Are these real AZ-305 exam questions?

No — and you should be wary of any site that says its questions are. Real exam items are confidential. These questions are written from scratch against the published AZ-305 exam guide to match its style, difficulty and domain weighting.

Should I use AZ-305 dumps?

No. A dump is a collection of leaked or memorised real exam items, and using one breaks the Microsoft Azure certification agreement — the vendor can revoke your certification and ban you from future exams. Dumps also tend to fail on their own terms: their answer keys are unverified, they drift out of date as the exam changes, and memorising answers leaves you stuck the moment a question is reworded. Original practice questions with an explanation on every option teach the reasoning the AZ-305 actually tests, which is what carries over to questions you have never seen.

Do the AZ-305 questions come with explanations?

Every option carries its own explanation — not just the correct one. You find out why the answer you nearly picked was wrong, which is where most of the learning actually happens. Each question also links back to the revision lesson that teaches the concept.

How many practice questions should I do before the AZ-305 exam?

Volume matters less than what you do with the misses. A useful signal is consistency rather than a total: when you can hold a comfortable margin above the 700 pass mark on questions you have never seen before, across every domain rather than just your strong ones, you are ready.

Can I retry the questions I got wrong?

Yes. Wrong answers and flagged questions go into a review pool you can drill on their own, so you can grind exactly the material that is costing you marks instead of re-answering the ones you already know.

AZ-305 practice

Free AZ-305 practice questions

Drill exam-realistic Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert questions by domain, with an explanation on every option — not just the right one. 5 fully worked examples are further down this page, answers included.

Question bank: 482
across 4 domains
Free, no account: 5/day
a free account allows 10 a day
Real exam: 50 Qs
100 min · pass 700 / 1000
Explanations: Every option
right and wrong

Build a practice session

5 free questions left today.

Domains

How many?

Mode

Ready when you are

10 fresh questions drawn across all domains, in Learn mode.

Review what you missed

Every question you answer incorrectly, and every question you flag while practising, is saved here automatically. Finish a session and you can come back to re-drill just those.

5 sample AZ-305 questions, fully explained

Real questions from the AZ-305 bank, with the answer key and the reasoning behind every option. Read them, then go back up the page and try the rest.

Question 1Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions

Contoso runs workloads in East US and West Europe under a single Microsoft Entra tenant. It has no data residency requirement, and one central operations team monitors everything. Contoso wants the simplest log design, with cross-resource queries that need no extra syntax and the best chance of reaching a commitment tier discount. What should you recommend?

Choose one.

a
One Log Analytics workspace in each Azure region that hosts resources
Per-region workspaces only pay off for residency or significant bandwidth costs; here they split ingestion across tiers and complicate queries.
b
One Log Analytics workspace in each subscription that hosts resources
Workspaces per subscription are justified for split billing, which isn't a requirement; they fragment the data and the commitment tier.
c
A single Log Analytics workspace for all regions and resources Correct
With no residency, tenant or ownership split, Microsoft recommends one workspace: simplest to manage and query, and all ingestion counts towards one commitment tier.
d
One Log Analytics workspace for each application's resource group
Per-application workspaces add management overhead and need cross-workspace queries; nothing in the requirements calls for that isolation.

The concept

Start a Log Analytics design with a single workspace and add workspaces only when a criterion forces it.

Why that’s the answer

Microsoft's workspace design guidance says to start with one workspace and add more only for specific criteria such as data residency, separate Microsoft Entra tenants, data ownership, split billing or different retention for the same table. None of those applies here. One workspace also pools all ingestion, which is how a commitment tier discount is reached. Per-region, per-subscription and per-application workspaces all add complexity without meeting a stated need.

How to reason it out

List the criteria that force extra workspaces: residency, tenants, ownership, billing, retention.
Check the stem: one tenant, no residency need, one team.
With no forcing criterion, keep one workspace so queries and commitment tiers stay simple.

Exam tip: No residency, tenant or ownership split? Recommend one Log Analytics workspace.

AZ-305 Logging and Monitoring Design: Log Analytics Workspaces, Log Routing, Alerts and Azure Monitor — the lesson that teaches this.

Question 2Design data storage solutions

Tailwind Traders is moving an on-premises SQL Server instance that hosts three databases to Azure. Stored procedures join tables across the three databases by using three-part names, and nightly maintenance runs as SQL Server Agent jobs. The company wants a PaaS service so that Microsoft handles patching and backups, and it doesn't want to rewrite the jobs. What should you recommend?

