DP-300 Implement a secure environment Practice Question
You need to audit all schema changes (DDL) on an Azure SQL Database for compliance. The audit logs must be retained for 7 years. What should you do?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse SQL Server Audit (which supports file destinations on-premises) with Azure SQL Database auditing, which does not support file destinations and requires a storage account, Log Analytics, or Event Hub; they also mistakenly think change tracking or extended events can serve as a compliance audit solution.
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
✓
Enable auditing on the database, log to a storage account, and set the retention policy to 7 years.
Azure SQL Database auditing can be configured at the database level to log all database events, including DDL changes, to a storage account. The retention policy can be set to 7 years directly in the audit settings, ensuring compliance with long-term retention requirements. This is the native, supported method for auditing schema changes on Azure SQL Database.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Enable auditing on the database, log to a storage account, and set the retention policy to 7 years.
Why this is correct
Logging to an Azure Storage account supports retention policies of arbitrary length, unlike Log Analytics, which caps retention at two years. Setting the retention policy to 2,555 days (7 years) on the storage account therefore satisfies the compliance requirement while capturing all DDL schema changes through database-level auditing.
- ✗
Create an extended events session to capture DDL events and save to a file.
Why it's wrong here
Extended events are not the standard auditing method for compliance; they require manual management.
- ✗
Enable change tracking on the database and query the change tracking tables.
Why it's wrong here
Change tracking tracks DML changes, not DDL.
- ✗
Enable SQL Server Audit at the server level and specify a file destination.
Why it's wrong here
Server-level audit is not available in Azure SQL Database; only database-level auditing is supported.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Implementing Auditing and Threat Detection
Key term
Azure SQL Auditing
Azure SQL Auditing is a feature that tracks and records database events, such as data changes and logins, and writes them to an audit log for security monitoring and compliance.
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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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.