Microsoft Azure Architect Design (AZ-301) Practice Exam

For a finance application requiring a 10-minute recovery time objective (RTO), which Azure service should be recommended for business continuity?

1. Azure Backup only

2. Azure Site Recovery and Azure Backup

3. Azure Site Recovery only

4. Azure Backup and storage accounts

The correct answer is: Azure Site Recovery and Azure Backup

In scenarios where a finance application requires a 10-minute recovery time objective (RTO), the recommended approach is to utilize both Azure Site Recovery and Azure Backup. Azure Site Recovery is specifically designed for business continuity and disaster recovery. It allows for the orchestration and replication of workloads from one Azure region to another or from on-premises environments to Azure. This capability is crucial in meeting a stringent RTO, as it ensures that in the event of a failure, workloads can be quickly brought online in a secondary location, allowing for minimal downtime. On the other hand, Azure Backup plays a vital role in protecting data by providing backup and restore capabilities to safeguard against data loss. While it offers excellent retention and recovery options for data, it might not be sufficient enough on its own to meet the 10-minute RTO requirement in certain critical scenarios, particularly if the entire application needs to be up and running promptly. Utilizing both services together provides a comprehensive business continuity strategy. Azure Site Recovery addresses the need for fast recovery of applications, while Azure Backup ensures that data can be restored reliably. Together, they offer an effective solution to meet the 10-minute RTO for the finance application. Other options might not provide the necessary combination of rapid application recovery