A software company hosts 100 small Azure SQL databases for different clients. Each database has low average usage but experiences unpredictable spikes. The company wants to minimize costs while allowing each database to burst up to a maximum resource limit during spikes. They also need to easily add new databases without manual sizing. Which Azure SQL Database 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
Elastic pools
Elastic pools allow sharing resources among databases, support bursting to a per-database max, and make adding databases easy.
Distractor review
Single databases with DTU-based tiers
Single databases are individually billed based on their tier, leading to higher costs when spikes require provisioning for peak usage.
Distractor review
Managed Instance
Managed Instance is a single large instance for many databases, but does not provide elastic resource sharing between databases.
Distractor review
Hyperscale single database
Hyperscale is designed for large, high-throughput databases, not for pooling many small databases with variable loads.
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: Elastic pools — Azure SQL Database elastic pools are designed for multiple databases with varying usage patterns. They share a fixed pool of resources (eDTUs or vCores) and allow each database to burst up to a configured maximum. Adding a new database to the pool is simple without needing to size individually. Single databases would be more costly for spikes. Managed Instance is a fully managed instance for many databases but not optimized for elasticity. Hyperscale is for large, highly scalable single databases.
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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