DP-900 Multiple Select — 40 Questions

Question 1

Which THREE of the following are characteristics of a data lake compared to a data warehouse?

Accepted Answer

Data lakes store data in its native or raw format.. A data lake stores data in its native or raw format, meaning it does not require transformation or schema definition at the time of ingestion. This allows organizations to retain the original fidelity of the data, which is a fundamental distinction from a data warehouse that typically transforms and structures data before loading (ETL). In Azure, Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS) Gen2 supports storing any file format (e.g., Parquet, CSV, JSON, binary) without preprocessing.

Answer

Data lakes guarantee ACID transactions across all data.

Answer

Data lakes store only structured data.

Question 2

Which TWO of the following are common characteristics of a NoSQL database?

Accepted Answer

Flexible schema. NoSQL databases, such as MongoDB or Cassandra, use a flexible schema that allows documents or records to have varying fields without requiring predefined table structures. This enables developers to iterate quickly and store semi-structured or unstructured data, such as JSON documents, without costly schema migrations.

Answer

Normalized data storage

Answer

Strong ACID transaction support

Answer

Relational data model

Question 3

A globally distributed online auction platform uses a replicated database system across multiple Azure regions. The system must continue accepting bids (writes) even if a network partition occurs between regions, because auctions cannot be interrupted. The business decides that during a partition, some users might see slightly outdated item prices (read inconsistency) but all bids must be recorded. According to the CAP theorem, which two properties is this system prioritizing?

Accepted Answer

Availability (A) and Partition Tolerance (P). The CAP theorem defines three properties: Consistency (C), Availability (A), and Partition Tolerance (P). The system continues accepting bids during network partitions, prioritizing Availability (every request receives a response) and Partition Tolerance (system operates despite network splits). Option A (Availability and Partition Tolerance) directly describes this AP trade-off. Option D (Durability and Availability) is incorrect because Durability is not a CAP property; it belongs to ACID. The question specifically asks for CAP properties, so only A is correct.

Answer

Consistency (C) and Partition Tolerance (P)

Answer

Consistency (C) and Availability (A)

Answer

Durability and Availability

Question 4

Which THREE of the following are valid considerations when choosing between Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Table Storage?

Accepted Answer

Cosmos DB provides multiple consistency levels. Options B, C, and E are correct. Cosmos DB provides multiple consistency levels (B), supports multi-region writes (C), and automatically indexes all properties (E). Option A is incorrect because Table Storage does not support multi-region writes; that is a feature of Cosmos DB. Option D is incorrect because Cosmos DB does support JSON documents, both natively.

Answer

Table Storage supports multi-region writes

Answer

Cosmos DB does not support JSON documents

Question 5

Which TWO of the following Azure services are considered non-relational data stores?

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB. Options B and C are correct. Azure Cosmos DB (B) is a globally distributed, multi-model NoSQL database service, making it a non-relational data store. Azure Table Storage (C) is a key-value store that is also non-relational. Option A is wrong because Azure SQL Database is a relational database. Option D is wrong because Azure Synapse Analytics is a relational analytics system. Option E is wrong because Azure Database for PostgreSQL is a relational database.

Answer

Azure SQL Database

Answer

Azure Synapse Analytics

Answer

Azure Database for PostgreSQL

Question 6

Which TWO of the following are benefits of using Azure Table Storage over Azure Blob Storage for storing semi-structured data?

Accepted Answer

Supports querying by partition key and row key. Table Storage supports key-value access and automatic indexing of partition and row keys, making queries by key efficient. Blob Storage is for unstructured data and does not provide built-in key-based querying. Both have REST APIs. Blob Storage has higher throughput for large files.

Answer

Provides automatic indexing of all attributes

Answer

Supports REST API access

Answer

Offers higher throughput for large files

Question 7

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

Accepted Answer

Azure Cosmos DB. Azure Cosmos DB is a NoSQL database service that natively supports semi-structured data through its flexible schema model. It allows storing JSON documents, key-value pairs, and graph data without requiring a fixed schema, making it ideal for semi-structured data like user profiles, IoT telemetry, or product catalogs.

Answer

Azure SQL Database

Answer

Azure Synapse Analytics

Answer

Power BI

Question 8

Which TWO storage tiers are available in Azure Blob Storage for general-purpose v2 storage accounts? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Cool. Options A (Cool) and E (Hot) are correct. Azure Blob Storage offers Hot, Cool, and Archive tiers for general-purpose v2 accounts. Option B (Frozen) and Option D (Cold) are not valid tier names. Option C (Standard) is an account type, not a tier.

