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DP-203 Practice Question: Which TWO actions should you take to reduce costs…
Which TWO actions should you take to reduce costs associated with an Azure Synapse Dedicated SQL Pool that is used for reporting during business hours only?
⚠ Common exam trap
Microsoft often tests the distinction between compute cost reduction (pausing/scaling) and storage/performance optimizations (compression, distribution, caching), leading candidates to confuse storage-saving actions with compute-saving actions.
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
✓
Pause the pool during non-business hours.
Pausing a Dedicated SQL Pool stops billing for compute resources (DWU) while retaining storage costs. Since the pool is only needed for reporting during business hours, pausing it during non-business hours directly eliminates compute charges for that period, which is the most significant cost driver.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Pause the pool during non-business hours.
Why this is correct
Stops compute billing when not in use.
- ✗
Enable advanced data compression on all tables.
Why it's wrong here
Compression saves storage, not compute.
- ✗
Scale down the pool during business hours.
Why it's wrong here
Scaling down during usage harms performance.
- ✗
Change the distribution of large tables to ROUND_ROBIN.
Why it's wrong here
Distribution affects query performance, not cost.
- ✓
Implement result set caching for frequently run queries.
Why this is correct
Reduces compute usage for repeated queries.
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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.