DP-900 Describe core data concepts Practice Question
A company wants to store historical sales data for long-term analysis. The data is accessed infrequently but must be retained for 7 years. Which Azure storage tier minimizes cost while meeting these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates choose the Archive tier because it has the lowest storage cost, forgetting that retrieval latency and higher access costs make it unsuitable for data that may need to be accessed even occasionally during the retention period.
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
✓
Cool storage tier
The Cool storage tier is designed for data that is accessed infrequently but must be retained for extended periods, offering lower storage costs than Hot tier while still providing low-latency access when needed. With a 30-day minimum storage duration and a cost structure optimized for infrequent reads, it balances cost and accessibility for 7-year retention of historical sales data.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Archive storage tier
Why it's wrong here
The Archive storage tier is used for data that is accessed so rarely it can tolerate retrieval latency of up to 15 hours, and it enforces a 180-day minimum retention period. For historical sales data that may need to be queried for reporting or compliance during its long retention, this tier's high access time and early deletion penalty make it an inappropriate choice, unlike the Cool tier which offers near-real-time access at low cost.
- ✗
Premium storage tier
Why it's wrong here
The Premium storage tier is optimized for low-latency, high-throughput workloads that require consistent millisecond performance, such as IoT telemetry or interactive applications, and it uses SSD-backed storage. Its significantly higher per-gigabyte cost and lack of cost optimization for idle data make it a poor fit for historical sales data, which is infrequently accessed and does not require sub-second response times.
- ✓
Cool storage tier
Why this is correct
The Cool storage tier is designed for data that is infrequently accessed (roughly less than once a month) but still needs to be available immediately on request, offering low storage costs with no minimum retention period. For a company storing historical sales data long term, this tier provides the best balance between cost efficiency and the ability to retrieve past records without the latency penalties or 180-day commitment of the Archive tier.
- ✗
Hot storage tier
Why it's wrong here
The Hot storage tier is meant for data that is accessed or modified frequently, such as current operational data, and it comes with the highest storage cost among the standard tiers. Storing historical sales data, which is rarely read after being written, in the Hot tier would waste budget on premium storage capacity that provides no benefit for a workload with occasional access patterns.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Data Roles and Core Concepts
Key term
Azure Storage
Azure Storage is Microsoft's cloud-based service for storing data like files, messages, and backups with high durability and scalability.
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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