Choose one.

a
Azure SQL Database with the three databases as single databases
Azure SQL Database has no SQL Server Agent and doesn't support three-part-name cross-database queries, so the jobs and procedures would need rewriting.
b
Azure SQL Database with the three databases in one elastic pool
Databases in an elastic pool share resources but remain separate Azure SQL databases: still no SQL Server Agent and no cross-database queries.
c
SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines with automated patching
A VM runs everything unchanged, but it is IaaS: you still manage the OS and SQL Server, which the PaaS requirement rules out.
d
Azure SQL Managed Instance with all three databases on one instance Correct
Managed Instance supports SQL Server Agent and cross-database queries between databases on the same instance, and it is PaaS, so patching and backups are managed for you.

The concept

Azure SQL Managed Instance is the PaaS option for workloads that need instance-scoped SQL Server features.

Why that’s the answer

SQL Server Agent jobs and cross-database queries are instance-level features. Azure SQL Managed Instance supports both, so the jobs and stored procedures move unchanged, while Microsoft runs patching and automated backups. Azure SQL Database (single or pooled) offers elastic jobs and elastic query as partial substitutes, which means rewriting. SQL Server on a VM supports everything but leaves OS and SQL Server management with the customer.

How to reason it out

List the SQL Server features the workload depends on (Agent jobs, cross-database queries).
Remove options that lack them: Azure SQL Database single and pooled databases.
Between the remaining options, apply the PaaS requirement: Managed Instance over a VM.

Exam tip: Agent jobs or cross-database queries plus PaaS = Azure SQL Managed Instance.

AZ-305 Relational Data Storage Design: Azure SQL Database, Managed Instance, Tiers, Scaling and Data Protection — the lesson that teaches this.

Question 3Design business continuity solutions

Fabrikam runs a claims-processing application on six Azure VMs in East US 2. If the region becomes unavailable, the application must be running in Central US within two hours, and no more than a few minutes of data written to the VM disks may be lost. Daily backups already exist for compliance. What should you add to meet the recovery objectives?

Choose one.

a
Back up the VMs to a geo-redundant vault and use Cross Region Restore into Central US
Cross Region Restore lets you restore in the paired region, but recovery points are only as recent as the last backup (hours), and restoring six VMs from a vault takes far longer than a failover.
b
Back up the VMs at four-hour intervals with an Azure Backup Enhanced policy
An Enhanced policy reduces the RPO of backups to four hours at best, which is far more than a few minutes, and the restore stays in the same region.
c
Spread the VMs across availability zones and add zone-to-zone Site Recovery
Zones, and zone-to-zone Site Recovery, protect against a datacenter failure inside East US 2; neither helps when the whole region is unavailable.
d
Replicate the VMs to Central US with Azure Site Recovery Correct
Site Recovery replicates disk changes continuously and creates crash-consistent recovery points every five minutes, so a failover meets an RPO of minutes and an RTO measured in the time it takes to start the VMs.

The concept

Disaster recovery (replication and failover) and backup (point-in-time copies) meet very different recovery objectives.

Why that’s the answer

An RPO of minutes and a cross-region RTO of hours call for replication, not backup. Azure Site Recovery continuously replicates VM disks to the target region and creates crash-consistent recovery points every five minutes; failing over starts the replicated VMs in Central US. Backups, even with Cross Region Restore or an Enhanced policy, are periodic, so their RPO is hours, and restoring from a vault is slower. Zones address a different failure scope.

How to reason it out

Read the RPO and RTO together with the failure scope: a whole region.
Rule out zone-based options, which only survive a datacenter failure.
Compare backup RPO (hours) with replication RPO (minutes).
Choose replication with failover to the target region.

Exam tip: RPO of minutes across regions = Azure Site Recovery; backup alone gives an RPO of hours.

AZ-305 Backup and Disaster Recovery Design: Site Recovery, Azure Backup, Database and Storage Recovery — the lesson that teaches this.

Question 4Design infrastructure solutions

Tailwind Traders is moving a vendor inventory application to Azure. The installer adds a Windows service, writes to the registry, and needs a third-party backup agent on the operating system. The vendor will not repackage it. Which compute option should you recommend?

Choose one.

a
An Azure App Service web app hosted on a Windows plan
App Service is a managed sandbox for web code; you can't install Windows services or OS agents on its workers.
b
Azure virtual machines running a Windows Server image Correct
VMs give full control of the guest OS, so the Windows service, registry writes and backup agent install as they do on premises.
c
A Windows container image hosted in Azure Container Apps
Container Apps runs Linux containers only, and the vendor won't repackage the app into an image anyway.
d
An Azure Functions app hosted on the Premium hosting plan
Functions runs your function code; it gives no access to install services or agents on the host OS.

The concept

Software that needs the operating system itself points to IaaS virtual machines.

