DP-300 Plan and implement data platform resources Practice Question
You are the DBA for a financial services company. The company is migrating its on-premises SQL Server databases to Azure SQL Managed Instance. One of the databases is 2 TB in size and has a high transaction volume. The migration must have minimal downtime. The source environment is SQL Server 2019 running on Windows Server. The target is a General Purpose managed instance in the same region. The network bandwidth between on-premises and Azure is 500 Mbps. The DBA plans to use Azure Database Migration Service (DMS) for an online migration. However, during the initial sync, the migration is progressing slowly and the estimated time to completion is 48 hours. The DBA needs to reduce the migration time. What should the DBA do?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often assume network bandwidth is the primary bottleneck and request a faster connection, but DMS performance is more commonly limited by its own SKU tier and the processing overhead of CDC, not the network pipe.
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
✓
Upgrade the DMS instance to a Premium SKU to increase performance
Upgrading the DMS instance to a Premium SKU increases the underlying compute and I/O resources allocated to the migration service, which directly improves the throughput of data movement during the online migration. Since the bottleneck is the DMS processing speed rather than network bandwidth (500 Mbps is sufficient for 2 TB over 48 hours), a Premium SKU provides higher performance tiers that can process change data capture (CDC) and bulk inserts faster, reducing the overall sync time.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Switch to an offline migration using BACPAC export and import
Why it's wrong here
Offline migration would cause downtime, which is not acceptable.
- ✓
Upgrade the DMS instance to a Premium SKU to increase performance
Why this is correct
Premium SKU provides more CPU and memory for data movement.
- ✗
Request a higher bandwidth connection from the network team
Why it's wrong here
Network bandwidth is a constraint but not the only factor; DMS performance also matters.
- ✗
Change the target to a different Azure region that is closer to the source
Why it's wrong here
Changing region may not be feasible and could increase latency.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Overview of Azure Data Platform Options
Key term
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Azure SQL Managed Instance is a fully managed cloud database service that gives you nearly all the features of Microsoft SQL Server on your own server, without you having to manage the hardware or operating system.
Key term
Azure Database Migration
Azure Database Migration is the process of moving databases from on-premises servers or other cloud platforms to Azure’s cloud database services with minimal downtime and data loss.
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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.