Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery environment →hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
DP-300 Auto-failover groups Practice Question
You are the database administrator for a global e-commerce company that runs its critical order processing system on Azure SQL Database. The database is currently deployed as a single database in the West US region using the Business Critical service tier (4 vCores, 320 GB storage). The application requires a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of no more than 5 seconds and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of no more than 30 seconds in the event of a regional outage. The secondary region must be in East Asia. The solution must also handle planned failovers for maintenance without data loss. You need to configure high availability and disaster recovery to meet these requirements with the lowest possible latency for writes. What should you do?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates may think synchronous replication is needed for low RPO, but Azure SQL Database does not support synchronous geo-replication. Asynchronous replication with auto-failover groups can achieve RPO of 5 seconds.
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
✓
Configure auto-failover groups with read-scale failover. Deploy a readable secondary in East Asia using the Business Critical tier. Set the failover policy to automatic.
Auto-failover groups with a readable secondary in East Asia using Business Critical tier provide automatic failover meeting RTO of 30 seconds, and asynchronous geo-replication typically achieves RPO of 5 seconds for Azure SQL Database. The readable secondary can also handle read-only workloads. This configuration offers the lowest write latency since writes are acknowledged locally without waiting for cross-region synchronization. Option A is incorrect because geo-restore has RPO of 1 hour and RTO of several hours. Option B is incorrect because zone redundancy is intra-region and Traffic Manager does not ensure RPO/RTO. Option D is incorrect because active geo-replication is asynchronous, not synchronous, and synchronous cross-region replication is not supported; it would increase write latency.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure geo-restore of the database to the East Asia region. Enable auto-failover groups with manual failover.
Why it's wrong here
Geo-restore has high RPO and RTO, unsuitable.
- ✗
Deploy the database as a zone-redundant configuration within West US. Use Azure Traffic Manager to redirect traffic to a secondary database in East Asia.
Why it's wrong here
Zone redundancy is not DR across regions.
- ✓
Configure auto-failover groups with read-scale failover. Deploy a readable secondary in East Asia using the Business Critical tier. Set the failover policy to automatic.
Why this is correct
Correct because auto-failover groups with readable secondary in East Asia meet RPO and RTO with minimal write latency.
- ✗
Create a failover group with an active geo-replication secondary in East Asia. Set the failover policy to automatic with a grace period of 1 hour. Ensure the secondary is configured for synchronous commit.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect because active geo-replication is asynchronous, synchronous cross-region replication is not supported, and it would increase latency.
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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.