Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies (AZ-300) Practice Exam

How often can failovers occur in Azure Storage replication scenarios?

1. Only during scheduled downtime

2. Automatically and transparently

3. Manually configured by users

4. Only for geographic disasters

The correct answer is: Automatically and transparently

In Azure Storage replication scenarios, failovers can occur automatically and transparently as part of the service's design to ensure high availability and resilience. Azure Storage uses various replication strategies, such as Read-Access Geo-Redundant Storage (RA-GRS), which enables the service to automatically failover to the secondary region in case the primary region becomes unavailable. This automatic failover mechanism minimizes downtime and ensures that applications can continue to function seamlessly, thus providing a robust solution for data protection and disaster recovery. The ability to transparently manage failovers without user intervention is a critical advantage of using Azure Storage. Users benefit from improved reliability, as the system can respond to unplanned outages without requiring administrative action. Other scenarios, such as scheduled downtime or user-configured manual failovers, do not apply to the automatic failover process provided by Azure Storage replication, as these actions require more planning and are not part of the transparent operational model of the service. Geographic disaster failovers are handled automatically as well, but they represent only a subset of the broader capabilities that Azure provides for failovers.