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.

NOTE: This course should not be your only study material to prepare for the official exam. These practice tests are meant to supplement topic study material.

Should you encounter content which needs attention, please send a message with a screenshot of the content that needs attention and I will be reviewed promptly. Providing the test and question number do not identify questions as the questions rotate each time they are run. The question numbers are different for everyone.

As a candidate for this exam, you should have knowledge of and experience with:

Azure SQL Database

Azure SQL Managed Instance

SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines (Windows and Linux)

Skills at a glance

Plan and implement data platform resources (20–25%)

Implement a secure environment (15–20%)

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

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

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

Plan and implement data platform resources (20–25%)

Plan and deploy Azure SQL 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 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

Implement a secure environment (15–20%)

Configure database authentication and authorization

Configure authentication by using Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID

Create users from Microsoft Entra ID identities

Configure security principals

Configure database and object-level permissions using graphical tools

Apply the 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 database ledger in Azure SQL

Implement row-level security

Configure Microsoft Defender for SQL

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)

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

Configure alerts and notifications on database tasks

Troubleshoot automated database tasks

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 Always On Failover Cluster Instances on Azure virtual machines

Configure log shipping

Monitor an HA/DR solution

Troubleshoot an HA/DR solution