AZ-900 Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage (GZRS) Practice Question
Which Azure storage redundancy option provides the highest durability by replicating data across two paired Azure regions?
⚠ Common exam trap
Do not assume GRS is less durable than GZRS. Both GRS and GZRS offer the same 16 nines durability by replicating to a paired secondary region; GZRS adds availability-zone redundancy in the primary region, increasing availability, not durability.
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
✓
Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS)
Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage (GZRS) replicates data synchronously across three Azure availability zones in the primary region and then asynchronously to a paired secondary region, providing 16 nines (99.99999999999999%) durability against both zonal failures and regional outages. Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) also replicates to a paired secondary region and provides the same 16 nines durability, so both GRS and GZRS are correct for the highest durability among these options. GZRS adds zone-redundancy within the primary region, which improves read/write availability, but it does not exceed GRS in durability.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS)
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) replicates data synchronously across availability zones within a single region, but does not replicate across paired regions, so it does not provide the highest durability among options that cross regions.
- ✗
Locally Redundant Storage (LRS)
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Locally Redundant Storage (LRS) replicates data three times within a single data center in one region, offering the lowest durability (11 nines) and no protection against region-wide failures.
- ✓
Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS)
Why this is correct
Incorrect. Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) replicates data across paired regions but within the primary region it only uses LRS, offering 12 nines durability. This is less durable than GZRS, which adds zone-redundancy in the primary region.
- ✓
Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage (GZRS)
Why this is correct
Correct. Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage (GZRS) replicates data across availability zones in the primary region (synchronously) and then asynchronously to a paired secondary region, achieving 16 nines durability—the highest among the options.
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Related to this question
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Azure Blob Storage
Key term
Availability
Availability is the measure of how often a system or service is operational and accessible when needed, typically expressed as a percentage of uptime.
Key term
Azure Storage
Azure Storage is Microsoft's cloud-based service for storing data like files, messages, and backups with high durability and scalability.
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Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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