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 platform on Azure SQL Database. The database handles many concurrent transactions (OLTP). The business team runs complex reporting queries on the same database during business hours, which slows down the transactional workload. The company wants to offload the reporting queries to a separate read-only copy of the database to avoid performance impact. Which Azure SQL Database feature should they enable?
Why wrong: Hyperscale is a service tier that provides scalable storage and compute, but it does not automatically create a read-only replica for offloading reporting queries.
B
Geo-replication
Why wrong: Geo-replication creates a readable secondary in a different region for disaster recovery, not primarily for offloading read workloads in the same region.
C
Read scale-out
Correct. Read scale-out, also called Active Geo-Replication with readable secondaries, allows offloading read-only workloads to a secondary replica in the same region, improving OLTP performance.
D
Elastic query
Why wrong: Elastic query enables querying across multiple databases, but it does not create a read-only replica; it is used for cross-database queries.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Read scale-out
Read scale-out (C) is the correct feature because it allows Azure SQL Database to offload read-only workloads, such as complex reporting queries, to a separate read-only replica. This is achieved by using the `ApplicationIntent=ReadOnly` connection string parameter, which routes queries to a secondary replica, thereby preventing performance impact on the primary transactional (OLTP) workload. This feature is specifically designed for scenarios where you need to isolate reporting from high-concurrency OLTP operations without requiring a separate database copy.
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.
✗
Hyperscale service tier
Why it's wrong here
Hyperscale is a service tier that provides scalable storage and compute, but it does not automatically create a read-only replica for offloading reporting queries.
✗
Geo-replication
Why it's wrong here
Geo-replication creates a readable secondary in a different region for disaster recovery, not primarily for offloading read workloads in the same region.
✓
Read scale-out
Why this is correct
Correct. Read scale-out, also called Active Geo-Replication with readable secondaries, allows offloading read-only workloads to a secondary replica in the same region, improving OLTP performance.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Elastic query
Why it's wrong here
Elastic query enables querying across multiple databases, but it does not create a read-only replica; it is used for cross-database queries.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Geo-replication with read scale-out because both provide readable secondaries, but Geo-replication is for disaster recovery and requires a separate database in a different region, while read scale-out is for performance isolation within the same region and uses the existing high-availability replicas.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Read scale-out works by leveraging Azure SQL Database's built-in high-availability architecture, which maintains multiple synchronous replicas for the Premium and Business Critical service tiers. When enabled, the feature exposes a read-only endpoint that automatically routes queries with `ApplicationIntent=ReadOnly` to one of these replicas, ensuring that reporting queries do not consume resources on the primary replica. A subtle behavior is that the read-only replica may have slightly stale data (typically a few seconds behind) due to asynchronous transaction log shipping, which is acceptable for most reporting scenarios but must be considered for real-time analytics.
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: Read scale-out — Read scale-out (C) is the correct feature because it allows Azure SQL Database to offload read-only workloads, such as complex reporting queries, to a separate read-only replica. This is achieved by using the `ApplicationIntent=ReadOnly` connection string parameter, which routes queries to a secondary replica, thereby preventing performance impact on the primary transactional (OLTP) workload. This feature is specifically designed for scenarios where you need to isolate reporting from high-concurrency OLTP operations without requiring a separate database copy.
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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