DP-900 Practice Test 41 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A manufacturing company collects sensor data from equipment on the factory floor. The data is generated continuously and must be processed immediately to detect anomalies and trigger alerts. Which type of data processing workload best describes this scenario?

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

Accepted Answer

Stream processing. B is correct because the scenario requires continuous data ingestion and immediate processing to detect anomalies and trigger alerts, which is the defining characteristic of stream processing. Technologies like Azure Stream Analytics or Apache Kafka are designed to handle unbounded data streams with low-latency processing, unlike batch processing which operates on static datasets at scheduled intervals.

Answer

Batch processing

Answer

Transactional processing

Answer

Analytical processing

Question 2

Match each data type to its category in Azure.

Accepted Answer

Relational data: Stored in tables with predefined schema and relationships (Structured). Understanding data types helps choose the right Azure service. Structured data fits Azure SQL Database, semi-structured fits Cosmos DB, unstructured fits Blob Storage.

Answer

Relational data: Stored as key-value pairs with flexible schema (Semi-structured)

Answer

JSON data: Stored in tables with predefined schema and relationships (Structured)

Answer

Video files: Stored as key-value pairs (Semi-structured)

Question 3

Which TWO features are available in Azure SQL Database to help protect data at rest?

Accepted Answer

Transparent Data Encryption (TDE). And Option C are correct. Transparent Data Encryption encrypts the database files at rest. Always Encrypted encrypts sensitive columns at rest and in use. Option B is wrong because Dynamic Data Masking does not encrypt data; it masks it in query results. Option D is wrong because Auditing is for tracking, not encryption. Option E is wrong because Row-Level Security controls access, not encryption.

Answer

Dynamic Data Masking

Answer

Auditing

Answer

Row-Level Security

Question 4

Match each Azure SQL Database tier to its description.

Accepted Answer

Basic: For low-cost, small-scale workloads with limited performance needs. Azure SQL Database tiers: Basic (low-cost, small), Standard (mid-range, predictable), Premium (high-performance, mission-critical), Hyperscale (large, scalable). Common confusions: mixing Premium and Basic, or Standard and Hyperscale.

Answer

Basic: For high-performance, mission-critical workloads with low latency

Answer

Standard: For extremely large databases and high scalability

Question 5

Match each Azure data service to its primary purpose.

Accepted Answer

Azure SQL Database: Relational database as a service for structured data.. Azure SQL Database is for relational data, Azure Cosmos DB is a NoSQL globally distributed database, Azure Blob Storage stores unstructured objects, and Azure Synapse Analytics handles big data analytics and warehousing.

Answer

Azure SQL Database: NoSQL database with global distribution.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB: Object storage for unstructured data.

Question 6

Match each data processing term to its definition.

Accepted Answer

Batch processing: Processes large volumes of data at scheduled intervals.. Batch processing handles large volumes at scheduled times, while stream processing handles real-time data. ETL transforms before loading; ELT transforms after loading. Common confusion is swapping ETL and ELT definitions or misapplying batch/stream terms.

Answer

Stream processing: Processes data in batches at scheduled intervals.

Answer

ETL: Extract, Load, Transform - loads raw data before transformation.

Question 7

Your company uses Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 and wants to grant a data scientist read-only access to a specific container. Which built-in RBAC role should you assign?

Accepted Answer

Storage Blob Data Reader. Storage Blob Data Reader (D) is the correct built-in RBAC role because it grants read-only access to Azure Storage blob containers and data, including Data Lake Storage Gen2. This role provides the necessary permissions for a data scientist to read data from a specific container without allowing write or delete operations.

Answer

Storage Account Contributor

Answer

Reader

Answer

Storage Blob Data Contributor

Question 8

A company stores large video files in Azure Blob Storage. The files are accessed frequently for the first 30 days after upload, then rarely for the next 180 days, and after that they are only needed for compliance but never accessed. The company wants to minimize storage costs while ensuring the files remain durable and accessible. Which strategy should they implement?

Accepted Answer

Store files initially in the Hot tier, then use lifecycle management to move files to Cool after 30 days and to Archive after 210 days.. It aligns the access patterns with the appropriate Azure Blob Storage access tiers: Hot for frequent initial access, Cool for reduced-cost infrequent access after 30 days, and Archive for the lowest-cost long-term retention after 210 days. Azure lifecycle management policies automate these transitions, ensuring durability and accessibility while minimizing costs.

Answer

Store all files in the Cool access tier and apply lifecycle management to move files to the Archive tier after 30 days.

Answer

Store files in the Archive tier from the beginning to maximize cost savings.

Answer

Store files in the Premium tier for fast access, then manually delete files after 30 days.

