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

Question 1

A company stores terabytes of archival data that must be retained for 10 years per regulatory requirements. The data is accessed infrequently (once or twice per year) and retrieval latency of up to 5 hours is acceptable. The company wants the lowest storage cost. They also need to ensure data is encrypted at rest and immutability to prevent deletion or modification during the retention period. Which Azure storage solution should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage with Archive tier and immutability policy (time-based retention). Option C is correct because Azure Blob Storage's Archive tier offers the lowest storage cost for infrequently accessed data, and the immutability policy with time-based retention provides WORM (Write Once, Read Many) compliance to prevent deletion or modification for the required 10-year period. The 5-hour retrieval latency is acceptable for archival data accessed once or twice per year, and encryption at rest is automatically enabled for all Azure Blob Storage tiers.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage with Hot tier and lifecycle management to Archive tier with WORM policy

Answer

Azure Blob Storage with Cool tier and lifecycle management to Archive tier with legal hold

Answer

Azure Files with premium tier and soft delete

Question 2

A company runs a SQL Server database on an Azure virtual machine. They need to increase the storage capacity and improve I/O performance for their transaction log. The current data disk is a standard HDD. They want to achieve higher IOPS and throughput without increasing the size of the VM (the VM size supports up to 8 data disks). The database workload is write-intensive on the transaction log. Which configuration should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Replace the standard HDD disk with a premium SSD disk for the log drive. Option B is correct because replacing the standard HDD with a premium SSD directly addresses the need for higher IOPS and throughput for a write-intensive transaction log. Premium SSDs provide consistent low-latency performance and significantly higher IOPS/throughput compared to standard HDDs, without requiring a VM size change. Since the VM supports up to 8 data disks, a single premium SSD can meet the performance requirements more effectively than adding more HDDs.

Answer

Add additional standard HDD disks and configure a storage pool with simple (striping) layout

Answer

Add a premium SSD disk and configure a storage space with mirroring for the log drive

Answer

Use Azure Disk Encryption to improve performance

Question 3

A company ingests IoT sensor data into Azure Blob Storage. Data is written frequently and is accessed rarely after the first 24 hours. The company must retain the data for exactly 90 days for compliance. They want to minimize storage costs by automatically moving data to the cheapest possible storage tier as soon as possible. Which Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management policy should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Move to Cool tier after 1 day, delete after 90 days. Option A is correct because the data is rarely accessed after 24 hours, so moving it to Cool tier after 1 day minimizes cost while still allowing low-latency access. The 90-day deletion aligns with the compliance retention requirement. Cool tier is the cheapest online tier, and moving data there as soon as possible (after 1 day) reduces costs without incurring the early deletion penalty or retrieval latency of Archive tier.

Answer

Move to Archive tier after 1 day, delete after 90 days

Answer

Move to Cool tier after 30 days, delete after 90 days

Answer

Move to Archive tier after 30 days, delete after 90 days

Question 4

A company stores log data in Azure Blob Storage. The logs are accessed frequently for the first 30 days, then only occasionally for up to 1 year, and after that must be retained for 7 years for compliance purposes. The company wants to minimize storage costs by automatically moving data to cheaper tiers. Which Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management policy should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Move to Cool tier after 30 days, move to Archive tier after 365 days, delete after 2555 days. Option A is correct because it aligns with the access patterns: move to Cool tier after 30 days (frequent access period), move to Archive tier after 365 days (occasional access period ends), and delete after 2555 days (7 years retention). This minimizes costs by transitioning data to progressively cheaper storage tiers and automatically deleting it when compliance retention expires.

