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 online booking system on Azure SQL Database. The system handles many concurrent transactions (OLTP). The business team runs complex reporting queries on the same database during business hours, which slows down the booking transactions. The company needs a solution to separate the analytical workload from the transactional workload without duplicating data manually. Which Azure SQL Database feature should they use?
Correct. Read Scale-out allows you to offload read-only queries to a secondary replica, reducing load on the primary.
B
Active Geo-Replication
Why wrong: Incorrect. Active Geo-Replication is primarily for disaster recovery across regions and provides a readable secondary, but it replicates asynchronously and may have lag. It is not the simplest solution for in-region workload separation.
C
Elastic pools
Why wrong: Incorrect. Elastic pools allow resource sharing among databases but do not separate read/write workloads within a single database.
D
Hyperscale service tier
Why wrong: Incorrect. Hyperscale provides high scalability but does not offload read queries; it uses a single primary for read/write.
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 (readable secondary replica)
Read Scale-out (readable secondary replica) is the correct choice because it allows the company to offload complex reporting queries to a read-only replica of the primary database, thereby isolating the analytical workload from the OLTP transactions. This feature is built into Azure SQL Database and does not require manual data duplication or ETL processes, directly addressing the requirement to separate workloads without manual effort.
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.
✓
Read Scale-out (readable secondary replica)
Why this is correct
Correct. Read Scale-out allows you to offload read-only queries to a secondary replica, reducing load on the primary.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Active Geo-Replication
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Active Geo-Replication is primarily for disaster recovery across regions and provides a readable secondary, but it replicates asynchronously and may have lag. It is not the simplest solution for in-region workload separation.
✗
Elastic pools
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Elastic pools allow resource sharing among databases but do not separate read/write workloads within a single database.
✗
Hyperscale service tier
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Hyperscale provides high scalability but does not offload read queries; it uses a single primary for read/write.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Active Geo-Replication (which also provides readable secondaries) with Read Scale-out, but Geo-Replication is regionally separated and intended for disaster recovery, not for local workload isolation within the same region.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Read Scale-out works by automatically routing connection strings with 'ApplicationIntent=ReadOnly' to a readable secondary replica, which is kept transactionally consistent via redo log application. This feature is available in the Premium and Business Critical service tiers, where the secondary replica uses the same compute and storage as the primary, ensuring that heavy reporting queries do not consume resources from the primary replica's transaction log or buffer pool. In a real-world scenario, this is ideal for mixed workloads where reporting queries must see near-real-time data without impacting OLTP performance.
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 (readable secondary replica) — Read Scale-out (readable secondary replica) is the correct choice because it allows the company to offload complex reporting queries to a read-only replica of the primary database, thereby isolating the analytical workload from the OLTP transactions. This feature is built into Azure SQL Database and does not require manual data duplication or ETL processes, directly addressing the requirement to separate workloads without manual effort.
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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