DP-300 Practice Question: Monitor, configure, and optimize database resources
Your Azure SQL Database is experiencing high DTU consumption. You need to identify the top resource-consuming queries. What should you do?
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
✓
Use the Query Store reports in the Azure portal
Query Store in Azure SQL Database provides built-in reports to identify top resource-consuming queries by CPU, IO, and duration, making it the easiest and most direct method. Option B (SQL Server Profiler) is not supported in Azure SQL Database. Option C (Extended Events) is more complex and not the simplest approach for this task. Option D (sys.dm_exec_query_stats) can be used but lacks persistent historical data and is more effort than using Query Store reports.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use the Query Store reports in the Azure portal
Why this is correct
Query Store captures per-query runtime statistics and execution plans, letting you rank top resource consumers by CPU, duration or reads. This directly identifies the highest DTU-consuming queries, which the stem requires, without needing extended events or manual DMV polling.
- ✗
Use SQL Server Profiler
Why it's wrong here
SQL Server Profiler is deprecated and unsupported against Azure SQL Database, so it cannot capture the live workload at all. It is tempting because it traces individual statement events on SQL Server instances, which would suit diagnosing a specific reproducible query on a self-hosted server.
- ✗
Create an Extended Events session to capture query events
Why it's wrong here
An Extended Events session captures raw event streams, requiring manual aggregation to rank queries by DTU consumption, whereas Query Store already persists runtime resource metrics. It is tempting because Extended Events is the supported tracing mechanism on Azure SQL Database, and would suit capturing specific error or deadlock events.
- ✗
Query sys.dm_exec_query_stats
Why it's wrong here
Querying sys.dm_exec_query_stats returns aggregate execution statistics per cached plan, not the ranked DTU cost breakdown the scenario needs; Query Store supplies that runtime resource attribution. It is tempting because it does expose cumulative CPU and elapsed time, which would suit tuning a known slow query on any SQL Server.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Optimizing Database Query and Index Performance
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.
Key term
Query Store
Query Store is a built-in SQL Server feature that captures and stores a history of query execution plans and performance data for easy monitoring and troubleshooting.
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