DP-203 Design and implement data storage Practice Question
Your company stores sensitive customer data in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2. You need to ensure that only authorized users can access the data, and that access is audited. Which approach should you use to control access to the data lake?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse network-level controls (firewall/service endpoints) or service-level authentication (managed identities) with user-level authorization and auditing, forgetting that Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 requires a combination of RBAC for coarse control and ACLs for fine-grained permissions, with logging explicitly enabled for audit trails.
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
✓
Use Azure RBAC roles and ACLs on directories/files, and enable storage analytics logging
Azure RBAC roles provide coarse-grained control (e.g., assigning Storage Blob Data Contributor at the storage account level), while ACLs (POSIX-style) on directories and files enable fine-grained permissions for specific users or groups. Enabling storage analytics logging (specifically the 'StorageRead', 'StorageWrite', and 'StorageDelete' logs) captures all authenticated requests, meeting the auditing requirement. This combination directly addresses the need for both authorized access control and auditability in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use Azure managed identities for all user access
Why it's wrong here
Managed identities are for Azure resources, not for individual user authentication.
- ✓
Use Azure RBAC roles and ACLs on directories/files, and enable storage analytics logging
Why this is correct
RBAC provides coarse access, ACLs provide fine-grained, and logging audits access.
- ✗
Use shared access signatures (SAS) with stored access policies
Why it's wrong here
SAS tokens are for delegated access, not suitable for many users with varying permissions.
- ✗
Configure a virtual network service endpoint and firewall rules
Why it's wrong here
Network controls restrict IP addresses but do not authenticate users.
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
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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.