Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect ExpertDesign business continuity solutionsEasy
A financial services company is migrating its on-premises data center to Azure. They have several critical applications running on Windows Server VMs that require highly available file shares for user profiles and application data. The company needs to ensure that these file shares are accessible even if a single data center in an Azure region becomes unavailable. The solution must provide strong consistency and be easily manageable. Which Azure storage solution should the company choose for these file shares?
- APremium SSD managed disks attached to multiple VMs in an availability set.
- BAzure NetApp Files with cross-region replication.
- CAzure Files with zone-redundant storage (ZRS).
- DAzure Blob Storage with geo-redundant storage (GRS).
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Azure Files with zone-redundant storage (ZRS).
Azure Files with Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) provides high availability for file shares by synchronously replicating data across three Azure availability zones in the primary region, protecting against single data center outages while maintaining strong consistency and ease of management.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Managed disks attached to VMs are for individual VM storage, not shared file services, and availability sets protect VMs, not the underlying storage against data center outages for shared files.
- B. Azure NetApp Files with cross-region replication is for regional disaster recovery and is a more complex and expensive solution than needed for within-region data center outages.
- D. Azure Blob Storage is object storage, not suitable for traditional file shares, and GRS is for regional disaster recovery, not within-region data center outages.
Azure Files Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS)
Azure Files ZRS synchronously replicates data across three Azure availability zones within a region, providing high availability and strong consistency for file shares against single data center failures.
- Synchronous replication across 3 AZs.
- Protects against data center-level failures.
- Offers strong consistency.
- Suitable for highly available file shares.
Memory trick: Files need ZRS to survive Zonal disasters.