Answer

Frozen

Answer

Standard

Answer

Cold

Question 9

Which THREE components are part of Microsoft Fabric's end-to-end analytics platform? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Synapse Data Engineering. Synapse Data Engineering is a core component of Microsoft Fabric, providing a unified platform for data ingestion, transformation, and orchestration using Spark and pipelines. It integrates seamlessly with OneLake for storage and Power BI for visualization, forming part of Fabric's end-to-end analytics solution.

Answer

Azure Machine Learning

Answer

Azure DevOps

Question 10

Which TWO are valid deployment options for Azure SQL?

Accepted Answer

Azure SQL Managed Instance. Options A and B are correct. Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance are the two main deployment options for Azure SQL. Options C, D, and E are incorrect: Azure Cosmos DB is a NoSQL database, Azure Database for MariaDB is a separate managed database service, and Azure Synapse Analytics Dedicated SQL Pool is a data warehousing service.

Answer

Azure Cosmos DB

Answer

Azure Database for MariaDB

Answer

Azure Synapse Analytics Dedicated SQL Pool

Question 11

Which TWO of the following are benefits of using Azure SQL Database over SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines?

Accepted Answer

Built-in high availability with automatic failover. Options A and B are correct. Azure SQL Database provides built-in high availability with automatic failover, which is a key benefit over SQL Server on Azure VMs where you must configure HA manually. Additionally, Azure SQL Database automatically handles patching and updates, reducing administrative overhead. Option C is incorrect because while you can choose vCores in both services, cost comparison is more complex and typically Azure SQL Database might have different pricing, but the ability to choose any number of vCores is not a unique benefit. Option D is incorrect because you cannot install custom software on an Azure SQL Database server; that's a limitation of PaaS. Option E is incorrect because full control over the OS is a characteristic of IaaS (VMs), not a benefit of Azure SQL Database.

Answer

Lower cost because you can choose any number of vCores

Answer

Ability to install custom software on the database server

Answer

Full control over the operating system

Question 12

Which TWO of the following are true about Azure Database for PostgreSQL? (Select TWO.)

Accepted Answer

It supports read replicas to offload read traffic.. Azure Database for PostgreSQL is a managed relational database service that provides automated backups with point-in-time restore (option E) and supports read replicas to offload read traffic (option C). Option A is incorrect because it supports both the community edition and the Hyperscale (Citus) edition, not just the community edition. Option B is incorrect because Azure Database for PostgreSQL is a relational database, not a NoSQL database. Option D is incorrect because cross-database queries across multiple servers are not supported; each server is isolated.

Answer

It only supports the open-source community edition of PostgreSQL.

Answer

It is a NoSQL database service.

Answer

It allows cross-database queries across multiple servers.

Question 13

Which THREE of the following are features of Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2?

Accepted Answer

Integration with Azure Active Directory (Microsoft Entra ID). Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 (ADLS Gen2) combines Blob Storage with a hierarchical namespace, enabling high-performance analytics. Option A is correct: it integrates with Azure Active Directory (Microsoft Entra ID) for fine-grained access control. Option C is correct: it supports POSIX-compliant access control lists (ACLs) for Unix-like permissions. Option D is correct: it allows atomic rename of directories, which is efficient for big data workloads. Option B is wrong: Geo-redundant storage (GRS) is a replication option available for storage accounts, but it is not a feature specific to ADLS Gen2. Option E is wrong: fixed-size block storage is a characteristic of Azure Blob Storage, not ADLS Gen2, which uses a hierarchical namespace with variable-size files.

Answer

Geo-redundant storage (GRS)

Answer

Fixed-size block storage

Question 14

A company is designing a solution to store time-series data from millions of IoT devices. Which TWO Azure services are most suitable for this scenario?

Accepted Answer

Azure Data Explorer. Azure Data Explorer (option A) is optimized for time-series analytics and ingesting high volumes of data from IoT devices. Azure Cosmos DB (option C) provides a flexible schema and low latency suitable for time-series data storage. Azure Blob Storage (option B) is for unstructured blob data, not optimized for time-series queries. Azure Redis Cache (option D) is a caching layer, not a primary storage solution. Azure SQL Database (option E) is relational and less efficient for high-velocity time-series data.

