DP-300 Practice Question: Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery environment
You have an Azure SQL Database configured with active geo-replication to a secondary region. The primary region experiences a full outage. You need to fail over with minimal data loss. What should you do?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is confusing planned failover (for maintenance) with unplanned failover (for outages), or attempting to create new resources during an outage.
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
✓
Initiate an unplanned failover from the primary to the secondary.
Initiating an unplanned failover from the primary to the secondary is the correct action because the primary region is experiencing a full outage, and unplanned failover is designed for such disaster scenarios. It promotes the secondary database to become the new primary with minimal data loss, typically within the recovery point objective (RPO).
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Initiate an unplanned failover from the primary to the secondary.
Why this is correct
Unplanned failover immediately promotes the geo-secondary to primary without waiting for the primary to recover, accepting the small replication lag as potential data loss. This is the only option that restores write availability during a full regional outage with minimal loss.
- ✗
Delete the secondary database and create a new one in the primary region.
Why it's wrong here
Deleting the secondary removes the only replica, leaving no failover target and destroying the recovery path. It is tempting because recreating databases is routine when reconfiguring replication topology, and would be correct when retiring an obsolete replica after the primary is healthy again.
- ✗
Initiate a planned failover from the primary to the secondary.
Why it's wrong here
A planned failover requires both primary and secondary online, so it cannot run during a full regional outage. It is tempting because planned failover guarantees zero data loss by synchronising before switching, and would be correct for scheduled maintenance or drills while the primary remains reachable.
- ✗
Create a new secondary database in the same region as the primary.
Why it's wrong here
Creating a secondary in the failed primary region provides no failover target and cannot restore service. It is tempting because adding a replica is the normal way to increase redundancy, and would be correct when provisioning geo-replication initially or rebuilding after the outage is resolved.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Securing Data at Rest and in Transit
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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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.