PL-900 Practice Question: Describe the business value of Microsoft Power Platform
A company has a legacy on-premises SQL Server database and wants to integrate it with a Power App without moving data to the cloud. Which connector should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates confuse the On-premises data gateway with the Power Automate on-premises agent, mistakenly thinking the agent can serve as a general data connector, when in fact it is only for desktop flow automation.
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
✓
On-premises data gateway with SQL Server connector
The On-premises data gateway acts as a secure bridge between cloud services like Power Apps and on-premises data sources such as SQL Server. When combined with the SQL Server connector, it allows live queries and updates to the on-premises database without requiring data migration to the cloud, fulfilling the requirement to keep data on-premises.
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 Server connector directly
Why it's wrong here
The direct SQL Server connector requires the database to be reachable from Power Platform cloud services, which fails for an on-premises server without a gateway. It tempts because it is the obvious connector for SQL Server, and would be correct for Azure-hosted or publicly reachable instances.
- ✗
Power Automate on-premises agent
Why it's wrong here
Power Automate's on-premises agent (gateway) relays flows, not Power Apps data connections, so it cannot serve as the app's connector. It tempts because gateways do bridge on-premises systems, and would be correct for automating flows against local resources.
- ✗
Dataverse
Why it's wrong here
Dataverse stores data in Microsoft's cloud, contradicting the requirement to keep the legacy SQL Server data on-premises. It tempts because Dataverse is the native Power Platform data store, and would be correct for new cloud-hosted tables rather than existing on-premises databases.
- ✓
On-premises data gateway with SQL Server connector
Why this is correct
The on-premises data gateway creates an outbound channel from Power Platform to on-premises resources, so the SQL Server connector queries the legacy database in place. No data migration to the cloud is required, satisfying the stated constraint.
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