Quick Answer
The answer is Azure Monitor metric alerts, audit logs, and Query Store. Azure Monitor metric alerts directly satisfy the requirement to alert when average DTU consumption exceeds 90% for 10 minutes by allowing you to set a threshold-based metric rule on the DTU percentage. Audit logs, enabled through Azure SQL Auditing, capture authentication events such as failed logins, meeting the second requirement. Query Store retains historical query execution plans and performance data by default for up to 30 days, enabling deep analysis of query performance trends over that period. On the DP-300 exam, this question tests your ability to distinguish between monitoring, auditing, and performance tuning tools—a common trap is confusing SQL Assessment (a best-practice checker) with Query Store, or assuming Autoscale handles manual alerting. Remember the mnemonic “DTA” for DTU, Tracking (audit), and Analysis (Query Store) to recall the three correct services.
This DP-300 practice question tests your understanding of monitor, configure, and optimize database resources. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
You need to configure monitoring for an Azure SQL Database to meet the following requirements: - Alert when average DTU consumption exceeds 90% for 10 minutes. - Track failed logins. - Analyze query performance over the last 30 days. Which THREE Azure services or features should you use? (Choose three.)
SQL auditing
Audit logs capture failed logins.
Automatic tuning
Why wrong: Automatic tuning is not a monitoring feature.
Query Store
Retains query performance history.
Azure Monitor metric alerts
Alerts on DTU percentage.
Azure SQL Assessment
Why wrong: Assesses best practices, not monitoring.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
SQL auditing
Option A correct because Azure Monitor alerts can alert on DTU. Option C correct because audit logs track failed logins. Option D correct because Query Store retains query performance data. Option B wrong because SQL Assessment checks best practices, not performance. Option E wrong because Autoscale is not manual monitoring.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
SQL auditing
Why this is correct
Audit logs capture failed logins.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Automatic tuning
Why it's wrong here
Automatic tuning is not a monitoring feature.
Query Store
Why this is correct
Retains query performance history.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Azure Monitor metric alerts
Why this is correct
Alerts on DTU percentage.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Azure SQL Assessment
Why it's wrong here
Assesses best practices, not monitoring.
Common exam traps
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Detailed technical explanation
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
Identify which DP-300 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
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FAQ
Monitor, configure, and optimize database resources — This question tests Monitor, configure, and optimize database resources — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: SQL auditing — Option A correct because Azure Monitor alerts can alert on DTU. Option C correct because audit logs track failed logins. Option D correct because Query Store retains query performance data. Option B wrong because SQL Assessment checks best practices, not performance. Option E wrong because Autoscale is not manual monitoring.
Identify which DP-300 exam domain this question belongs to, then review the specific concept being tested. Practise related questions in that domain and focus on understanding why each wrong answer is tempting — not just why the correct answer is right.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 21, 2026
This DP-300 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-300 exam.
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