AZ-305 Design data storage solutions Practice Question
A company uses Azure SQL Database (Premium tier) for their application. They need to offload reporting queries to a read-only copy of the database to reduce load on the primary. The read-only copy must be kept in sync synchronously within the same Azure region. They also need automated failover to the read-only copy if the primary fails. Which Azure SQL Database feature should they enable?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse cross-region disaster recovery features (Active geo-replication and Auto-failover groups) with in-region high availability and read-scale capabilities, overlooking that Read Scale-Out is the only option that provides synchronous replication and automated failover within the same Azure region.
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
✓
Read Scale-Out
Read Scale-Out is the correct feature because it offloads reporting queries to a read-only replica that stays synchronously committed within the same Azure region. It also provides automated failover to the read-only replica if the primary database fails, meeting both the synchronous sync and failover requirements for Premium-tier Azure SQL Database.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Active geo-replication
Why it's wrong here
Active geo-replication creates a readable secondary replica in a different Azure region, using asynchronous replication. Because the replication is asynchronous, the secondary can lag behind the primary and may lose data during a disaster, so it is not appropriate for synchronous, in-region read-only offload. It also requires manual failover to promote the secondary, unlike Read Scale-Out's automatic promotion.
- ✗
Auto-failover groups
Why it's wrong here
Auto-failover groups replicate a group of databases to a secondary server in another Azure region and provide both a read-write and a read-only listener endpoint. However, the replication is asynchronous, and the secondary resides in a different region, which introduces network latency and potential data loss. The read-only endpoint is not a synchronous in-region replica and cannot serve as a real-time offload for reporting within the same region. Additionally, failover is at the group level, which can be disruptive for all databases.
- ✓
Read Scale-Out
Why this is correct
Read Scale-Out uses the built-in, always-on secondary replica that is automatically maintained in the same region for Premium and Business Critical service tiers. The replica is kept synchronously updated with the primary, meaning reporting queries can be routed to the read-only endpoint with minimal lag. This feature also supports automatic failover, so the read-only replica can become the new primary if the current primary fails, making it a proper solution for in-region read offload.
- ✗
Database copy
Why it's wrong here
Database copy is a manual, point-in-time operation that creates a transactionally consistent snapshot of the database as a new, separate database. This copy does not receive subsequent changes from the source, so it cannot provide continuous read-only offload or act as a real-time replica. There is no automatic failover mechanism, and refreshing the copy requires re-copying the entire database, which is inefficient for ongoing reporting workloads.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This AZ-305 question is part of Courseiva's 795-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.