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Design business continuity solutions →hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

AZ-305 Design business continuity solutions Practice Question

Exhibit

{
  "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
  "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
  "resources": [
    {
      "type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts",
      "apiVersion": "2023-01-01",
      "name": "mystorageaccount",
      "location": "[resourceGroup().location]",
      "sku": {
        "name": "Standard_GRS",
        "tier": "Standard"
      },
      "kind": "StorageV2",
      "properties": {
        "accessTier": "Hot",
        "supportsHttpsTrafficOnly": true
      }
    }
  ]
}

Refer to the exhibit. You deploy this ARM template to create a storage account in the West US region. The business continuity requirement states that if the primary region becomes unavailable, the storage account must be readable within 1 hour. What is the most important limitation of this configuration?

⚠ Common exam trap

Many candidates confuse GRS with RA-GRS, assuming that geo-redundant replication automatically provides read access to the secondary region, when in fact only RA-GRS offers that capability without manual failover.

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

✓

The storage account does not support read access in the secondary region, so manual failover is required, which may exceed the 1-hour RTO

The ARM template configures GRS (Geo-Redundant Storage), which replicates data to a secondary region but does not provide read access to that data unless a manual failover is initiated. Without read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS), the storage account cannot be read in the secondary region within 1 hour of a primary region outage, as manual failover requires user intervention and may take longer than the RTO. The business continuity requirement demands readability within 1 hour, which is not guaranteed with standard GRS.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

  • ✓

    The storage account does not support read access in the secondary region, so manual failover is required, which may exceed the 1-hour RTO

    Why this is correct

    This is correct because the ARM template likely creates an Azure Storage account with GRS (Geo-Redundant Storage), which does not provide read access to the secondary region—that capability requires RA-GRS (Read-Access Geo-Redundant Storage). GRS only asynchronously replicates data to the paired secondary region, so you must perform a manual account failover to promote the secondary to primary. This manual failover can take several hours (often 2–3+ hours) depending on Azure's workload, exceeding the 1-hour RTO specified. Since the secondary is not readable before failover, you cannot meet recovery objectives without a separate, active second-region copy.

  • ✗

    The storage account uses GRS, which replicates data only to a secondary region within the same geography, not to a different region

    Why it's wrong here

    This statement is incorrect because GRS does replicate to a different Azure region—specifically the paired secondary region within the same geography (e.g., East US to West US, or North Europe to West Europe). The option confuses 'same geography' with 'same region'; GRS always copies data asynchronously to a separate secondary region, not just to another datacenter within the primary region. So the claimed flaw (only replicating within the same geography, not another region) is false, as the paired secondary is a distinctly different region. Therefore this is not a valid reason to fail the failover requirement.

  • ✗

    The storage account only supports HTTPS traffic, which blocks replication

    Why it's wrong here

    This is wrong because the 'HTTPS only' setting (secure transfer required) on a storage account governs client-facing API calls over the public endpoint; it has no impact on Azure's internal replication plane. Replication between the primary and secondary region is performed by Azure's storage backend over its own private, secure network, independent of the account's secure-transfer configuration. Even with HTTPS enforced, data is still asynchronously replicated to the secondary region for GRS/RA-GRS. Therefore, the secure transfer setting cannot block or prevent replication, so this option does not explain the RTO issue.

  • ✗

    The storage account is configured with the Hot access tier, which prevents failover

    Why it's wrong here

    This is incorrect because the Hot access tier is a blob-level or account-level pricing/performance tier (Hot/Cool/Cold) that affects storage costs and access latency, not the replication or failover capability of the storage account. Account failover is governed by the replication type (GRS/RA-GRS or GZRS/RA-GZRS) and account kind, not by which access tier is configured. Hot-tier storage accounts with GRS still support the same manual failover behavior and same RTO constraints as Cool-tier accounts. Consequently, the access tier has no effect on whether failover is possible or how long it takes, making this option invalid.

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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security

Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva

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