Answer

Azure Blob Storage

Answer

Azure Redis Cache

Answer

Azure SQL Database

Question 15

A company uses Azure Cosmos DB with the SQL API. They need to implement a data partitioning strategy to optimize query performance and avoid hot partitions. Which THREE practices should they follow?

Accepted Answer

Use a synthetic partition key if natural keys are not suitable. To optimize query performance and avoid hot partitions in Azure Cosmos DB SQL API, the best practices are:
- Use a synthetic partition key if natural keys are not suitable (B) – this allows combining multiple properties or appending a suffix to achieve better distribution when natural keys have low cardinality or cause skew.
- Avoid monotonically increasing partition key values (C) – such as timestamps or sequential IDs cause writes to concentrate on a single partition, creating a hot partition.
- Choose a partition key with high cardinality (E) – high cardinality ensures the data is spread evenly across partitions, reducing the chance of throttling and improving query performance.

Option A (using the same partition key for all items) is incorrect because it would put all data in one partition, defeating the purpose of partitioning. Option D (keeping partition key values as small as possible) is not a primary consideration; the size of the partition key value has minimal impact compared to cardinality and distribution.

Answer

Use the same partition key for all items

Answer

Keep partition key values as small as possible

Question 16

Which TWO Azure services can be used to orchestrate and automate data pipelines? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Azure Synapse Pipelines. Azure Data Factory (E) is a dedicated cloud-based ETL and data integration service that allows you to create, schedule, and orchestrate data pipelines at scale. Azure Synapse Pipelines (B) is built on the same engine as Azure Data Factory and provides native pipeline orchestration within the Synapse Analytics workspace, enabling you to move and transform data across various sources and sinks. Both services offer visual design tools, code-free transformations, and robust scheduling capabilities for automating data workflows.

Answer

Azure SQL Database

Answer

Power BI

Answer

Azure Databricks

Question 17

Which TWO of the following are characteristics of structured data? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Stored in rows and columns. Structured data is organized in a tabular format with rows and columns, which is the defining characteristic of relational databases like SQL Server or Azure SQL Database. This structure enforces a fixed schema, meaning the data types and relationships are defined before data is entered, ensuring consistency and enabling efficient querying via SQL.

Answer

No predefined schema

Answer

Key-value pairs

Answer

Schema-on-read

Question 18

A company is designing a data solution for a retail application. The solution must support real-time analytics on streaming sales data, and also provide historical reports for business intelligence. Which TWO data processing models should be combined to meet these requirements?

Accepted Answer

Batch processing. Batch processing (B) is correct because it is used to process large volumes of historical sales data at scheduled intervals, enabling the generation of comprehensive business intelligence reports. Stream processing (E) is correct because it handles real-time data ingestion and analytics on streaming sales data, allowing the application to react instantly to sales events. Combining these two models (often called a Lambda architecture) meets both the real-time and historical reporting requirements.

Answer

Distributed processing

Answer

Data lake storage

Answer

Transactional database

Question 19

Which THREE are valid reasons to choose Azure SQL Managed Instance over Azure SQL Database?

Accepted Answer

Need for SQL Server Agent and CLR integration. Azure SQL Managed Instance provides near 100% compatibility with on-premises SQL Server, including instance-level features like SQL Server Agent and CLR integration. These features are not available in Azure SQL Database, which is a Platform-as-a-Service offering that abstracts away the instance scope. Therefore, if your application requires SQL Server Agent for job scheduling or CLR for custom .NET code execution, Managed Instance is the correct choice.

Answer

Simpler high-availability configuration

Answer

Desire for automated backups

Question 20

A car manufacturing company has two data processing systems: one system processes real-time sensor data from assembly lines to immediately detect equipment failures, and another system processes historical production records to generate monthly efficiency reports. Which two types of data processing workloads best describe these systems?

Accepted Answer

Stream processing and batch processing. Stream processing (option A) handles real-time sensor data from the assembly line to detect equipment failures immediately, while batch processing (option A) is ideal for processing historical production records on a scheduled basis to generate monthly efficiency reports. Transactional processing (option D) refers to OLTP workloads that process business transactions, not real-time sensor streams, so it is not a correct description for the first system. The correct answer is A only.

Answer

OLTP and OLAP

Answer

Online processing and offline processing

Answer

Transactional processing and analytical processing