The answer is Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Blob Storage. Azure Cosmos DB is a NoSQL database service that natively supports semi-structured data through its flexible schema model, allowing you to store JSON documents, key-value pairs, and graph data without requiring a fixed schema, which makes it ideal for data like user profiles or IoT telemetry. Azure Blob Storage, while often associated with unstructured data, can also store semi-structured data as blobs in formats like JSON or CSV, offering a cost-effective option for large-scale archival or batch processing. On the DP-900 exam, this question tests your ability to distinguish between services optimized for semi-structured versus structured or unstructured data—a common trap is picking Azure SQL Database, which requires a fixed schema. Remember the memory tip: “Cosmos for flexible schemas, Blobs for flexible files.”
DP-900 Describe an analytics workload on Azure Practice Question
This DP-900 practice question tests your understanding of describe an analytics workload on azure. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Which TWO Azure services can be used to store semi-structured data? (Choose two.)
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Azure Cosmos DB
Azure Cosmos DB is a NoSQL database service that natively supports semi-structured data through its flexible schema model. It allows storing JSON documents, key-value pairs, and graph data without requiring a fixed schema, making it ideal for semi-structured data like user profiles, IoT telemetry, or product catalogs.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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 Cosmos DB
Why this is correct
Azure Cosmos DB is a NoSQL database that natively supports semi-structured data like JSON.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Azure Blob Storage
Why this is correct
Azure Blob Storage can store any type of data, including semi-structured files like JSON, Parquet, and Avro.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Azure SQL Database
Why it's wrong here
Azure SQL Database is optimized for structured relational data, not semi-structured.
✗
Azure Synapse Analytics
Why it's wrong here
Azure Synapse Analytics is a data warehouse for structured data analytics.
✗
Power BI
Why it's wrong here
Power BI is a visualization tool, not a data store.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse 'semi-structured data' with 'unstructured data' and incorrectly assume only NoSQL databases qualify, forgetting that Azure Blob Storage can store semi-structured files like JSON or XML as blobs, even though it is not a database.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Cosmos DB uses a resource model based on containers (collections, graphs, or tables) where each item is a JSON document with its own schema, supporting automatic indexing of all properties. Azure Blob Storage stores data as binary large objects (blobs) in a flat namespace, and can hold semi-structured data like JSON or CSV files, but it does not provide query capabilities natively—it relies on Azure Data Lake Storage or external compute for analysis. In real-world scenarios, Cosmos DB is used for real-time applications like e-commerce carts, while Blob Storage is used for data lakes storing raw log files.
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.
TExam Day Tips
→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.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this DP-900 question in full detail.
Describe an analytics workload on Azure — This question tests Describe an analytics workload on Azure — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Azure Cosmos DB — Azure Cosmos DB is a NoSQL database service that natively supports semi-structured data through its flexible schema model. It allows storing JSON documents, key-value pairs, and graph data without requiring a fixed schema, making it ideal for semi-structured data like user profiles, IoT telemetry, or product catalogs.
What should I do if I get this DP-900 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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