AZ-305 Practice Exam 63 — 20 Questions

Question 1

A media company is designing a storage solution for its large video files (average 50 GB each) that are edited by multiple users simultaneously. The solution must support SMB protocol for compatibility with existing editing software and provide low-latency access. The files must be stored in a highly available configuration across multiple availability zones in a single region. Which Azure storage solution should the company recommend?

Accepted Answer

Azure Files Premium tier with zone-redundant storage (ZRS). Azure Files Premium tier supports SMB protocol natively, which is required for compatibility with existing editing software. Zone-redundant storage (ZRS) replicates data synchronously across three availability zones within a single region, providing high availability and low-latency access for simultaneous editing of large video files.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage Premium tier with geo-redundant storage (GRS)

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Azure Disk Storage with shared disks

Answer

Azure NetApp Files Premium tier with cross-zone replication

Question 2

A company is designing a data storage solution for an IoT pipeline that ingests time-series data from millions of devices. The data is append-only and queried by time range. The solution must support low-latency queries and automated retention policies. Which Azure data store should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Data Explorer (ADX). Azure Data Explorer (ADX) is purpose-built for interactive analytics on large volumes of streaming, time-series data. It supports append-only ingestion, low-latency queries over time ranges via its Kusto Query Language (KQL), and native automated retention policies (e.g., soft-delete and hard-delete periods) without manual management.

Answer

Azure SQL Database

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB

Answer

Azure Blob Storage with Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

Question 3

Which TWO Azure services provide native support for change data capture (CDC) to stream database changes to other systems?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB. Azure Cosmos DB provides native change feed support, which is a persistent, ordered log of changes (inserts, updates, deletes) that can be streamed to downstream systems via the Change Feed processor or Azure Functions. This makes it a correct answer for change data capture (CDC) scenarios.

Answer

Azure Table Storage

Answer

Azure Cache for Redis

Answer

Azure Synapse Link for Azure Cosmos DB

Question 4

A company uses Azure SQL Database for a line-of-business application. They need to implement a disaster recovery solution across Azure regions with RPO of 5 seconds and RTO of 30 seconds. Which feature should they use?

Accepted Answer

Active geo-replication. Active geo-replication for Azure SQL Database provides a continuous replication mechanism with an RPO of 5 seconds and an RTO of 30 seconds when using a readable secondary replica in a paired region. It replicates transactions asynchronously but with very low latency, meeting the strict RPO/RTO requirements for cross-region disaster recovery.

Answer

Geo-restore

Answer

Azure SQL Database zone-redundant configuration

Answer

Auto-failover groups

Question 5

You are designing a solution for a financial application that requires strong consistency for read and write operations across multiple Azure regions. The solution must support active-active configuration and provide fractional millisecond latency for single-digit KB payloads. Which data service should you choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB with strong consistency. Azure Cosmos DB with strong consistency is the correct choice because it offers multi-region writes (active-active) with guaranteed strong consistency, ensuring that all read and write operations across regions see the most recent write. It also provides fractional millisecond latency for single-digit KB payloads, meeting the financial application's performance requirements.

Answer

Azure SQL Database with failover groups

Answer

Azure Table Storage with geo-replication

Answer

Azure Cache for Redis with geo-replication

Question 6

You are designing a data storage solution for an IoT application that ingests millions of events per second. Each event is a small JSON message (under 1 KB). The solution must support real-time analytics and allow queries on recent data (last 24 hours) with low latency. Historical data (older than 24 hours) should be stored in a cost-optimized manner for occasional compliance queries. Which combination of Azure services should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Azure Data Explorer for real-time analytics and Azure Blob Storage for historical data. Azure Data Explorer (ADX) is purpose-built for real-time analytics on high-velocity data streams, ingesting millions of events per second with sub-second query latency on recent data. Azure Blob Storage provides a cost-optimized tier (e.g., Cool or Archive) for historical data older than 24 hours, which can be queried occasionally via ADX’s continuous export or external table feature. This combination meets both the low-latency real-time analytics requirement and the cost-effective long-term storage need.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB for both real-time and historical data

Answer

Azure Event Hubs for ingestion and Azure Functions for querying

Answer

Azure SQL Database with elastic pool

Question 7

Which TWO Azure services can be used to store unstructured data such as documents, images, and videos?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage. Azure Blob Storage is designed for storing massive amounts of unstructured data, such as documents, images, and videos, as objects (blobs) in a flat namespace. It supports three types of blobs (block, append, and page) and provides REST APIs for access, making it ideal for scalable, cost-effective storage of binary and text data.

