Exam Overview
The Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure certificate exam measures your intermediate-level knowledge on seven main areas. This includes:
- How to plan and implement data platform resources, with relative questions weight in the exam up to 20%
- How to implement a secure environment, with relative questions weight in the exam up to 20%
- How to monitor and optimize operational resources, with relative questions weight in the exam up to 20%
- How to optimize query performance, with relative questions weight in the exam up to 10%
- How to perform automation of tasks, with relative questions weight in the exam up to 15%
- How to plan and implement a High Availability and Disaster Recovery (HADR) environment, with relative questions weight in the exam up to 20%
- How to perform administration by using T-SQL, with relative questions weight in the exam up to 15%
Before starting this course, it is recommended to have basic knowledge in:
- Operating system and virtualization concepts, such as Virtual Machines, virtual networking, and virtual hard disks
- The SQL Server Network configurations, such as TCP/IP, DNS, virtual, VPNs, firewalls, and in-transit encryption
- SQL Server database creation, management, and configuration
- Performing different administration tasks and querying using T-SQL language
- SQL Server table and index types and structures
With no official prerequisites for this exam, it is recommended, but not mandatory, to take the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) exam if you are very new to Microsoft Azure world, and taking the Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900) if you are new to all Microsoft Azure data platform.
You can easily schedule the exam from the Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure certificate page.
Certificate Candidate
With most of the large companies moving their data to the cloud, it is the best time for the database administrators to validate their knowledge in the Microsoft Azure data platform.
The Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure exam is designed as an intermediate level exam, for the relational database administrators and data management specialists who are interested in starting their journey in administrating the relational databases that are hosted in Microsoft Azure.
To become an Azure Database Administrator, you need to have the proper skills to implement and manage the different aspects of the data platform solutions that are built on Microsoft Azure data services and the on-premises Microsoft SQL Server, including the databases availability, security, performance monitoring and optimization.
Study Guideline
In order to prepare yourself for the Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure exam, you can go through the 7-module Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure Learning Path self-study course provided by Microsoft that helps you in getting the basic knowledge required to pass that exam.
If you are not interested in reading the pages and prefer to listen, you can subscribe to any online course such as Udemy or any other training provided by training sites and centers.
Take into consideration that this exam contains a large number of subjects. In order to pass the exam, you need to have enough knowledge in each subject, without going very deep in each subject. For me, I prefer to be fully prepared for the certificates exams and gain all the required knowledge in order to be able to provide training in the courses I am certified in and apply these skills in my customers’ sites. So, I will list all measured skills in this course and the official resource to study that subject.
Plan and Implement Data Platform Resources
In this module, you will be measured in the skills below:
- Deploy resources by using manual methods:
- Create SQL Server on a virtual machine in the Azure portal
- Create SQL Server on a Windows virtual machine with Azure PowerShell
- Create SQL Server VM using an ARM template
- Create an Azure SQL Database single database
- Create a single database in Azure SQL Database using an ARM template
- Elastic pools help you manage and scale multiple databases in Azure SQL Database
- Create a managed instance of SQL Managed Instance
- Use PowerShell to create a managed instance
- Create an Azure SQL Managed Instance using an ARM template
- Deploy Azure SQL Managed Instance to an instance pool
- Deploy MariaDB, MySQL, and PostgreSQL on Azure
- Recommend an appropriate database offering based on specific requirements
- Configure resources for scale and performance
- Scaling out with Azure SQL Database
- Scale elastic pool resources in Azure SQL Database
- Tune applications and databases for performance in Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance
- Performance guidelines for SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines
- Storage and SQL Server capacity planning
- Sharding pattern
- Evaluate a strategy for moving to Azure
- Perform a SQL Server migration assessment with Data Migration Assistant
- Assess the readiness of a SQL Server data estate migrating to Azure SQL Database using the Data Migration Assistant
- Supported version & edition upgrades
- Migrating SQL workloads to Microsoft Azure: Planning the jump
- Migrating SQL workloads to Microsoft Azure: Services Selection
- Migrating SQL workloads to Microsoft Azure: Guidance and Assessment Tools
- Migrating SQL workloads to Microsoft Azure: Assessment and Migration Tools
- Implement a migration or upgrade strategy for moving to Azure
- Migrate SQL Server to Azure SQL Database offline using DMS
- Migrate SQL Server to a single database or pooled database in Azure SQL Database online using DMS
- Manage rolling upgrades of cloud applications by using SQL Database active geo-replication
- Upgrade to a Different Edition of SQL Server
- Migrating SQL workloads to Microsoft Azure: Databases Trip to SQL Server on Azure VM
- Migrating SQL workloads to Microsoft Azure: Databases Trip to Azure SQL Database
- Migrating SQL workloads to Microsoft Azure: Databases trip to Azure SQL Database Managed Instance
Implement a Secure Environment
In this module, you will be measured in the skills below:
- Configure database authentication 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
In this module, you will be measured in the skills below:
- 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
In this module, you will be measured in the skills below:
- Review query plans
- Evaluate performance improvements
- Monitoring Microsoft Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance performance using dynamic management views
- SQL Server index design basics and guidelines
- Gathering SQL Server indexes statistics and usage information
- Maintaining SQL Server indexes
- Tracing and tuning queries using SQL Server indexes
- Hints (Transact-SQL) – Query
- Review the database table and index design
Perform Automation of Tasks
In this module, you will be measured in the skills below:
- 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
In this module, you will be measured in the skills below:
- Recommend a HADR strategy for a data platform solution
- Overview of business continuity with Azure SQL Database
- Understanding and leveraging Azure SQL Database’s SLA
- Business continuity and HADR for SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines
- Always On availability groups: a high-availability and disaster-recovery solution
- Always On Failover Cluster Instances (SQL Server)
- About Log Shipping (SQL Server)
- SQL Server Backup and Restore with Microsoft Azure Blob Storage Service
- Test a HADR strategy by using platform, OS and database tools
- Perform backup and restore a database by using database tools
- Configure DR by using platform and database tools
- Configure HA using platform, OS and database tools
Perform Administration by Using T-SQL
In this module, you will be measured in the skills below:
- 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
Practicing
As any exam, after completing the study material, you need to make sure that you are prepared well for the exam. You can search on the internet for any free practice tests, such as the ExamTopics site or any other free test, but after making sure that you have completed studying the official course outline.
