DP-300 Practice Question: Plan and configure high availability and disaster recovery
A company runs SQL Server 2019 on Azure Virtual Machines in an availability set. They need to achieve high availability for a critical database with automatic failover and no shared storage. The solution must minimize downtime during planned maintenance. What should they implement?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse Failover Cluster Instances (which require shared storage) with Always On Availability Groups (which do not), or they overlook that Database Mirroring is deprecated and lacks the listener feature for seamless client redirection.
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
✓
Create an Always On Availability Group with an availability group listener
An Always On Availability Group (AG) with a listener provides high availability with automatic failover at the database level without requiring shared storage. This solution meets the requirement for automatic failover and minimizes downtime during planned maintenance by allowing manual failover to a synchronized secondary replica with minimal disruption.
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 Log Shipping to a secondary VM
Why it's wrong here
Log shipping requires manual failover, not automatic.
- ✗
Deploy a Failover Cluster Instance using Azure Shared Disks
Why it's wrong here
Requires shared storage, which is not desired.
- ✓
Create an Always On Availability Group with an availability group listener
Why this is correct
Always On AG provides automatic failover and no shared storage.
- ✗
Use Database Mirroring with automatic failover
Why it's wrong here
Database mirroring is deprecated and not recommended.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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