DP-300 Azure SQL Managed Instance failover group Practice Question
You are a database administrator for a multinational corporation that uses Azure SQL Managed Instance. The instance is part of a failover group for disaster recovery. You need to automate the process of testing the failover group by performing a planned failover to the secondary region and then failing back. The test must be performed monthly during a maintenance window. The automation must ensure that the failover group is in a healthy state before and after the test and must log the results to a table. What should you do?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates may assume that T-SQL can be used to failover a failover group, but in Azure SQL Managed Instance, failover groups require Azure-level PowerShell or REST API.
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 Azure Automation runbook with PowerShell that uses the Az.Sql module to perform failover and log to a table.
Azure Automation runbooks can be scheduled to run monthly and use the Az.Sql module to perform a planned failover of the failover group and log results to a table. Although this relies on an external Azure service, it is the only viable option to automate failover for a failover group because T-SQL does not support failover group failover. Option A is incorrect because Elastic Database Jobs are not available for Managed Instance. Option C is incorrect because Data Factory is not designed for failover orchestration. Option D is incorrect because the ALTER AVAILABILITY GROUP command cannot be used to failover a failover group in Azure SQL Managed Instance; failover groups require Azure-level operations.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use Elastic Database Jobs to run T-SQL that initiates failover and logs results.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect because Elastic Database Jobs are not available for Azure SQL Managed Instance.
- ✓
Create an Azure Automation runbook with PowerShell that uses the Az.Sql module to perform failover and log to a table.
Why this is correct
Correct. Azure Automation runbooks can be scheduled to run monthly, use the Az.Sql module to perform planned failover and failback, and log results to a table. Although not entirely self-contained, it is the only viable option.
- ✗
Use Azure Data Factory to execute a stored procedure that performs failover.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect because Azure Data Factory is used for data integration and transformation, not for failover orchestration.
- ✗
Create a SQL Agent job with T-SQL that performs the planned failover using ALTER AVAILABILITY GROUP and logs the results to a table.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect because the ALTER AVAILABILITY GROUP command cannot be used to failover a failover group in Azure SQL Managed Instance; failover groups require Azure-level PowerShell or REST API.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Overview of Azure Data Platform Options
Key term
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Azure SQL Managed Instance is a fully managed cloud database service that gives you nearly all the features of Microsoft SQL Server on your own server, without you having to manage the hardware or operating system.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
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