DP-300 Practice Question: Monitor, configure, and optimize database resources
You are configuring alerts for an Azure SQL Database. You need to create an alert that fires when the database's DTU consumption exceeds 80% for a sustained period. Which Azure Monitor metric should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is selecting a component metric like CPU percent instead of the composite DTU percentage metric.
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
✓
DTU percentage
The DTU percentage metric provides the percentage of DTU consumption against the database's limit. Setting an alert on this metric with a threshold of 80% will notify when DTU usage exceeds that level, directly meeting the requirement. Other metrics like CPU or storage do not capture the full DTU picture.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Sessions count
Why it's wrong here
Sessions count tracks the number of active sessions, which can indicate concurrency but does not measure DTU consumption. High session count does not necessarily mean high DTU usage, so it is not the appropriate metric for this alert.
- ✓
DTU percentage
Why this is correct
DTU percentage is the correct metric because it represents the percentage of DTU consumption relative to the database's DTU limit. This directly aligns with the requirement to alert when DTU consumption exceeds 80%, as it provides a normalized view of resource usage.
- ✗
Storage percent
Why it's wrong here
Storage percent measures the percentage of storage space used, which is unrelated to DTU consumption. DTU is a blended measure of compute, IO, and memory, not storage. This metric would not indicate when DTU usage exceeds the threshold.
- ✗
CPU percent
Why it's wrong here
CPU percent measures the percentage of CPU usage, which is one component of DTU but not the overall DTU consumption. DTU includes CPU, IO, and memory. Using CPU percent alone would not accurately reflect total DTU usage, so it would not satisfy the requirement.
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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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