AZ-900 Describe Azure architecture and services Practice Question

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

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

• ✓

  Yes, you can select any Azure region as the target for replication.

  Why this is correct

  Azure Site Recovery (ASR) gives you full control over the target region: when you configure replication, you can select any Azure region where ASR is available and that supports the required VM size and storage types. Microsoft recommends paired regions for automatic failover alignment and reduced latency, but this is a best practice, not a mandate. You can even replicate to a region outside your home geography, provided your subscription has access and you account for data residency policies.

• ✗

  No, replication is only allowed to the paired region.

  Why it's wrong here

  This statement is false because ASR does not restrict you to the paired region. While Azure suggests a paired region as the default recovery target due to advantages like automatic platform maintenance alignment and lower network latency, this is only a recommendation to simplify configuration. In the Azure portal, you can manually choose any supported target region, so the paired region is never an enforced constraint for replication.

  When this WOULD be correct

  If the question specified that the company must use Azure Site Recovery's default settings and cannot modify the target region, then the recovery target would be limited to the paired region.

• ✗

  Yes, but only if both regions are within the same availability zone.

  Why it's wrong here

  This is incorrect because availability zones (AZs) are physically isolated datacenters within a single Azure region, not separate regions. ASR is designed to replicate workloads from one region to a second region for disaster recovery across a regional failure, not between zones inside the same region. If you need protection against zone failures, you would use zone-redundant services or zone-pinned deployments, not ASR replication, as the question involves two different regions.

  When this WOULD be correct

  This option would be correct if the question asked about replicating virtual machines within the same Azure region for high availability, where Azure Site Recovery supports replication across availability zones in the same region.

• ✗

  No, only to regions that are within the same geography.

  Why it's wrong here

  The claim is wrong because ASR does not limit target regions to the same geography as the source. A geography is a compliance boundary (e.g., US, Europe), but replication can be configured to any region in any geography, subject to target region availability and subscription access. That said, organizations may choose to stay within a geography to meet data residency, privacy, or compliance requirements, but that is a business decision, not an ASR technical limitation.

  When this WOULD be correct

  If the question were about Azure SQL Database geo-replication or Azure Storage geo-redundant storage (GRS), which require paired regions within the same geography for automatic failover, then 'only to regions within the same geography' would be correct.

Option-by-option analysis

Why each answer is right or wrong

Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The AZ-900 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.

Analysis generated from the official AZ-900blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”

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