Answer

Move to Cool tier after 30 days, move to Archive tier after 365 days, delete after 7 years

Answer

Move to Cool tier after 30 days, move to Archive tier after 30 days, delete after 2555 days

Answer

Move to Archive tier after 30 days, keep in Archive until deletion after 2555 days

Question 5

A company is building a global real-time collaboration platform. The application data is stored as JSON documents and needs to be available for low-latency reads and writes from multiple geographic regions. The application must support multi-region writes so that users can update data from any region with automatic conflict resolution. The company wants a fully managed database service with a guaranteed SLA for availability and throughput. Which Azure data service should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB with SQL API and multiple write regions. Azure Cosmos DB with SQL API and multiple write regions is the correct choice because it is a fully managed, globally distributed NoSQL database that natively supports multi-region writes with automatic conflict resolution. It provides low-latency reads and writes from any region, a guaranteed SLA for availability (99.999% for multi-region writes) and throughput, and is optimized for JSON document storage, making it ideal for a real-time collaboration platform.

Answer

Azure SQL Database with active geo-replication

Answer

Azure Table Storage

Answer

Azure Cache for Redis

Question 6

A company stores JSON documents for a mobile app backend. The data needs to be accessible from multiple global regions with low latency writes from any region. The app uses a client-side library that supports automatic conflict resolution for concurrent updates. Which Azure data service should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB. Azure Cosmos DB is correct because it provides multi-region writes with automatic conflict resolution, which directly matches the requirement for low-latency writes from any global region. Its multi-master replication model allows any region to accept writes, and the client-side library can use last-writer-wins (LWW) or custom conflict resolution policies to handle concurrent updates seamlessly.

Answer

Azure SQL Database

Answer

Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Answer

Azure Table Storage

Question 7

A company is migrating a large on-premises SQL Server database to Azure SQL Managed Instance. They need to minimize downtime during migration. The database is 500 GB and the network link is 1 Gbps. Which migration approach should they recommend?

Accepted Answer

Use Azure Database Migration Service with online migration. Option A is correct because Azure Database Migration Service (DMS) with online migration mode uses continuous change data capture (CDC) to synchronize ongoing changes from the on-premises SQL Server to Azure SQL Managed Instance, minimizing downtime to a brief cutover window. This approach is ideal for a 500 GB database over a 1 Gbps link, as it avoids the lengthy full data transfer required by offline methods.

Answer

Perform offline backup and restore

Answer

Use transactional replication

Answer

Export BACPAC and import

Question 8

A company stores petabytes of image files for a content delivery network. The images are accessed frequently for the first week, then rarely afterward. They must be retained for 5 years for compliance. The company wants to minimize storage costs while maintaining performance for frequently accessed data. Which storage solution and tier strategy should they recommend?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage with a lifecycle policy: Hot for 7 days, Cool for the remainder of 5 years. Azure Blob Storage with a lifecycle policy is the correct solution because it automatically transitions blobs from the Hot tier (for frequent access during the first week) to the Cool tier (for rare access over the remaining 5 years), minimizing storage costs while maintaining low-latency performance for the initial high-access period. The Hot tier provides high throughput and low access costs for frequently read data, while the Cool tier offers lower storage costs for infrequently accessed data, meeting both performance and compliance retention requirements.

Answer

Azure Files with premium tier

Answer

Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 with hot tier only

Answer

Azure Blob Storage with archive tier from day 1

Question 9

A company ingests millions of IoT sensor data points per second. They need a fully managed analytics service optimized for time-series data that can ingest high-velocity data, perform real-time analytics, and store data for historical analysis. The solution must integrate with Azure Stream Analytics for stream processing. Which Azure data service should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Data Explorer (ADX). Azure Data Explorer (ADX) is the correct choice because it is a fully managed, high-performance analytics service optimized for time-series and log data. It can ingest millions of IoT sensor data points per second, perform real-time analytics with sub-second query latency, and store data for historical analysis. ADX natively integrates with Azure Stream Analytics for stream processing, making it ideal for this scenario.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB

Answer

Azure SQL Database

Answer

Azure Blob Storage

Question 10

A company needs to store large amounts of unstructured file data (documents, images) that is accessed concurrently from hundreds of Azure VMs. The data must be accessible via the SMB protocol and provide low-latency, high-throughput performance. The solution must be fully managed and support up to 1000 simultaneous connections. Which Azure storage solution should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Files (Premium tier). Azure Files (Premium tier) is correct because it provides fully managed SMB file shares with low-latency, high-throughput performance suitable for concurrent access from hundreds of Azure VMs. Premium file shares are backed by SSD storage and are designed to support up to 1000 simultaneous connections per share, meeting the stated requirements for unstructured file data accessed via SMB.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage

