AZ-305 Design data storage solutions Practice Test 5 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company needs to store and retrieve large binary files (e.g., images and videos) for a web application. The data must be accessible via HTTPS URLs and support both public read access for anonymous users and private access for administrators. The solution must be highly durable and cost-effective for storing terabytes of data. Which Azure storage solution should they recommend?

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 supports both public anonymous read access (via a public container or blob-level access policy) and private access (via shared access signatures or Azure AD authentication). It provides HTTPS URL access for direct retrieval, offers 99.9999999999% (11 nines) durability for hot and cool tiers, and is cost-effective for terabytes of data due to its tiered storage options (hot, cool, archive).

Answer

Azure Files

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Azure Queue Storage

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Azure Table Storage

Question 2

A global e-commerce company stores product catalog data in a JSON document format. The application requires low-latency reads and writes from multiple geographic regions. The solution must support multi-region writes with automatic conflict resolution and provide a guaranteed 99th percentile latency. Which Azure Cosmos DB API and consistency level should they choose?

Accepted Answer

SQL API with Session consistency. The SQL API with Session consistency is correct because it supports multi-region writes with automatic conflict resolution using last-writer-wins (LWW) and provides a guaranteed 99th percentile latency. Session consistency is the most widely used level for globally distributed applications, offering read-your-writes guarantees while maintaining low latency across regions.

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Table API with Eventual consistency

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SQL API with Strong consistency

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MongoDB API with Bounded staleness consistency

Question 3

A company runs a data analytics application that stores large volumes of structured data in a relational format. The data is write-intensive and the application needs to scale horizontally for high throughput. The solution must support SQL queries, including joins and ACID transactions. Which Azure database service should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Hyperscale (Citus). Azure Database for PostgreSQL - Hyperscale (Citus) is correct because it provides horizontal scaling (sharding) across multiple nodes while preserving full SQL support, including JOINs and ACID transactions. Citus distributes data across worker nodes using a coordinator node, enabling write-intensive workloads to achieve high throughput through parallelized writes. This makes it ideal for large-volume, relational, write-heavy analytics applications that require relational integrity.

Answer

Azure SQL Database Hyperscale

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Azure Cosmos DB (SQL API)

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Azure Synapse Analytics

Question 4

A company runs a data analytics workload that processes large amounts of unstructured data (images and videos). The data is accessed frequently for the first month, then rarely. They need to store the data cost-effectively for 7 years to meet compliance. The solution must support fast retrieval of data within the first month. Which Azure storage solution should they recommend?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage with hot tier for 30 days, then lifecycle management to cool tier for 6 months, then archive tier. Azure Blob Storage with hot tier for the first 30 days meets the fast retrieval requirement for frequently accessed data, while lifecycle management automatically moves data to cool tier for 6 months and then to archive tier for the remaining 7-year compliance period, minimizing cost. The archive tier offers the lowest storage cost for rarely accessed data, and lifecycle policies ensure seamless transitions without manual intervention.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage with premium tier for 30 days, then lifecycle to archive tier

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Azure Files with lifecycle management

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Azure Disk Storage with snapshots

Question 5

A company needs to store sensor data from IoT devices. Each device sends a message every second. The data is time-series and will be queried for real-time dashboards and historical analysis. The solution must support high ingestion rates and low-latency queries on recent data. Which Azure service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Event Hubs and Azure Data Explorer. Azure Event Hubs is designed for high-throughput data ingestion from millions of IoT devices, capable of handling millions of events per second. Azure Data Explorer (ADX) is optimized for time-series data, providing sub-second query latency on recent data and efficient historical analysis. Together, they form a serverless pipeline that ingests sensor data via Event Hubs and stores it in ADX for real-time dashboards and long-term analytics.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage with Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

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Azure Cosmos DB with SQL API

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Azure Table Storage

Question 6

A company stores large video files for a media streaming application. The files are accessed infrequently but need to be available instantly when requested. The company wants to minimize storage costs while ensuring high durability. Which Azure Blob Storage access tier should they use?

Accepted Answer

Cool tier. The Cool tier is the optimal choice because it balances low storage cost with instant access for infrequently accessed data. The scenario specifies that files are accessed infrequently but require instant availability, which aligns with the Cool tier's design for data that will be stored for at least 30 days and needs millisecond retrieval latency. Hot tier would be more expensive for infrequent access, while Cold and Archive tiers introduce retrieval delays or higher access costs that violate the 'available instantly' requirement.

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Hot tier

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Cold tier

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Archive tier

Question 7

A company runs a high-throughput time-series workload that stores sensor data from IoT devices. Data is ingested at a rate of millions of events per second. The application requires low-latency queries (under 100 ms) on recent data (less than 30 days old) and the ability to run occasional analytical queries on historical data older than 30 days. The solution must automatically move cold data to a cost-optimized tier and provide built-in analytics. Which Azure service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Time Series Insights (TSI). Azure Time Series Insights (TSI) is purpose-built for high-throughput IoT time-series data, supporting millions of events per second with sub-100 ms query latency on warm data (less than 30 days old). It automatically moves cold data to a cost-optimized warm/cold store and provides built-in analytics and visualization for time-series patterns, making it the ideal choice for this scenario.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB with analytical store

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Azure Event Hubs with Azure Data Lake Storage

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Azure SQL Database with elastic query

Question 8

A company manages a fleet of millions of IoT devices that send telemetry data every minute. The data must be stored for 10 years to meet compliance requirements. For the first 30 days, data is accessed frequently for real-time dashboards and alerting. After 30 days, data is only accessed occasionally for historical analysis and reporting. The solution must be cost-effective and support high ingestion rates. Which Azure service should the company use to store and query this data?

