Describe considerations for working with non-relational data on Azure →hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
DP-900 Practice Question: Describe considerations for working with non-relational data on Azure
A company stores large archives of legal documents in Azure Blob Storage. The documents must remain immutable; they cannot be modified or deleted for 7 years due to regulatory requirements. The data is accessed only for compliance audits, which occur less than once a year. The company wants to minimize storage costs while ensuring immutability and data durability. Which combination of features should they configure?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse 'legal hold' (which is indefinite and manually managed) with 'time-based retention policy' (which automatically expires after a set duration), leading them to incorrectly choose the Archive tier with legal hold instead of the correct time-based retention policy.
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
✓
Archive access tier with a time-based retention policy
The Archive access tier provides the lowest storage cost for data that is rarely accessed, such as legal documents accessed less than once a year. A time-based retention policy enforces immutability for a fixed 7-year period, preventing modifications or deletions. This combination meets regulatory requirements while minimizing storage costs.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Cool access tier with a time-based retention policy
Why it's wrong here
The Cool access tier is cheaper than Hot for infrequent access, but it is significantly more expensive than the Archive tier for data accessed less than once a year. Although pairing it with a time-based retention policy does provide immutable 7-year protection, the higher per-GB storage cost of Cool makes it a suboptimal choice when the primary goal is to minimize costs for a large, long-term legal document archive.
When this WOULD be correct
A company stores legal documents that must be immutable for 7 years but are accessed quarterly for audits. They need a balance between cost and retrieval time, so Cool tier with a time-based retention policy would be correct.
- ✓
Archive access tier with a time-based retention policy
Why this is correct
The Archive access tier provides the lowest storage cost in Azure Blob Storage, making it ideal for rarely accessed legal archives. A time-based retention policy, a type of WORM (Write Once, Read Many) immutability, locks blobs for a predefined 7-year period, preventing both deletion and overwriting until the policy expires. While retrieval requires rehydration and incurs additional costs, the combination meets the compliance requirement of a fixed retention period at minimal ongoing storage expense.
- ✗
Hot access tier with versioning enabled
Why it's wrong here
The Hot access tier is the most expensive Blob Storage tier and is intended for frequently accessed data, making it a poor fit for a 7-year legal archive. Enabling versioning alone does not enforce retention—deleting the current version does not delete prior versions, but versions can be removed by lifecycle policies or manual deletion, and there is no fixed retention period. Time-based retention is required to guarantee non-deletability for the full compliance window, so this option fails both cost and protection requirements.
When this WOULD be correct
A company needs frequent access to blobs (e.g., daily updates) and requires protection against accidental deletion or overwrites, but not strict immutability. Versioning allows restoring previous versions, and Hot tier provides low-latency access.
- ✗
Archive access tier with legal hold
Why it's wrong here
A legal hold is an immutability mode that prevents blobs from being deleted or overwritten, but it is designed for indefinite, litigation-specific holds—it has no defined end date. Because it cannot be configured to expire after a fixed 7-year period, it does not satisfy the stated compliance requirement. Additionally, legal hold is typically applied on an as-needed basis for investigations, not as a scheduled retention policy for routine archival retention.
When this WOULD be correct
A company needs to preserve specific blobs indefinitely for litigation or investigation purposes, with no fixed expiration date, and can accept manual management of holds. The question would specify 'indefinite preservation' and 'legal case' rather than a fixed retention period.
Option-by-option analysis
Why each answer is right or wrong
Understanding why wrong answers are wrong — and when they would be correct — is what separates a 750 score from a 900. The DP-900 exam frequently reuses these exact scenarios with slightly different constraints.
✓Archive access tier with a time-based retention policyCorrect answer▾
Why this is correct
The Archive access tier provides the lowest storage cost in Azure Blob Storage, making it ideal for rarely accessed legal archives. A time-based retention policy, a type of WORM (Write Once, Read Many) immutability, locks blobs for a predefined 7-year period, preventing both deletion and overwriting until the policy expires. While retrieval requires rehydration and incurs additional costs, the combination meets the compliance requirement of a fixed retention period at minimal ongoing storage expense.
✗Cool access tier with a time-based retention policyWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The Cool access tier has higher storage costs than Archive and is not designed for data accessed less than once a year; the question emphasizes minimizing costs, making Archive the appropriate tier.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company stores legal documents that must be immutable for 7 years but are accessed quarterly for audits. They need a balance between cost and retrieval time, so Cool tier with a time-based retention policy would be correct.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may confuse 'Cool' with 'Cold' or think it's the lowest-cost tier suitable for long-term retention, overlooking that Archive is cheaper for rarely accessed data.
✗Hot access tier with versioning enabledWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
The Hot access tier has higher storage costs than Archive, and versioning does not enforce immutability (versions can be deleted). This combination does not meet the cost minimization goal and fails to provide the required regulatory immutability.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company needs frequent access to blobs (e.g., daily updates) and requires protection against accidental deletion or overwrites, but not strict immutability. Versioning allows restoring previous versions, and Hot tier provides low-latency access.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates may think versioning provides immutability, but it only preserves previous versions; it does not prevent deletion of the current version or the entire blob. They may also overlook the cost difference between Hot and Archive tiers.
✗Archive access tier with legal holdWrong answer — click to see why▾
Why this is wrong here
Legal hold applies to specific blobs for indefinite periods, not for a fixed 7-year duration, and does not minimize costs as it requires the Archive tier but lacks the automatic time-based policy needed for regulatory compliance.
★ When this WOULD be the correct answer
A company needs to preserve specific blobs indefinitely for litigation or investigation purposes, with no fixed expiration date, and can accept manual management of holds. The question would specify 'indefinite preservation' and 'legal case' rather than a fixed retention period.
Why candidates choose this
Candidates confuse legal hold with time-based retention, thinking both provide immutability, but overlook that legal hold is for indefinite, case-specific holds and does not enforce a fixed retention period required by regulations.
Analysis generated from the official DP-900blueprint and verified against question context. The “when correct” sections are what AI assistants cite when candidates ask “what’s the difference between these options?”
Quick reference
Azure Blob Storage Tier Comparison
| Tier | Storage Cost | Retrieval Cost | Latency | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot | Highest | Lowest | Immediate | Active data, frequent reads |
| Cool | Lower | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / month |
| Cold | Lower still | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / quarter |
| Archive | Lowest | Highest + rehydration delay | Hours | Long-term compliance retention |
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Data Roles and Core Concepts
Key term
Data
Data is raw, unprocessed information, like numbers, words, or measurements, that can be stored, processed, and analyzed by computers.
Key term
Blob storage
Blob storage is a cloud service for storing large amounts of unstructured data, such as text or binary data, like documents, images, and videos.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DP-900 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the DP-900 exam.