SC-100 Cross-Region Restore Practice Question
You are designing a backup strategy for Azure virtual machines using Azure Backup. The solution must support cross-region restore and provide 10 years of retention for compliance. Which THREE features should you enable? (Choose THREE.)
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
✓
Cross-Region Restore
Option A (Cross-Region Restore) is correct because it is the Azure Backup feature that enables restoring data from a secondary, paired Azure region when the primary region's backup data is unavailable, directly satisfying the cross-region restore requirement. Option D (Immutable vault) is correct because enabling immutability on the Recovery Services vault prevents backup data from being deleted or modified before its retention period expires, which is essential for meeting the 10-year compliance retention requirement. Option E (Archive Tier) is correct because Azure Backup's archive tier supports long-term retention of recovery points for up to 10 years at lower cost, matching the compliance retention duration. Option B (Azure Site Recovery replication) is not a backup feature but a disaster-recovery orchestration service for replicating and failing over VMs, so it does not provide the required backup retention or cross-region restore of backup data. Option C (Soft Delete) only provides a 14-day grace period to recover deleted backup data and does not deliver cross-region restore or 10-year retention, so it does not meet the stated requirements.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Cross-Region Restore
Why this is correct
Cross-Region Restore enables you to restore backup data to a paired Azure region, providing a robust disaster recovery posture when the primary region is unavailable. It is a critical component of a comprehensive backup strategy, as it ensures business continuity and geographic resilience for your VMs. While it does not directly address long-term retention, it complements immutable vault and Archive Tier by guaranteeing that your backup data is accessible even in a regional failure scenario.
- ✗
Azure Site Recovery replication
Why it's wrong here
Azure Site Recovery replication is a disaster recovery solution that continuously replicates your VMs to a secondary Azure region to meet recovery point and time objectives during an outage. It is not a backup service, as it maintains only short-lived recovery points (typically hours to days) and does not offer compliance-grade long-term retention or immutable storage. Therefore, it cannot satisfy a 10-year backup retention requirement.
- ✗
Soft Delete
Why it's wrong here
Soft Delete safeguards your backup data by retaining deleted backups for a grace period (default 14 days) so they can be recovered after accidental deletion. However, it is a security and recoverability feature, not a retention solution—it does not extend the retention duration beyond the configured backup policy, nor does it provide archiving or WORM protection. Consequently, Soft Delete alone cannot meet a 10-year retention requirement and is not the primary answer.
- ✓
Immutable vault
Why this is correct
Immutable vault provides a Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) protection state for your backup data, ensuring that backups cannot be deleted, overwritten, or altered by anyone—including Azure administrators—for a user-defined retention period. This immutability is essential for meeting regulatory compliance and legal hold requirements, and it directly supports long-term retention plans, including a 10-year horizon. As the backbone of a secure backup architecture, it is the correct answer for achieving unalterable, long-term backup storage.
- ✓
Archive Tier
Why this is correct
Archive Tier is a cold storage layer within the Azure Backup vault that is optimized for cost-effective, long-term retention of backups that are infrequently accessed. You can retain backups in the Archive Tier for up to 10 years, making it an ideal choice for compliance-driven retention policies while minimizing storage costs. Note that Archive Tier alone does not provide immutability, but it is a valid option when paired with immutable vault settings to meet both cost and security requirements.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SC-100 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 SC-100 exam.