AZ-305 Design data storage solutions Practice Question
A healthcare organization needs to store patient records that must be immutable and auditable for compliance purposes. The records should be stored in a cost-effective manner with the ability to set retention policies. Which Azure storage solution should they implement?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse Azure Files or Azure NetApp Files with immutable storage because they support snapshots, but snapshots can be deleted or overwritten, whereas Blob Storage immutable policies enforce true WORM compliance that cannot be bypassed.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Azure Blob Storage with immutable storage
Azure Blob Storage with immutable storage (WORM policy) is the correct solution because it provides time-based retention policies and legal hold capabilities that make data non-erasable and non-modifiable, meeting compliance requirements for patient records. It is cost-effective for large volumes of data and integrates with Azure Policy for audit logging, making it ideal for healthcare compliance scenarios like HIPAA.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Azure NetApp Files
Why it's wrong here
Azure NetApp Files is a high-performance, enterprise-grade file share service (NFS/SMB) intended for latency-sensitive workloads such as HPC or VDI. It provides snapshots and clones, but no native object-level WORM or immutable retention policy; any write/delete path is controlled by standard POSIX permissions, so an admin with root privileges can alter or delete records. It does not meet the 'no delete/no overwrite' audit requirement for protected health information.
- ✗
Azure SQL Database
Why it's wrong here
Azure SQL Database is a relational database with full DML/DDL capability; records can be updated, deleted, or dropped by any account with appropriate database permissions. Although Azure SQL Ledger provides cryptographic tamper-evidence through a tamper-proof ledger, it does not prevent the original row from being changed — it only proves after the fact that a change occurred. Therefore it cannot provide WORM-style immutability required to keep patient records unalterable.
- ✓
Azure Blob Storage with immutable storage
Why this is correct
Azure Blob Storage with immutable storage — available as a container-level policy or legal hold — enforces a Write Once, Read Many (WORM) model at the object layer. Once a time-based retention interval is locked, blobs cannot be overwritten or deleted by any user, including subscription administrator, until the interval expires; legal hold makes such protection indefinite. This behavior is Microsoft’s recommended path for retaining regulated health records like EHR/PHI because it meets HIPAA data integrity and retention compliance via auditable, policy-controlled protection.
- ✗
Azure Files
Why it's wrong here
Azure Files offers managed SMB/NFS file shares that are convenient for lift-and-shift migrations and shared file applications, but it does not have a native immutable/WORM storage tier. Share snapshots are point-in-time backups and can be deleted by an administrator, so they do not satisfy 'retain forever' or 'cannot be altered' compliance mandates. To be compliant, organizations would have to copy Azure Files data to immutable blob storage or an external solution, which makes it unsuitable here.
Quick reference
Azure Blob Storage Tier Comparison
| Tier | Storage Cost | Retrieval Cost | Latency | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot | Highest | Lowest | Immediate | Active data, frequent reads |
| Cool | Lower | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / month |
| Cold | Lower still | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / quarter |
| Archive | Lowest | Highest + rehydration delay | Hours | Long-term compliance retention |
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