DP-900 Practice Test 46 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company collects temperature readings from IoT sensors every second. Each reading includes a timestamp, sensor ID, and temperature value. The data is used for real-time monitoring and historical trend analysis. Which type of data is this most likely classified as?

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

Accepted Answer

Structured data. The data consists of timestamp, sensor ID, and temperature value, each with a defined data type and relationship, fitting a tabular schema (rows and columns) typical of relational databases. This structured format enables efficient querying for real-time monitoring and historical trend analysis using SQL-based systems like Azure SQL Database or Azure Synapse Analytics.

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Semi-structured data

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Unstructured data

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Streaming data

Question 2

A small online retailer wants to migrate its single on-premises SQL Server database to Azure. They require a fully managed relational database service with built-in high availability, automated backups, and no need to manage virtual machines. They do not need features like multiple databases with cross-database queries or SQL Agent. Which Azure service should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure SQL Database. Azure SQL Database is a fully managed Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) relational database that provides built-in high availability (99.99% SLA with zone-redundant configuration), automated backups with point-in-time restore, and eliminates the need to manage virtual machines or operating system patches. It is the ideal choice for a single database migration when features like cross-database queries and SQL Agent are not required.

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Azure SQL Managed Instance

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SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines

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Azure Database for MySQL

Question 3

A retail company uses Azure SQL Database for its sales transaction table, which contains over 500 million rows. Queries that filter by OrderDate are slow because the database scans the entire table. The database administrator decides to implement table partitioning on the OrderDate column. What is the primary benefit of this partitioning strategy?

Accepted Answer

It improves query performance by enabling partition elimination, where only relevant partitions are scanned.. Table partitioning in Azure SQL Database divides a large table into smaller, manageable segments based on a partition key (here, OrderDate). The primary benefit is partition elimination: queries with filters on OrderDate can scan only the relevant partition(s) instead of the entire 500-million-row table, drastically reducing I/O and improving query performance.

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It reduces the total storage required by compressing older partitions.

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It enforces referential integrity between partitions automatically.

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It eliminates the need for indexes on the partitioned column.

Question 4

A hospital stores medical images in Azure Blob Storage. They must ensure that images are encrypted at rest using customer-managed keys (CMK) and that access to the keys is audited. What should you implement?

Accepted Answer

Enable Azure Storage Service Encryption with a customer-managed key in Azure Key Vault.. Azure Storage encryption with customer-managed keys stored in Azure Key Vault provides the required control and auditing. Option A is wrong because Azure Disk Encryption is for VMs, not Blob Storage. Option B is wrong because Azure Information Protection is for classification, not encryption at rest. Option D is wrong because Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) is for SQL databases, not Blob Storage. Option C is correct.

Answer

Use Azure Disk Encryption to encrypt the storage account.

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Apply Azure Information Protection labels to the blobs.

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Use Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) on the storage account.

Question 5

A company plans to migrate an on-premises SQL Server database to Azure. The database uses SQL Server Agent for nightly maintenance jobs, Service Broker for asynchronous messaging, and requires cross-database queries within the same instance. The company wants a fully managed Platform as a Service (PaaS) solution that minimizes application code changes. Which Azure SQL deployment option should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure SQL Managed Instance. Azure SQL Managed Instance is the correct choice because it provides near 100% compatibility with on-premises SQL Server, including SQL Server Agent, Service Broker, and cross-database queries within the same instance, while being a fully managed PaaS offering. This minimizes application code changes because the migration can be performed with minimal schema or code modifications, unlike Azure SQL Database which lacks these features.

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Azure SQL Database (single database)

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Azure SQL Database elastic pool

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Azure SQL Database Hyperscale

Question 6

A company wants to provide self-service analytics to business users who need to create reports and dashboards from data in Azure Synapse Analytics. Which tool should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Power BI. Power BI is the correct tool because it is designed specifically for self-service analytics, enabling business users to create interactive reports and dashboards from data stored in Azure Synapse Analytics. Power BI connects directly to Synapse via its built-in connector, allowing users to build visualizations without writing code or relying on IT. This aligns with the requirement for business users to perform ad-hoc analysis and reporting.

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Microsoft Excel

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Azure Synapse Studio

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Azure Data Studio

Question 7

A retail chain captures real-time sales data from point-of-sale (POS) systems as a stream of events. The data is ingested into Azure Event Hubs. Additionally, the company receives daily inventory files in CSV format uploaded to Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2. The analytics team needs to combine the streaming sales data with the batch inventory data to generate near real-time dashboards and run historical reports. They want a single analytics platform that can handle both streaming and batch workloads, and allow querying data directly in the data lake using SQL. Which Azure service should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Synapse Analytics. Azure Synapse Analytics is the correct choice because it provides a unified analytics platform that natively integrates with Azure Event Hubs for real-time streaming ingestion and Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 for batch data. Its Synapse SQL engine supports querying data directly in the data lake using T-SQL, enabling near real-time dashboards and historical reports without data movement. This service is designed to handle both streaming and batch workloads in a single workspace, meeting all the stated requirements.

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Azure Stream Analytics

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Azure Data Lake Analytics

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Azure HDInsight

Question 8

Which TWO of the following are valid use cases for Azure Queue Storage?

