AZ-305 Design data storage solutions Practice Test 4 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You need to design a disaster recovery strategy for Azure SQL Database. The primary region is East US. The database must be available within 1 hour of a regional outage with no data loss. Which solution meets the requirements?

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

Accepted Answer

Configure a failover group with automatic failover to a secondary in West US. A failover group with automatic failover to a secondary in West US provides the lowest possible RPO and meets the 1-hour RTO. Cross-region replication is asynchronous, so the RPO is typically a few seconds—stricter than any other option. While the requirement specifies 'no data loss', no Azure SQL Database disaster recovery solution across regions can guarantee zero data loss. Failover groups come closest. Option B loses all transactions since the last backup. Option C requires manual failover, which could exceed the 1-hour RTO. Option D relies on geo-restore from backups, with an RPO of up to an hour. Therefore, A is the best answer.

Answer

Perform regular backups to Azure Blob Storage in a secondary region

Answer

Configure active geo-replication and manually initiate failover

Answer

Use geo-restore from geo-redundant backups

Question 2

Which TWO Azure storage replication options provide durability for data in the event of a regional disaster? (Select two.)

Accepted Answer

Geo-zone-redundant storage (GZRS). Geo-zone-redundant storage (GZRS) is correct because it combines zone redundancy in the primary region with asynchronous replication to a secondary region hundreds of miles away, so data survives a regional disaster. Geo-redundant storage (GRS) is also correct because it replicates data synchronously three times within the primary region and asynchronously to a paired secondary region, providing durability against a regional outage. RA-GRS is not marked correct because, although it also replicates to a secondary region, it is a read-access variant of GRS and was not selected as one of the two required answers. ZRS is not correct because it only replicates across availability zones within a single region and offers no protection from a regional disaster. LRS is not correct because it keeps three copies within a single datacenter in one region, providing no regional disaster durability.

Answer

Read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS)

Answer

Zone-redundant storage (ZRS)

Answer

Locally redundant storage (LRS)

Question 3

Which TWO Azure services provide native support for Azure Active Directory (now Entra ID) authentication for accessing data? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage.. Azure Blob Storage (option A) is correct because it natively supports Entra ID (Azure AD) authentication for the data plane: callers can authorize access to blobs and containers using OAuth 2.0 bearer tokens via Azure RBAC roles such as Storage Blob Data Reader/Contributor, without needing account keys or SAS tokens. Azure SQL Database (option C) is also correct because it natively supports Entra ID authentication, allowing database users and contained database users to be created from Entra ID identities (CREATE USER ... FROM EXTERNAL PROVIDER) and connect using tokens or Integrated Authentication. Azure Files SMB (option B) primarily authenticates via on-premises AD DS or Entra Domain Services domain-joined identities rather than direct Entra ID (Azure AD) tokens for the SMB data plane, so it does not fit the native Entra ID data-access scenario described. Azure Cache for Redis (option D) uses access keys or, in newer tiers, Entra ID-based authentication for the management/connection layer, but it is not a data store with native Entra ID data-plane authorization in the same sense as Blob Storage and SQL Database. Azure Cosmos DB (option E) does support Entra ID RBAC for data-plane access, but it is not among the two options marked correct here, so it is excluded from this answer.

Answer

Azure Files (SMB).

Answer

Azure Cache for Redis.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB.

Question 4

A company plans to migrate its on-premises Oracle database to Azure. The database is currently 2 TB and experiences high write throughput. The solution must support: - ACID transactions - Automatic failover to a secondary region - Minimal downtime during maintenance. Which three Azure services should the company include in the solution? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Azure SQL Database Managed Instance. Azure SQL Database Managed Instance (A) is correct because it provides near-100% compatibility with on-premises SQL Server and Oracle-style workloads, supporting ACID transactions, cross-database queries, SQL Agent, and native backup/restore, making it the right target for migrating a 2 TB Oracle database with high write throughput. Azure SQL Database zone-redundant configuration (B) is correct because it replicates data synchronously across availability zones within a region, delivering automatic failover and high availability with minimal downtime during maintenance. Azure SQL Database active geo-replication (E) is correct because it provides asynchronous replication to a secondary region with a readable secondary and supports manual or automatic failover, satisfying the cross-region automatic failover requirement. Azure Cosmos DB with SQL API (C) is not appropriate because it is a NoSQL, multi-model database that does not provide full relational ACID semantics across arbitrary transactions or Oracle compatibility. Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Hyperscale (Citus) (D) is not appropriate because it is a PostgreSQL-based distributed database, not an Oracle-compatible engine, and does not meet the migration and compatibility requirements for an Oracle workload.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB with SQL API

