What you'll learn:
- Exam DP-300: Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure
- Plan and implement data platform resources
- Deploy resources by using manual methods
- Recommend an appropriate database offering based on specific requirements
- Configure resources for scale and performance
- Evaluate a strategy for moving to Azure
- Implement a migration or upgrade strategy for moving to Azure
- Implement a Secure Environment
- Configure database authentication by using platform and database tools
- Configure database authorization by using platform and database tools
- Implement security for data at rest
- Implement security for data in transit
- Implement compliance controls for sensitive data
- Monitor and Optimize Operational Resources
- Monitor activity and performance
- Implement performance-related maintenance tasks
- Identify performance-related issues
- Configure resources for optimal performance
- Configure a user database for optimal performance
- Optimize Query Performance
- Review query plans
- Evaluate performance improvements
- Review database table and index design
- Perform Automation of Tasks
- Create scheduled tasks
- Evaluate and implement an alert and notification strategy
- Manage and automate tasks in Azure
- Plan and Implement a High Availability and Disaster Recovery (HADR) Environment
- Recommend an HADR strategy for a data platform solution
- Test an HADR strategy by using platform, OS, and database tools
- Perform backup and restore a database by using database tools
- Configure HA/DR by using OS, platform, and database tools
- Perform Administration by Using T-SQL
- Examine system health
- Monitor database configuration by using T-SQL
- Perform backup and restore a database by using T-SQL
- Manage authentication by using T-SQL
- Manage authorization by using T-SQL
In order to set realistic expectations, please note: These questions are NOT official questions that you will find on the official exam. These questions DO cover all the material outlined in the knowledge sections below. Many of the questions are based on fictitious scenarios which have questions posed within them.
The official knowledge requirements for the exam are reviewed routinely to ensure that the content has the latest requirements incorporated in the practice questions. Updates to content are often made without prior notification and are subject to change at any time.
Each question has a detailed explanation and links to reference materials to support the answers which ensures accuracy of the problem solutions.
The questions will be shuffled each time you repeat the tests so you will need to know why an answer is correct, not just that the correct answer was item "B" last time you went through the test.
Candidates for this exam are database administrators and data management specialists that manage on-premises and cloud relational databases built with Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Azure Data Services.
The Azure Database Administrator implements and manages the operational aspects of cloud-native and hybrid data platform solutions built on Azure Data Services and SQL Server. The Azure Database Administrator uses a variety of methods and tools to perform day-to-day operations, including applying knowledge of using T-SQL for administrative management purposes.
This role is responsible for management, availability, security and performance monitoring and optimization of modern relational database solutions. This role works with the Azure Data Engineer role to manage operational aspects of data platform solutions.
Candidates for this role should understand all concepts covered in Exam DP-900: Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals.
Skills measured on Microsoft Azure DP-300 Exam
Plan and Implement Data Platform Resources (15-20%)
Deploy resources by using manual methods
deploy database offerings on selected platforms
configure customized deployment templates
apply patches and updates for hybrid and IaaS deployment
Recommend an appropriate database offering based on specific requirements
evaluate requirements for the deployment
evaluate the functional benefits/impact of possible database offerings
evaluate the scalability of the possible database offering
evaluate the HA/DR of the possible database offering
evaluate the security aspects of the possible database offering
Configure resources for scale and performance
configure Azure SQL Databases for scale and performance
configure Azure SQL managed instances for scale and performance
configure SQL Server in Azure VMs for scale and performance
calculate resource requirements
evaluate database partitioning techniques, such as database sharding
set up SQL Data Sync
Evaluate a strategy for moving to Azure
evaluate requirements for the migration
evaluate offline or online migration strategies
evaluate requirements for the upgrade
evaluate offline or online upgrade strategies
Implement a migration or upgrade strategy for moving to Azure
implement an online migration strategy
implement an offline migration strategy
implement an online upgrade strategy
implement an offline upgrade strategy
Implement a Secure Environment (15-20%)
Configure database authentication by using platform and database tools
configure Azure AD authentication
