The answer is Azure Site Recovery. This is the correct choice because Azure Site Recovery (ASR) continuously replicates entire Azure VMs, including their disks and configuration, to a secondary region, and upon failover it automatically starts the replicated VMs to restore the application—exactly matching the requirement for automated regional disaster recovery. In contrast, Azure Backup is designed for long-term data retention and point-in-time restore, not for orchestrating full VM failover with automatic startup. On the Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert AZ-305 exam, this distinction tests your understanding of disaster recovery versus backup: ASR handles replication and failover for high availability across regions, while Backup focuses on data protection and recovery from corruption or accidental deletion. A common trap is choosing Backup because it also copies data to another region, but it lacks the automated VM startup and orchestration capabilities of ASR. Memory tip: think “Site Recovery = Site (region) failover; Backup = Back up data.”
AZ-305 Design business continuity solutions Practice Question
This AZ-305 practice question tests your understanding of design business continuity solutions. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. A key principle to apply: azure Site Recovery replicates Azure VMs to a secondary region.. 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.
A company runs a web application on Azure VMs in a single region. They need to ensure that if the region fails, the VMs are replicated to another region and can be started automatically. Which Azure service should they use?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Azure Site Recovery
Azure Site Recovery (ASR) orchestrates replication, failover, and failback of Azure VMs from one region to another. It continuously replicates VM disks to the target region and, upon failover, automatically starts the replicated VMs, meeting the requirement for regional disaster recovery with automated startup.
Key principle: Azure Site Recovery replicates Azure VMs to a secondary 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.
✓
Azure Site Recovery
Why this is correct
Azure Site Recovery replicates VMs to another region and supports automated failover and startup.
Related concept
Azure Site Recovery replicates Azure VMs to a secondary region.
✗
Azure Backup
Why it's wrong here
Azure Backup is designed for backup and restore, not for continuous replication and automatic failover.
✗
Azure Traffic Manager
Why it's wrong here
Azure Traffic Manager is a DNS-based traffic load balancer; it does not replicate or fail over VMs.
✗
Azure Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
Azure Load Balancer distributes traffic within a region and does not provide cross-region replication or disaster recovery.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse Azure Backup (which provides point-in-time restores but not automated regional failover) with Azure Site Recovery (which provides continuous replication and automated VM startup), or they mistakenly think Traffic Manager or Load Balancer can handle VM replication and startup when they only manage traffic routing.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Site Recovery uses asynchronous replication of VM disks to a target region, with a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) as low as a few minutes depending on disk churn. During failover, ASR creates VMs from the replicated disks using the specified recovery plan, which can include custom scripts for startup order and configuration. In a real-world scenario, ASR supports multi-VM consistency groups to ensure crash-consistent or app-consistent recovery for tiered applications.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Azure Site Recovery replicates Azure VMs to a secondary region.
It provides automated failover and failback capabilities.
ASR supports recovery plans for orchestrated multi-VM application recovery.
It ensures business continuity during regional outages.
TExam Day Tips
→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.
Key takeaway
Azure Site Recovery replicates Azure VMs to a secondary region.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
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 azure Site Recovery replicates Azure VMs to a secondary region., then practise related AZ-305 questions on the same topic to reinforce the concept.
Design business continuity solutions — This question tests Design business continuity solutions — Azure Site Recovery replicates Azure VMs to a secondary region..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Azure Site Recovery — Azure Site Recovery (ASR) orchestrates replication, failover, and failback of Azure VMs from one region to another. It continuously replicates VM disks to the target region and, upon failover, automatically starts the replicated VMs, meeting the requirement for regional disaster recovery with automated startup.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 question wrong?
Review azure Site Recovery replicates Azure VMs to a secondary region., then practise related AZ-305 questions on the same topic to reinforce the concept.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Azure Site Recovery replicates Azure VMs to a secondary region.
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