DP-900 Practice Question: Identify considerations for relational data on Azure
This DP-900 practice question tests your understanding of identify considerations for relational data on azure. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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.
A company uses Azure SQL Database with geo-replication for disaster recovery. During a regional outage, they manually failover to the secondary region. After the primary region is restored, they need to re-establish geo-replication with minimal downtime. What should they do?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "primary"
Why it matters: Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Initiate a planned failover to switch back to the original region
After a manual failover to the secondary region, the original primary becomes a secondary database. To re-establish geo-replication with minimal downtime, you should initiate a planned failover (also called a graceful failover) to switch back to the original region. This operation reverses the roles without data loss and avoids the need to reseed the database, keeping downtime to seconds.
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.
✓
Initiate a planned failover to switch back to the original region
Why this is correct
A planned failover will switch roles with no data loss and re-establish geo-replication.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "primary" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Drop the secondary database and create a new one
Why it's wrong here
Dropping the secondary would lose the replica and require re-seeding.
✗
Delete the geo-replication link and create a new one
Why it's wrong here
Deleting the link would require re-seeding, causing downtime.
✗
Manually swap the roles of the primary and secondary
Why it's wrong here
Roles are swapped via failover, not manual swap.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse the initial failover (which may be forced) with the recovery process, assuming they must recreate the geo-replication link or drop the database, when in fact a planned failover cleanly reverses the roles with minimal downtime.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Geo-replication in Azure SQL Database uses asynchronous replication with a configurable RPO of up to 5 seconds. A planned failover (ALTER DATABASE ... FAILOVER) ensures all committed transactions are replicated before switching roles, guaranteeing zero data loss. In contrast, an unplanned failover (ALTER DATABASE ... FORCE_FAILOVER_ALLOW_DATA_LOSS) may lose data but is used during disasters. The planned failover is the correct method to re-establish geo-replication after a manual failover because it preserves the replication topology and avoids reseeding.
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.
TExam Day Tips
→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 company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this DP-900 question in full detail.
Identify considerations for relational data on Azure — This question tests Identify considerations for relational data on Azure — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Initiate a planned failover to switch back to the original region — After a manual failover to the secondary region, the original primary becomes a secondary database. To re-establish geo-replication with minimal downtime, you should initiate a planned failover (also called a graceful failover) to switch back to the original region. This operation reverses the roles without data loss and avoids the need to reseed the database, keeping downtime to seconds.
What should I do if I get this DP-900 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "primary". Asks for the main purpose or function, not a secondary benefit. Eliminate answers that describe side-effects or partial functions.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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