The correct answer is Always On Availability Groups (built-in) and zone-redundant deployment for the Business Critical tier. Azure SQL Managed Instance uses built-in Always On Availability Groups technology as its core high availability mechanism, automatically replicating data across multiple replicas within a cluster to provide automatic failover with no additional licensing cost. Zone-redundant deployment extends this protection by distributing these replicas across different Azure availability zones within the same region, safeguarding against an entire datacenter failure. On the DP-300 exam, this question tests your understanding of which high availability features are native to the managed instance platform versus those you must configure manually—a common trap is confusing manual Availability Group setup with the built-in, always-on technology. Remember that in Azure SQL Managed Instance, high availability is automatic and built into the service, not something you build yourself. A helpful memory tip: think of “built-in” as the default safety net, and “zone-redundant” as the geographic safety net.
DP-300 Plan and implement data platform resources Practice Question
This DP-300 practice question tests your understanding of plan and implement data platform resources. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which TWO of the following are supported high availability features in Azure SQL Managed Instance?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Zone-redundant deployment for Business Critical tier
Option A is correct because Azure SQL Managed Instance supports zone-redundant deployment for the Business Critical tier, which replicates the database across multiple Azure availability zones within the same region to protect against datacenter-level failures. Option C is correct because Azure SQL Managed Instance has built-in Always On Availability Groups technology that provides automatic failover and high availability at no additional cost, leveraging a quorum-based cluster under the hood.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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 deployment for Business Critical tier
Why this is correct
Correct: Managed Instance Business Critical tier supports zone redundancy.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Database mirroring
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: Database mirroring is deprecated and not supported.
✓
Always On Availability Groups (built-in)
Why this is correct
Correct: Managed Instance uses Always On technology for high availability.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Log shipping to a secondary instance
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: Log shipping is not supported in Managed Instance.
✗
Windows Server Failover Clustering
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: Failover clustering is not exposed to users; it's managed internally.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse on-premises SQL Server high availability features (like database mirroring, log shipping, or manual Windows clustering) with the fully managed, built-in capabilities of Azure SQL Managed Instance, leading them to select unsupported legacy options.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, Azure SQL Managed Instance's built-in Always On Availability Groups use a distributed availability group model with automatic failover, where each replica is a full copy of the database with synchronous data replication. The zone-redundant deployment for Business Critical tier places replicas in different availability zones, each with independent power, cooling, and networking, achieving a recovery point objective (RPO) of zero and a recovery time objective (RTO) of less than 30 seconds during a zone outage. In a real-world scenario, a regional disaster would still require geo-replication or failover groups for cross-region recovery, as zone redundancy only protects within a single region.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this DP-300 question in full detail.
Plan and implement data platform resources — This question tests Plan and implement data platform resources — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Zone-redundant deployment for Business Critical tier — Option A is correct because Azure SQL Managed Instance supports zone-redundant deployment for the Business Critical tier, which replicates the database across multiple Azure availability zones within the same region to protect against datacenter-level failures. Option C is correct because Azure SQL Managed Instance has built-in Always On Availability Groups technology that provides automatic failover and high availability at no additional cost, leveraging a quorum-based cluster under the hood.
What should I do if I get this DP-300 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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