Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery environment →easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
DP-300 Practice Question: Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery environment
You are responsible for the disaster recovery of an Azure SQL Database that supports a customer-facing application. The database is 50 GB and uses the General Purpose service tier. The application requires an RPO of 1 hour and an RTO of 2 hours. The company has a limited budget and wants to minimize costs. You need to recommend a DR solution that meets the requirements without incurring additional compute costs for a secondary database. Which option should you choose?
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 point-in-time restore (PITR) with geo-redundant backup storage.
Point-in-time restore (PITR) using geo-redundant backup storage provides disaster recovery without requiring a secondary database, thus avoiding additional compute costs. Geo-redundant backups are automatically stored in a paired region, so in the event of a regional outage, you can restore the database to any point within the backup retention period (typically up to 35 days). For a 50 GB database, the RTO of 2 hours is achievable, and the RPO of 1 hour is satisfied because backups are taken every 5-10 minutes. Option A (active geo-replication) would incur compute costs for a readable secondary database. Option C (zone redundancy) provides high availability within a region, not cross-region DR. Option D (failover group with a secondary) also requires a secondary database costing compute resources.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Enable active geo-replication to a secondary database in a different region.
Why it's wrong here
This requires compute costs for the secondary, which the company wants to avoid.
- ✓
Use point-in-time restore (PITR) with geo-redundant backup storage.
Why this is correct
PITR does not require a secondary database; it restores from backups, minimizing costs.
- ✗
Enable zone redundancy on the primary database.
Why it's wrong here
Zone redundancy protects against datacentre-level failure within a single region, but does not provide any cross-region failover capability; the RPO of 1 hour and RTO of 2 hours require a geo-replicated solution such as active geo-replication or failover groups, which this option lacks. It is tempting because zone redundancy is a low-cost, no-secondary-compute feature that improves availability for regional outages, and would be correct if the requirement were only for intra-region resilience rather than a full disaster recovery across Azure regions.
- ✗
Configure a failover group with a secondary in a different region.
Why it's wrong here
Failover groups also incur compute costs for the secondary.
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.