AZ-305 Design data storage solutions Practice Test 13 — 15 Questions

Question 1

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?

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

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.

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Configure log shipping to a secondary VM in another region.

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

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

Question 2

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.

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Azure Table Storage

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Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

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Azure Blob Storage (archive tier)

Question 3

You need to design a storage solution for a global e-commerce application that requires low-latency access to product catalog data across multiple Azure regions. The data is read-heavy and updates are rare. Which service should you use for the primary data store?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB. Azure Cosmos DB is the correct choice because it provides globally distributed, multi-region writes and reads with turnkey data replication and guaranteed single-digit-millisecond latency at the 99th percentile. Its multi-homing API and automatic failover capabilities make it ideal for a read-heavy, rarely updated global e-commerce catalog that requires low-latency access across multiple Azure regions.

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Azure SQL Database with active geo-replication

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Azure Table Storage

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Azure Redis Cache

Question 4

You deploy the above ARM template. The deployment succeeds. However, you cannot access the storage account from the Azure portal. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The network ACLs deny all traffic by default, and no allow rules are configured.. The ARM template likely includes a network ACL configuration that, by default, denies all traffic. Without explicit allow rules for the Azure portal's IP ranges or the 'Allow trusted Microsoft services' exception, the portal cannot reach the storage account's management endpoints, resulting in an inability to access it from the portal despite a successful deployment.

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The storage account is configured to require HTTPS traffic only.

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The minimum TLS version is set to TLS 1.2, which is not supported by the portal.

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The encryption key source is set to Microsoft.Storage, which prevents portal access.

Question 5

Your company uses Azure SQL Database and needs to retain backups for 7 years for compliance. Which backup retention policy should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Configure long-term retention (LTR) backup policy.. Azure SQL Database's automated backup retention is limited to a maximum of 35 days, which is insufficient for a 7-year compliance requirement. Long-term retention (LTR) allows you to retain full database backups for up to 10 years by storing them in separate Azure Blob Storage containers. Therefore, configuring an LTR backup policy is the correct solution for meeting a 7-year retention mandate.

Answer

Increase automated backup retention to 7 years.

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Configure point-in-time restore backup retention for 7 years.

Answer

Enable geo-redundant backups.

Question 6

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.. 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 7

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.

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Azure Table Storage

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Azure Cache for Redis

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Azure Synapse Link for 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.

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Use a different connection string with a SAS token.

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Grant the storage account key access to the user.

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Change the -StandardBlobTier parameter to Cool.

Question 9

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

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Azure Premium Blob Storage

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Azure Blob Storage Archive tier

Question 10

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.

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Geo-restore

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Azure SQL Database zone-redundant configuration

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Auto-failover groups

Question 11

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

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Azure Cosmos DB

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Azure Blob Storage with Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

Question 12

A company uses Azure Cosmos DB for a globally distributed e-commerce application. They need to ensure that write operations in one region are immediately visible in all other regions. Which consistency level should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Strong. Strong consistency ensures that write operations are synchronously replicated across all regions before acknowledging the write. This guarantees that any read operation in any region returns the most recent write, providing linearizability. For a globally distributed e-commerce application requiring immediate visibility of writes, Strong consistency is the correct choice.

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Session

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Eventual

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Bounded staleness

Question 13

A company is designing a hybrid storage solution to connect on-premises file shares to Azure. They need to cache frequently accessed files locally for low-latency access while storing all files in Azure. The solution must support SMB protocol and integrate with existing Windows file servers. Which Azure service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Azure File Sync. Azure File Sync is the correct choice because it enables caching of frequently accessed files on-premises via a sync agent installed on Windows Server, while all files are stored in Azure Files. This provides low-latency access for local users and supports SMB protocol, seamlessly integrating with existing Windows file servers through a cloud tiering feature that keeps only hot files locally.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage with NFS 3.0 support

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Azure Files

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Azure NetApp Files

Question 14

A company is migrating on-premises SQL Server databases to Azure. They need to minimize administrative overhead for patching and backups while ensuring high availability. The solution must support automatic failover within the same Azure region. Which Azure service should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure SQL Database Managed Instance. Azure SQL Database Managed Instance is correct because it provides near-100% compatibility with on-premises SQL Server, automated patching and backups, and built-in high availability with automatic failover within the same region via Always On availability groups. This minimizes administrative overhead while meeting the high availability requirement without manual configuration.

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SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines

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Azure SQL Database Hyperscale

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Azure SQL Database (single database)

Question 15

A company stores petabytes of sensor data in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2. They need to run complex analytics queries that involve joining multiple datasets and aggregating time-series data. The queries must complete within seconds. Which Azure service should they use for querying?

Accepted Answer

Azure Synapse Analytics. Azure Synapse Analytics (Option C) is correct because it provides a unified analytics platform that can directly query petabyte-scale data in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 using T-SQL or Spark, and its distributed query engine (PolyBase or Synapse SQL) can perform complex joins and time-series aggregations with sub-second response times when combined with appropriate indexing and materialized views.

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Azure Stream Analytics

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Azure Data Explorer

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Azure Databricks