AZ-305 Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions Exam

Recommend a Data Solution for Protection and Durability

Configure Redundancy, Immutability, and Backup Strategies

Redundancy is crucial for protecting data against unexpected failures. In Azure, different types of storage redundancies ensure high availability and durability:

• Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) and Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) offer protection by replicating data across multiple zones or geographic regions.
• Geo-Zone-Redundant Storage (GZRS) combines the benefits of ZRS and GRS for even higher availability.

However, some configurations like RA-GRS and RA-GZRS for read-access aren’t supported by services such as Azure Files. These settings only provide redundancy without read access during geo-failovers.

Immutability is another critical factor, especially in scenarios demanding high security and compliance:

• Immutable Blob Storage Policies lock data to prevent modification or deletion.
• Snapshots and Soft Delete features allow point-in-time restore and safeguard against accidental deletions.

For backups, the Azure ecosystem offers robust solutions ensuring data protection and compliance:

• Azure Backup supports regular backups for SMB file shares, enabling long-term data retention up to 99 years.
• Vaulted Backups create offsite copies stored in Recovery Services vaults to guard against ransomware or rogue admin actions.

Evaluate Synchronization and Failover

Before performing a failover in GRS or GZRS configurations, use the last synchronization time property to estimate potential data loss. This ensures that data written before the last sync is safe, whereas data written after may be lost.

Incorporating point-in-time restore features mitigates risks of accidental deletions or corruption by allowing you to revert to previous states effectively.

Setting Backup Strategies

When configuring backups:

• Soft Delete should be enabled to protect against unintended file share deletions.
• Utilize point-in-time restore along with Azure snapshots for recovering earlier data states.

Configuring Recovery Services vaults involves selecting the appropriate storage replication type — Geo-redundant, Locally-redundant, or Zone-redundant — based on your specific needs. Be sure to set this configuration before initializing backups.

Cross Region Restore

The Cross Region Restore feature enhances disaster recovery by allowing restoration of data in a secondary region. It supports specific workloads like Azure VMs and SQL Server databases, facilitating compliance and audits through periodic drills and real-world disaster recoveries.

Conclusion

Implementing redundancy, immutability, and structured backup strategies ensures high data availability, compliance, and protection against various failure scenarios. Utilizing features like ZRS, GRS, snapshots, soft deletes, and geo-redundant replication, Azure provides a comprehensive framework for maintaining data integrity and resilience.