Microsoft Azure Architect Design (AZ-304) Practice Test

For a payroll system in Azure, which business continuity solution minimizes costs while meeting specific RTO and RPO requirements?

1. Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager

2. Azure Site Recovery

3. Unmanaged disks with geo-redundant storage

4. Azure Backup

The correct answer is: Unmanaged disks with geo-redundant storage

The choice of unmanaged disks with geo-redundant storage as a business continuity solution for a payroll system in Azure is suitable for organizations aiming to minimize costs while still achieving specific Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) requirements. Using unmanaged disks with geo-redundant storage enables automatic replication of data to a secondary region, providing a safeguard against regional outages. This means that even if a failure occurs in the primary region, the data remains accessible from the secondary one, thus supporting an effective disaster recovery strategy. The cost-effectiveness stems from the nature of the unmanaged disks, which usually require less overhead for administration compared to other managed solutions. Coupled with geo-redundant storage, this approach allows organizations to maintain data durability and high availability without incurring the higher costs associated with dedicated backup and replication services. While other options like Azure Site Recovery or Azure Backup provide robust solutions, they may be more costly or complex depending on the organization’s specific setup and needs. Azure Site Recovery is often more suited for large-scale disaster recovery scenarios, which might not be necessary for all payroll systems, while Azure Backup may involve additional operational costs. Thus, unmanaged disks with geo-redundant storage provide a balanced approach