DP-203 Design and implement data storage Practice Question
A company stores sensitive customer data in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2. They need to implement a data retention policy where data older than 90 days is automatically moved to the 'cold' access tier, and data older than 365 days is deleted. Which Azure feature should be used to automate this?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse Azure Policy (which enforces resource-level compliance) with data lifecycle management, or they assume a general automation tool like Azure Automation is needed when a native, policy-driven feature already exists.
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
✓
Blob Storage lifecycle management
Azure Blob Storage lifecycle management is the correct feature because it allows you to define rules that automatically transition blobs to cooler access tiers (like the 'cold' tier) after a specified number of days and delete them after a further period. This directly meets the requirement to move data older than 90 days to the cold tier and delete data older than 365 days, all without custom code or manual intervention.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Blob Storage lifecycle management
Why this is correct
Lifecycle management policies can automatically move blobs between tiers and delete based on age.
- ✗
Azure Automation
Why it's wrong here
Automation can run scripts but is not the native lifecycle management solution.
- ✗
Azure Data Factory
Why it's wrong here
Data Factory is for data movement, not lifecycle management.
- ✗
Azure Policy
Why it's wrong here
Azure Policy is for governance, not data lifecycle.
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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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DP-203 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the DP-203 exam.