Drag a concept onto its matching description — or click a concept then click the description.
Concepts
Matches
Document (JSON)
Document (BSON)
Column-family
Graph
Key-value
DP-900 Describe core data concepts Practice Question
Match each Azure Cosmos DB API to its supported data model.
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
✓
SQL API: Document
Azure Cosmos DB APIs map to specific data models: SQL and MongoDB for document, Cassandra for wide-column, Gremlin for graph, and Table for key-value. Common confusions involve misassigning Gremlin and Table.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
SQL API: Document
Why this is correct
The SQL API is designed for a document data model, where each item is a JSON document with a flexible schema. It supports SQL syntax for querying these documents, including joins, subqueries, and scalar expressions. This API also enables server-side programming with stored procedures, triggers, and user-defined functions, all operating directly on the JSON documents.
- ✓
MongoDB API: Document
Why this is correct
The MongoDB API is also a document data model, but it is wire-protocol-compatible with MongoDB, meaning existing MongoDB client SDKs and tools can connect without modification. It stores data as BSON (Binary JSON) documents, supporting rich query capabilities like indexing, aggregation pipelines, and change streams. This makes it ideal for migrating MongoDB workloads while keeping the familiar document structure and query syntax.
- ✓
Cassandra API: Wide-column
Why this is correct
The Cassandra API implements the wide-column data model, where data is organized into tables with rows and columns, but each row can have a different set of columns. It uses the Cassandra Query Language (CQL) to handle time-series data, IoT, and telemetry workloads, with an emphasis on partition keys and replication for high availability. This design supports high write throughput and efficient range scans on partition-key-ordered data.
- ✗
Gremlin API: Key-value
Why it's wrong here
This pairing is incorrect because the Gremlin API is built for graph data, not key-value storage. It provides a traversal-based query language that navigates vertices (nodes) and edges (relationships), enabling queries like 'find friends of friends' or shortest-path calculations. A key-value model is instead served by the Table API or Azure Cosmos DB's Table API, which stores simple unique-key/attribute pairs.
- ✗
Table API: Graph
Why it's wrong here
This pairing is incorrect because the Table API is designed for key-value and wide-table scenarios, not graph data. It offers a schema-less NoSQL store with entities and properties, typically accessed via a RESTful interface or OData queries, and is ideal for flexible, low-cost storage of structured data. Graph functionality in Cosmos DB is provided by the Gremlin API, which uses vertices and edges to model relationships.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Data Roles and Core Concepts
Key term
Cosmos DB API
Cosmos DB API is a collection of interfaces that lets applications interact with Azure Cosmos DB, a globally distributed NoSQL database, using different data models and query languages.
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
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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.