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70-465 · Question #110

You work as a Database Administrator (DBA) for a company named ABC.com. The company uses a Microsoft SQL Server 2012 infrastructure. A server named ABC-SQL1 hosts multiple databases that are…

The correct answer is A. AlwaysOn availability groups. The company requires a high-availability solution for SQL Server 2012 databases that ensures continuous operation during hardware failure and allows running reports on both primary and secondary database copies to minimize costs.

Submitted by tyler.j· Mar 5, 2026Design and implement database solutions for SQL Server

Question

You work as a Database Administrator (DBA) for a company named ABC.com. The company uses a Microsoft SQL Server 2012 infrastructure. A server named ABC-SQL1 hosts multiple databases that are accessed using OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) applications. You are concerned about the lack of redundancy provided by this single server solution. You want to configure a solution that ensures high-availability for the databases while minimizing costs. You need to ensure that the databases remain online in the event of a hardware failure of ABC- SQL1. You configure a second server named ABC-SQL2 and install SQL Server 2012. Which of the following solutions would provide the high-availability and enable users to run reports on both copies of the databases?

Options

  • AAlwaysOn availability groups
  • BA failover cluster
  • CDatabase mirroring
  • DTransaction log shipping

How the community answered

(33 responses)
  • A
    76% (25)
  • B
    6% (2)
  • C
    12% (4)
  • D
    6% (2)

Why each option

The company requires a high-availability solution for SQL Server 2012 databases that ensures continuous operation during hardware failure and allows running reports on both primary and secondary database copies to minimize costs.

AAlwaysOn availability groupsCorrect

AlwaysOn Availability Groups, introduced in SQL Server 2012, provide high-availability with automatic failover and support readable secondary replicas. This feature allows users to run reports directly against the secondary database copies, offloading the primary server and meeting the requirement to run reports on both copies while maintaining high availability and minimizing costs.

BA failover cluster

A SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance (FCI) provides high availability for the entire SQL Server instance but operates with only one active node at a time, preventing simultaneous reporting on separate database copies.

CDatabase mirroring

Database mirroring keeps the mirror database in a restoring state (NORECOVERY) and it cannot be directly accessed for user queries or reporting without creating snapshots, which does not constitute direct access to 'both copies.'

DTransaction log shipping

Transaction log shipping is primarily a disaster recovery solution, not a high-availability solution, as it requires manual failover and does not provide automatic database failover to ensure continuous online operation during a hardware failure.

Concept tested: SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups readable secondaries for high-availability and reporting

Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/sql/sql-server-2012/hh213405(v=sql.110)?redirectedfrom=MSDN

Topics

#AlwaysOn Availability Groups#High availability#SQL Server 2012

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