DP-300 Hyperscale page server Practice Question
You are a database administrator for a SaaS company. You manage an Azure SQL Database that uses the Hyperscale service tier. The database supports a multi-tenant application with unpredictable workloads. You notice that the database's page server is experiencing high IOPS utilization, causing query performance degradation. You need to improve performance by optimizing the page server usage. What should you do?
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
✓
Increase the number of secondary replicas to distribute read workload.
In Azure SQL Database Hyperscale, increasing the number of secondary replicas can help distribute read workloads. Secondary replicas have their own buffer pool caches, which can reduce page server IOPS utilization by serving read requests from cache rather than repeatedly fetching pages from the page server. Option B is incorrect because Accelerated Database Recovery (ADR) reduces undo log space requirements but does not affect page server IOPS. Option C is incorrect because changing to Business Critical tier moves away from the Hyperscale architecture and does not directly address page server performance. Option D is incorrect because increasing MAXDOP may increase parallelism and potentially lead to higher IOPS, not reduce it.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Increase the number of secondary replicas to distribute read workload.
Why this is correct
Correct. Adding secondary replicas in Hyperscale allows read workloads to be offloaded. Each replica has its own buffer pool, so pages can be served from cache instead of repeatedly requesting them from the page server, reducing IOPS utilization.
- ✗
Enable accelerated database recovery (ADR) to reduce log IO.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. ADR reduces log storage needed for undo operations but does not affect the page server's IO workload. Page server IO is related to data page accesses, not log undo operations.
- ✗
Change the service tier to Business Critical to get faster IO.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Changing to Business Critical will change the underlying architecture (local SSDs) but may not be cost-effective or necessary. It does not specifically optimize page server usage in Hyperscale.
- ✗
Increase the MAXDOP setting for the database.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Increasing MAXDOP can lead to more parallel operations, potentially increasing IO demands. It does not reduce page server IOPS.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Overview of Azure Data Platform Options
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 by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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.