Answer

Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Hyperscale (Citus)

Question 5

Refer to the exhibit. You are reviewing the configuration of an Azure Blob Storage container used for storing financial audit records. The exhibit shows the container's immutability policy and legal hold settings. You need to ensure that the audit records cannot be deleted or modified for at least 7 years. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Increase the immutability period to 2555 days by updating the policy.. A locked immutability policy on an Azure Blob Storage container can be extended (increased) at any time, even after locking. The exhibit shows a locked policy with 365 days; to enforce a 7-year (2555-day) retention, you simply update the policy to 2555 days. Deleting the container (Option A) is unnecessary and would result in data loss. Option C is misleading because 'modify' implies changing the period to any value, but only increases are allowed. Option D, legal hold tags, are separate from the retention period and do not enforce a minimum duration.

Answer

Delete the container, create a new container, and set the immutability policy to 2555 days before locking.

Answer

Modify the immutability period to 2555 days.

Answer

Add additional legal hold tags for each year.

Question 6

A company is designing a disaster recovery solution for its on-premises SQL Server databases that are critical for business operations. The databases are approximately 500 GB each. The solution must meet the following requirements: - Replicate data to Azure with minimal data loss (RPO of 15 minutes). - Automatically failover to Azure in case of an on-premises outage. - Use existing SQL Server licenses to minimize costs. Which Azure service should the company use?

Accepted Answer

Azure SQL Managed Instance with managed instance link. Azure SQL Managed Instance with managed instance link enables near-real-time replication of on-premises SQL Server databases to Azure with an RPO as low as 15 seconds, meeting the 15-minute RPO requirement. It supports automatic failover to Azure during an on-premises outage and allows you to use existing SQL Server licenses with Software Assurance via the Azure Hybrid Benefit, minimizing costs.

Answer

Azure Site Recovery with SQL Server replication

Answer

Azure Database Migration Service (DMS)

Answer

Azure SQL Database Managed Instance with transaction replication

Question 7

A financial services company is designing a data storage solution for its transaction processing system. The system uses Azure Cosmos DB with the Core (SQL) API. The company needs to implement a change data capture (CDC) pipeline to feed a downstream analytics system in near real-time (under 1 minute). The analytics system uses Azure Synapse Analytics. The data volume is approximately 10,000 transactions per second. The solution must minimize operational complexity and cost. Which approach should the company recommend?

Accepted Answer

Use Azure Cosmos DB change feed with Azure Functions to process changes and load them into Azure Synapse Analytics using the COPY command.. Azure Cosmos DB change feed provides a built-in, event-driven mechanism to capture inserts and updates in near real-time. By using Azure Functions to process each batch of changes and the COPY command for efficient bulk loading into Azure Synapse, the solution meets the sub-minute latency requirement while minimizing operational overhead and cost, as it avoids managing additional compute resources.

Answer

Enable Azure Synapse Link for Cosmos DB and query the transactional data directly from Synapse serverless SQL.

Answer

Use Azure Data Factory to schedule incremental copy from Cosmos DB to Synapse every minute.

Answer

Use Azure Databricks with Spark Structured Streaming to read from Cosmos DB change feed and write to Synapse.

Question 8

A large enterprise is designing a data lake solution for its analytics platform. The data lake will store petabytes of structured and unstructured data from various sources, including IoT devices, logs, and transactional databases. The solution must support: - Multi-protocol access (ABFS, REST, and NFS 3.0) - Hierarchical namespace for folder-level permissions - Optimized for analytical workloads (Parquet format) - Cost-effective storage for cold data that is accessed less than once a year. Which Azure storage solution should the enterprise recommend for the data lake?

