AZ-305 Design business continuity solutions Practice Question
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?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates assume synchronous replication is always the best choice for business continuity, but the question explicitly prioritizes cost over near-zero data loss, making asynchronous replication or scheduled backups the more appropriate and cost-effective design.
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 scheduled backups or asynchronous replication aligned to the RPO/RTO.
The workload's RPO of 15 minutes and RTO of 4 hours, combined with a cost-sensitive requirement that deprioritizes near-zero data loss, makes synchronous multi-region replication overkill. Scheduled backups (e.g., every 15 minutes using Azure SQL Database automated backups with point-in-time restore) or asynchronous replication (e.g., Azure SQL Database active geo-replication with a recovery point objective of up to 5 seconds, but here we can tune it to meet 15 minutes) provide sufficient protection at a lower cost, avoiding the latency and expense of synchronous replication across regions.
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 scheduled backups or asynchronous replication aligned to the RPO/RTO.
Why this is correct
Scheduled backups taken every 15 minutes, or asynchronous replication with a similar lag, can restore the database to within 15 minutes of a failure, and a 4-hour RTO gives ample time to recover from those backups. This approach balances the stated RPO and RTO with cost efficiency, since the requirement does not justify the expense and added latency of synchronous multi-region replication. Azure SQL Database automated backups or Azure Site Recovery with log shipping are examples of such aligned solutions.
- ✗
Use synchronous replication across every Azure region.
Why it's wrong here
Synchronous replication across every Azure region would force the database to wait for write acknowledgments from all regions, introducing severe latency and making the system unavailable if any single region is slow or down. It also incurs enormous egress, storage, and compute costs for far more protection than the 15-minute RPO and 4-hour RTO actually require. Moreover, replicating to every region is overkill; a single paired secondary is typically sufficient, and the stated cost priority makes this option unjustifiable.
- ✗
Run the database on a single VM with no backups.
Why it's wrong here
Running the database on a single VM with no backups means there is no way to restore data after an outage, corruption, or accidental deletion, making the effective RPO infinite and the RTO unachievable because no recovery source exists. A single VM also represents a single point of failure at the compute, storage, and network layers, so any hardware or software failure will cause an extended downtime. This directly violates both the 15-minute RPO and the 4-hour RTO, and it is far riskier than even a basic backup strategy.
- ✗
Use a public DNS CNAME only.
Why it's wrong here
A public DNS CNAME only remaps a domain name to another endpoint and has no ability to replicate, snapshot, or restore database data. If the database itself is corrupted or unavailable, changing DNS just points traffic to the same broken state or to a non-existent recovery target, so it does nothing to meet the 15-minute RPO or 4-hour RTO. DNS can assist with rerouting after a recovery solution is already in place, but alone it is not a data protection mechanism.
Visual reference
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Azure Site Recovery Design
Key term
BIA and RPO RTO Design
Business Impact Analysis and the design of Recovery Point Objective and Recovery Time Objective define how much data loss and downtime a business can tolerate after an IT failure, guiding the architecture of backup and disaster recovery systems.
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.