Answer

Azure Files

Answer

Azure SQL Database

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB

Question 8

You run the above PowerShell script to upload a blob to Azure Storage. The script fails with an error: 'The specified container does not exist.' What should you do first to resolve the issue?

Accepted Answer

Create the container using New-AzStorageContainer.. The error 'The specified container does not exist' indicates that the target container has not been created in the Azure Storage account. The PowerShell script uses the `Set-AzStorageBlobContent` cmdlet, which requires an existing container as the destination. Therefore, the first corrective action is to create the container using `New-AzStorageContainer` before uploading the blob.

Answer

Use a different connection string with a SAS token.

Answer

Grant the storage account key access to the user.

Answer

Change the -StandardBlobTier parameter to Cool.

Question 9

Which TWO data storage solutions in Azure provide built-in, automatic geo-redundancy for disaster recovery across paired regions?

Accepted Answer

Azure SQL Database (active geo-replication). Azure SQL Database's active geo-replication automatically creates a readable secondary database in a paired Azure region, enabling synchronous or asynchronous replication for disaster recovery. Azure Blob Storage with GRS or RA-GRS replicates data to a paired secondary region automatically, ensuring durability even during a regional outage. Both services provide built-in geo-redundancy without manual configuration beyond selecting the replication option.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB (default)

Answer

Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

Answer

Azure Files (standard tier)

Question 10

A global e-commerce company uses Azure Cosmos DB for its product catalog. The write-heavy workload experiences high latency during peak hours. Which design change would most reduce write latency?

Accepted Answer

Enable multiple write regions. Enabling multiple write regions allows writes to be accepted by the nearest regional replica, reducing cross-region network latency for write-heavy workloads. This is the most direct architectural change to lower write latency globally, as it avoids the round-trip to a single write region.

Answer

Change the default consistency level to eventual

Answer

Partition the container by a different key

Answer

Increase the request units (RUs) per container

Question 11

Which THREE considerations are important when designing a data archiving solution for Azure Storage to optimize costs?

Accepted Answer

Consider early deletion penalties for data moved to archive tier.. Option B is correct because Azure Archive tier has a minimum storage duration of 180 days; deleting or moving data before that incurs an early deletion penalty equal to the cost of the remaining days. This is critical for cost optimization as it prevents unexpected charges from short-lived data.

Answer

Use the hot tier for all data to ensure high performance.

Answer

Use geo-redundant storage (GRS) for all archive data.

Question 12

You are designing a disaster recovery solution for a SQL Server database hosted on an Azure VM. The recovery point objective (RPO) is 5 minutes, and the recovery time objective (RTO) is 1 hour. Which strategy should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Use Azure SQL Managed Instance with failover groups.. Azure SQL Managed Instance with failover groups provides automated, synchronous or asynchronous replication of the database to a secondary region, enabling a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 5 minutes and a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of 1 hour. The failover group handles automatic or manual failover at the instance level, ensuring minimal data loss and rapid recovery without complex manual log shipping or backup restoration.

Answer

Configure log shipping to a secondary VM in another region.

Answer

Use Azure Backup to back up the database every 5 minutes.

Answer

Replicate the VM using Azure Site Recovery with 5-minute replication.

Question 13

A company needs to store video files for a media streaming application. The files are accessed frequently for the first 30 days, then rarely after that. The solution must minimize storage costs while ensuring low-latency access during the initial period. Which storage tier should be used for the first 30 days?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage Hot tier. Azure Blob Storage Hot tier is designed for data that is accessed frequently, offering low-latency access (typically under 10 milliseconds for first-byte read) and the highest storage cost but lowest access cost. Since the video files require low-latency access during the first 30 days, the Hot tier meets the performance requirement while minimizing overall cost compared to Premium Blob Storage, which is optimized for sub-millisecond latency and higher IOPS scenarios.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage Cool tier

Answer

Azure Premium Blob Storage

Answer

Azure Blob Storage Archive tier

Question 14

Which THREE considerations are important when designing a data storage solution for a high-throughput IoT ingestion pipeline in Azure?

Accepted Answer

Ingestion throughput limits of the storage service. Option B is correct because Azure Storage services like Blob Storage and Event Hubs have defined ingestion throughput limits (e.g., up to 20 MB/s per partition or 1 MB/s per ingress for standard-tier Event Hubs). Exceeding these limits causes throttling (HTTP 429 errors) and data loss, making throughput capacity a critical design consideration for high-throughput IoT pipelines.

