Domain: Design Data Storage Solutions
20–25% of the exam. Skills outline as of April 17, 2026.
Domain Progress
Topics
| Topic | Covers | Tips | Practice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Choosing a SQL Platform | SQL Database · SQL Managed Instance · SQL Server on Azure VMs | Quiz | |
| SQL Database Tiers & Compute | DTU vs vCore · General Purpose · Business Critical · Hyperscale · Serverless · Free offer | Quiz | |
| SQL Scalability | Elastic pools · Read scale-out · HA and named replicas · Sharding | Quiz | |
| PostgreSQL & MySQL | Flexible Server · HA · Read replicas · Version support | Quiz | |
| Database Security | TDE · CMK · Always Encrypted · Masking · RLS · Ledger · Auditing | Quiz | |
| Cosmos DB APIs & Capacity | APIs · Provisioned · Autoscale · Serverless · Multi-region | Quiz | |
| Cosmos DB Consistency & Partitioning | Five consistency levels · Partition keys · Hierarchical keys | Quiz | |
| Table Storage vs Cosmos DB for Table | Key-value semi-structured data | Quiz | |
| Storage Accounts & Redundancy | LRS · ZRS · GRS · GZRS · RA- · Changing redundancy | Quiz | |
| Blob Tiers & Lifecycle | Hot · Cool · Cold · Archive · Rehydration · Lifecycle policies | Quiz | |
| Blob Data Protection | Soft delete · Versioning · Point-in-time restore · Immutability · Object replication | Quiz | |
| Azure Files | SMB vs NFS · SSD vs HDD · Identity auth · File Sync · Management models | Quiz | |
| Managed Disks | Ultra · Premium SSD v2 · Premium SSD · Standard SSD · Standard HDD | Quiz | |
| Data Integration | Data Factory · Integration runtimes · Fabric Data Factory · Event-driven ingestion | Quiz | |
| Data Analytics | Microsoft Fabric · Synapse · Databricks · Data Explorer · Data Lake | Quiz | |
| Top domain traps (below) | Highest-yield rules |
Top Domain Traps
“SQL Agent / cross-database queries / CLR” → SQL Managed Instance. Trap: SQL Database lacks them.
“Free read replica + fastest failover” → Business Critical; >4 TB = Hyperscale; idle dev = serverless.
“Many DBs with varying peaks” → Elastic pool.
“Azure Hybrid Benefit or reservations” → vCore provisioned only (not DTU, not serverless).
“Cosmos default consistency” → Session; latest write always = Strong.
“Cosmos serverless” → Single region only; spiky low traffic.
“Read secondary during outage” → RA-GRS / RA-GZRS; zone + region = GZRS.
“Rare access but must read instantly” → Cool/Cold, not Archive (offline, hours).
“Can't modify/delete, even admins” → Immutable storage with locked policy.
“Hide data from DBAs” → Always Encrypted; masking is for non-privileged users.
“On-prem source in Data Factory” → Self-hosted integration runtime.
“New analytics platform” → Microsoft Fabric.
⚠️ Retirement Watch
Older question banks may still use these. If a current replacement is offered as an option, pick the replacement. The full list is on the Retirement Timeline page.
| Retired / retiring | Date | Exam answer now |
|---|---|---|
| MySQL Single Server | Sep 16, 2024 | MySQL Flexible Server |
| Synapse Data Explorer (Preview) | Oct 7, 2025 | Fabric Eventhouse / Azure Data Explorer |
| Synapse Link for Cosmos DB (new projects) | Not supported for new projects | Cosmos DB mirroring in Fabric |
| MySQL 5.7 standard support | Sep 30, 2026 | Upgrade to 8.0 / 8.4 |
| MySQL 8.0 standard support | Jan 31, 2027 | Upgrade to 8.4 |
| Standard HDD as OS disk | Sep 8, 2028 | Standard SSD or better |
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Original study notes based on the public Microsoft skills outline and Microsoft Learn documentation. Not affiliated with Microsoft; not actual exam content.