- A
Create a custom backup policy with a daily backup schedule and retention rules for daily (35), weekly (52), and yearly (10 years)
Correct. Custom policies allow you to configure multiple retention rules per frequency.
- B
Use the default backup policy provided by Azure Backup
Why wrong: The default policy retains daily backups for 30 days and weekly for 12 weeks, not meeting the yearly requirement.
- C
Use Azure Site Recovery (ASR) to replicate the VMs and meet the retention
Why wrong: ASR is a disaster recovery solution, not a backup service; it does not support long-term retention for compliance.
- D
Use Azure Backup for VMs with instant recovery enabled
Why wrong: Instant recovery is a restore feature that uses snapshots; it does not define retention periods.
AZ-305 Design business continuity solutions Practice Question
This AZ-305 practice question tests your understanding of design business continuity solutions. 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 company runs a critical application on Azure VMs. They want to back up the VMs using Azure Backup. The retention requirements are: daily backups for 35 days, weekly backups for 52 weeks, and yearly backups for 10 years. Which backup policy should they create?
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
Create a custom backup policy with a daily backup schedule and retention rules for daily (35), weekly (52), and yearly (10 years)
Option A is correct because Azure Backup allows you to create a custom backup policy that defines a daily backup schedule and separate retention rules for daily, weekly, and yearly retention points. This directly meets the requirement of 35 days daily, 52 weeks weekly, and 10 years yearly retention, as Azure Backup supports granular retention policies with multiple tiers (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly) within a single policy.
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.
- ✓
Create a custom backup policy with a daily backup schedule and retention rules for daily (35), weekly (52), and yearly (10 years)
Why this is correct
Correct. Custom policies allow you to configure multiple retention rules per frequency.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use the default backup policy provided by Azure Backup
Why it's wrong here
The default policy retains daily backups for 30 days and weekly for 12 weeks, not meeting the yearly requirement.
- ✗
Use Azure Site Recovery (ASR) to replicate the VMs and meet the retention
Why it's wrong here
ASR is a disaster recovery solution, not a backup service; it does not support long-term retention for compliance.
- ✗
Use Azure Backup for VMs with instant recovery enabled
Why it's wrong here
Instant recovery is a restore feature that uses snapshots; it does not define retention periods.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates may confuse Azure Backup's default policy (which only covers short-term retention) with the ability to customize retention tiers, or mistakenly think Azure Site Recovery can serve as a backup solution for long-term retention, when in fact it is for replication and failover, not backup retention.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Backup uses a recovery point model where each backup creates a recovery point, and retention rules are evaluated independently per tier (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly). For yearly retention, Azure Backup requires a specific day of the year (e.g., January 1) to be selected as the yearly backup point, and the retention duration is calculated in years, not days. Under the hood, Azure Backup stores recovery points in a Recovery Services vault, and the policy engine prunes expired points based on the retention rules, ensuring compliance with long-term retention like 10 years without manual intervention.
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.
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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: Create a custom backup policy with a daily backup schedule and retention rules for daily (35), weekly (52), and yearly (10 years) — Option A is correct because Azure Backup allows you to create a custom backup policy that defines a daily backup schedule and separate retention rules for daily, weekly, and yearly retention points. This directly meets the requirement of 35 days daily, 52 weeks weekly, and 10 years yearly retention, as Azure Backup supports granular retention policies with multiple tiers (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly) within a single policy.
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.
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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.
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