- A
Use Azure Site Recovery with a replication policy of 5-minute frequency, configure a recovery plan with manual ordering, and rely on default IP assignment
Why wrong: Manual ordering is not efficient for a 15-minute RTO; you need automated execution. Also, default IP assignment may change IPs, causing DNS propagation delays.
- B
Use Azure Site Recovery with a replication policy of 30-second frequency, create multi-VM consistency groups for each tier, build a recovery plan with script actions for ordering and static IP mapping, and use test failover for drills
This combination meets all requirements: 30-second replication achieves <5-minute RPO; consistency groups ensure cross-VM consistency; recovery plan enforces order and runs scripts for IP mapping; test failover supports non-disruptive drills.
- C
Use Azure Site Recovery with a replication policy of 15-minute frequency and configure manual IP mapping after failover
Why wrong: 15-minute replication does not meet the 5-minute RPO. Manual IP mapping delays recovery and increases RTO beyond 15 minutes.
- D
Use Azure Backup with daily snapshots and a geo-restore option, then manually restore VMs in order
Why wrong: Azure Backup is not designed for sub-hour RPO or RTO. Daily snapshots cannot achieve 5-minute RPO. Manual restore is too slow for a 15-minute RTO.
Quick Answer
The answer is to use Azure Site Recovery with a 30-second replication policy, multi-VM consistency groups per tier, a recovery plan with script actions for ordered failover, static IP mapping, and test failover for drills. This combination directly satisfies the 5-minute RPO by replicating every 30 seconds, while multi-VM consistency groups guarantee crash-consistent snapshots across all VMs in a tier. The recovery plan’s script actions enforce the precise startup sequence—database first, then application, then web—and static IP mapping retains IP addresses post-failover, minimizing DNS propagation delays. On the AZ-305 exam, this scenario tests your ability to integrate Site Recovery features for ordered failover and test failover drills, often appearing as a multi-requirement question where a common trap is choosing a single replication policy or forgetting that script actions, not just groups, control ordering. Memory tip: think “30-3-3-S”—30-second replication, 3 tiers, 3 consistency groups, and Script actions for order.
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 multi-tier application on Azure virtual machines (VMs) in the West US region. The application consists of a web tier, an application tier, and a database tier. They need to implement a disaster recovery plan to a secondary region (East US) with a recovery point objective (RPO) of 5 minutes and a recovery time objective (RTO) of 15 minutes. The VMs must be recovered in the correct order: database tier first, then application tier, then web tier. The company also wants to test the recovery process periodically without affecting production. They need to ensure that after failover, the VMs retain their IP addresses to minimize DNS propagation delays. Which combination of Azure Site Recovery features should they use?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"first"Why it matters: Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
Clue:
"minimum / minimize"Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
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 Site Recovery with a replication policy of 30-second frequency, create multi-VM consistency groups for each tier, build a recovery plan with script actions for ordering and static IP mapping, and use test failover for drills
Option B is correct because it meets all requirements: a 30-second replication policy achieves the 5-minute RPO, multi-VM consistency groups ensure crash-consistent recovery across tiers, script actions in the recovery plan enforce the correct startup order (database first, then app, then web), static IP mapping retains IP addresses after failover, and test failover allows non-disruptive drills. This combination of features directly addresses the RPO, RTO, ordering, IP retention, and testing needs.
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 Azure Site Recovery with a replication policy of 5-minute frequency, configure a recovery plan with manual ordering, and rely on default IP assignment
- ✓
Use Azure Site Recovery with a replication policy of 30-second frequency, create multi-VM consistency groups for each tier, build a recovery plan with script actions for ordering and static IP mapping, and use test failover for drills
Why this is correct
This combination meets all requirements: 30-second replication achieves <5-minute RPO; consistency groups ensure cross-VM consistency; recovery plan enforces order and runs scripts for IP mapping; test failover supports non-disruptive drills.
Clue confirmation
The clue words "first", "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Use Azure Site Recovery with a replication policy of 15-minute frequency and configure manual IP mapping after failover
Why it's wrong here
15-minute replication does not meet the 5-minute RPO. Manual IP mapping delays recovery and increases RTO beyond 15 minutes.
- ✗
Use Azure Backup with daily snapshots and a geo-restore option, then manually restore VMs in order
Why it's wrong here
Azure Backup is not designed for sub-hour RPO or RTO. Daily snapshots cannot achieve 5-minute RPO. Manual restore is too slow for a 15-minute RTO.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse replication frequency with RPO (e.g., thinking a 5-minute replication policy guarantees a 5-minute RPO) or assume manual ordering in a recovery plan is sufficient without understanding that script actions are needed for precise tier sequencing and IP retention.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Site Recovery's multi-VM consistency groups use crash-consistent snapshots across VMs, ensuring that all VMs in a group are recovered to the same point in time, which is critical for multi-tier applications with dependencies. Static IP mapping in ASR uses network mapping to assign the same private IP addresses to recovered VMs in the secondary region, leveraging Azure's VNet peering or site-to-site VPN to avoid DNS propagation delays. Test failover creates an isolated copy of the recovery environment in the secondary region without impacting production, using a separate test VNet and subnet.