Question 9

A social media application stores user sessions as JSON documents. Each session document has fields like sessionId, userId, startTime, endTime, and a list of pageviews. The application needs to quickly retrieve a session by its sessionId and also run queries like 'find all sessions for a user in the last 24 hours' using SQL-like syntax. The data has no fixed schema; different sessions may include additional optional fields like 'deviceType' or 'promotionCode'. Which Azure data store should the company use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB with SQL API. Azure Cosmos DB with SQL API is the correct choice because it natively supports storing JSON documents with flexible schemas, allows fast point reads by sessionId using a unique identifier, and enables SQL-like queries (e.g., filtering by userId and startTime) with automatic indexing. Its schema-agnostic design handles optional fields like deviceType or promotionCode without requiring schema changes, and it provides low-latency reads essential for real-time session retrieval.

Answer

Azure Table Storage

Answer

Azure SQL Database

Answer

Azure Blob Storage

Question 10

A company needs to store order data for an e-commerce platform. The system requires high concurrency, fast inserts, and the ability to enforce referential integrity between tables (e.g., Customers and Orders). Which Azure service should they use?

Accepted Answer

Azure SQL Database. Azure SQL Database is a fully managed relational database service that supports high concurrency, fast inserts, and enforces referential integrity through foreign key constraints. It provides ACID transactions and row-level locking to handle concurrent writes efficiently, making it ideal for e-commerce order processing where data consistency between Customers and Orders tables is critical.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB

Answer

Azure Blob Storage

Answer

Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2

Question 11

A company stores massive amounts of unstructured log data as text files in Azure Blob Storage. The logs are written once and accessed only a few times per month for compliance audits. When accessed, the data must be available within 15 minutes. The company's priority is minimizing storage costs. Which Azure Blob Storage access tier should they use?

Accepted Answer

Cool. The Cool access tier is optimal because the logs are accessed infrequently (a few times per month) but require retrieval within 15 minutes. Cool tier offers lower storage costs than Hot while still supporting near-instant access, making it the best balance for minimizing storage costs with occasional compliance audits.

Answer

Hot

Answer

Archive

Answer

Premium

Question 12

You are designing a relational database for a multi-tenant SaaS application. Each tenant's data must be isolated for security and compliance. Which design approach best ensures data isolation while keeping cost manageable?

Accepted Answer

Use a separate database per tenant. A separate database per tenant provides strong isolation, ensuring each tenant's data is completely separate for security and compliance, while keeping costs manageable through elastic pools or other cost-effective deployment models. Option A is incorrect because Azure Synapse Analytics is a data warehousing and analytics service, not designed for OLTP multi-tenant isolation. Option C is incorrect because row-level security can help but does not provide the same level of isolation as separate databases. Option D is incorrect because separate schemas within a single database do not provide full data isolation; they share the same database and resources.

Answer

Use Azure Synapse Analytics with workload isolation

Answer

Use a single database with a TenantID column and row-level security

Answer

Use a single database with separate schemas per tenant

Question 13

A company has an existing on-premises SQL Server database that is 500 GB in size. The database uses SQL Server Agent jobs for scheduled maintenance and linked servers to query data from a remote SQL Server instance. The company wants to migrate to Azure with minimal application changes and needs automated backups and patching. Which Azure SQL service should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure SQL Managed Instance. Azure SQL Managed Instance is correct because it provides near 100% compatibility with on-premises SQL Server, including support for SQL Server Agent jobs and linked servers, while offering automated backups and patching. This minimizes application changes during migration, unlike other Azure SQL options that lack these features.

Answer

Azure SQL Database

Answer

SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines

Answer

Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Question 14

A company runs a financial application on Azure SQL Database. The Transactions table has a clustered columnstore index to support fast analytical queries on large historical datasets. However, the application also ingests a high volume of new transactions each second, and the columnstore index is causing performance degradation for these real-time inserts. The workload is hybrid (OLTP and OLAP). Which feature should the company implement to improve insert performance while still enabling efficient analytical queries on the table?

Accepted Answer

D: Convert the table to a rowstore heap with a nonclustered columnstore index. Converting the table to a rowstore heap with a nonclustered columnstore index allows the table to handle high-volume singleton inserts efficiently (rowstore heap) while still enabling fast analytical queries via the nonclustered columnstore index. This hybrid approach separates the OLTP insert path from the OLAP read path, avoiding the overhead of maintaining a clustered columnstore index during real-time ingestion.

Answer

A: In-memory OLTP

Answer

B: Elastic Query

Answer

C: Hyperscale service tier

Question 15

A retail company runs a nightly job that reads all sales transactions from the previous day from an operational database, aggregates them by product category and store location, and writes the summary results into a data warehouse for reporting. Which type of data processing workload does this nightly job represent?

Accepted Answer

B. Batch processing. The nightly job processes data in discrete, scheduled batches—reading all sales transactions from the previous day, aggregating them, and writing results to a data warehouse. This is the classic definition of batch processing, where data is collected over a period and processed together in a single job run. In Azure, this workload maps to services like Azure Data Factory or Azure Synapse Pipelines executing scheduled pipelines.

Answer

A. Real-time processing

Answer

C. Stream processing

Answer

D. Transactional processing