Server Always On Availability Groups with synchronous commit
Synchronous commit across regions causes high latency and potential performance degradation; not cost-effective.
Distractor review
Azure Site Recovery for VMs and SQL Server log shipping
Log shipping has a longer RTO (requires manual recovery) and may not meet the RTO of 10 minutes.
Distractor review
Azure Backup for VMs and SQL Server database mirroring
Azure Backup does not provide the low RPO/RTO needed; database mirroring is deprecated and not suitable for cross-region.
Best answer
Azure Site Recovery for VMs and SQL Server Always On Availability Groups with asynchronous commit
Asynchronous commit meets RPO of 30 seconds, and ASR meets VM RPO/RTO requirements; this is cost-effective and recommended across regions.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
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More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A company is designing hub-and-spoke networking. Spoke VNets must use a central Azure Firewall for outbound internet traffic. Which two configurations are required?
Question 2
A company is designing private access to a PaaS database from workloads in a VNet. The database should not be reachable over its public endpoint. What should be recommended?
Question 3
A data platform must support analytical queries over petabytes of files in a data lake, while preserving hierarchical namespaces and fine-grained ACLs. Which storage service should you design around?
Question 4
A database workload has an RPO of 15 minutes and an RTO of 4 hours. Cost is more important than near-zero data loss. Which design is usually more appropriate than synchronous multi-region replication?
Question 5
A hub-and-spoke Azure network must centralize outbound inspection and still allow spokes to resolve private endpoint DNS names. Which two components are commonly required? (Choose 2.)
Question 6
A multinational company uses Microsoft Entra ID and several Azure subscriptions. Security administrators need to review privileged role assignments every month and require justification for continued access. Which design should be recommended?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-305 question test?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Azure Site Recovery for VMs and SQL Server Always On Availability Groups with asynchronous commit — For the database, SQL Server Always On Availability Groups with asynchronous commit across regions is the recommended approach because synchronous commit would introduce unacceptable latency and performance impact. Asynchronous commit can achieve an RPO of a few seconds (within 30 seconds). For the VMs, Azure Site Recovery provides replication with an RPO of 5 minutes and RTO of 1 hour. The other options either do not meet the RPO/RTO or are not cost-effective.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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