Plan and implement data platform resources →hardMultiple Choice

DP-300 Plan and implement data platform resources Practice Question

Exhibit

Refer to the exhibit.

```
RESOURCE GROUP: rg-sql-prod
LOCATION: eastus
SERVER NAME: sqlprod-server
DATABASE NAME: SalesDB
SERVICE TIER: BusinessCritical
COMPUTE: Gen5, 8 vCores
STORAGE: 500 GB
BACKUP STORAGE REDUNDANCY: Geo
ZONE REDUNDANCY: Enabled
```

You are evaluating the configuration of an Azure SQL Database as shown in the exhibit. You need to ensure that the database remains available during a zonal failure without data loss. Which feature contributes to this requirement?

⚠ Common exam trap

Many candidates confuse zone redundancy (which protects within a region) with geo-redundancy (which protects across regions), or assume that any service tier with high availability features (like General Purpose) can guarantee zero data loss during a zonal failure, when only the Business Critical tier with zone redundancy provides synchronous replication and automatic failover without data loss.

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

✓

Zone redundancy enabled on Business Critical tier.

Zone redundancy on the Business Critical tier ensures that database replicas are placed in different availability zones within the same Azure region. During a zonal failure, the service automatically fails over to a synchronous replica in another zone, guaranteeing zero data loss because all transactions are synchronously committed across replicas. This directly meets the requirement of remaining available without data loss during a zonal outage.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

✗
General Purpose service tier.
Why it's wrong here
General Purpose uses locally redundant storage by default, so a zonal failure takes the database offline; zone redundancy is a separate configuration within Business Critical or Premium tiers. It is tempting because General Purpose is the standard cost-effective tier for most production workloads, but it addresses compute sizing rather than zonal resilience.
✗
Read scale-out.
Why it's wrong here
Read scale-out routes read-only workloads to secondary replicas, but those replicas reside in the same zone as the primary, so a zonal outage still removes availability. It is tempting because it improves read throughput and offloads reporting queries, which is its actual purpose, but it provides no cross-zone failover or data-loss protection.
✗
Geo-redundant backup storage.
Why it's wrong here
Geo-redundant backup storage replicates backups to a paired region, protecting against regional disaster during restore, not against a zonal failure affecting the live database. It is tempting because it sounds like redundancy, but its purpose is backup durability for point-in-time restore, not continuous availability of the running database.
✓
Zone redundancy enabled on Business Critical tier.
Why this is correct
Zone redundancy on the Business Critical tier places the primary and secondary replicas across separate availability zones, so a zonal failure triggers failover to a synchronously committed replica with zero data loss. This satisfies the availability requirement during a zonal failure.

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DP-300 Plan and implement data platform resources Practice Question

Exhibit

Why each option matters

Option-by-option breakdown

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