DP-900 Azure Synapse Serverless SQL pool Practice Question
A data analyst needs to run ad-hoc SQL queries on petabytes of Parquet files stored in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2. The queries are infrequent and highly selective. The analyst wants to pay only for the data scanned by each query and does not want to provision any compute resources. They also need to create views to simplify future queries for other analysts. Which Azure service should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse Azure Synapse Dedicated SQL pool (provisioned, always-on compute) with Serverless SQL pool (pay-per-query, no provisioning), or assume Azure Databricks can run ad-hoc SQL without a running cluster, but Databricks requires an active cluster and does not offer pay-per-query billing for data scanned.
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
✓
Azure Synapse Serverless SQL pool
Azure Synapse Serverless SQL pool (correct answer) is a pay-per-query service that charges only for the data scanned, requires no provisioning of compute resources, and supports creating views over external data in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2. It uses T-SQL to query Parquet files directly, making it ideal for infrequent, highly selective ad-hoc queries without managing infrastructure.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Azure Data Factory
Why it's wrong here
Data Factory is for orchestration and data movement, not for interactive SQL queries.
- ✓
Azure Synapse Serverless SQL pool
Why this is correct
Correct. Azure Synapse Serverless SQL pool allows querying data in ADLS Gen2 using T-SQL, charges per data scanned, and supports creating views.
- ✗
Azure Synapse Dedicated SQL pool
Why it's wrong here
Dedicated SQL pool requires provisioning compute resources and is more expensive for infrequent ad-hoc queries.
- ✗
Azure Databricks
Why it's wrong here
Databricks uses Spark SQL and requires a cluster (though auto-scaling), but the cost model is per compute, not per data scanned; also it is not purely SQL.
Quick reference
Cloud Service Model Comparison
| Model | You Manage | Provider Manages | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| IaaS | OS, runtime, apps, data | Hardware, hypervisor, networking | EC2, Azure VMs, GCP Compute Engine |
| PaaS | Apps and data | OS, runtime, middleware, hardware | Elastic Beanstalk, Azure App Service |
| SaaS | Data and settings only | Everything else | Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday |
| FaaS / Serverless | Function code only | Infra, scaling, runtime | Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloud Run |
| CaaS | Containers and apps | Kubernetes, OS, hardware | EKS, AKS, GKE |
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Azure Table Storage and Blob Data
Key term
Serverless SQL pool
Serverless SQL pool is an on-demand, pay-per-query analytics service in Azure that lets you query data stored in data lakes without provisioning or managing any dedicated infrastructure.
Key term
Data Lake Storage Gen2
Data Lake Storage Gen2 is a cloud-based storage service that combines a scalable data lake with enterprise-grade file system capabilities for big data analytics.
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JA
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.