A company runs an SAP HANA database on Azure large instances (HLI) in the West US region. The database is critical for business operations. They need a disaster recovery solution with a recovery point objective (RPO) of near zero (seconds) and a recovery time objective (RTO) of less than 30 minutes in the event of a region-wide outage. The solution must automatically replicate data to a secondary region (East US) and support automated failover. Which design should they implement?
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.
Best answer
Configure HANA System Replication (async) between the primary and secondary site, and use a Pacemaker cluster with Azure Load Balancer to enable automated failover
HANA System Replication with asynchronous mode provides near-zero RPO. Combined with Pacemaker and Azure Load Balancer, you can achieve automatic failover within the required RTO. This is the recommended approach for SAP HANA DR on Azure.
Distractor review
Use Azure Site Recovery to replicate the HANA large instance VMs with a replication frequency of 30 seconds and enable auto-failover
Azure Site Recovery can replicate VMs but does not ensure HANA application consistency at the database transaction level. It may cause data loss or corruption because it captures VM-level state, not HANA-consistent checkpoints. RPO near zero cannot be achieved with VM replication.
Distractor review
Schedule HANA database backups every 5 minutes to Azure Blob Storage with geo-redundant storage (GRS), and restore in the secondary region on demand
Backups every 5 minutes give an RPO of 5 minutes, not near zero. Manual restore cannot meet a 30-minute RTO as it requires provisioning and data loading. No automated failover.
Distractor review
Set up HANA System Replication with synchronous mode to the secondary region
Synchronous replication over long distances (West US to East US) can cause high latency and impact production performance. Asynchronous replication is recommended for cross-region scenarios.
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: Configure HANA System Replication (async) between the primary and secondary site, and use a Pacemaker cluster with Azure Load Balancer to enable automated failover — SAP HANA System Replication (HSR) is the preferred solution for synchronous or asynchronous replication of HANA databases. For cross-region DR, asynchronous replication is typically used. To achieve automated failover, you can combine HSR with a cluster manager like Pacemaker on Azure VMs or use the HANA backup/restore to a secondary region. Azure Site Recovery can replicate the entire VM but does not provide HANA-consistent replication with near-zero RPO. HANA Backup to Azure Blob with geo-replication does not provide automated failover or sub-minute RPO.
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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