DP-900: Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals Practice Exam
Prepare confidently for the DP-900: Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals certification exam with ExamSage’s comprehensive practice test. This exam is designed for individuals beginning their journey into data services on Microsoft Azure, providing foundational knowledge of core data concepts and how they relate to cloud-based solutions.
What is the DP-900 Certification Exam?
The DP-900 exam validates your understanding of basic data concepts and how they are implemented using Azure data services. It’s ideal for beginners looking to prove their skills in relational and non-relational data, data analytics, and data storage in the Azure cloud environment. Passing this certification demonstrates your readiness to work with Azure data solutions, a key skill in today’s cloud-driven industry.
What Will You Learn?
Fundamental data concepts such as relational, non-relational, big data, and analytics
Core Azure data services including Azure SQL Database, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Data Lake Storage, and Azure Synapse Analytics
Data ingestion, processing, and storage principles on the Azure platform
How to work with both structured and unstructured data in Azure
Basics of real-time analytics and big data in Azure
Key Topics Covered in This Practice Exam:
Core data concepts and types
Relational and non-relational data workloads
Core Azure data services
Data analytics and visualization tools on Azure
Data security, privacy, and compliance fundamentals
Why Choose ExamSage for Your DP-900 Exam Preparation?
ExamSage.com offers high-quality, carefully crafted practice questions with detailed explanations to help you understand not just the “what,” but also the “why” behind each concept. Our DP-900 practice test simulates the actual exam environment, boosting your confidence and readiness. Whether you’re an IT professional, a student, or someone looking to enhance your Azure data knowledge, ExamSage is your trusted partner for success.
Start your path to Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals certification today with ExamSage.com — your reliable source for effective exam preparation.
Sample Questions and Answers
1. Which of the following is a core characteristic of a relational database?
A. Hierarchical structure
B. Key-value pairs
C. Tables with rows and columns
D. File storage format
Answer: C
Explanation: Relational databases organize data in structured tables made up of rows and columns. This model enables relationships between data entries and supports SQL-based querying.
2. What is the primary purpose of normalization in a relational database?
A. Increase data redundancy
B. Improve data analytics
C. Eliminate data duplication
D. Enhance data encryption
Answer: C
Explanation: Normalization reduces redundancy by organizing data efficiently into separate related tables, ensuring consistency and minimizing duplication.
3. Which Azure service is best suited for processing real-time data streams?
A. Azure Data Factory
B. Azure Stream Analytics
C. Azure SQL Database
D. Azure Synapse Analytics
Answer: B
Explanation: Azure Stream Analytics is designed to process and analyze data in real-time from multiple sources such as IoT devices and applications.
4. What type of database is Azure Cosmos DB?
A. Graph
B. Relational
C. Multi-model NoSQL
D. Data warehouse
Answer: C
Explanation: Azure Cosmos DB is a globally distributed, multi-model NoSQL database supporting key-value, document, graph, and column-family data models.
5. Which of the following best describes structured data?
A. Audio files with metadata
B. JSON files
C. Tables in a relational database
D. Images with embedded tags
Answer: C
Explanation: Structured data follows a strict schema, as seen in tables of relational databases, allowing for easy querying and analysis using SQL.
6. What is the role of a data warehouse in analytics?
A. Store transactional data
B. Manage email campaigns
C. Perform ETL operations and support complex queries
D. Host virtual machines
Answer: C
Explanation: A data warehouse aggregates large volumes of data, performs Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) processes, and supports complex analytical queries.
7. In Azure, which service is most suitable for big data analytics?
A. Azure Synapse Analytics
B. Azure Blob Storage
C. Azure Key Vault
D. Azure Functions
Answer: A
Explanation: Azure Synapse Analytics integrates data warehousing and big data analytics, offering an end-to-end solution for data integration and reporting.
8. Which language is commonly used to manage and query relational databases?
A. XML
B. HTML
C. SQL
D. Python
Answer: C
Explanation: SQL (Structured Query Language) is the standard language used to manage, query, and manipulate relational databases.
9. What is unstructured data?
A. Data organized into rows and columns
B. Data without a predefined model or format
C. Data with fixed schema
D. SQL query results
Answer: B
Explanation: Unstructured data includes formats such as videos, images, and PDFs that don’t follow a consistent structure or schema.
10. Which Azure service would you use to orchestrate and automate data pipelines?
A. Azure Monitor
B. Azure Data Lake
C. Azure Data Factory
D. Azure Container Instances
Answer: C
Explanation: Azure Data Factory is a cloud-based ETL service used to create, schedule, and orchestrate data pipelines across various data stores.
11. What is the purpose of partitioning in Azure Cosmos DB?
A. To enhance security
B. To reduce cost
C. To distribute data for scalability
D. To create backup copies
Answer: C
Explanation: Partitioning in Cosmos DB distributes data across logical and physical partitions, ensuring scalability and high performance.
12. Which consistency level in Azure Cosmos DB provides the most strict data accuracy?
A. Eventual
B. Strong
C. Session
D. Bounded Staleness
Answer: B
Explanation: Strong consistency ensures the most accurate and up-to-date data across all replicas, providing the strictest consistency model.
13. What is the purpose of a primary key in a relational table?
A. To store binary data
B. To sort rows alphabetically
C. To uniquely identify each row
D. To define user permissions
Answer: C
Explanation: A primary key uniquely identifies each record in a table and helps establish relationships with other tables.
