The answer is that the configuration is invalid because the General Purpose tier cannot be zone-redundant. Zone redundancy for Azure SQL Database is only supported on the Premium and Business Critical service tiers, as it requires a higher level of infrastructure isolation and synchronous replication to maintain availability across zones. Setting zoneRedundant to true on a General Purpose database creates an unsupported configuration, regardless of other settings like highAvailabilityReplicaCount or backup storage redundancy. On the DP-300 exam, this tests your understanding of service tier capabilities and common misconfigurations in JSON templates, often appearing as a trap where candidates overlook the tier restriction. A useful memory tip is to think of zone redundancy as a premium feature—General Purpose is for cost-effective, zone-agnostic workloads, so if you see zoneRedundant: true, check the tier first.
DP-300 Practice Question: Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery environment
This DP-300 practice question tests your understanding of plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery environment. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
You are reviewing a JSON configuration for an Azure SQL Database. The exhibit shows the database properties. Which statement about this database is correct?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The configuration is invalid because General Purpose tier cannot be zone-redundant.
Option C is correct because zoneRedundant is set to true, which requires a premium service tier. General Purpose (GP) does not support zone redundancy. The configuration is invalid. Option A is wrong because GP does not support zone redundancy. Option B is wrong because highAvailabilityReplicaCount is 0, not 1. Option D is wrong because backupStorageRedundancy is Geo, which is valid.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
The database has one high-availability replica.
Why it's wrong here
highAvailabilityReplicaCount is 0.
✓
The configuration is invalid because General Purpose tier cannot be zone-redundant.
Why this is correct
Zone redundancy is only supported in Business Critical and Premium tiers.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
The database uses locally-redundant backup storage.
Why it's wrong here
BackupStorageRedundancy is Geo, not Local.
✗
The database is in General Purpose tier and supports zone redundancy.
Why it's wrong here
General Purpose does not support zone redundancy.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
→Underline the problem statement mentally.
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this DP-300 question in full detail.
Identify which DP-300 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery environment — This question tests Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery environment — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: The configuration is invalid because General Purpose tier cannot be zone-redundant. — Option C is correct because zoneRedundant is set to true, which requires a premium service tier. General Purpose (GP) does not support zone redundancy. The configuration is invalid. Option A is wrong because GP does not support zone redundancy. Option B is wrong because highAvailabilityReplicaCount is 0, not 1. Option D is wrong because backupStorageRedundancy is Geo, which is valid.
What should I do if I get this DP-300 question wrong?
Identify which DP-300 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
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These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. Which TWO of the following are valid reasons to use zone-redundant configuration for Azure SQL Database? (Choose Two.)
medium
A.Reduce read latency for globally distributed users.
B.Automatic failover to a paired region.
✓ C.Protection against a single availability zone failure within a region.
D.Protection against a regional disaster.
✓ E.Higher availability compared to a single zone deployment.
Why C: Options B and D are correct. Zone-redundant configuration protects against failures within a region at the zone level (B) and provides higher availability than single-zone deployment (D). Option A is incorrect because zone redundancy does not protect against region-wide outages. Option C is incorrect because it does not reduce latency. Option E is incorrect because it does not provide geo-replication, only zonal redundancy.
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Question Discussion
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