Accepted Answer

Building a serverless workflow with Azure Functions. Azure Queue Storage is a service for storing large numbers of messages that can be accessed from anywhere via authenticated calls. It is commonly used to decouple application components and enable asynchronous processing. Option A is correct because Azure Queue Storage can trigger Azure Functions to build serverless workflows. Option D is correct because it is designed to decouple front-end and back-end components by passing messages between them. Option B is incorrect because storing JSON documents for querying is better suited for Cosmos DB or Table Storage. Option C is incorrect because storing large binary objects is handled by Azure Blob Storage. Option E is incorrect because real-time event streaming is typically done with Azure Event Hubs or Azure Stream Analytics.

Answer

Storing JSON documents for querying

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Storing large binary objects for a website

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Real-time event streaming for analytics

Question 9

A company has 15 SQL Server databases, ranging from 50 GB to 200 GB each. The databases experience unpredictable load spikes during the day. They want to migrate to Azure SQL Database to minimize management overhead and reduce costs by allowing databases to share resources, while ensuring each database can burst to higher performance when needed. Which deployment option should they choose?

Accepted Answer

B) Elastic pool. Elastic pools allow multiple databases to share a fixed pool of resources (DTUs or vCores), which reduces costs by pooling unused capacity and enables each database to automatically burst to higher performance when needed. This matches the company's need to minimize management overhead while handling unpredictable load spikes across 15 databases ranging from 50 GB to 200 GB.

Answer

A) Single database with Provisioned throughput tier

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C) SQL Managed Instance

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D) SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machine

Question 10

An e-commerce application processes customer orders. When an order is placed, the system must decrement the inventory count and process the payment. The application ensures that either both operations complete successfully or both are rolled back if any error occurs. Which database property does this guarantee?

Accepted Answer

Atomicity. Atomicity ensures that a transaction is treated as a single, indivisible unit of work: either all operations within it (decrement inventory and process payment) complete successfully, or none are applied. If any part fails, the database rolls back all changes, maintaining the 'all-or-nothing' guarantee. This is the core property described in the scenario.

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Consistency

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Isolation

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Durability

Question 11

A smart city application collects sensor data from thousands of devices. Data is ingested as JSON messages containing deviceId, timestamp, and reading value. The application must support fast point reads by deviceId and also run queries to retrieve all readings for a specific deviceId within a time range. The development team prefers a SQL-like query language. Which Azure Cosmos DB API should they choose?

Accepted Answer

SQL (Core) API. The SQL (Core) API is the best choice because it natively supports SQL-like querying, enabling both fast point reads by deviceId (using the partition key) and efficient time-range queries on a specific deviceId. It also provides native JSON support, which aligns with the JSON message format from the sensors, and allows indexing on timestamp for range queries.

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Table API

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MongoDB API

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Cassandra API

Question 12

Your organization uses Azure Cosmos DB for a real-time inventory application. The data includes a container with items that have a `category` property. The operations team frequently queries for all items in a specific category. To optimize query performance and minimize request unit (RU) consumption, you decide to implement a materialized view. Which Azure Cosmos DB feature should you use to achieve this?

Accepted Answer

Materialized views (preview). Azure Cosmos DB's materialized views (preview) feature allows you to pre-join, aggregate, and transform data from a source container into a separate container optimized for specific query patterns, such as filtering by `category`. This reduces RU consumption by avoiding full scans or expensive cross-partition queries, as the view is pre-computed and indexed according to the target query.

Answer

Partition key design

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Change feed

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Composite indexes

Question 13

You need to design a real-time dashboard that displays the number of orders placed in the last hour from an e-commerce application. The application writes orders to Azure Event Hubs. Which Azure service should you use to aggregate the data and serve the dashboard with minimal latency?

Accepted Answer

Azure Stream Analytics with Power BI output. Azure Stream Analytics is purpose-built for real-time data processing from sources like Event Hubs, and its native integration with Power BI enables direct output to a dashboard with sub-second latency. This combination provides the minimal-latency aggregation and serving required for a real-time orders dashboard without additional infrastructure.

Answer

Azure Databricks Structured Streaming

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Azure Analysis Services

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Azure Data Factory with tumbling window

Question 14

A media publishing company stores high-resolution images and video files for their website. These files are large (hundreds of MBs each) and are accessed only a few times per month, but when accessed, they must be delivered within seconds. Additionally, they need to store a small amount of metadata (e.g., upload date, author) for each file. Which Azure service should they use for storing the binary files?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage. Azure Blob Storage is designed for storing massive amounts of unstructured binary data, such as high-resolution images and video files. It supports objects up to 4.75 TB in size, offers tiered storage (including cool and archive tiers) to optimize cost for infrequently accessed data, and provides low-latency access (typically under 10 seconds) for retrieval when needed. This makes it the ideal choice for the media publishing company's requirements.

Answer

Azure Table Storage

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Azure File Storage

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Azure Queue Storage

Question 15

A software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider hosts a multi-tenant application with a separate database for each tenant. They anticipate scaling to thousands of tenants and want to minimize cost while allowing tenants to share resources flexibly. Which Azure SQL offering is most suitable?

Accepted Answer

Azure SQL Database elastic pool. Azure SQL Database elastic pool is the most suitable choice because it allows multiple single databases (one per tenant) to share a fixed set of resources (DTUs or vCores) within a pool, optimizing cost by averaging resource usage across tenants. This model supports scaling to thousands of tenants while providing resource elasticity and predictable pricing, as tenants with low activity can use unused capacity from busy ones without over-provisioning.

Answer

Azure SQL Database (single database)

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Azure SQL Managed Instance

Answer

SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machine