create users from Azure AD identities
configure security principals
Configure database authorization by using platform and database tools
configure database and object-level permissions using graphical tools
apply principle of least privilege for all securables
Implement security for data at rest
implement Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)
implement object-level encryption
implement Dynamic Data Masking
implement Azure Key Vault and disk encryption for Azure VMs
Implement security for data in transit
configure server and database-level firewall rules
implement Always Encrypted
Implement compliance controls for sensitive data
apply a data classification strategy
configure server and database audits
implement data change tracking
perform a vulnerability assessment
Monitor and Optimize Operational Resources (15-20%)
Monitor activity and performance
prepare an operational performance baseline
determine sources for performance metrics
interpret performance metrics
configure and monitor activity and performance at the infrastructure, server, service, and database levels
Implement performance-related maintenance tasks
implement index maintenance tasks
implement statistics maintenance tasks
configure database auto-tuning
automate database maintenance tasks
manage storage capacity
Identify performance-related issues
configure Query Store to collect performance data
identify sessions that cause blocking
assess growth/fragmentation of databases and logs
assess performance-related database configuration parameters
Configure resources for optimal performance
configure storage and infrastructure resources
configure server and service account settings for performance
configure Resource Governor for performance
Configure a user database for optimal performance
implement database-scoped configuration
configure compute resources for scaling
configure Intelligent Query Processing (IQP)
Optimize Query Performance (5-10%)
Review query plans
determine the appropriate type of execution plan
identify problem areas in execution plans
extract query plans from the Query Store
Evaluate performance improvements
determine the appropriate Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) to gather query performance information
identify performance issues using DMVs
identify and implement index changes for queries
recommend query construct modifications based on resource usage
assess the use of hints for query performance
Review database table and index design
identify data quality issues with duplication of data
assess index design for performance
validate data types defined for columns
recommend table and index storage including filegroups
evaluate table partitioning strategy
evaluate the use of compression for tables and indexes
Perform Automation of Tasks (10-15%)
Create scheduled tasks
manage schedules for regular maintenance jobs
configure multi-server automation
configure notifications for task success/failure/non-completion
Evaluate and implement an alert and notification strategy
create event notifications based on metrics
create event notifications for Azure resources
create alerts for server configuration changes
create tasks that respond to event notifications
Manage and automate tasks in Azure
perform automated deployment methods for resources
automate backups
automate performance tuning and patching
implement policies by using automated evaluation modes
Plan and Implement a High Availability and Disaster Recovery (HADR) Environment (15-20%)
Recommend an HADR strategy for a data platform solution
recommend HADR strategy based on RPO/RTO requirements
evaluate HADR for hybrid deployments
evaluate Azure-specific HADR solutions
identify resources for HADR solutions
Test an HADR strategy by using platform, OS, and database tools
test HA by using failover
test DR by using failover or restore
Perform backup and restore a database by using database tools
perform a database backup with options
perform a database restore with options
perform a database restore to a point in time
configure long-term backup retention
Configure HA/DR by using OS, platform, and database tools
configure replication
create an Always On Availability Group
configure auto-failover groups
integrate a database into an Availability Group
configure quorum options for a Windows Server Failover Cluster
configure an Availability Group listener
Perform Administration by Using T-SQL (10-15%)
Examine system health
evaluate database health using DMVs
evaluate server health using DMVs
perform database consistency checks by using DBCC
Monitor database configuration by using T-SQL
assess proper database autogrowth configuration
report on database free space
review database configuration options
Perform backup and restore a database by using T-SQL
prepare databases for Always On Availability Groups
perform transaction log backup
perform restore of user databases
perform database backups with options
Manage authentication by using T-SQL
manage certificates
manage security principals
Manage authorization by using T-SQL
configure permissions for users to access database objects
configure permissions by using custom roles
The exam is available in the following languages: English, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese, Korean
