How to Configure Azure Backup with Grandfather-Father-Son Retention and Geo-Redundant Storage
A company runs a critical application on Azure VMs. They need a backup strategy that meets the following requirements: - Daily backups retained for 35 days - Weekly backups retained for 12 weeks - Monthly backups retained for 36 months - Yearly backups retained for 10 years - Backups must be stored in a geo-redundant storage account Which THREE items must be configured? (Choose three.)
Quick Answer
The answer is a Recovery Services vault in the same region as the VMs, a grandfather-father-son (GFS) backup policy, and geo-redundant storage (GRS). This combination is correct because the GFS policy allows you to define distinct retention rules for daily (35 days), weekly (12 weeks), monthly (36 months), and yearly (10 years) backups, while the Recovery Services vault must reside in the same Azure region as the protected VMs to ensure proper backup registration and failover. Geo-redundant storage is then configured at the vault level to replicate backup data to a paired region, meeting the durability requirement. On the AZ-305 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of Azure Backup’s retention architecture and the critical distinction that the vault location must match the source VM region—not the paired region, which is a common trap. A useful memory tip: “Same region for the vault, GFS for the schedule, GRS for the safety net.”
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse the need for a Recovery Services vault in the paired region (Option D) with geo-redundant storage, but Azure Backup achieves geo-redundancy by configuring GRS on the vault's storage, not by deploying a second vault.
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
✓
A backup policy with GFS retention
Option B is correct because the required retention scheme (daily 35 days, weekly 12 weeks, monthly 36 months, yearly 10 years) is exactly the Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) retention pattern, which Azure Backup implements through a backup policy configured with daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly retention rules. Option C is correct because the requirement to store backups in geo-redundant storage is satisfied by setting the Recovery Services vault's storage replication type to Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS), which replicates backup data to the Azure paired region. Option E is correct because a Recovery Services vault must be created in the same region as the VMs it protects; the vault is a regional resource and cannot directly back up VMs located in a different region. Option A is incorrect because a simple daily backup policy only provides daily retention and cannot express weekly, monthly, and yearly GFS retention tiers. Option D is incorrect because the vault itself is created in the VMs' region, not the paired region; geo-redundancy is achieved via the GRS storage setting, which asynchronously replicates data to the paired region.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
A simple daily backup policy
Why it's wrong here
A simple daily backup policy defines only one retention tier, so it cannot express the separate weekly, monthly and yearly schedules the stem demands. It is tempting because a single daily schedule with a 35-day retention is exactly right for basic VM protection where no long-term archival requirement exists.
- ✓
A backup policy with GFS retention
Why this is correct
A backup policy with GFS (grandfather-father-son) retention directly satisfies the staggered schedule: daily, weekly, monthly and yearly tiers with independent retention durations. Recovery Services vault policies natively support these four backup frequencies, so configuring GFS retention fulfils the 35-day, 12-week, 36-month and 10-year requirements in one policy.
- ✓
Geo-redundant storage (GRS) for the vault
Why this is correct
Configuring geo-redundant storage on the Recovery Services vault replicates backup data to a paired secondary region, satisfying the requirement that backups reside in geo-redundant storage. This setting is applied at the vault level, independent of the backup policy's retention schedule.
- ✗
A Recovery Services vault in the paired region
Why it's wrong here
A vault in the paired region cannot be the primary vault for these VMs; backup data lands in the vault in the VMs' own region, with geo-redundancy replicating it. Paired-region vaults suit cross-region restore scenarios.
- ✓
A Recovery Services vault in the same region as the VMs
Why this is correct
A Recovery Services vault is the container that stores VM backup data and defines the retention policy (daily 35 days, weekly 12 weeks, monthly 36 months, yearly 10 years). It must reside in the same region as the VMs to protect them, satisfying the geo-redundant storage requirement via its redundancy setting.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Policy as Code and Compliance Automation
Key term
Data Replication Strategy
A data replication strategy is a plan for copying and synchronizing data across multiple locations to ensure availability, durability, and performance.
Key term
Azure Backup Design
Azure Backup Design is the process of planning and configuring a reliable, cost-effective, and secure backup and recovery solution for workloads hosted in Microsoft Azure.
About these practice questions
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way 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. They want to back up the VMs using Azure Backup. The retention requirements are: daily backups for 35 days, weekly backups for 52 weeks, and yearly backups for 10 years. Which backup policy should they create?
medium- ✓ A.Create a custom backup policy with a daily backup schedule and retention rules for daily (35), weekly (52), and yearly (10 years)
- B.Use the default backup policy provided by Azure Backup
- C.Use Azure Site Recovery (ASR) to replicate the VMs and meet the retention
- D.Use Azure Backup for VMs with instant recovery enabled
Why A: Azure Backup allows you to create a custom backup policy that defines a daily backup schedule and separate retention rules for daily, weekly, and yearly retention points. This directly meets the requirement of 35 days daily, 52 weeks weekly, and 10 years yearly retention, as Azure Backup supports granular retention policies with multiple tiers (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly) within a single policy.
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.