Design a highly available Azure SQL solution that meets these requirements: (1) failover between replicas must occur with zero data loss, (2) the database must remain available during a single availability zone outage, and (3) cost should be minimized. Which deployment option satisfies these requirements?
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Correct answer: Azure SQL Database Premium.
Why this is the answer
Azure SQL Database Premium is the correct choice because it offers zone-redundant high availability, ensuring the database remains available during a single availability zone outage. It uses Always On availability groups with synchronous replication for zero data loss failover. The Premium tier provides a balance of performance and features suitable for many production workloads, often at a lower cost than Business Critical tiers, which offer more I/O performance and additional read replicas but might be overkill if not specifically required. Azure SQL Database Hyperscale also offers zone redundancy and high availability, but its architecture is optimized for very large databases and can be more expensive for smaller to medium-sized databases. Azure SQL Managed Instance General Purpose and Business Critical tiers are designed for migrating on-premises SQL Server instances with minimal application changes; while Business Critical offers zone redundancy and zero data loss, Managed Instance generally incurs higher costs than Azure SQL Database for similar performance levels, and General Purpose does not guarantee zero data loss on failover.
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