DP-900 Describe considerations for working with non-relational data on Azure Practice Test 2 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You need to choose a non-relational data store for a key-value workload where each item is identified by a partition key and row key. Which Azure service should you use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Table Storage. Azure Table Storage is a NoSQL key-value store that uses partition key and row key to identify items. Azure Blob Storage (Option A) is for unstructured blob data, not key-value pairs. Azure Files (Option B) provides fully managed file shares. Azure Cosmos DB (Option C) is a multi-model database that can support key-value workloads, but it is a more complex and feature-rich service compared to Azure Table Storage, which is specifically designed for simple key-value scenarios. Therefore, Azure Table Storage is the most appropriate choice for a key-value workload with partition and row keys.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage

Answer

Azure Files

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB

Question 2

Which THREE are benefits of using Azure Cosmos DB? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Automatically indexes all data.. Azure Cosmos DB provides automatic indexing of all data (Option A), guarantees low-latency reads and writes at the 99th percentile (Option C), and offers unlimited storage capacity with elastic scaling (Option D). Option B is incorrect because Cosmos DB does not support SQL Server integration; it uses its own SQL API or other NoSQL APIs. Option E is incorrect because Cosmos DB is schema-agnostic and does not require a fixed schema.

Answer

Supports SQL Server integration.

Answer

Requires a fixed schema for all documents.

Question 3

Refer to the exhibit. You are designing an Azure Table storage schema for user settings. The JSON shows a sample entity. Which query will retrieve all settings for user123 efficiently?

Accepted Answer

Filter by PartitionKey eq 'user123' and RowKey eq 'settings'. Using PartitionKey and RowKey together in a query is a point query, which is the most efficient operation in Azure Table storage. Option A is incorrect because filtering only by RowKey (without PartitionKey) requires a full table scan, which is inefficient. Option C is incorrect because filtering only by PartitionKey performs a partition scan; while more efficient than a full table scan, it is less efficient than a point query and may return entities other than the settings entity if multiple entity types exist in the same partition. Option D is incorrect because using OR prevents the query from being a point query and results in a less efficient scan.

Answer

Filter by RowKey eq 'settings'

Answer

Filter by PartitionKey eq 'user123'

Answer

Filter by PartitionKey eq 'user123' or RowKey eq 'settings'

Question 4

Your company uses Azure Cosmos DB with the Core (SQL) API. A collection contains millions of documents, and queries often filter by a property that is not the partition key. What should you do to improve query performance?

Accepted Answer

Create a composite index on the filtered property. Creating a composite index on the filtered property can improve query performance by making the lookup more efficient within each partition. While queries filtering on a non-partition key property will still fan out across partitions, the index reduces the processing time within each partition, thereby improving overall query performance. Changing the partition key (D) would require data migration for an existing collection with millions of documents, making it a significant re-architecture rather than a direct performance improvement step for an existing setup. Increasing RU/s (B) improves throughput but does not directly address the query's efficiency. Enabling analytical store (C) is for analytical queries, not operational.

Answer

Increase the provisioned throughput (RU/s)

Answer

Enable analytical store

Answer

Change the partition key to the filtered property

Question 5

Your team needs to store unstructured data such as documents, images, and videos for a data lake analytics project. The data will be processed by Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2. Which storage account type should you create?

Accepted Answer

StorageV2 (general-purpose v2) with hierarchical namespace enabled. Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 requires a storage account with hierarchical namespace enabled. Option A (StorageV2 with hierarchical namespace) is correct because it provides the hierarchical namespace needed for Data Lake Storage Gen2. Option B (BlobStorage) is incorrect because it does not support hierarchical namespace. Option C (QueueStorage) is incorrect because it is designed for messaging, not data lake storage. Option D (FileStorage) is incorrect because it is for SMB file shares, not for the scale and features required by Data Lake Storage Gen2.

Answer

BlobStorage

Answer

QueueStorage

Answer

FileStorage

Question 6

You are designing a solution to store customer preferences as key-value pairs. The data will be accessed frequently and must support high availability across multiple Azure regions. The solution should minimize management overhead. Which Azure service should you use?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB. Azure Cosmos DB provides global distribution, high availability, and low-latency access for key-value data with minimal management overhead. Option A (Azure SQL Database) is incorrect because it is a relational database unsuitable for key-value storage. Option B (Azure Cache for Redis) is incorrect because it is a cache, not a durable primary store. Option D (Azure Queue Storage) is incorrect because it is designed for messaging, not key-value storage.

