DP-300 Practice Question: Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery environment
Which THREE are valid methods to implement disaster recovery for Azure SQL Database? (Select three.)
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
✓
Failover groups
Options A, C, and E are correct. Failover groups and active geo-replication are built-in disaster recovery features for Azure SQL Database that allow failover to a secondary region. Geo-restore (point-in-time restore to a different region) is also a valid DR method by restoring from geo-replicated backups. Option B (Always On availability groups) is a feature for SQL Server on VMs or on-premises, not for Azure SQL Database. Option D (long-term backup retention) is a backup retention capability, not a disaster recovery method.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Failover groups
Why this is correct
Failover groups provide automatic geo-replication and a listener endpoint, letting you redirect connections to a secondary server in another region without changing connection strings. This satisfies the disaster recovery requirement by enabling rapid recovery from a regional Azure SQL Database outage.
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Always On availability groups
Why it's wrong here
Always On availability groups are a SQL Server and Azure SQL Managed Instance feature; Azure SQL Database does not expose them. It is tempting because they deliver synchronous replicas and listener-based failover, which is exactly what Managed Instance offers instead.
- ✓
Active geo-replication
Why this is correct
Active geo-replication creates up to four readable secondary databases in different Azure regions, enabling manual failover to any replica. This satisfies the stem's disaster recovery requirement by providing cross-region redundancy with asynchronous replication, allowing recovery from a regional outage without relying on backup restoration.
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Long-term backup retention
Why it's wrong here
Long-term retention stores copies for compliance archival, not for failover; it cannot serve queries during an outage. It is tempting because backups underpin recovery, but geo-restore and active geo-replication provide the actual regional failover this scenario requires.
- ✓
Geo-restore (point-in-time restore)
Why this is correct
Geo-restore rebuilds a database from a geo-redundant backup onto a server in a paired Azure region, satisfying the disaster recovery requirement when the primary region is unavailable. Unlike failover groups, it restores to any region and accepts a point-in-time target, though recovery time is measured in hours.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Migrating On-Premises Databases to Azure
Key term
Azure SQL Performance Tuning
Azure SQL Performance Tuning is the process of optimizing the speed and efficiency of queries and database operations in Microsoft Azure SQL Database or SQL Managed Instance to reduce latency and improve throughput.
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