DP-300 Practice Question: Monitor, configure, and optimize database resources
You are responsible for an Azure SQL Database that supports an order-processing application. The database is configured with the General Purpose service tier. During month-end processing, the application experiences slow response times. You need to determine whether the performance issue is caused by the database reaching its resource limits. Which metric should you monitor in Azure Monitor?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is choosing DTU percentage because it is a familiar metric, even though the database uses the vCore-based General Purpose tier where CPU percentage is the appropriate measure.
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
✓
CPU percentage
In the vCore purchasing model, CPU percentage is the primary metric that indicates whether the database is approaching its compute limit. During month-end batch processing, sustained high CPU percentage points to insufficient vCores or inefficient queries, guiding you to scale up or optimize. DTU percentage is only relevant for DTU-based tiers, and other metrics do not directly show overall resource saturation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
CPU percentage
Why this is correct
For vCore-based service tiers such as General Purpose, CPU percentage is a key metric that shows how much of the provisioned compute is being used. If it consistently approaches 100% during month-end processing, the database is CPU-bound and likely needs more vCores or query tuning to improve response times.
- ✗
Sessions count
Why it's wrong here
Session count shows the number of active connections but does not reveal resource saturation. A high session count might accompany slow performance, yet it does not tell you whether CPU, memory, or I/O is the bottleneck. The requirement is to detect resource limits, so a consumption metric is more appropriate than a connection count.
- ✗
Log write wait time
Why it's wrong here
Log write wait time measures latency for transaction log writes and is useful for diagnosing log I/O bottlenecks, but it does not directly indicate whether the database is hitting its overall resource limits. The scenario asks for a broad indicator of resource saturation during peak load, which CPU percentage provides more directly.
- ✗
DTU percentage
Why it's wrong here
DTU percentage applies to DTU-based purchasing models, not to the vCore-based General Purpose service tier. Monitoring it here would not reflect the database's actual resource consumption because the database is provisioned with vCores, so it cannot indicate whether CPU, memory, or I/O limits are being reached.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Managing Environment Configurations and Resource Governance
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 — 574 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 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
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.