Answer

Azure SQL Database

Answer

Azure Cache for Redis

Answer

Azure Queue Storage

Question 7

Your company needs to store large amounts of data that will be accessed only a few times a year for compliance audits. The data must be retained for 7 years. Which Azure Blob Storage access tier should you choose?

Accepted Answer

Archive. Azure Blob Storage Archive tier is the most cost-effective for data that is rarely accessed and must be retained for long periods (7 years). Option A (Cool) is incorrect because Cool tier is for infrequently accessed data but has higher storage costs than Archive. Option B (Premium) is incorrect because Premium tier is for high-performance, low-latency data, not for long-term cold storage. Option C (Hot) is incorrect because Hot tier is for frequently accessed data and has the highest storage cost. Option D (Archive) is correct because it offers the lowest storage cost for data with rare access and long retention.

Answer

Cool

Answer

Premium

Answer

Hot

Question 8

Refer to the exhibit. You are reviewing an ARM template snippet for an Azure storage account. You need to ensure that the storage account supports POSIX-like permissions for data lake workloads. Which property must be enabled?

Accepted Answer

"hierarchicalNamespace": {"enabled": true}. The hierarchical namespace must be enabled to support POSIX-like permissions for Data Lake Storage Gen2. Option A is incorrect because allowBlobPublicAccess controls public blob access, unrelated to data lake permissions. Option C is incorrect because the kind property defines the storage account type (e.g., 'StorageV2'), but POSIX permissions require the hierarchical namespace to be enabled, not just setting the kind. Option D is incorrect because keySource determines encryption key management, not data lake permissions.

Answer

"allowBlobPublicAccess": false

Answer

"kind": "DataLakeStorageGen2"

Answer

"keySource": "Microsoft.Storage"

Question 9

Refer to the exhibit. You deploy an Azure Cosmos DB account using this ARM template. Users in East US report that reads are slower than writes. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The East US region is configured as a read region, but the client is connecting to the write endpoint in West US.. The exhibit indicates that West US is the write region (failoverPriority 0) and East US is a read region (failoverPriority 1). While East US is enabled for reads, client applications must be correctly configured to connect to the local endpoint or use the Azure Cosmos DB SDK's preferred regions feature to ensure reads are served from the nearest available region. If the client application in East US is not configured this way, it might default to connecting to the primary write endpoint in West US for all operations, including reads. This would result in increased latency for East US users, making their reads appear slower than if they were served locally, and potentially slower than writes if the round-trip latency to West US is significant.

Answer

The consistency level is set to Session, which requires a round-trip to the write region for every read.

Answer

The failover priority for East US is 1, which means it is not enabled for reads.

Answer

The database account offer type is Standard, which limits throughput.

Question 10

A company stores IoT sensor data in Azure Blob Storage. The data is written once, rarely accessed, and must be retained for 10 years for compliance. The cheapest storage tier should be used for the first 30 days after ingestion, then moved to a lower-cost tier. Which storage tier configuration should you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Use the Hot tier for the first 30 days, then move to the Archive tier.. The Hot tier provides the lowest latency for the initial 30 days when data might be accessed occasionally, and the Archive tier offers the lowest storage cost for long-term retention (10 years) with rare access. Option A is wrong because moving from Hot to Cool would not achieve the cheapest long-term cost; Archive is cheaper than Cool for 10-year retention. Option B is wrong because using Cool for the first 30 days is more expensive than Hot for that period, and Hot is not significantly more costly for short-term use. Option C is wrong because using Archive from the start would incur retrieval costs and long wait times if data needs to be accessed within the first 30 days.

Answer

Use the Hot tier for the first 30 days, then move to the Cool tier.

Answer

Use the Cool tier for the first 30 days, then move to the Archive tier.

Answer

Use the Archive tier from the start.

Question 11

You need to store log files from multiple virtual machines in a central location. Each log file is appended to continuously and can be up to 1 TB. The solution must support concurrent appends from many VMs and provide low-latency read access for real-time monitoring. Which Azure storage solution should you choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage with append blobs. Azure Blob Storage with append blobs is designed for append-only logs, supports concurrent appends from multiple VMs, and provides low-latency read access for real-time monitoring. Azure Cosmos DB is a NoSQL database optimized for transactional workloads, not for large append-only logs. Azure Files is a file share that does not efficiently handle concurrent appends. Azure NetApp Files is an enterprise-grade file storage solution that is overkill and expensive for this use case.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB

Answer

Azure Files

Answer

Azure NetApp Files

Question 12

Which TWO Azure services can be used to store non-relational data? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB. (Azure Cosmos DB) is correct because it is a NoSQL (non-relational) database service. Option E (Azure Table Storage) is correct because it is a key-value store (non-relational). Option B is wrong because Azure SQL Database is a relational database. Option C is wrong because Azure Synapse Analytics is a relational analytics service. Option D is wrong because Azure Database for MySQL is a relational database.

