- A
Configure a backup policy in Azure Backup for VMs with daily, weekly, and yearly retention rules, and enable cross-region restore by using a Recovery Services Vault with geo-redundant storage.
Azure Backup policies can specify different retention durations for daily, weekly, and yearly backups. Cross-region restore is enabled by default with geo-redundant storage, allowing recovery in a secondary region.
- B
Enable backup with Azure Backup using the default policy and select Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) for the Recovery Services Vault.
Why wrong: The default policy only retains daily backups for 30 days; it does not include weekly or yearly retention. GRS alone does not create custom retention rules.
- C
Use Azure Site Recovery to replicate VMs to the secondary region and configure retention policies in the replication settings.
Why wrong: Azure Site Recovery is for disaster recovery replication, not long-term backup retention with the specified schedule.
- D
Perform file-level backups using Azure Backup and store them in a separate storage account with read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS).
Why wrong: File-level backups are insufficient for full VM recovery, and manually managing retention rules is not practical or supported.
Quick Answer
The correct choice is to configure a custom backup policy in Azure Backup for VMs with daily, weekly, and yearly retention rules, and enable cross-region restore using a Recovery Services Vault with geo-redundant storage. This works because Azure Backup’s custom policy allows you to set multiple retention points—daily for 30 days, weekly for 12 months, and yearly for 7 years—while cross-region restore (CRR) paired with GRS automatically replicates backup data to a secondary region, meeting disaster recovery and compliance requirements without extra infrastructure. On the AZ-305 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of designing backup and disaster recovery solutions, often appearing as a multi-layered compliance question where candidates mistakenly choose locally redundant storage or forget to enable CRR. A common trap is assuming standard backup policies suffice, but only custom policies allow mixed retention durations. Memory tip: think “Daily, Weekly, Yearly = Custom Policy; DR = GRS + CRR.”
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 runs an application on Azure VMs that must be backed up according to regulatory compliance: daily backups retained for 30 days, weekly backups retained for 12 months, and yearly backups retained for 7 years. The backups must be stored in a secondary region for disaster recovery. They want to use Azure Backup for VMs. Which backup policy and storage configuration should they implement?
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
Configure a backup policy in Azure Backup for VMs with daily, weekly, and yearly retention rules, and enable cross-region restore by using a Recovery Services Vault with geo-redundant storage.
Option A is correct because Azure Backup for VMs allows you to create a custom backup policy with daily, weekly, and yearly retention points, meeting the regulatory requirements. By enabling cross-region restore (CRR) on a Recovery Services Vault configured with geo-redundant storage (GRS), backups are automatically replicated to a paired secondary region, providing disaster recovery without additional infrastructure.
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.
- ✓
Configure a backup policy in Azure Backup for VMs with daily, weekly, and yearly retention rules, and enable cross-region restore by using a Recovery Services Vault with geo-redundant storage.
Why this is correct
Azure Backup policies can specify different retention durations for daily, weekly, and yearly backups. Cross-region restore is enabled by default with geo-redundant storage, allowing recovery in a secondary region.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Enable backup with Azure Backup using the default policy and select Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) for the Recovery Services Vault.
Why it's wrong here
The default policy only retains daily backups for 30 days; it does not include weekly or yearly retention. GRS alone does not create custom retention rules.
- ✗
Use Azure Site Recovery to replicate VMs to the secondary region and configure retention policies in the replication settings.
Why it's wrong here
Azure Site Recovery is for disaster recovery replication, not long-term backup retention with the specified schedule.
- ✗
Perform file-level backups using Azure Backup and store them in a separate storage account with read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS).
Why it's wrong here
File-level backups are insufficient for full VM recovery, and manually managing retention rules is not practical or supported.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Azure Site Recovery (disaster recovery) with Azure Backup (long-term retention), or assume the default policy can be customized to include yearly retention without realizing it must be explicitly configured.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Backup's custom policy uses a combination of instant restore snapshots (retained for up to 5 days) and vault-tier backups. When cross-region restore is enabled, the Recovery Services Vault with GRS replicates backup data to the paired region asynchronously, ensuring data durability even if the primary region fails. The retention rules are applied at the backup item level, and yearly retention points are calculated from the last backup of the year, which must be explicitly configured in the policy.
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: Configure a backup policy in Azure Backup for VMs with daily, weekly, and yearly retention rules, and enable cross-region restore by using a Recovery Services Vault with geo-redundant storage. — Option A is correct because Azure Backup for VMs allows you to create a custom backup policy with daily, weekly, and yearly retention points, meeting the regulatory requirements. By enabling cross-region restore (CRR) on a Recovery Services Vault configured with geo-redundant storage (GRS), backups are automatically replicated to a paired secondary region, providing disaster recovery without additional infrastructure.
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
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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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