Answer

Network latency between devices and Azure

Answer

Data consistency levels required by downstream consumers

Question 15

A startup needs a cost-effective data storage solution for its application logs. The logs are accessed infrequently but must be available for audit purposes for up to 3 years. The solution should minimize storage costs while allowing data retrieval within 24 hours when needed. Which Azure storage tier should the company recommend?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage Archive tier. The Archive tier is the most cost-effective option for data that is infrequently accessed and requires retrieval times of up to 15 hours (standard) or 24 hours (high-priority). Since the logs must be available within 24 hours and stored for up to 3 years, Archive meets both the cost and retrieval requirements, as it offers the lowest storage cost among Azure Blob Storage tiers.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage Cool tier

Answer

Azure Blob Storage Hot tier

Answer

Azure Blob Storage Premium tier

Question 16

A company is designing a storage solution for a critical application that requires low latency (under 5 ms) and high throughput for large files (up to 10 GB). The solution must support NFS and SMB protocols. Which Azure storage solution should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Azure NetApp Files. Azure NetApp Files is the correct choice because it provides a fully managed, high-performance file share service that supports both NFS and SMB protocols natively, with sub-millisecond latency and throughput suitable for large files up to 10 GB. It is built on NetApp's ONTAP technology and is designed for latency-sensitive enterprise workloads, meeting the under-5 ms requirement while handling large file sizes efficiently.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage (premium tier)

Answer

Azure Managed Disks (Ultra Disk)

Answer

Azure Files (premium tier)

Question 17

A company wants to store log data from multiple applications for up to 30 days for analysis. The data is append-only, and queries are infrequent but need to be fast when run. Which Azure data storage solution should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Azure Log Analytics Workspace. Azure Log Analytics Workspace is the correct choice because it is purpose-built for ingesting, storing, and querying log data from multiple sources. It supports append-only log ingestion, retains data for up to 30 days in its interactive retention tier (configurable), and provides fast Kusto Query Language (KQL) queries for infrequent analysis. The workspace integrates natively with Azure Monitor and other services, making it ideal for centralized log analysis.

Answer

Azure Table Storage

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Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

Answer

Azure Blob Storage (archive tier)

Question 18

A company needs to store and analyze petabytes of IoT telemetry data. The data is append-only and rarely updated. They require SQL-based querying and columnar storage for fast analytics. Which Azure storage solution should you choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 with Azure Synapse SQL pool. Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 (ADLS Gen2) provides hierarchical namespace and petabyte-scale storage optimized for big data analytics. When combined with Azure Synapse SQL pool (formerly SQL DW), it enables SQL-based querying over columnar storage (using PolyBase or CETAS) for fast analytics on append-only IoT telemetry data. This combination supports massive data volumes, append-only workloads, and columnar storage for high-performance analytical queries.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB with analytical store

Answer

Azure SQL Database with columnstore indexes

Answer

Azure Blob Storage with Azure Cognitive Search

Question 19

A media company uploads large video files to Azure Blob Storage. Users frequently access recent videos, while older videos are rarely accessed after 30 days. The company wants to minimize storage costs while ensuring that recently accessed videos are immediately available. Which storage tier strategy should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Use Hot tier for the first 30 days, then automatically move to Cool tier. Option C is correct because it balances cost and performance by using the Hot tier for the first 30 days (when videos are frequently accessed) and then automatically transitioning to the Cool tier via Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management. This ensures immediate availability for recent uploads while minimizing storage costs for older, rarely accessed content. The Cool tier offers lower storage costs than Hot but still provides low-latency access, meeting the requirement that recently accessed videos are immediately available.

Answer

Use Premium tier for all files

Answer

Use Cool tier for all files with lifecycle management to Archive

Answer

Use Archive tier for all files and rehydrate on access

Question 20

Your company runs a mission-critical application on Azure Virtual Machines in a single region. You need to design a monitoring solution that provides proactive alerts for performance degradation and allows the operations team to analyze historical trends. The solution must minimize cost and operational overhead. You have an existing Log Analytics workspace. What should you include in the design?

Accepted Answer

Enable Azure Monitor on all VMs using the Azure Monitor agent. Create metric alerts for high CPU and memory usage. Use Log Analytics to query and analyze historical performance data.. Option D is correct because it uses the Azure Monitor agent to collect performance data from VMs, enabling metric alerts for proactive notification of high CPU and memory usage, while leveraging the existing Log Analytics workspace for cost-effective historical analysis. This approach minimizes operational overhead by using a single agent and native Azure Monitor features without additional services or complex configurations.

Answer

Enable VM insights in Azure Monitor and use its live map and performance views for historical analysis.

Answer

Configure Azure Autoscale for the VMs based on CPU metrics and use Azure Monitor for logging.

Answer

Deploy Application Insights on each VM and use its built-in alerts for performance.