A SaaS company uses Azure SQL Database for a multi-tenant application. They have 80 tenant databases, each with varying and unpredictable usage patterns. The company wants to optimize costs without sacrificing performance and wants the ability to easily add new tenant databases without over-provisioning. Which deployment option should they use?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
Best answer
Azure SQL Database elastic pool
Correct. Elastic pool allows sharing resources across databases, optimizing cost for variable and unpredictable workloads.
Distractor review
Single Azure SQL Database per tenant
Single databases would require over-provisioning for peaks, leading to higher costs for many underutilized databases.
Distractor review
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Managed Instance is intended for lift-and-shift scenarios with instance-level features, not optimal for many small databases.
Distractor review
Azure SQL Database Hyperscale
Hyperscale is for large databases (over 4 TB) with high scalability, not cost-efficient for many small databases.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
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More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A company is designing hub-and-spoke networking. Spoke VNets must use a central Azure Firewall for outbound internet traffic. Which two configurations are required?
Question 2
A company is designing private access to a PaaS database from workloads in a VNet. The database should not be reachable over its public endpoint. What should be recommended?
Question 3
A data platform must support analytical queries over petabytes of files in a data lake, while preserving hierarchical namespaces and fine-grained ACLs. Which storage service should you design around?
Question 4
A database workload has an RPO of 15 minutes and an RTO of 4 hours. Cost is more important than near-zero data loss. Which design is usually more appropriate than synchronous multi-region replication?
Question 5
A hub-and-spoke Azure network must centralize outbound inspection and still allow spokes to resolve private endpoint DNS names. Which two components are commonly required? (Choose 2.)
Question 6
A multinational company uses Microsoft Entra ID and several Azure subscriptions. Security administrators need to review privileged role assignments every month and require justification for continued access. Which design should be recommended?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-305 question test?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Azure SQL Database elastic pool — Azure SQL Database elastic pool is designed for SaaS multi-tenant scenarios where multiple databases have low average utilization but occasional spikes. It shares resources (eDTUs or vCores) among databases, reducing costs while handling variable workloads. Single databases are more expensive when many are underutilized. Managed Instance is for lift-and-shift of large databases. Hyperscale is for very large databases with auto-scaling storage.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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