Azure SQL Database High Availability Strategies
Which TWO of the following are valid options to achieve high availability for Azure SQL Database? (Choose two.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse the high availability features of Azure SQL Database (PaaS) with those of SQL Server on Azure VMs (IaaS), mistakenly selecting Always On availability groups or manual failover options that are not applicable to the managed service.
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
✓
Deploy a zone-redundant Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Database offers zone-redundant configuration that automatically replicates databases across multiple Azure Availability Zones within the same region, providing an SLA of 99.995% uptime. This built-in high availability feature uses quorum-based commit and automatic failover without any manual intervention, ensuring data durability and business continuity during zone-level failures.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Deploy a single database with locally redundant storage (LRS)
Why it's wrong here
Locally redundant storage (LRS) replicates a database's storage three times within a single physical datacenter, protecting only against drive-level failures. It does not protect against an availability zone or datacenter outage, and a single Azure SQL Database with LRS has no automatic failover to another compute replica. Consequently, LRS provides no high availability within a region and is not a valid choice for this requirement.
- ✓
Deploy a zone-redundant Azure SQL Database
Why this is correct
A zone-redundant Azure SQL Database automatically replicates both compute and storage across multiple availability zones within the same region. This configuration provides an availability SLA of 99.995% and enables transparent failover to another zone without any application changes. It is a valid, supported option for achieving high availability within a single Azure region.
- ✗
Configure manual failover to a secondary replica in the same region
Why it's wrong here
Manual failover to a secondary replica in the same region is not a valid option because Azure SQL Database does not expose a secondary replica for a single database unless you configure active geo-replication to a different region. The built-in high availability within a region is fully automatic and cannot be manually invoked or directed to a specific same-region replica. Therefore, manual failover to a same-region secondary is simply not supported.
- ✗
Configure SQL Server Always On availability groups
Why it's wrong here
SQL Server Always On availability groups are a feature of SQL Server deployed on Azure VMs or on-premises, requiring you to manage Windows Server Failover Clustering and replica synchronization. Azure SQL Database is a Platform-as-a-Service offering where high availability is built into the service and managed by Microsoft, so you cannot configure Always On availability groups for it. This option is not applicable to Azure SQL Database.
- ✓
Configure active geo-replication to a secondary database in a different region
Why this is correct
Active geo-replication creates a readable secondary database in a different Azure region and asynchronously replicates changes from the primary. This enables both cross-region high availability and disaster recovery, and you can manually fail over to the secondary or use a failover group for automatic failover. It is a valid option for achieving high availability, though it provides regional resilience rather than intra-region resilience.
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