DP-300 Configure and manage automation of tasks Practice Question
You are managing an Azure SQL Database that runs a critical business application. The database experiences a predictable surge in read-only queries every night at 2:00 AM. You need to configure automatic scaling to handle this surge without manual intervention. What should you do?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume Azure SQL Database has built-in autoscaling like Azure SQL Database serverless (which only pauses/resumes, not scales), or they confuse elastic pool autoscaling with per-database scaling, leading them to select option C incorrectly.
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
✓
Configure autoscale settings on the Azure SQL Database using Azure Automation runbooks triggered by a metric alert.
Azure SQL Database does not natively support automatic scaling based on load. To achieve this, you must use Azure Automation runbooks triggered by a metric alert (e.g., DTU or CPU percentage) to programmatically scale the database's service tier up or down. This approach allows you to handle the predictable nightly surge without manual intervention, as the runbook can be scheduled or triggered by a threshold alert.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create a read replica and redirect read queries to it during the surge.
Why it's wrong here
Read replicas offload reads but do not scale automatically.
- ✗
Manually scale up the database service tier before 2:00 AM each day.
Why it's wrong here
Manual intervention is not automated.
- ✗
Move the database to an Elastic Database Pool and rely on its built-in autoscaling.
Why it's wrong here
Elastic pools autoscale pooled resources, not a single database.
- ✓
Configure autoscale settings on the Azure SQL Database using Azure Automation runbooks triggered by a metric alert.
Why this is correct
This enables automatic scaling based on load.
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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every DP-300 question from scratch — 906 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
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.