DP-203 Soft delete Practice Question
You are responsible for managing an Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 account that stores parquet files for analytics. You need to implement a data retention policy that automatically deletes files older than 90 days in the 'logs' container. Additionally, you need to ensure that no data is lost due to accidental deletion; you want to be able to recover deleted files within 30 days. You also need to monitor the storage account for unusual access patterns. The solution must minimize administrative effort. What should you do?
⚠ Common exam trap
DP-203 often tests the difference between soft delete (recovery) and lifecycle management (deletion); candidates may incorrectly choose versioning or Azure Policy for automatic deletion.
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
✓
Enable soft delete with a retention period of 30 days and configure a lifecycle management rule to delete blobs older than 90 days
Enabling soft delete with a 30-day retention period allows recovery of accidentally deleted blobs within that window. A lifecycle management rule automatically deletes blobs older than 90 days, meeting the retention policy with minimal administrative effort.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Enable soft delete with a retention period of 30 days and configure a lifecycle management rule to delete blobs older than 90 days
Why this is correct
Soft delete retains deleted blobs for 30 days, enabling recovery from accidental deletion, while a lifecycle management rule automatically tiers or deletes blobs older than 90 days. Both are policy-driven, meeting the retention and recovery requirements with minimal administrative effort.
- ✗
Create an Azure Policy to enforce tag-based retention and use Azure Monitor to alert on access
Why it's wrong here
Azure Policy enforces tag-based governance, not time-based deletion of blobs, and Azure Monitor alerts alone do not satisfy the soft-delete recovery requirement. Policy suits enforcing organisational standards across many resources, not lifecycle tiering and deletion within a single storage account.
- ✗
Enable versioning and configure a retention policy in Azure Policy
Why it's wrong here
Versioning preserves prior blob versions but does not itself delete files after 90 days, and Azure Policy cannot express a blob-age retention rule. Versioning suits recovering overwritten or deleted blobs, whereas lifecycle management policies handle automatic age-based deletion and soft-delete handles recovery.
- ✗
Use Azure Backup for the storage account and manually delete old files
Why it's wrong here
Azure Backup does not provide container-scoped lifecycle deletion, and manual deletion violates the minimal-administration requirement. It is tempting because Backup protects against data loss, but it suits VM or file-share recovery, not lifecycle management plus soft-delete and access monitoring on a data lake.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Microsoft exam blueprint
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.