DP-300 Plan and implement data platform resources Practice Question
You are designing a new Azure SQL Database deployment for a mission-critical application. The application requires 99.99% availability SLA, automated failover within 30 seconds, and read-scale capability for reporting. Which tier and configuration should you choose?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse 'read-scale' with 'geo-replication read-only secondary' — only Business Critical and Hyperscale offer a built-in readable secondary replica, while General Purpose requires a separate geo-replicated secondary for read-only access, which does not meet the 30-second failover requirement.
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
✓
Business Critical with zone redundancy and a failover group
Business Critical with zone redundancy and a failover group meets all requirements: 99.99% SLA (supported by zone-redundant Business Critical), automated failover within 30 seconds (failover groups provide automatic, fast failover across regions), and read-scale capability (Business Critical includes a readable secondary replica).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Business Critical with zone redundancy and a failover group
Why this is correct
Business Critical provides zone-redundant high availability, automatic failover, and readable secondaries for reporting.
- ✗
General Purpose serverless with geo-replication
Why it's wrong here
Serverless is not for mission-critical, and geo-replication does not provide automatic failover within 30 seconds.
- ✗
General Purpose with active geo-replication and read-scale
Why it's wrong here
General Purpose does not have readable secondaries; active geo-replication does not guarantee 30-second failover.
- ✗
Hyperscale with zone redundancy enabled
Why it's wrong here
Hyperscale does not support zone redundancy for high availability regarding Business Critical.
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.
Key term
Azure SQL Database Deployment
Azure SQL Database Deployment is the process of creating and configuring a fully managed relational database in the Microsoft Azure cloud using SQL Server engine, without managing the underlying infrastructure.
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JA
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.