Answer

Azure NetApp Files

Answer

Azure Managed Disks

Question 11

A company runs a large-scale write-intensive application that requires a horizontally scalable relational database. They need to distribute data across multiple nodes to handle high write throughput while supporting SQL queries, including joins and transactions. The solution must be fully managed and provide elastic scaling. Which Azure database service should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Database for PostgreSQL Hyperscale (Citus). Azure Database for PostgreSQL Hyperscale (Citus) is the correct choice because it provides horizontal scaling (sharding) across multiple worker nodes using the Citus extension, which distributes data and parallelizes SQL queries. It supports full SQL, including joins and transactions, while offering elastic scaling for write-intensive workloads. This makes it ideal for large-scale relational databases that need high write throughput and horizontal scalability.

Answer

Azure SQL Database Hyperscale

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB

Answer

Azure SQL Managed Instance

Question 12

A global e-commerce company runs a product catalog application that requires low-latency reads and writes from multiple geographic regions. The data is key-value structured and must be replicated with multi-region write capability. The company needs a fully managed NoSQL database service with guaranteed 99th percentile latency and automatic conflict resolution. Which Azure data service should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB. Azure Cosmos DB is the correct choice because it is a fully managed NoSQL database that supports multi-region writes with automatic conflict resolution, guarantees 99th percentile latency, and provides low-latency reads and writes globally. Its multi-master replication and tunable consistency models meet the key-value structured data requirements and the need for high availability across geographic regions.

Answer

Azure Table Storage

Answer

Azure Redis Cache

Answer

Azure SQL Database

Question 13

A company stores unstructured data such as documents and images in Azure Blob Storage. The data is accessed frequently for the first month, then only rarely for the next year, and after that must be retained for 10 years for compliance. The company wants to minimize storage costs by automatically moving data to the most cost-effective storage tiers. Which Azure Blob Storage feature should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Lifecycle management policies. Lifecycle management policies in Azure Blob Storage allow you to automatically transition blobs to cooler tiers (e.g., from Hot to Cool, then to Archive) based on age or last modification time. This directly matches the requirement to move data from frequent access (first month) to rare access (next year) and then to long-term retention (10 years) while minimizing costs.

Answer

Azure Data Lake Storage access tiers

Answer

Soft delete

Answer

Immutability policies

Question 14

A company runs a high-performance computing (HPC) workload that requires low-latency access to large files (hundreds of GB) from thousands of Azure VMs concurrently. The files must be accessible via the NFS protocol and the solution must be a fully managed, POSIX-compliant file system that can scale throughput linearly with capacity. Which Azure storage solution should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure NetApp Files. Azure NetApp Files is the correct choice because it provides a fully managed, POSIX-compliant NFS file system that can scale throughput linearly with capacity. It is designed for HPC workloads requiring low-latency access to large files from thousands of concurrent VMs, offering sub-millisecond latency and high throughput that increases as you add capacity.

Answer

Azure Files (premium tier)

Answer

Azure Blob Storage with NFS 3.0 support

Answer

Azure HPC Cache

Question 15

A company needs to store audit logs for 7 years to meet compliance requirements. The logs are generated at a high volume and must be cost-effective. They need to run occasional queries on recent logs (less than 30 days old) but rarely on older ones. Which Azure storage solution should they recommend?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage with lifecycle management to Archive tier. Azure Blob Storage with lifecycle management to the Archive tier is the correct solution because it provides a cost-effective storage hierarchy for high-volume audit logs. Lifecycle management can automatically move logs from the Hot or Cool tier to the Archive tier after 30 days, aligning with the requirement to keep recent logs queryable while minimizing costs for older logs that are rarely accessed. The Archive tier offers the lowest storage cost, making it ideal for 7-year retention of audit data.

Answer

Azure SQL Database

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB

Answer

Azure Log Analytics