DP-300 Practice Question: Monitor, configure, and optimize database resources
You are a database administrator for a large financial services company. You need to ensure that all queries that read sensitive customer data use an optimized execution plan. What feature should you enable to automatically identify and fix regressed query plans?
⚠ Common exam trap
DP-300 often tests the confusion between Query Store (monitoring/telemetry) and Automatic Tuning (automated remediation), causing candidates to pick Query Store when the question asks for automatic fixing.
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
✓
Automatic Tuning
Automatic Tuning in Azure SQL Database and SQL Managed Instance automatically identifies and fixes plan regressions by forcing the last known good plan, and can also create/drop indexes. It directly addresses the requirement to automatically identify and fix regressed query plans without manual intervention.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Query Store
Why it's wrong here
Query Store captures plans and runtime statistics, but it only identifies regressions; forcing the last known-good plan requires Automatic Plan Correction to be enabled on top of it. Query Store alone is the correct choice when you need historical plan performance analysis rather than automatic remediation.
- ✓
Automatic Tuning
Why this is correct
Automatic Tuning continuously monitors query execution on Azure SQL and automatically detects plan regressions, forcing a corrected plan without manual intervention. This directly satisfies the requirement to identify and fix regressed plans for sensitive-data queries.
- ✗
Intelligent Insights
Why it's wrong here
Intelligent Insights diagnoses performance problems on Azure SQL Database and reports root causes, but it does not automatically force a previously good execution plan. It would be the right selection when you need telemetry-driven diagnostics of database health, not automatic correction of regressed query plans.
- ✗
Database Advisor for SQL Database
Why it's wrong here
Database Advisor surfaces index and parameterisation recommendations but does not automatically revert individual regressed plans; it analyses telemetry rather than forcing a known-good plan. It is tempting because it does provide tuning advice for Azure SQL Database, yet the automatic plan-correction requirement is met by Query Store's Automatic Plan Correction, not by advisory recommendations.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Deploying and Configuring Azure SQL Managed Instance
Key term
Azure SQL Performance Tuning
Azure SQL Performance Tuning is the process of optimizing the speed and efficiency of queries and database operations in Microsoft Azure SQL Database or SQL Managed Instance to reduce latency and improve throughput.
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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
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