- A
Use a General Purpose instance with a failover group to a secondary instance in a paired region.
Why wrong: General Purpose has asynchronous replication within the region, leading to higher data loss.
- B
Configure a zone-redundant Business Critical instance in East US only, without a geo-secondary.
Why wrong: Zone redundancy does not protect against a regional disaster.
- C
Deploy the primary instance as Business Critical with a zone-redundant secondary replica, and configure a failover group to a secondary instance in a paired region using Business Critical with a non-readable secondary.
This meets the RPO and RTO with minimal cost by avoiding an extra readable replica.
- D
Deploy the primary instance as Business Critical with a readable secondary replica, and configure a failover group to a secondary instance in a paired region using General Purpose.
Why wrong: General Purpose does not guarantee low RPO; also readable secondary adds cost unnecessarily.
Quick Answer
The answer is to deploy the primary instance as Business Critical with a zone-redundant secondary replica, and configure a failover group to a secondary instance in a paired region using Business Critical with a non-readable secondary. This configuration meets the Azure SQL Managed Instance disaster recovery RPO 10 seconds RTO 15 minutes requirement because the Business Critical tier provides synchronous commit within the primary region for zero data loss locally, while the failover group uses asynchronous geo-replication to the paired region, limiting data loss to under 10 seconds and enabling failover within 15 minutes. On the DP-300 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of service tier capabilities and failover group architecture, with a common trap being to select a readable secondary or General Purpose tier, which either increases cost unnecessarily or fails to guarantee the low RPO. Remember the mnemonic “Sync local, async global, skip the read” to recall that synchronous commit handles local durability, asynchronous geo-replication meets the RPO, and a non-readable secondary keeps costs down.
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.
Your company runs a mission-critical database on Azure SQL Managed Instance in the East US region. To comply with a new regulatory requirement, you must ensure that the database can be recovered within 15 minutes in the event of a regional disaster, with a maximum data loss of 10 seconds. You also need to minimize compute costs during normal operations. What should you configure?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue:
"minimum / minimize"Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
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
Deploy the primary instance as Business Critical with a zone-redundant secondary replica, and configure a failover group to a secondary instance in a paired region using Business Critical with a non-readable secondary.
Option A is correct because a failover group with a geo-secondary instance using the Business Critical service tier and a secondary replica that is not readable (no read scale-out) provides synchronous commit within the primary region and asynchronous geo-replication, meeting the RPO of 10 seconds and RTO of 15 minutes while minimizing cost by not using a readable secondary for read workloads. Option B is wrong because a readable secondary increases cost without benefit. Option C is wrong because General Purpose does not offer synchronous replication within the region, leading to higher data loss. Option D is wrong because zone-redundancy does not protect against regional failure.
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.
- ✗
Use a General Purpose instance with a failover group to a secondary instance in a paired region.
Why it's wrong here
General Purpose has asynchronous replication within the region, leading to higher data loss.
- ✗
Configure a zone-redundant Business Critical instance in East US only, without a geo-secondary.
Why it's wrong here
Zone redundancy does not protect against a regional disaster.
- ✓
Deploy the primary instance as Business Critical with a zone-redundant secondary replica, and configure a failover group to a secondary instance in a paired region using Business Critical with a non-readable secondary.
Why this is correct
This meets the RPO and RTO with minimal cost by avoiding an extra readable replica.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Deploy the primary instance as Business Critical with a readable secondary replica, and configure a failover group to a secondary instance in a paired region using General Purpose.
Why it's wrong here
General Purpose does not guarantee low RPO; also readable secondary adds cost unnecessarily.
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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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.
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Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery environment — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this DP-300 question test?
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: Deploy the primary instance as Business Critical with a zone-redundant secondary replica, and configure a failover group to a secondary instance in a paired region using Business Critical with a non-readable secondary. — Option A is correct because a failover group with a geo-secondary instance using the Business Critical service tier and a secondary replica that is not readable (no read scale-out) provides synchronous commit within the primary region and asynchronous geo-replication, meeting the RPO of 10 seconds and RTO of 15 minutes while minimizing cost by not using a readable secondary for read workloads. Option B is wrong because a readable secondary increases cost without benefit. Option C is wrong because General Purpose does not offer synchronous replication within the region, leading to higher data loss. Option D is wrong because zone-redundancy does not protect against regional failure.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "minimum / minimize". Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more ways this is tested on DP-300
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. Your company has an Azure SQL Managed Instance in the General Purpose tier. You need to configure a failover group for disaster recovery. The secondary managed instance must be in a different region and must also be used for read-only workloads. During a failover, you want to minimize data loss. Which configuration should you use?
hard- A.Enable zone redundancy on the primary and secondary instances.
- ✓ B.Create a failover group and configure the secondary instance to allow read-only connections.
- C.Configure log shipping between the primary and secondary instances.
- D.Use active geo-replication instead of a failover group.
Why B: Option C is correct because failover groups support readable secondary by default, and you can configure the secondary to be used for read-only queries by setting the connection string with ApplicationIntent=ReadOnly. Option A (zone redundancy) is not for geo-DR. Option B (active geo-replication) is not supported for managed instances. Option D (log shipping) is not built-in.
Last reviewed: Jun 21, 2026
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.
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