Accepted Answer

Azure Data Explorer. Azure Data Explorer (ADX) is designed for high-ingestion, time-series telemetry data and supports real-time dashboards and alerting on fresh data, while also providing cost-effective long-term storage for historical queries. Its columnar storage and indexing enable fast analytics on billions of records, making it ideal for IoT scenarios with millions of devices sending data every minute and a 10-year retention requirement.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage with Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

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Azure SQL Database

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Azure Cosmos DB with SQL API

Question 9

A global e-commerce company uses Azure Cosmos DB to store its product catalog. The catalog is read-heavy, with users worldwide expecting consistent reads with a 99th percentile latency under 10 ms. Writes to the catalog are performed by a central admin team in one region. The company needs to minimize write latency and cost while ensuring that users always see the same data within a single session. Which Cosmos DB configuration should the company choose?

Accepted Answer

Single-master write region with Session consistency and multiple read regions. Option C is correct because Session consistency provides the required 'read your own writes' guarantee within a single session, which ensures users always see the same data during their session without the latency and cost penalties of Strong consistency. Single-master writes minimize write latency by directing all writes to one region (the central admin team's region), while multiple read regions allow global users to read from the nearest region with sub-10 ms latency. This configuration balances cost, performance, and consistency needs for a read-heavy catalog with centralized writes.

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Single-master write region with Strong consistency and multiple read regions

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Multi-master write with Eventual consistency and all regions enabled for writes

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Multi-master write with Strong consistency and two regions

Question 10

A data platform must support analytical queries over petabytes of files in a data lake, while preserving hierarchical namespaces and fine-grained ACLs. Which storage service should you design around?

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 POSIX-like ACLs, enabling fine-grained access control at the file and directory level while supporting petabyte-scale analytical workloads. It is built on Azure Blob Storage, providing high-throughput and parallel processing for big data analytics engines like Azure Synapse, Spark, and Hadoop.

Answer

Azure Files premium shares.

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Azure Table Storage.

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Azure Queue Storage.

Question 11

A global company stores customer profile data in JSON format. The application requires low-latency writes and reads from multiple regions. The solution must support multi-region writes with automatic conflict resolution and provide high availability. Which Azure Cosmos DB configuration should they choose?

Accepted Answer

SQL API with eventual consistency and multi-region writes enabled. The scenario demands low-latency multi-region writes with automatic conflict resolution and high availability. Azure Cosmos DB's SQL API supports multi-region writes with eventual consistency, which is the only consistency level that allows multi-region writes. Eventual consistency provides the lowest latency and highest availability, and Cosmos DB's automatic conflict resolution handles concurrent writes across regions using last-writer-wins (LWW) or custom conflict resolution policies.

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MongoDB API with strong consistency and multi-region writes enabled

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Table API with consistent prefix consistency and single-region writes

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Gremlin API with session consistency and multi-region writes enabled

Question 12

A company wants to store application configuration settings and secrets (e.g., database connection strings, API keys) securely with automatic rotation. Access must be controlled and audited. Which Azure service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Key Vault. Azure Key Vault is the correct choice because it is designed specifically for securely storing and managing secrets, keys, and certificates. It supports automatic rotation of secrets via integration with Azure managed identities and event grid notifications, and provides fine-grained access control through Azure RBAC and access policies, with full auditing via Azure Monitor and diagnostic logs.

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Azure App Configuration

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Azure Storage Queues

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Azure Service Bus

Question 13

A healthcare analytics platform stores semi-structured JSON documents and requires globally distributed low-latency reads with tunable consistency. Which Azure data platform should be recommended?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB. Azure Cosmos DB is the correct choice because it natively supports semi-structured JSON documents, offers globally distributed multi-region writes and reads with low-latency (typically <10 ms at the 99th percentile), and provides tunable consistency levels (from strong to eventual) via its multi-master replication protocol. This directly matches the requirements for a healthcare analytics platform needing global distribution and flexible consistency.

Answer

Azure Files premium shares

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Azure Data Factory

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Azure SQL Managed Instance

Question 14

An enterprise data platform must store petabytes of raw files for analytics and support fine-grained access control through Microsoft Entra ID. Which storage solution should be selected?

Accepted Answer

Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2. Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 (ADLS Gen2) combines a hierarchical namespace with Azure Blob Storage, enabling petabyte-scale storage for raw files and fine-grained access control via POSIX-like ACLs integrated with Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD). This makes it the ideal solution for enterprise analytics requiring both massive capacity and granular security.

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Azure Queue Storage

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Azure Disk Storage attached to one VM

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Azure Cache for Redis

Question 15

A globally distributed application requires multi-region writes to a NoSQL database and must tolerate regional write outages. Which Azure service capability should be selected?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB multi-region writes. Azure Cosmos DB multi-region writes is the correct choice because it provides active-active replication across multiple Azure regions, enabling writes to be accepted in any configured region and automatically replicated. This design ensures that if one region experiences a write outage, the application can continue writing to other regions without interruption, meeting the requirement for multi-region writes and regional write outage tolerance.

Answer

Azure Table Storage RA-GRS

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Azure SQL Database serverless only

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Azure Files geo-redundant storage