Technical Lab: Create an Azure Backup vault
Questions
Question 1 — Multiple Choice
When creating an Azure Backup vault, an administrator needs to decide on the storage redundancy type before registering any backup source. Considering a scenario where the company requires backup data to survive complete unavailability of an Azure region, which redundancy configuration meets this requirement?
A) Locally Redundant Storage (LRS), as it replicates data three times within the same datacenter.
B) Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS), as it distributes replicas across availability zones within the same region.
C) Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS), as it replicates data asynchronously to a paired region.
D) Read-Access Geo-Redundant Storage (RA-GRS), available only in Recovery Services vaults, not in Backup vaults.
Question 2 — Technical Scenario
An administrator created a Backup vault in the East US region and attempted to configure a backup policy for an Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server database located in West US. The Azure portal displayed an error when trying to associate the datasource with the policy.
What is the most likely cause of this behavior?
A) The PostgreSQL Flexible Server workload type is not supported by Backup vaults, only by Recovery Services vaults.
B) The Backup vault and datasource must be in the same region; different regions prevent the association.
C) The backup policy was not defined before creating the vault, which invalidates any subsequent association.
D) The vault needs GRS redundancy enabled to support datasources in different regions.
Question 3 — True or False
A Backup vault and a Recovery Services vault can be used interchangeably to protect Azure virtual machines, as both support the same set of datasources for this workload type.
Question 4 — Technical Scenario
An administrator configured a Backup vault with Soft Delete enabled and then deleted a backup instance of an Azure blob. Three days later, they realized the data was still needed and attempted to restore it.
Backup vault: vault-prod-eastus
Datasource: Azure Blobs (Storage Account)
Soft Delete: Enabled (14-day retention)
Days since deletion: 3
What is the expected system behavior at this point?
A) The data has already been permanently removed, as soft delete does not apply to Azure blob backups.
B) The data is in a soft-deleted state and can be restored without additional cost within the configured period.
C) The data is in a soft-deleted state, but restoration requires recreating the vault before execution.
D) The data remains accessible, but the vault charges a restoration fee proportional to the number of days retained.
Question 5 — Multiple Choice
When comparing Backup vault with Recovery Services vault, which statement below correctly describes a structural difference between the two vault types in Azure?
A) Backup vault uses the Azure Resource Manager model, while Recovery Services vault still operates on the classic deployment model.
B) Backup vault does not support backup policies based on retention rules, requiring manual management.
C) Backup vault was designed for newer datasources, such as Azure Disks and Azure Blobs, while Recovery Services vault is necessary for Azure VMs and SQL Server on VMs.
D) Backup vault requires the administrator to configure a separate storage account as the destination, unlike Recovery Services vault.
Answer Key and Explanations
Answer Key — Question 1
Answer: C
Geo-Redundant Storage (GRS) replicates data asynchronously to a geographically paired region, ensuring that backups survive the complete unavailability of a region. This is the indicated configuration when the requirement is regional resilience.
LRS only replicates within the same datacenter, not protecting against regional failures. ZRS distributes across zones within the same region, which mitigates zone failures but not entire region failures. Alternative D is incorrect because RA-GRS is not exclusive to Recovery Services vaults; additionally, the question's focus is on regional survival requirements, not secondary data reading.
Choosing LRS or ZRS in a scenario with regional resilience requirements represents a protection scope error that can result in irrecoverable loss of backup data in case of regional disaster.
Answer Key — Question 2
Answer: B
Backup vault requires that the datasource be in the same region as the vault. This is a design restriction of the service: data protection is always local to the vault, and there is no automatic routing between regions for datasource association.
Alternative A is incorrect because PostgreSQL Flexible Server is indeed supported by Backup vaults. Alternative C is incorrect because policies can be created or associated after vault creation. Alternative D is incorrect because GRS redundancy concerns the backup storage destination, not the ability to associate datasources from other regions.
Ignoring the regional co-location restriction is one of the most common errors when planning backup topology in Azure.
Answer Key — Question 3
Answer: False
The two vault types are not interchangeable for Azure VMs. Recovery Services vault is the vault required to protect Azure virtual machines. Backup vault does not support Azure VMs as a datasource; it was designed for newer datasources, such as Azure Disks, Azure Blobs, and Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server.
This distinction is often underestimated because both services belong to the Azure backup ecosystem and have similar interfaces in the portal. Choosing the incorrect vault for a VM would result in the inability to configure any protection policy for that workload.
Answer Key — Question 4
Answer: B
With Soft Delete enabled and configured for 14 days, after 3 days from deletion the data is still within the reversible retention period. The system maintains the data in a soft-deleted state and allows restoration without needing to recreate the vault or incur specific restoration fees.
Alternative A is incorrect because soft delete applies to blob backups managed by Backup vault. Alternative C is incorrect because the vault remains functional; there is no need for recreation. Alternative D is incorrect because Azure does not charge a proportional restoration fee based on the number of days retained in soft delete.
Soft delete is a protection layer against accidental or malicious deletions and works transparently within the configured period.
Answer Key — Question 5
Answer: C
The correct structural difference is that Backup vault was introduced to support a new generation of datasources in Azure, such as Azure Disks, Azure Blobs, and Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server, while established workloads like Azure VMs and SQL Server on VMs continue to require Recovery Services vault.
Alternative A is incorrect because both vaults operate on Azure Resource Manager. Alternative B is incorrect because Backup vault supports backup policies with configurable retention rules. Alternative D is incorrect because neither vault requires the administrator to provision a separate storage account as the backup destination.
Understanding the scope of each vault is essential for designing a coherent backup strategy in Azure environments that combine legacy and modern workloads.