Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company runs a critical OLTP application on Azure SQL Database in the West US region. They need to ensure business continuity if a regional outage occurs. The solution must have a recovery point objective (RPO) of 5 seconds and a recovery time objective (RTO) of less than 1 hour. They also want to use the secondary region for read-only query offloading. Which Azure SQL Database feature should they enable?
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.
A
Best answer
Active geo-replication with automatic failover group
Active geo-replication provides a readable secondary with RPO ~5 seconds. Auto-failover groups automate failover (RTO < 1 hour) and the secondary can be used for read-only queries.
B
Distractor review
Geo-restore
Geo-restore restores a database from geo-replicated backups. RPO is typically 1 hour (backup interval) and RTO can be several hours, not meeting the requirements.
C
Distractor review
Azure Site Recovery
Azure Site Recovery is designed for replicating Azure VMs, not Azure SQL Database. It does not support active geo-replication of PaaS databases.
D
Distractor review
Read scale-out with manual regional failover
Read scale-out alone provides a local readable replica in the same region. It does not provide cross-region disaster recovery.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
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.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- 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.
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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?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Active geo-replication with automatic failover group — Azure SQL Database active geo-replication creates a readable secondary in another region with asynchronous replication. The RPO is typically up to 5 seconds (depending on workload). Failover is manual, but with auto-failover group, automatic failover can be configured and RTO is under 1 hour. Read scale-out allows the secondary to be used for read-only queries. Geo-restore is for point-in-time restoration and has longer RPO/RTO. Failover group alone (without active geo-replication) is not an option; failover groups use active geo-replication. Sync replication between regions is not feasible due to latency.
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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