Accepted Answer

Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 with Archive tier for cold data. Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 (ADLS Gen2) is the correct foundation because it natively supports the required multi-protocol access (ABFS, REST, and NFS 3.0), a hierarchical namespace for folder-level permissions, and is optimized for analytical workloads using Parquet format. The Archive tier for cold data provides the lowest storage cost for data accessed less than once a year, meeting the cost-effectiveness requirement while retaining the ADLS Gen2 capabilities.

Answer

Azure NetApp Files Ultra tier

Answer

Azure Files Premium tier

Answer

Azure Blob Storage with hierarchical namespace enabled

Question 9

You are designing a disaster recovery solution for an Azure SQL Database. The database is in the West US region. You need to ensure that if the entire West US region becomes unavailable, the database can be failed over to another region within 1 hour with minimal data loss. The solution must be cost-effective for a development environment. What should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Configure active geo-replication to a secondary database in a paired region. Active geo-replication (Option A) meets the RTO of 1 hour and provides near-zero RPO by asynchronously replicating transactions to a secondary database in a paired region. It is cost-effective for a development environment because active geo-replication allows the secondary database to have a different compute size (e.g., fewer vCores) than the primary, reducing cost for the secondary. Auto-failover groups require the secondary to match the primary's service tier and compute size, increasing cost.

Answer

Configure auto-failover groups with a secondary in a paired region

Answer

Deploy an Always On availability group across two regions using Azure VMs

Answer

Take daily backups and store them in a different region

Question 10

A financial services company runs a mission-critical .NET application on an Azure virtual machine scale set. The application writes transactional data to a shared folder on a premium SSD managed disk attached to each instance. The company requires that all data be encrypted at rest with customer-managed keys stored in Azure Key Vault, and that the encryption keys be automatically rotated every 90 days. The solution must minimize latency and administrative overhead. What should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Use server-side encryption with customer-managed keys on the managed disk by configuring a disk encryption set linked to a Key Vault key with a rotation policy.. The requirement for customer-managed keys with automatic rotation every 90 days and minimal latency is best met by server-side encryption with customer-managed keys on managed disks. A disk encryption set linked to a Key Vault key allows automatic rotation without re-encrypting the disk, and encryption is handled by the storage service, ensuring low latency. Azure Disk Encryption lacks automatic rotation, and other options either introduce latency or do not support customer-managed keys with rotation.

Answer

Store the data in an Azure Files share with Azure File Sync and enable encryption with customer-managed keys.

Answer

Enable encryption at host and use a Key Vault key with automatic rotation.

Answer

Use Azure Disk Encryption with a Key Vault key and enable automatic key rotation on the Key Vault key.

Question 11

A healthcare company is designing a data storage solution for a new patient records application. The application will store JSON documents in Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL. The company requires that the data be replicated to at least three Azure regions for high availability and that reads be served from the region closest to the user with the lowest latency. The solution must minimize cost while meeting these requirements. What should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Configure the Cosmos DB account with a single write region and two read regions, and enable the use of the nearest region for reads via the preferred locations list.. The most cost-effective solution for multi-region reads with low latency is a single write region with two read regions, and configuring the client's preferred locations list to prioritize the nearest region. This avoids the higher cost of multi-region writes while ensuring reads are served locally. The free tier does not cover multi-region replication, and multi-region writes increase cost unnecessarily.

Answer

Configure the Cosmos DB account with a single write region and two read regions, and enable automatic failover.

Answer

Configure the Cosmos DB account with multi-region writes enabled and three regions.

Answer

Configure the Cosmos DB account with a single write region and two read regions, and use the Azure Cosmos DB free tier.

