DP-900 Practice Question: Identify considerations for relational data on Azure
This DP-900 practice question tests your understanding of identify considerations for relational data on azure. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company runs an e-commerce application on Azure SQL Database. During seasonal promotions, traffic spikes significantly, but at other times traffic is low. They want to automatically adjust compute resources based on demand without manual intervention or provisioning. Which Azure SQL Database feature should they use?
Why wrong: Geo-replication provides asynchronous data replication to a secondary region for disaster recovery, not automatic scaling of compute.
B
Elastic pools
Why wrong: Elastic pools share resources among multiple databases to manage overall cost, but do not automatically scale compute for a single database.
C
Serverless compute
Serverless compute automatically scales compute based on demand and pauses when idle, fitting the described requirement.
D
Hyperscale
Why wrong: Hyperscale is designed for very large databases with high throughput and storage needs, not for automatic scaling of intermittent workloads.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Serverless compute
Serverless compute for Azure SQL Database automatically scales compute resources based on workload demand and pauses the database during inactive periods, charging only for storage and compute used per second. This matches the requirement for automatic adjustment without manual intervention or provisioning, especially for intermittent, unpredictable traffic spikes like seasonal promotions.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Geo-replication
Why it's wrong here
Geo-replication provides asynchronous data replication to a secondary region for disaster recovery, not automatic scaling of compute.
✗
Elastic pools
Why it's wrong here
Elastic pools share resources among multiple databases to manage overall cost, but do not automatically scale compute for a single database.
✓
Serverless compute
Why this is correct
Serverless compute automatically scales compute based on demand and pauses when idle, fitting the described requirement.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Hyperscale
Why it's wrong here
Hyperscale is designed for very large databases with high throughput and storage needs, not for automatic scaling of intermittent workloads.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates confuse Elastic pools (which scale shared resources across multiple databases) with the single-database auto-scaling behavior of Serverless compute, or they assume Hyperscale's high scalability automatically includes dynamic compute scaling without manual intervention.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Serverless compute uses a compute auto-scaling range (min and max vCores) and an auto-pause delay (configurable from 1 minute to 7 days). During idle periods, the database is paused, and the compute resources are deallocated; a new connection or scheduled job triggers an automatic resume, typically within 30 seconds. This is ideal for development, test, or intermittent workloads, but not for latency-sensitive production apps due to the cold-start delay on resume.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this DP-900 question in full detail.
Identify considerations for relational data on Azure — This question tests Identify considerations for relational data on Azure — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Serverless compute — Serverless compute for Azure SQL Database automatically scales compute resources based on workload demand and pauses the database during inactive periods, charging only for storage and compute used per second. This matches the requirement for automatic adjustment without manual intervention or provisioning, especially for intermittent, unpredictable traffic spikes like seasonal promotions.
What should I do if I get this DP-900 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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