Why that’s the answer

The deciding requirements are OS-level changes: a Windows service, registry writes and an installed agent, with no option to repackage. Only infrastructure as a service gives you the guest operating system. App Service and Functions are platform services that hide the OS, and Container Apps would need a container image (Linux only) that the vendor refuses to build.

How to reason it out

List what the software needs from the host: service install, registry, agents.
Rule out platform services that hide the operating system.
Rule out containers because the app can't be repackaged.
Choose virtual machines.

Exam tip: Needs to install things on the OS and can't change? Use virtual machines.

AZ-305 Compute Design: Virtual Machines, Scale Sets, Containers, Functions and Azure Batch — the lesson that teaches this.

Question 5Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions

Fabrikam has a European subsidiary and a US subsidiary in one Microsoft Entra tenant. Regulators require the European subsidiary's log data to be stored in the EU, and the US subsidiary's log data to be stored in the United States. Both subsidiaries share a central operations team. You need to meet the requirements with the fewest Log Analytics workspaces. What should you recommend?

Choose one.

a
One workspace in an EU region, with table-level RBAC for each subsidiary
Table-level RBAC controls who can read data, not where it is stored; the US data would be stored in the EU.
b
Two Log Analytics workspaces, one in an EU region and one in a US region Correct
Each workspace stores its data in its own region, so two residency rules in two geographies need exactly two workspaces.
c
One workspace in a US region, replicated to a secondary region in the EU
Replication copies data to a secondary region in the same region group, and the primary still stores EU data in the US.
d
Separate Log Analytics workspaces per subscription, each in its region
Subscriptions aren't tied to a region, and per-subscription workspaces could exceed two without guaranteeing residency.

The concept

Each Log Analytics workspace resides in one Azure region; residency rules for different geographies require a workspace per geography.

Why that’s the answer

A workspace stores its data in the region where it is created. Two residency rules (EU data in the EU, US data in the US) therefore need two workspaces, and nothing else forces more. Access control such as table-level RBAC limits who can read data but does not change where it is stored. Workspace replication keeps the primary copy in the primary region and only replicates within a region group, so it can't satisfy both rules with one workspace.

How to reason it out

Identify every residency rule and its geography.
Remember that a workspace's data lives in its region; access controls don't move it.
Create one workspace per required geography and no more.

Exam tip: Data residency in two geographies = two workspaces; RBAC never changes where data is stored.

AZ-305 Logging and Monitoring Design: Log Analytics Workspaces, Log Routing, Alerts and Azure Monitor — the lesson that teaches this.

The AZ-305 question bank, by domain

The bank is built to the exam's own weighting, so the practice you get reflects the marks that are actually on offer — not whichever domain was easiest to write questions for.

Published AZ-305 practice questions per exam domain
Domain	Exam weight	Topics	Questions
Design identity, governance, and monitoring solutions	28%	3	135
Design data storage solutions	22%	3	105
Design business continuity solutions	17%	2	82
Design infrastructure solutions	33%	4	160
Total	100%	12	482

Practise AZ-305 one domain at a time

How AZ-305 questions are worded

Most AZ-305 questions are not asking whether you can recall a definition. They describe a situation and ask which option satisfies it — so the skill being tested is reading the requirement precisely and eliminating options that fail it.

Single-response vs multiple-response

A single-response question has exactly one right answer. A multiple-response question tells you how many to pick ("Choose TWO") and there is no partial credit — getting one of the two right scores nothing. Read that instruction before you read the options.

Read the last line first

The final sentence is the actual question; everything before it is scenario. Read it first, then read the scenario knowing what you are looking for. It stops you from building an answer in your head that the question never asked for.

Hunt for the qualifier

Most scenarios turn on one word — MOST cost-effective, LEAST operational overhead, with the LEAST latency, without changing application code. Two options are frequently both technically correct, and the qualifier is the only thing separating them.

Eliminate, then choose

Distractors are almost always real Microsoft Azure services doing a real job — just not this job. Rule out the ones that break a stated constraint before you compare what's left. On a question you truly don't know, eliminating two options turns a guess into a coin flip.

Practise AZ-305 from your browser

The SaveMyCert Chrome extension opens a daily drill of 5 AZ-305 questions in the side panel, with the full explanation behind every answer. No account needed.

Get the Chrome extension

Beyond AZ-305 practice

AZ-305 practice questions: your questions

Yes. You can answer 5 questions a day with no account at all, and a free account raises that to 10 a day across the full 482-question AZ-305 bank, with an explanation on every option. Pro removes the daily cap entirely.

Source

Exam structure, domain weights and scoring on this page come from the official AZ-305 exam guide.

Microsoft AZ-305 study guide — Microsoft Learn