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.
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Design business continuity solutions — study guide chapter
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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: Use Azure Site Recovery with a replication policy of 30-second frequency, create multi-VM consistency groups for each tier, build a recovery plan with script actions for ordering and static IP mapping, and use test failover for drills — Option B is correct because it meets all requirements: a 30-second replication policy achieves the 5-minute RPO, multi-VM consistency groups ensure crash-consistent recovery across tiers, script actions in the recovery plan enforce the correct startup order (database first, then app, then web), static IP mapping retains IP addresses after failover, and test failover allows non-disruptive drills. This combination of features directly addresses the RPO, RTO, ordering, IP retention, and testing needs.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "first", "minimum / minimize". Order matters here. You are being tested on which action comes before the others — not which action is generally useful.
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 →
Same concept, more angles
4 more ways this is tested on AZ-305
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company runs a critical application on Azure VMs in the West US region. They want to protect against a regional disaster by replicating VMs to East US using Azure Site Recovery. They have both managed and unmanaged disks. They need to ensure that after failover, the recovery VMs are automatically placed in a specific availability set to support the application's multi-tier architecture. Additionally, they want to minimize downtime during planned failover. Which configuration should they use?
hard- ✓ A.Configure a recovery plan that includes the VMs and specifies the target availability set and failover order
- B.Set the target availability set in each VM's replication settings individually without a recovery plan
- C.Use Azure Traffic Manager to route traffic to the secondary region after manual failover
- D.Enable consistency groups across the VMs using a replication policy
Why A: Option A is correct because a recovery plan in Azure Site Recovery allows you to group VMs, specify the target availability set, and define the failover order. This ensures that after failover, the recovery VMs are automatically placed in the specified availability set, supporting the application's multi-tier architecture. Additionally, recovery plans enable you to automate and sequence failover steps, minimizing downtime during planned failover by orchestrating the process efficiently.
Variation 2. A company deploys a multi-tier application on Azure virtual machines. They need to implement disaster recovery using Azure Site Recovery. The recovery plan must ensure that the database VMs are started before the application VMs, and the application VMs before the web VMs. They also need to run a script after failover to update DNS records. Which ASR feature should they use?
medium- A.Recovery Plan with manual steps
- ✓ B.Recovery Plan with custom groups and script actions
- C.Replication policy with crash-consistent snapshots
- D.Azure Automation runbook
Why B: Azure Site Recovery (ASR) Recovery Plans allow you to orchestrate the order of VM failover by grouping VMs into custom groups and adding pre- and post-actions. By placing database VMs in Group 1, application VMs in Group 2, and web VMs in Group 3, you enforce the required startup sequence. Script actions (e.g., Azure Automation runbooks or PowerShell scripts) can be inserted at specific points in the plan to update DNS records after failover, making option B the correct choice.
Variation 3. A company runs a multi-tier application on Azure VMs in the West US region. The application has web, application, and database tiers. They want to use Azure Site Recovery for disaster recovery to East US. They need to ensure that after failover, the web tier starts first, then the application tier, and finally the database tier after a consistency check. They also need to be able to perform non-disruptive DR drills. Which Azure Site Recovery capabilities should they use together?
hard- ✓ A.Create a recovery plan with custom groups and scripts for startup order, and use test failover for DR drills
- B.Use Azure Backup for the VMs and restore them in order after failover
- C.Use an availability set to control startup order and use disaster recovery drills in a separate VNet
- D.Use Azure Traffic Manager to route traffic after failover and manually start VMs in order
Why A: Azure Site Recovery (ASR) recovery plans allow you to define custom groups and scripts to control the startup order of VMs after failover. By placing the web, application, and database tiers into separate groups with pre- and post-actions (e.g., PowerShell scripts), you can ensure the web tier starts first, then the application tier, and finally the database tier after a consistency check. ASR's test failover capability performs a non-disruptive DR drill by creating isolated copies of VMs in a separate VNet without impacting the production environment.
Variation 4. A company runs a three-tier application on Azure VMs in the West US region. They want to enable disaster recovery to East US using Azure Site Recovery. The application requires that the web tier starts first, then the application tier, and finally the database tier after a consistency check. They also need to be able to perform non-disruptive DR drills. Which Azure Site Recovery capabilities should they use together?
medium- ✓ A.Recovery Plan with pre/post actions and Test Failover
- B.Network mapping and IP customization
- C.Replication policy with crash-consistent snapshots
- D.Azure Automation runbooks and Azure Monitor alerts
Why A: Option A is correct because a Recovery Plan in Azure Site Recovery allows you to define the startup order of tiers (web, app, database) using pre-actions and post-actions, which can invoke Azure Automation runbooks or scripts to perform the consistency check. Test Failover enables non-disruptive DR drills by creating an isolated copy of the replicated VMs in East US without impacting the production environment. Together, these capabilities meet both the ordered startup and drill requirements.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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