DP-203 Design and implement data storage Practice Question
You are a data engineer for a financial services company. The company stores sensitive transaction data in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2. The data is partitioned by date and loaded daily via Azure Data Factory. Recently, an audit found that the storage account allows public network access, and some containers have anonymous read access enabled. You need to secure the storage account according to the principle of least privilege while ensuring that Azure Data Factory can still load data. You must also ensure that data can be accessed by Azure Databricks for analytics. The solution must minimize administrative overhead. Which course of action should you take?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often overcomplicate the solution by choosing private endpoints (Option B) or IP-based firewalls (Option A/C), not realizing that the 'Allow Azure services' firewall rule combined with managed identities provides a simpler, least-privilege-compliant path for first-party Azure services.
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
✓
Disable public network access. Set the storage account firewall to allow access only from Azure services. Configure Azure Data Factory and Azure Databricks to use managed identities. Grant the managed identities the 'Storage Blob Data Contributor' role at the container level. Remove any anonymous access.
Disabling public network access and using managed identities with RBAC (Storage Blob Data Contributor) aligns with the principle of least privilege while minimizing administrative overhead. Azure Data Factory and Azure Databricks can authenticate via managed identities without managing keys or IP ranges, and removing anonymous access eliminates the security gap. The firewall rule allowing access only from Azure services ensures that only Azure-internal traffic can reach the storage account, which is sufficient for these services when they are in the same region.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Keep public network access enabled but restrict it to specific IP addresses. Use storage account keys for Azure Data Factory and Azure Databricks.
Why it's wrong here
Using storage account keys is not least privilege and exposes keys. IP-based restriction is less secure than managed identity and still allows public access.
- ✗
Disable public network access. Create private endpoints for the storage account and configure Azure Data Factory and Azure Databricks to use the private endpoints. Use RBAC to assign 'Storage Blob Data Contributor' to the managed identities.
Why it's wrong here
Private endpoints add cost and complexity; they are not required since managed identity and firewall provide sufficient security.
- ✗
Enable public network access with a firewall rule to allow only the Azure Data Factory and Azure Databricks IP ranges. Keep anonymous access enabled but set the containers to private.
Why it's wrong here
Anonymous access should be fully disabled. Relying on IP ranges is not as secure as managed identity, and firewall rules can be bypassed.
- ✓
Disable public network access. Set the storage account firewall to allow access only from Azure services. Configure Azure Data Factory and Azure Databricks to use managed identities. Grant the managed identities the 'Storage Blob Data Contributor' role at the container level. Remove any anonymous access.
Why this is correct
This meets security requirements, uses managed identities for authentication, and applies least privilege via RBAC.
Quick reference
Access Control Model Comparison
| Model | Acronym | Who Controls Access? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discretionary Access Control | DAC | Resource owner | Small teams, file shares |
| Mandatory Access Control | MAC | System / security labels | Classified govt / military |
| Role-Based Access Control | RBAC | Administrator (via roles) | Enterprise environments |
| Attribute-Based Access Control | ABAC | Policy engine (user + resource attributes) | Fine-grained, dynamic policies |
| Rule-Based Access Control | RuBAC | System rules / ACLs | Firewall rules, network ACLs |
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to Azure Data Engineering
Key term
Azure Databricks
Azure Databricks is a fast, easy, and collaborative Apache Spark-based analytics platform optimized for Azure that lets data teams prepare data, run machine learning models, and build data pipelines using a single workspace.
Key term
Azure Data Factory
Azure Data Factory is a cloud-based data integration service that lets you create, schedule, and orchestrate data pipelines to move and transform data from various sources to destinations.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every DP-203 question from scratch — 760 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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.