DP-300 Plan and implement data platform resources Practice Question
You are designing a disaster recovery strategy for an Azure SQL Database that requires a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of less than 5 seconds and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of less than 1 hour. Which option should you choose?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse auto-failover groups (Option A) with active geo-replication, assuming automatic failover always provides a better RTO, but the question's strict RPO of less than 5 seconds and the need for manual control make active geo-replication the correct choice, as auto-failover groups introduce additional latency and automatic detection delays that can push RTO beyond 1 hour.
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
✓
Use active geo-replication and plan manual failover.
Active geo-replication provides a continuous replication stream with an RPO of less than 5 seconds and supports manual failover, which can achieve an RTO of less than 1 hour when the failover is initiated promptly. This option meets the strict RPO and RTO requirements by maintaining a readable secondary in a different Azure region that is kept nearly synchronized with the primary.
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 auto-failover groups with read-write failover policy.
Why it's wrong here
Auto-failover groups provide RPO less than 5 seconds but RTO may be up to 1 hour with automatic failover; however, the RTO requirement is less than 1 hour, but manual failover with active geo-replication is more predictable.
- ✗
Use geo-restore from geo-redundant backups.
Why it's wrong here
Geo-restore has RPO of 1 hour and RTO of several hours, not meeting requirements.
- ✓
Use active geo-replication and plan manual failover.
Why this is correct
Active geo-replication provides RPO less than 5 seconds and manual failover can achieve RTO of less than 1 hour.
- ✗
Use long-term retention (LTR) backups with daily frequency.
Why it's wrong here
LTR backups have RPO of 1 day, not meeting the requirement.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Overview of Azure Data Platform Options
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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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DP-300 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the DP-300 exam.