Describe considerations for working with non-relational data on Azure →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
DP-900 Practice Question: Describe considerations for working with non-relational data on Azure
A company stores terabytes of historical log data in Azure Blob Storage. The data is rarely accessed but must be retained for 10 years for compliance. The company wants to minimize storage costs. Which storage tier should you use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse the Archive tier's low storage cost with immediate accessibility, forgetting that retrieval latency and rehydration costs apply, but the question explicitly states 'rarely accessed' and 'minimize storage costs,' making Archive the clear choice.
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 tier
The Archive tier is the correct choice because it is designed for data that is rarely accessed and has a flexible retrieval latency (hours), making it ideal for long-term retention of historical logs. It offers the lowest storage cost among Azure Blob Storage tiers, which directly minimizes costs for data that must be kept for 10 years but is seldom read.
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 tier
Why it's wrong here
Cool tier is optimized for data that is infrequently accessed and stored for at least 30 days, offering lower storage cost than Hot but with higher per-access charges. However, it is not the cheapest option for long-term retention of terabytes of historical logs. The Archive tier provides significantly lower storage pricing, making Cool less cost-effective for this archival use case, where data may be accessed only rarely.
- ✓
Archive tier
Why this is correct
Archive tier is the most cost-effective storage tier in Azure Blob Storage, designed specifically for long-term retention of data that is rarely accessed. For terabytes of historical log data, it offers the lowest storage price per GB, despite requiring manual rehydration (taking up to 15 hours) to retrieve. This aligns perfectly with the scenario's archival requirements, making it the correct choice.
- ✗
Hot tier
Why it's wrong here
Hot tier is intended for data that is accessed or modified frequently, with the highest storage cost among standard tiers. Storing terabytes of historical log data in Hot would incur unnecessary high costs, since the data is not actively used. The scenario calls for long-term retention, not active processing, so Hot is unsuitable and far more expensive than Archive or Cool.
- ✗
Premium tier
Why it's wrong here
Premium tier is a block blob storage option backed by solid-state drives (SSDs), offering consistently low latency and high performance for frequent transactions. It is the most expensive tier and is designed for high-IO workloads such as real-time analytics or interactive applications. Historical log data, being archival and rarely accessed, does not require such performance, so Premium would be an over-optimized and financially inefficient choice.
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
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.
Key term
Data
Data is raw, unprocessed information, like numbers, words, or measurements, that can be stored, processed, and analyzed by computers.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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