The correct answer is to use Azure Site Recovery for VM replication to a secondary region and Azure SQL Database active geo-replication. This combination meets the required RPO of 15 minutes and RTO of 1 hour because Azure Site Recovery can replicate Azure VMs with an RPO as low as 15 minutes and an RTO under one hour, while active geo-replication for Azure SQL Database provides a near-zero RPO of just 5 seconds and a failover RTO of one hour. On the AZ-305 exam, this scenario tests your ability to distinguish between disaster recovery services: a common trap is choosing Azure Backup (which has a much higher RPO) or read-scale replicas (which don’t support failover). The key insight is that Azure Site Recovery handles the compute tier’s replication, while active geo-replication handles the database tier’s continuous data sync. Memory tip: think “Site for VMs, Geo for SQL” to pair the right service with each tier.
AZ-305 Design business continuity solutions Practice Question
This AZ-305 practice question tests your understanding of design business continuity solutions. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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.
Your company runs a critical e-commerce application on Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) in a single region. You need to design a disaster recovery (DR) solution that meets a recovery point objective (RPO) of 15 minutes and a recovery time objective (RTO) of 1 hour for the application tier. The application uses Azure SQL Database (single database). Which combination of Azure services should you recommend to meet the RPO and RTO?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use Azure Site Recovery for VM replication to a secondary region and Azure SQL Database active geo-replication
Option B is correct because Azure Site Recovery can replicate VMs to a secondary region with an RPO of 15 minutes and RTO of 1 hour for the application tier. Azure SQL Database active geo-replication provides an RPO of 5 seconds and RTO of 1 hour. Option A is wrong because Azure Backup has a higher RPO (typically 12 hours for VMs). Option C is wrong because read-scale replicas do not support failover. Option D is wrong because Azure Front Door is for global load balancing, not DR replication.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
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 Azure Site Recovery for VMs and Azure SQL Database read-scale replicas
Why it's wrong here
Read-scale replicas are for read-only workloads and do not support automatic failover.
✗
Use Azure Backup for VM replication and Azure SQL Database auto-failover groups
Why it's wrong here
Azure Backup does not meet the 15-minute RPO for VMs.
✗
Use Azure Front Door with regional load balancing and Azure SQL Database geo-restore
Why it's wrong here
Front Door provides traffic routing, not replication; geo-restore has an RPO of minutes to hours.
✓
Use Azure Site Recovery for VM replication to a secondary region and Azure SQL Database active geo-replication
Why this is correct
Site Recovery meets the VM RPO/RTO; active geo-replication meets the SQL RPO/RTO.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
→Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
→Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
→Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-305 question in full detail.
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related AZ-305 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Design business continuity solutions — This question tests Design business continuity solutions — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use Azure Site Recovery for VM replication to a secondary region and Azure SQL Database active geo-replication — Option B is correct because Azure Site Recovery can replicate VMs to a secondary region with an RPO of 15 minutes and RTO of 1 hour for the application tier. Azure SQL Database active geo-replication provides an RPO of 5 seconds and RTO of 1 hour. Option A is wrong because Azure Backup has a higher RPO (typically 12 hours for VMs). Option C is wrong because read-scale replicas do not support failover. Option D is wrong because Azure Front Door is for global load balancing, not DR replication.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related AZ-305 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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