Answer

Azure SQL Database

Answer

Azure Synapse Analytics

Answer

Azure Database for MySQL

Question 13

You are a data engineer for a global gaming company. The company collects telemetry data from millions of players in real time. Each telemetry event is a JSON object containing player ID, game session ID, event type, timestamp, and a payload of up to 5 KB. The data must be stored for 90 days for real-time analytics and then moved to long-term storage for 5 years for historical analysis. The real-time analytics require querying by player ID and event type with sub-second latency. The long-term storage must be cost-effective and support batch analytics. You need to design a storage solution. Which combination of Azure services should you use to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Ingest telemetry into Azure Cosmos DB with TTL set to 90 days, then use Azure Data Factory to copy expired data to Azure Blob Storage.. Azure Cosmos DB provides sub-second query latency on player ID and event type due to its indexing and partitioning capabilities. You can set a Time-to-Live (TTL) of 90 days on the Cosmos DB container to automatically expire data. After expiration, use Azure Data Factory to copy the expired data to Azure Blob Storage (Cool or Archive tier) for cost-effective long-term storage that supports batch analytics. Option A is incorrect because Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 is not designed for sub-second latency on small records; it is optimized for big data analytics. Azure Synapse Serverless SQL would not provide the required real-time performance. Option B is incorrect because Azure SQL Database may not scale to handle the high volume and velocity of telemetry events, and exporting to Data Lake Storage adds unnecessary complexity. Option C is incorrect because Azure Blob Storage does not support real-time queries with sub-second latency; it is for storing blobs, not for querying individual JSON events.

Answer

Store all telemetry in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 with a hierarchical namespace, and use Azure Synapse Serverless SQL for real-time queries.

Answer

Ingest telemetry into Azure Stream Analytics, output to Azure SQL Database for 90 days, then export to Azure Data Lake Storage.

Answer

Ingest telemetry into Azure Event Hubs and then store in Azure Blob Storage with a lifecycle management policy to delete after 90 days.

Question 14

A healthcare organization needs to store medical imaging files (DICOM) that average 50 MB each, with some up to 500 MB. The images must be retained for 10 years for regulatory compliance. During the first year, images are accessed frequently by radiologists. After one year, access drops to once or twice a year. The organization also needs to support application-level encryption with customer-managed keys. The storage solution must be HIPAA eligible and provide high durability. You need to recommend a storage solution. Which Azure service and configuration should you choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage in the Hot tier with a lifecycle management policy to move blobs to Cool after 30 days and to Archive after 1 year, with customer-managed encryption keys.. Azure Blob Storage is HIPAA eligible, supports large blobs (up to 4.75 TiB), and offers lifecycle management to move blobs from Hot to Cool to Archive tiers automatically. Customer-managed keys are supported via Azure Key Vault. Option B is wrong because Azure Cosmos DB has a maximum document size of 2 MB, and base64 encoding increases it further, making it unsuitable for 50-500 MB images. Option C is wrong because Azure NetApp Files is a high-performance file share, not optimized for archiving with lifecycle policies, and is more expensive than needed. Option D is wrong because Azure Files has a maximum file size of 4 TiB, but it lacks automated tiering to archive tier and is not designed for large binary file storage with lifecycle management.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB with a large document size limit, storing images as base64-encoded strings.

Answer

Azure NetApp Files with a capacity pool and export policy, using snapshots for backup.

Answer

Azure Files with Azure File Sync to local servers, storing all images in the Premium tier for fast access.

Question 15

A company needs to store large amounts of unstructured data (videos and images) for a media streaming application. The data must be accessible via HTTP/HTTPS and support tiered storage for cost optimization. Which Azure storage solution should they choose?

Accepted Answer

Azure Blob Storage. Azure Blob Storage is designed for unstructured data, supports HTTP access, and offers hot, cool, and archive tiers. Option A (Azure Disk Storage) is for VM disks; Option B (Azure Blob Storage) is correct; Option C (Azure Table Storage) is for NoSQL key-value data; Option D (Azure Files) is for file shares.

Answer

Azure Disk Storage

Answer

Azure Table Storage

Answer

Azure Files