Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company has a suite of 20 e-commerce applications, each with its own SQL Server database. The databases vary in size from 5 GB to 100 GB and have unpredictable usage patterns with bursty peaks. The company wants to migrate to Azure SQL Database to benefit from built-in high availability and automatic backups. They need to minimize costs by only paying for the resources each database actually uses, and they want to avoid over-provisioning for peak loads. Which Azure SQL Database deployment option should they choose?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Best answer
Azure SQL Database Elastic Pool
Correct. Elastic pools allow multiple databases to share a set of resources, providing cost-effective performance management for databases with varying and unpredictable usage.
B
Distractor review
Azure SQL Database (single database) with Serverless compute tier
Incorrect. Serverless is for a single database that can auto-scale compute and pause during inactivity, but doesn't share resources across multiple databases. For 20 databases, you'd need 20 instances, which is less cost-efficient.
C
Distractor review
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Incorrect. Managed Instance is a PaaS offering that provides near 100% compatibility with on-premises SQL Server, but it is designed for fewer, larger databases and does not offer elastic pooling of resources across instances.
D
Distractor review
Azure SQL Database Hyperscale
Incorrect. Hyperscale is for a single large database (often terabytes) with high scalability requirements for storage and compute, not for sharing resources among many smaller databases.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Related practice questions
Related DP-900 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A data engineer needs to process streaming data from IoT devices and store the results in Azure Data Lake Storage for long-term analytics. The data must be processed in near real-time to detect anomalies and trigger alerts. Which Azure service should the engineer use for stream processing?
Question 2
A data engineer needs to query data stored in CSV files in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 using T-SQL in Azure Synapse Analytics, without loading the data into the database. Which feature should they use?
Question 3
A data engineer needs to process raw clickstream data from multiple websites that is stored in Azure Blob Storage as JSON files. The processing must run automatically every hour, transform the data into a structured format for reporting, and handle schema changes in the source data without manual intervention. Which Azure service should be used?
Question 4
A data engineer is designing a data lake architecture in Azure. They plan to first ingest raw data from various sources into a landing zone in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2. Then they will clean, validate, and deduplicate that data in a second zone. Finally, they will create aggregated, business-ready datasets in a third zone for analysts. This layered approach is known as which architecture?
Question 5
A data engineer needs to transform large datasets stored in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 using Python and Apache Spark. They want a serverless compute option that automatically scales and requires no cluster management. Which Azure service should they use?
Question 6
A company collects customer feedback forms. Each form contains always-present fields like CustomerID and SubmissionDate, but also a free-text Comments field and optional fields like Rating or ProductCategory that vary between forms. How should this data be classified?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this DP-900 question test?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Azure SQL Database Elastic Pool — Azure SQL Database Elastic Pools are designed for managing multiple databases with varying and unpredictable usage demands. They allow databases to share a pool of resources (eDTUs or vCores), so databases can consume resources as needed up to the pool limit, and you pay for the pool's total resources, not per database. This is cost-effective for SaaS applications or environments with many databases that have bursty usage patterns. Single databases would require provisioning for each database's peak load, which can be wasteful. Managed Instance is for lift-and-shift scenarios needing instance-scope features. Hyperscale is for very large databases with high throughput needs, not for many small databases.
What should I do if I get this DP-900 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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