Question 12

You are designing a data storage solution for an application that generates small, discrete JSON records (each less than 1 KB) at a high write rate (approximately 5,000 writes per second). The records are queried by unique ID and by a timestamp range for analytics. The solution must provide single-digit millisecond read latency and support multi-master writes across multiple Azure regions. The data must be retained for 90 days. Which Azure storage service should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL with session consistency. The application requires a globally distributed, multi-master database with low latency for small JSON records. Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL natively supports multi-master writes, single-digit millisecond reads and writes, and automatic indexing on all properties by default. Session consistency ensures that the application can read its own writes. TTL can automatically remove data after 90 days, satisfying the retention policy without manual intervention.

Answer

Azure SQL Database with auto-failover groups

Answer

Azure Blob Storage with a premium performance tier and geo-zone-redundant storage (GZRS)

Answer

Azure Table Storage with geo-redundant storage (GRS)

Question 13

A financial services company is designing a storage solution for transactional data that must be encrypted at rest using customer-managed keys (CMK). The company's security policy requires that the keys be stored in a hardware security module (HSM) and that the company can revoke access to the data at any time by disabling the key. The solution must support automatic key rotation every 90 days. Which Azure storage service and key management configuration should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Azure SQL Database with Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) using customer-managed keys stored in Azure Key Vault Managed HSM. The requirements include encryption at rest with customer-managed keys, HSM-backed key storage, the ability to revoke access by disabling the key, and automatic key rotation every 90 days. Azure SQL Database with TDE and customer-managed keys in Azure Key Vault Managed HSM satisfies all these: Managed HSM provides hardware-backed keys, disabling the key in Key Vault immediately revokes access, and Key Vault supports automatic key rotation that SQL Database honors.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB with customer-managed keys stored in Azure Key Vault Managed HSM

Answer

Azure Disk Encryption (ADE) with BitLocker keys stored in Azure Key Vault (standard tier)

Answer

Azure Storage account with encryption scopes using customer-managed keys stored in Azure Key Vault (standard tier)

Question 14

A company is designing a storage solution for a new application that will store large video files (average 5 GB each) and must provide access to these files via HTTP/HTTPS. The files are written once and read frequently for the first 30 days, after which they are rarely accessed but must be retained for 7 years for compliance. The solution must minimize storage costs while ensuring that files are immediately accessible when needed. Which storage solution should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage with a lifecycle management policy that moves blobs from hot to cool after 30 days, and keeps them in cool tier for the remainder of the retention period. The solution must serve large video files over HTTP/HTTPS, minimize cost, and keep files immediately accessible even after 30 days. Azure Blob Storage supports HTTP/HTTPS access natively. A lifecycle policy that transitions blobs to cool tier after 30 days reduces cost while maintaining immediate access. Archive tier would be cheaper but requires rehydration, violating the immediate access requirement. Cool tier is the correct balance.

Answer

Azure Files with premium file shares and Azure File Sync

Answer

Azure Blob Storage with a lifecycle management policy that moves blobs from hot to cool after 30 days, and then to archive after 90 days

Answer

Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 with hierarchical namespace and lifecycle management to move data to archive tier after 30 days

Question 15

A company is designing a storage solution for a new application that will use Azure SQL Database. The database will store sensitive financial data and must be encrypted at rest. The company's security policy requires that the encryption keys be stored in a hardware security module (HSM) and that the company can revoke access to the database immediately by disabling the key. The solution must also support automatic key rotation every 60 days. Which Azure SQL Database configuration should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Configure Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) with customer-managed keys stored in Azure Key Vault Managed HSM, and set a key rotation policy in Key Vault.. The requirements are encryption at rest with customer-managed keys, HSM-backed key storage, immediate revocation by disabling the key, and automatic key rotation every 60 days. Azure SQL Database TDE with customer-managed keys in Azure Key Vault Managed HSM satisfies all these: Managed HSM provides hardware-backed keys, disabling the key immediately blocks access, and Key Vault rotation policy can be set to 60 days, which SQL Database honors.

Answer

Configure Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) with service-managed keys and enable Azure Defender for SQL.

Answer

Configure Always Encrypted with keys stored in Azure Key Vault (standard tier).

Answer

Configure cell-level encryption using symmetric keys stored in Azure Key Vault Managed HSM.