In this article, I will provide some review questions that I usually use to measure my trainees general skills, to make sure that they are ready for the Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure exam, taking into consideration that most of the exam questions are scenario-related questions in which you are requested to apply what you learn in these issues.
An Azure SQL Database Managed Instance can be categorized as a _______cloud service
Platform as a Service (PAAS)
The compatibility level settings can be changed from:
The individual database properties page
The storage type that offers the lowest latency in Azure:
Ultra Disk
The migration tool that can be used to assess and migrate your databases from an on-premises SQL Server to an Azure VM:
Data Migration Assistant
To reduce the cost of an Azure SQL Server VM that will run full time for 3 years, you should use:
Azure Reserved VM Instances
In order to migrate a set of databases that use distributed transactions from on-premises SQL Server, the target database platform that you will use in Microsoft Azure is:
Azure SQL Managed Instance
-The best option to host your new cloud database that you expect to grow to 50 TB, is:
Azure SQL Database Hyperscale
The best option to host your new database in the cloud for testing purposes that will be used less than 8 hours a day and is expected to be 20 GB in size, is
Azure SQL Database Serverless
How could you upgrade a major version of the Azure Database for MySQL?
Create a dump and restore it to a server at the higher version
The protocol that is used by Azure Active Directory for Authorization?
OAuth
The system database that stores the information about logins in SQL Server is:
master
The role that allows users to create users within a database, is:
db_securityadmin
The permission that allows the user to perform any option against a database object, is:
Control
The feature that allows a user to execute a stored procedure even if he does not have permission to access the tables referenced in the stored procedure, is called:
Ownership chaining
The security object that is required in order to enable transparent data encryption, is:
Master Key
The feature that prevents members of the sysadmin role from viewing the values of data in a table, is called:
Always Encrypted
The feature that provides a private IP address for an Azure SQL Database, is called:
Private Link
The technique that is used to create database firewall rules in Azure SQL Database:
Executing a T-SQL statement
An example of the threats that can be analyzed by Advanced Threat Protection, that is commonly associated with dynamic SQ, called:
SQL Injection
The Performance Monitor counter that reflects how long SQL Server expects to retain data in memory, is:
Page Life Expectancy
In order to see the sizes of your SQL Server Databases running in an Azure VM, you should use:
The SQL VM Resource Provider
The isolation level that should be used if you want to prevent users from reading data from blocking users writing data, is:
Read Committed Snapshot Isolation
The DMV that shows sessions holding locks:
Sys.dm_tran_locks
The Query Store catalog view that provides the Query ID to allow for query tracking:
Sys.query_store_queries
The storage type that should be used in conjunction with Azure VMs for SQL Server data files?
Disk Storage
The intelligent query processing feature that allows for faster calculations of a large number of rows, called:
Batch Mode on Row Store
The component of resource governor that allows you to configure limits on system resources, is called:
Resource Pools
The Microsoft Azure data platform that supports automatic index management:
Azure SQL Database
The DVM that can be used to show the status of a plan updated by automatic tuning:
sys.dm_db_tuning_recommendations
The type of execution plan that is stored in the plan cache:
Estimated execution plan
The DMV that should be used to find the index utilization:
sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats
The database design type that should be used for a data warehouse when you want to reduce the data volume of your dimensions?
Snowflake schema
The compression type that offers the highest level of compression is:
Columnstore Archival
The type of index that is best used on a data warehouse fact table:
Clustered Columnstore
The DMV that can be used to capture the last Actual Execution Plan for a given cached query plan:
sys.dm_exec_query_plan_stats
In order to pass the region for a resource group in the deployment template, we should include _____ in the ARM template
Parameter
In order to configure the SQL Server Agent can send e-mail, we should first configure:
A mail profile
The index maintenance operation that recalculates the statistics on an index:
Rebuild
The Extended Events target that writes only to memory and is not persisted:
Ring Buffer
The unit of execution for the Azure Automation Account is called:
Runbook
The SQL Elastic Job scope is configured as:
Target Group
RPO can be defined as:
The point to which data needs to be recovered after a failure.
The Microsoft Azure component that needs to be configured for the listener in an AG to work properly:
A load balancer
The WSFC in Microsoft Azure for AGs and FCIs can be created using:
PowerShell
The Microsoft Azure feature that allows you to test disaster recovery without bringing down your production system:
Azure Site Recovery
1 comments:
As always reading the blogs that serve this type of teaching are easy but it takes time to practice and master the art of development and coding.
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