DP-300 Practice Question: Plan and configure high availability and disaster recovery
You are the database administrator for a SQL Server 2019 instance on Azure Virtual Machines. The instance hosts a database that must be available during a planned operating system update that requires a restart of the virtual machine. You need to ensure that the database remains online with minimal downtime. What should you do?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is assuming that Azure Site Recovery or IaaS extension patching can avoid downtime, when only a high-availability solution like an availability group can keep the database online during a VM restart.
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 an Always On availability group with a synchronous secondary replica on a second VM.
To keep the database online during a planned OS update that requires a VM restart, you should use an Always On availability group with a synchronous secondary replica. Before restarting the primary VM, you manually fail over to the secondary, which becomes the new primary and keeps the database online. After the update, you can fail back. Other options either cause downtime or are not suitable for this scenario.
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 Azure Site Recovery for the virtual machine.
Why it's wrong here
Azure Site Recovery replicates the entire VM to another region for disaster recovery, but it does not provide automatic or manual failover for a database without significant downtime. Failover with ASR typically involves booting a new VM and may take minutes, not minimal downtime. It is not designed for planned OS updates with minimal database downtime.
- ✓
Configure an Always On availability group with a synchronous secondary replica on a second VM.
Why this is correct
An Always On availability group with a synchronous secondary replica allows you to perform a manual failover to the secondary before restarting the primary VM. The database remains online on the secondary, and after the primary VM restarts, you can fail back. This provides minimal downtime during the planned OS update, meeting the requirement.
- ✗
Use the SQL Server IaaS Agent extension to apply the update without restarting.
Why it's wrong here
The SQL Server IaaS Agent extension provides automated backup and patching features, but it cannot apply an operating system update without restarting the VM. OS updates that require a restart cannot be avoided. This option does not provide a way to keep the database online during the restart.
- ✗
Create a database snapshot and restore it after the update.
Why it's wrong here
A database snapshot is a read-only, point-in-time copy of the database. It cannot be used to keep the database online during a VM restart; the primary database would still be offline during the restart. Restoring from a snapshot would cause additional downtime and potential data loss. This does not meet the minimal downtime requirement.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Microsoft exam blueprint
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.