Question 1hardmultiple choice
Full question →hardmultiple choiceObjective-mapped
An e-commerce application uses Azure SQL Database. During flash sales, the database experiences high CPU usage and query timeouts. The team needs a solution that can handle sudden increases in demand without downtime. Which scaling 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
Distractor review
Read scale-out
Incorrect. Read scale-out allows read-only replicas for reporting queries, but it does not increase compute capacity for write-heavy transactions.
B
Best answer
Hyperscale service tier
Correct. Hyperscale can scale compute resources up to 100 vCores within seconds without downtime, ideal for handling sudden demand spikes.
C
Distractor review
Elastic Pool
Incorrect. Elastic Pools share resources among multiple databases, not designed to scale a single database rapidly under load.
D
Distractor review
Geo-replication
Incorrect. Geo-replication provides data redundancy and failover across regions, not dynamic scaling of compute resources.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Many certification questions include familiar terms but test a specific constraint. Read the exact wording before choosing an answer that is generally true but wrong for this case.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
This question should be treated as a scenario, not a definition check. Identify the problem, the constraint and the best action. Then compare each option against those facts.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
- Use explanations to understand the rule behind the answer.
TExam Day Tips
- Underline the problem statement mentally.
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
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?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Hyperscale service tier — The Hyperscale service tier in Azure SQL Database is designed for highly scalable workloads that need to quickly adjust compute resources (up to 100 vCores) without downtime. It uses a distributed architecture with a separate compute node and multiple page servers, allowing rapid vertical scaling. Read scale-out offloads read-only queries but does not address CPU spikes from writes. Elastic Pools are for sharing resources across multiple databases, not for scaling a single database under load. Geo-replication provides disaster recovery, not dynamic scalability.
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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