Which TWO authentication methods can be used to connect an Azure App Service to an Azure SQL Database without storing connection strings in code or configuration files?
Managed identity provides a passwordless identity for the App Service.
Why this answer
Managed identities (system-assigned or user-assigned) and service principals are both identity-based methods that can authenticate to Azure SQL without storing credentials. Option A is wrong because SQL authentication uses username/password stored in configuration. Option B is wrong because the access key is for storage accounts.
Option D is wrong because certificates are stored in the app, not managed by Azure identity.