DP-900 Practice Question: Describe considerations for working with non-relational data on Azure
This DP-900 practice question tests your understanding of describe considerations for working with non-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 stores historical sensor data in Azure Blob Storage. The data is accessed only a few times per year for compliance audits, but when requested, it must be available for reading within 15 minutes. The company wants to minimize storage costs. Which blob access tier should they use?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "minimum / minimize"
Why it matters: Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
Why wrong: Incorrect. The Hot tier has the highest storage cost and is optimized for frequent access, making it unnecessarily expensive for data accessed a few times per year.
B
Cool
Correct. The Cool tier provides low storage cost for infrequently accessed data while supporting retrieval within minutes, meeting the 15-minute requirement.
C
Archive
Why wrong: Incorrect. Archive has the lowest storage cost but requires several hours to retrieve data, which does not satisfy the requirement of 15-minute availability.
D
Premium
Why wrong: Incorrect. The Premium tier is for block blobs with low, consistent latency and high storage cost, which is not suitable for rarely accessed data.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Cool
The Cool tier is the optimal choice because it balances low storage cost with the ability to retrieve data within minutes, meeting the 15-minute availability requirement. Archive would incur a retrieval delay of up to 15 hours, which violates the compliance audit SLA. Hot and Premium tiers are more expensive and unnecessary for data accessed only a few times per year.
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.
✗
Hot
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. The Hot tier has the highest storage cost and is optimized for frequent access, making it unnecessarily expensive for data accessed a few times per year.
✓
Cool
Why this is correct
Correct. The Cool tier provides low storage cost for infrequently accessed data while supporting retrieval within minutes, meeting the 15-minute requirement.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "minimum / minimize" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Archive
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Archive has the lowest storage cost but requires several hours to retrieve data, which does not satisfy the requirement of 15-minute availability.
✗
Premium
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. The Premium tier is for block blobs with low, consistent latency and high storage cost, which is not suitable for rarely accessed data.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often choose Archive for its lowest storage cost without considering the mandatory rehydration delay, which can take up to 15 hours and violates the 15-minute availability requirement.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Blob Storage access tiers use different pricing models: Hot charges higher per-GB storage but lower per-GB read costs, while Cool charges lower storage but higher read costs. The Cool tier guarantees a first-byte latency of a few milliseconds for data that is already in the tier, but if data is moved from Archive to Cool, the rehydration time applies. In this scenario, the data is already stored in Cool, so it is immediately accessible within seconds, well within the 15-minute window.
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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this DP-900 question in full detail.
Describe considerations for working with non-relational data on Azure — This question tests Describe considerations for working with non-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: Cool — The Cool tier is the optimal choice because it balances low storage cost with the ability to retrieve data within minutes, meeting the 15-minute availability requirement. Archive would incur a retrieval delay of up to 15 hours, which violates the compliance audit SLA. Hot and Premium tiers are more expensive and unnecessary for data accessed only a few times per year.
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.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "minimum / minimize". Asks for the least resource use — fewest addresses, smallest subnet, lowest overhead. Eliminate over-provisioned options even if they would technically work.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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