AZ-305 Design data storage solutions Practice Test 10 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company needs to store large amounts of unstructured data such as images and videos for a content management system. The data must be accessible via HTTPS and support tiered storage for cost optimization. Which Azure service should they use?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage. Azure Blob Storage is the correct choice because it is designed for storing large amounts of unstructured data (such as images and videos) and provides HTTPS access. It also offers tiered storage (hot, cool, cold, and archive tiers) to optimize costs based on data access patterns, making it ideal for a content management system.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB

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Azure Data Lake Storage

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Azure Files

Question 2

Refer to the exhibit. A company is analyzing Azure Storage diagnostic logs using this KQL query. They notice a high number of GetBlob operations on BlockBlobs. The storage account is used for a web application that serves static content. What should they recommend to reduce the number of GetBlob operations?

Accepted Answer

Enable Azure CDN or Azure Front Door to cache content.. Enabling Azure CDN or Azure Front Door caches static content at edge locations, reducing the number of direct GetBlob operations against the storage account. This offloads repeated requests from the origin storage, lowering both operational costs and latency for the web application.

Answer

Implement Azure Blob Storage life cycle management to move data to the archive tier.

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Use Azure File Sync to cache files on-premises.

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Enable Azure Storage Analytics logging to track operations.

Question 3

A company is designing a data storage solution for a globally distributed application that requires low-latency read access to frequently accessed data and high throughput for write operations. The data is non-relational and can be stored as key-value pairs. Which Azure service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB. Azure Cosmos DB is the correct choice because it is a globally distributed, multi-model database service that provides guaranteed low-latency reads (under 10 ms at the 99th percentile) and high throughput for write operations, with automatic indexing and turnkey global distribution. It natively supports key-value data models, making it ideal for non-relational, frequently accessed data requiring consistent performance across regions.

Answer

Azure Table Storage

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Azure SQL Database

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Azure Blob Storage

Question 4

A healthcare organization needs to store patient records that must be immutable and auditable for compliance purposes. The records should be stored in a cost-effective manner with the ability to set retention policies. Which Azure storage solution should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage with immutable storage. Azure Blob Storage with immutable storage (WORM policy) is the correct solution because it provides time-based retention policies and legal hold capabilities that make data non-erasable and non-modifiable, meeting compliance requirements for patient records. It is cost-effective for large volumes of data and integrates with Azure Policy for audit logging, making it ideal for healthcare compliance scenarios like HIPAA.

Answer

Azure NetApp Files

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Azure SQL Database

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Azure Files

Question 5

A financial services company is migrating its on-premises SAP HANA database to Azure. The database requires high IOPS and low latency with a capacity of 4 TB. They need to choose a storage solution that supports SAP HANA certified configurations. Which Azure storage solution should they use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Ultra Disk Storage. Azure Ultra Disk Storage is the correct choice because it is the only Azure managed disk that is SAP HANA certified for high IOPS and sub-millisecond latency, which is critical for SAP HANA workloads. It supports up to 300,000 IOPS and 2,000 MB/s throughput per disk, and can be provisioned with up to 64 TB capacity, easily covering the 4 TB requirement. Premium SSD v2 is not SAP HANA certified for production databases, and Azure NetApp Files, while offering high performance, is not a managed disk and requires specific NFS configurations that may not meet SAP HANA's strict certification requirements for block storage.

Answer

Azure Premium SSD v2

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Azure Standard HDD

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Azure NetApp Files

Question 6

A company wants to automatically tier data between hot, cool, and archive access tiers based on last access time to optimize costs. Which Azure feature should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management. Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management allows you to define policies that automatically move blobs between hot, cool, and archive access tiers based on conditions such as last access time or age. This directly addresses the requirement to optimize costs by tiering data according to access patterns without manual intervention.

Answer

Azure Data Box

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Azure Backup

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Azure File Sync

Question 7

A multinational corporation needs to store and analyze petabytes of historical data for regulatory reporting. The data is rarely accessed but must be available for queries within 5 minutes. Which Azure storage solution should they choose to minimize cost?

Accepted Answer

Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2. Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 (ADLS Gen2) is the correct choice because it combines a hierarchical namespace with Azure Blob Storage's massive scalability, enabling petabyte-scale storage at low cost. It supports fast queries via tools like Azure Synapse or PolyBase, meeting the 5-minute query SLA for cold data, while its tiered storage (e.g., Cool or Archive access tiers) minimizes cost for rarely accessed historical data.

