Azure Data Storage Architecture Flashcards

Which Azure Cosmos DB consistency level provides the strongest consistency guarantee at the cost of higher read latency?

Answer: Strong

Strong consistency ensures that reads always return the most recent committed write, but it requires synchronous replication across all regions, increasing read latency.

What is the purpose of Azure SQL Elastic Pools?

Answer: To share compute resources across multiple databases with variable workloads

Elastic Pools allow multiple databases to share a common pool of eDTUs or vCores, optimizing cost when individual databases have unpredictable or varying usage patterns.

Which Azure Storage feature allows you to define rules that automatically transition blobs to cooler tiers or delete them based on last-modified or last-accessed time?

Answer: Lifecycle Management Policies

Lifecycle Management Policies in Azure Blob Storage automate tiering and deletion of blobs based on age or last access time, reducing storage costs without manual intervention.

An architect needs a fully managed, serverless SQL data warehouse service for analytical workloads. Which Azure service is most appropriate?

Answer: Azure Synapse Analytics (serverless SQL pool)

Azure Synapse Analytics serverless SQL pool allows querying data in Azure Data Lake using T-SQL without provisioning infrastructure, paying only per TB processed.

Which Azure Cosmos DB partition key selection principle is most important for achieving optimal throughput distribution?

Answer: Use a partition key with high cardinality that evenly distributes data

A high-cardinality partition key that distributes requests and data evenly across logical partitions prevents hot partitions and maximizes provisioned throughput utilization.

You need to enforce that all data written to an Azure Storage account is encrypted with customer-managed keys stored in Azure Key Vault. What must you configure?

Answer: Customer-Managed Keys (CMK) with Key Vault integration

Customer-Managed Keys (CMK) allow you to control the encryption key lifecycle in Azure Key Vault, satisfying compliance requirements for bring-your-own-key (BYOK) encryption.