AZ-305 Design infrastructure solutions Practice Question
You are designing a backup strategy for Azure virtual machines. The solution must support application-consistent backups for SQL Server databases running on the VMs. You need to ensure that backups are taken every 4 hours and retained for 30 days. What should you configure in Azure Backup?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse Azure SQL Backup (PaaS) with VM backup for SQL Server on IaaS, or they mistakenly think Azure Site Recovery can serve as a backup solution with retention, when it is only for replication and 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
✓
Configure a VM backup policy with 4-hour frequency and 30-day retention using the default backup extension.
Azure Backup's default VM backup extension (VMSnapshot) can achieve application-consistent backups for SQL Server by using Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to quiesce the database writes. You configure a VM backup policy with a 4-hour frequency and 30-day retention to meet the stated requirements, as this policy applies to the entire VM and ensures SQL Server databases are backed up consistently.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure Azure SQL Backup for the SQL Server databases.
Why it's wrong here
Azure SQL Backup is for Azure SQL databases, not SQL Server on VMs.
- ✓
Configure a VM backup policy with 4-hour frequency and 30-day retention using the default backup extension.
Why this is correct
VM backup policy supports application-consistent backups and custom schedules.
- ✗
Configure Azure Site Recovery replication policy with 4-hour frequency.
Why it's wrong here
Site Recovery is for disaster recovery, not backup.
- ✗
Configure Azure Backup for SAP HANA on the VM.
Why it's wrong here
This is specific to SAP HANA, not general SQL Server.
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