Answer

Azure SQL Database

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Azure Files

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Azure Cosmos DB

Question 8

A company is deploying a containerized microservices application on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). The application requires persistent storage that can be attached to pods and supports dynamic provisioning. Which Azure storage solution should they use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Disks. Azure Disks is the correct choice because it provides block-level storage volumes that can be dynamically provisioned via the AKS built-in StorageClass, supporting ReadWriteOnce access mode required for a single pod in a containerized microservices application. Azure Disks integrate directly with Kubernetes PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs) for dynamic provisioning, offering low-latency, high-performance storage suitable for stateful workloads.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage

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Azure Files

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Azure NetApp Files

Question 9

A media company needs to store large video files that are frequently accessed for the first month, then infrequently after that. They want to minimize storage costs while ensuring files are instantly accessible when needed. Which storage strategy should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Use Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management to move files from hot to cool after 30 days. Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management allows you to define rules that automatically transition blobs from the hot tier (frequent access) to the cool tier (infrequent access) after a specified number of days. This meets the requirement of instant accessibility for the first month and cost minimization thereafter, as the cool tier offers lower storage costs with the same low-latency access as the hot tier.

Answer

Store all files in the hot access tier

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Manually move files between tiers using AzCopy

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Store all files in the archive access tier

Question 10

A company needs to store sensitive customer data in Azure Blob Storage with encryption at rest using customer-managed keys (CMK) stored in a hardware security module (HSM). Which Azure service should they use to manage the keys?

Accepted Answer

Azure Key Vault Managed HSM. Azure Key Vault Managed HSM is a fully managed, highly available, single-tenant HSM that is FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated. It allows you to store customer-managed encryption keys (CMKs) in a hardware security module (HSM) for Azure Storage encryption at rest, meeting the requirement for HSM-backed key storage. The Premium tier of Azure Key Vault also supports HSM-backed keys, but the question specifies 'stored in a hardware security module (HSM)', and Managed HSM provides dedicated HSM partitions with stronger isolation and compliance.

Answer

Azure Key Vault (Premium tier)

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Azure Information Protection

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Azure Key Vault (Standard tier)

Question 11

Which TWO of the following are benefits of using Azure Files shares for lift-and-shift migrations of on-premises file servers?

Accepted Answer

Integration with Azure File Sync for hybrid scenarios. Azure Files shares provide fully managed SMB file shares in the cloud, which are directly compatible with on-premises file servers that use the SMB protocol. This makes them ideal for lift-and-shift migrations because applications can continue accessing files over SMB without code changes. Azure File Sync further extends this by enabling hybrid scenarios where on-premises servers can cache frequently accessed files while tiering to the cloud, simplifying the migration process.

Answer

Block-level deduplication

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Support for iSCSI protocol

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Automatic tiering of data to archive storage

Question 12

Which THREE of the following are best practices for designing a data storage solution using Azure Cosmos DB?

Accepted Answer

Use the appropriate consistency level based on application requirements. Azure Cosmos DB offers five well-defined consistency levels (strong, bounded staleness, session, consistent prefix, and eventual). Choosing the appropriate level based on application requirements is a best practice, as it balances data consistency guarantees against latency and throughput. For example, session consistency is ideal for multi-user applications where each user reads their own writes, while strong consistency ensures linearizability but reduces availability and increases latency.

Answer

Store large binary data (e.g., images) directly as documents

Answer

Use manual provisioned throughput for all containers to control costs

Question 13

Which TWO of the following are true about Azure Blob Storage access tiers?

Accepted Answer

The cool access tier has lower storage costs but higher access costs compared to the hot tier. Azure Blob Storage's cool access tier is designed for infrequently accessed data, offering lower storage costs than the hot tier but higher access costs (per GB read/write) to compensate for the reduced storage price. This cost trade-off aligns with typical usage patterns where data is stored long-term but accessed less often.

Answer

The cool access tier is designed for data that is accessed more frequently than the hot tier

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The archive access tier is suitable for data that is accessed daily

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The hot access tier has the lowest storage costs

Question 14

Refer to the exhibit. A custom Azure RBAC role is defined as shown. A user assigned this role is unable to delete blobs in a container. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The role does not include delete permission on blobs. The custom RBAC role definition shown in the exhibit includes 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/blobServices/containers/blobs/delete' under the 'Actions' section, but this permission is a control plane action, not a data plane action. To delete blobs, the role must include the corresponding data action 'Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/blobServices/containers/blobs/delete/action' under 'DataActions'. Without it, the user lacks the necessary data plane permission to perform blob deletion, even though the control plane permission is present.

Answer

The role is scoped to the storage account but not to the container

Answer

The role does not include read permission on blobs

Answer

The role does not include any dataActions

Question 15

Refer to the exhibit. An organization deploys this ARM template to create a storage account. They need to ensure that data is replicated synchronously across two Azure regions. Does this template meet the requirement?

Accepted Answer

No, GRS provides asynchronous replication. The template uses GRS (Geo-Redundant Storage), which replicates data asynchronously from the primary region to the secondary region. Because the replication is asynchronous, there is a potential for data loss if a regional disaster occurs before the secondary region is fully updated. The requirement specifies synchronous replication across two Azure regions, which is only provided by Azure Storage’s geo-zone-redundant storage (GZRS) with read-access (RA-GZRS) or by using Azure Files with synchronous replication via Azure File Sync or a third-party solution. Therefore, GRS does not meet the synchronous requirement.

Answer

No, the template uses RA-GRS

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Yes, GRS provides synchronous replication

Answer

No, the template uses LRS