Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure (DP-300) Practice Exam

About Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure (DP-300) Exam

The DP-300 exam, also known as "Microsoft Azure SQL Solution Administration," validates your expertise in administering and managing relational database solutions across various Microsoft Azure environments, including Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, Azure Synapse Analytics, and Azure SQL Database on Azure Stack HCI. This globally recognized certification demonstrates your ability to plan, implement, secure, monitor, and optimize these database solutions, supporting organizational data needs effectively.

Who Should Take This Exam?

Experienced database administrators: Elevate your existing skills and demonstrate your proficiency in managing Azure SQL solutions.
Cloud architects and developers: Gain deeper knowledge of integrating and managing relational databases within cloud architectures.
Data scientists and analysts: Enhance your understanding of the data infrastructure powering your analyses.
Anyone seeking career advancement: Stand out with this valuable credential in the booming cloud data market.

Roles and Responsibilities

A DP-300 certified professional can:

Design and implement: Select and configure appropriate Azure SQL services to meet specific data needs and performance requirements.
Manage and secure: Secure databases, manage user access, implement disaster recovery strategies, and ensure data compliance.
Monitor and optimize: Monitor performance, identify bottlenecks, and optimize database configurations for scalability and efficiency.
Troubleshoot and solve problems: Diagnose and resolve issues related to database performance, security, and availability.
Automate tasks: Automate routine tasks using Azure tools and scripts to improve efficiency and consistency.

Exam Details

Format: 50-60 multiple-choice and multiple-select questions
Time Limit: 120 minutes
Languages: English, Japanese
Passing Score: Not publicly disclosed

Exam Content

The exam assesses your knowledge across five key domains:

Plan and implement data platform resources: Selecting and configuring appropriate Azure SQL services, considering performance, scalability, and cost.
Implement a secure environment for a database service: Enforcing security best practices, managing user access, and implementing threat detection mechanisms.
Monitor and optimize operational resources in Azure SQL: Monitoring performance metrics, identifying bottlenecks, and optimizing configurations for efficiency.
Optimize query performance in Azure SQL: Analyzing query performance, identifying and resolving performance issues, and utilizing indexing strategies.
Automate database tasks for Azure SQL: Automating routine tasks like backups, patching, and scaling using Azure tools and scripts.

Course Outline

The Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure (DP-300) covers-

Domain 1 - Understand to Plan and implement data platform resources (20–25%)

● Plan and deploy Azure SQL Database solutions

● Deploy database offerings on selected platforms

● Understand automated deployment

● Apply patches and updates for hybrid and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) deployment

● Deploy hybrid SQL Server database solutions

● Recommend an appropriate database offering based on specific requirements

● Evaluate the security aspects of the possible database offering

● Recommend a table partitioning solution

● Recommend a database sharding solution

● Configure resources for scale and performance

● Configure Azure SQL Database for scale and performance

● Configure Azure SQL Managed Instance for scale and performance

● Configure SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines for scale and performance

● Configure table partitioning

● Configure data compression

● Plan and implement a migration strategy

● Evaluate requirements for the migration

● Evaluate offline or online migration strategies

● Implement an online migration strategy

● Implement an offline migration strategy

● Perform post migration validations

● Troubleshoot a migration

● Set up SQL Data Sync for Azure

● Implement a migration to Azure

● Implement a migration between Azure SQL services

Domain 2 - Implement a secure environment (15–20%)

● Configure database authentication and authorization

● Configure authentication by using Active Directory and Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), part of Microsoft Entra

● Create users from Azure AD identities

● Configure security principals

● Configure database and object-level permissions using graphical tools

● Apply principle of least privilege for all securables

● Troubleshoot authentication and authorization issues

● Manage authentication and authorization by using T-SQL

● Implement security for data at rest and data in transit

● Implement transparent data encryption (TDE)

● Implement object-level encryption

● Configure server- and database-level firewall rules

● Implement Always Encrypted

● Configure secure access

● Configure Transport Layer Security (TLS)

● Implement compliance controls for sensitive data

● Apply a data classification strategy

● Configure server and database audits

● Implement data change tracking

● Implement dynamic data masking

● Manage database resources by using Azure Purview

● Implement Azure SQL Database ledger

● Implement row-level security

● Configure Microsoft Defender for SQL

Domain 3 - Monitor, configure, and optimize database resources (20–25%)

● Monitor resource activity and performance

● Prepare an operational performance baseline

● Determine sources for performance metrics

● Interpret performance metrics

● Configure and monitor activity and performance

● Monitor by using SQL Insights

● Monitor by using Extended Events

● Monitor and optimize query performance

● Configure Query Store

● Monitor by using Query Store

● Identify sessions that cause blocking

● Identify performance issues using dynamic management views (DMVs)

● Identify and implement index changes for queries

● Recommend query construct modifications based on resource usage

● Assess the use of query hints for query performance

● Review execution plans

● Configure database solutions for optimal performance

● Implement index maintenance tasks

● Implement statistics maintenance tasks

● Implement database integrity checks

● Configure database automatic tuning

● Configure server settings for performance

● Configure Resource Governor for performance

● Implement database-scoped configuration

● Configure compute and storage resources for scaling

● Configure intelligent query processing (IQP)

Domain 4 - Configure and manage automation of tasks (15–20%)

● Create and manage SQL Server Agent jobs

● Manage schedules for regular maintenance jobs

● Configure job alerts and notifications

● Troubleshoot SQL Server Agent jobs

● Automate deployment of database resources

● Automate deployment by using Azure Resource Manager templates (ARM templates) and Bicep

● Automate deployment by using PowerShell

● Automate deployment by using Azure CLI

● Monitor and troubleshoot deployments

● Create and manage database tasks in Azure

● Create and configure elastic jobs

● Create and configure database tasks by using automation

● Automate database workflows by using Azure Logic Apps

● Configure alerts and notifications on database tasks

● Troubleshoot automated database tasks

Domain 5 - Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) environment (20–25%)

● Recommend an HA/DR strategy for database solutions

● Recommend HA/DR strategy based on Recovery Point Objective/Recovery Time Objective (RPO/RTO) requirements

● Evaluate HA/DR for hybrid deployments

● Evaluate Azure-specific HA/DR solutions

● Recommend a testing procedure for an HA/DR solution

● Plan and perform backup and restore of a database

● Recommend a database backup and restore strategy

● Perform a database backup by using database tools

● Perform a database restore by using database tools

● Perform a database restore to a point in time

● Configure long-term backup retention

● Backup and restore a database by using T-SQL

● Backup and restore to and from cloud storage

● Configure HA/DR for database solutions

● Configure active geo-replication

● Configure an Always On availability group

● Configure auto-failover groups

● Configure quorum options for a Windows Server Failover Cluster

● Configure failover cluster instances on Azure Virtual Machines

● Configure log shipping

● Monitor an HA/DR solution

● Troubleshoot an HA/DR solution