DP-900 Practice Question: Identify considerations for relational data on Azure
A company plans to migrate an on-premises SQL Server database to Azure. The database currently uses SQL Server Agent jobs for scheduled maintenance tasks, cross-database queries, and query store for performance tuning. The database size is 500 GB and needs to scale to 10 TB eventually. They want a managed service that requires minimal application changes. Which Azure relational database service should they choose?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse Azure SQL Database (single database) with SQL Managed Instance, assuming that Hyperscale's large storage capacity compensates for missing features like SQL Server Agent and cross-database queries, but the exam tests the specific feature requirements (Agent jobs, cross-database queries) that only Managed Instance fully supports.
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
✓
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Azure SQL Managed Instance is the correct choice because it provides near 100% compatibility with on-premises SQL Server, including support for SQL Server Agent jobs, cross-database queries, and Query Store, while being a fully managed PaaS service. It allows scaling up to 10 TB (up to 16 TB with some configurations) with minimal application changes, as it uses the same T-SQL surface area and network configuration (VNet) as on-premises SQL Server.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Why this is correct
Azure SQL Managed Instance offers the highest compatibility with on-premises SQL Server, supporting SQL Agent, cross-database queries within the instance, and Query Store. It provides up to 16 TB of storage, meeting the size requirements.
- ✗
Azure SQL Database (single database)
Why it's wrong here
Azure SQL Database does not support SQL Agent jobs or cross-database queries directly. It uses elastic jobs as a replacement for SQL Agent, but this requires additional configuration and does not provide the same level of compatibility.
- ✗
Azure SQL Database Hyperscale
Why it's wrong here
Azure SQL Database Hyperscale is a service tier within Azure SQL Database, not a separate instance. It inherits the single-database limitations: no SQL Agent job scheduling (must use elastic jobs) and no direct cross-database queries because each database is an isolated resource boundary. While it provides massive storage and fast scale-out reads, it cannot meet the requirement for near-complete on-premises SQL Server compatibility.
- ✗
Azure Database for SQL Server
Why it's wrong here
Azure Database for SQL Server is not an actual Azure service; the naming pattern might resemble Azure Database for PostgreSQL/MySQL, but no such offering exists for SQL Server. The genuine options are Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, and SQL Server on Azure VMs. Selecting this distractor invalidates the migration plan, whereas Azure SQL Managed Instance is the appropriate PaaS target for full instance-level compatibility.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Relational Data Concepts
Key term
Service
A service is a software component or system that performs a specific function and is available to be used by other programs or users over a network.
Key term
Relational database
A relational database organizes data into tables with rows and columns, where each table relates to others using unique keys, allowing efficient storage, retrieval, and manipulation of structured information.
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