14. Which storage type is ideal for archiving infrequently accessed data?
A. Azure Premium SSD
B. Azure Hot Blob Storage
C. Azure Cool Blob Storage
D. Azure Archive Blob Storage
Answer: D
Explanation: Archive Blob Storage is optimized for long-term storage of infrequently accessed data at lower costs.
15. What kind of data model does Azure Table Storage use?
A. Relational
B. Graph
C. Key-value
D. Document
Answer: C
Explanation: Azure Table Storage is a NoSQL service that uses a key-value data model suitable for structured and semi-structured datasets.
16. Which of the following is a benefit of cloud-based databases like Azure SQL Database?
A. Manual updates
B. On-premises maintenance
C. Automatic scalability and high availability
D. No support for T-SQL
Answer: C
Explanation: Azure SQL Database provides automatic scalability, high availability, and maintenance with built-in intelligence.
17. What is a common use case for Azure Data Lake Storage?
A. Hosting static websites
B. Running virtual machines
C. Storing massive volumes of structured and unstructured data
D. Monitoring application performance
Answer: C
Explanation: Azure Data Lake Storage is designed to store both structured and unstructured data in massive volumes for big data analytics.
18. What type of database is best suited for storing social network connections?
A. Document database
B. Key-value database
C. Relational database
D. Graph database
Answer: D
Explanation: Graph databases store entities and their relationships efficiently, making them ideal for social networks and recommendation engines.
19. Which of the following is a schema-on-read approach?
A. Azure SQL Database
B. Azure Cosmos DB
C. Azure Blob Storage
D. Azure Synapse SQL
Answer: C
Explanation: Schema-on-read allows data to be stored in raw format (e.g., blobs), with the schema applied during querying rather than upon ingestion.
20. Which feature of Azure allows data replication across multiple regions?
A. Geo-redundancy
B. Auto-scaling
C. Load balancing
D. Role-based access control
Answer: A
Explanation: Geo-redundancy enables data to be copied across regions for disaster recovery and increased availability.
21. Which of these is a benefit of using Azure SQL Managed Instance over SQL Server on-premises?
A. Limited backup options
B. Manual patching required
C. Full administrative control over OS
D. Built-in high availability and patching
Answer: D
Explanation: Azure SQL Managed Instance provides automatic backups, patching, and high availability without needing manual intervention.
22. Which Azure service provides enterprise-grade security for sensitive keys and secrets?
A. Azure DevOps
B. Azure Key Vault
C. Azure Resource Manager
D. Azure Monitor
Answer: B
Explanation: Azure Key Vault is designed to securely store and access secrets, keys, and certificates for cloud applications.
23. In data analytics, what is the role of Power BI?
A. Ingest raw data
B. Store massive unstructured data
C. Visualize and analyze data
D. Process data streams
Answer: C
Explanation: Power BI enables users to connect to datasets, create dashboards, and gain insights through interactive data visualizations.
24. Which component handles the transformation step in an ETL pipeline?
A. Data Lake
B. Data Factory
C. Power BI
D. Blob Storage
Answer: B
Explanation: Azure Data Factory handles the Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) process and orchestrates data workflows between services.
25. Which data format is commonly used for semi-structured data?
A. CSV
B. JPEG
C. JSON
D. SQL
Answer: C
Explanation: JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data-interchange format commonly used for semi-structured data.
26. Which Azure service supports time-series data analysis?
A. Azure SQL Database
B. Azure Time Series Insights
C. Azure Kubernetes Service
D. Azure DevTest Labs
Answer: B
Explanation: Azure Time Series Insights is optimized for storing, querying, and analyzing time-stamped (time-series) data.
27. What is a benefit of using Azure Synapse over traditional data warehouses?
A. No support for T-SQL
B. No integration with Power BI
C. Unified experience for big data and SQL
D. Local deployment only
Answer: C
Explanation: Azure Synapse Analytics offers a unified analytics experience, integrating big data and SQL data exploration seamlessly.
28. What is a columnar database best suited for?
A. Storing binary data
B. Performing OLTP operations
C. Running analytical queries on large datasets
D. Managing user authentication
Answer: C
Explanation: Columnar databases store data by columns instead of rows, optimizing analytical queries over large data sets.
29. In Azure, where are diagnostic logs typically stored for later analysis?
A. Azure DevOps
B. Azure Blob Storage
C. Azure Active Directory
D. Azure Key Vault
Answer: B
Explanation: Diagnostic logs can be configured to be stored in Azure Blob Storage for long-term retention and analysis.
30. What is the purpose of data visualization in business intelligence?
A. To replace data models
B. To enable non-technical users to understand data trends
C. To store data
D. To perform ETL
Answer: B
Explanation: Data visualization simplifies complex data through charts, graphs, and dashboards, helping stakeholders make informed decisions.
31. Which Azure database service provides built-in AI and ML capabilities?
A. Azure Cosmos DB
B. Azure SQL Database
C. Azure Database for MySQL
D. Azure Data Lake
Answer: B
Explanation: Azure SQL Database includes built-in intelligence for automatic tuning, performance insights, and machine learning-based query optimization.
32. What does OLTP stand for in database systems?
A. Online Learning and Training Platform
B. On-Line Transaction Processing
C. Optimized Logical Table Partitioning
D. Object-Level Table Protection
Answer: B
Explanation: OLTP refers to systems optimized for managing transactional operations like insert, update, and delete in real-time.
33. What is the main function of Azure Data Explorer?
A. Build web applications
B. Perform complex time-series and telemetry data analysis
C. Manage IoT devices
D. Provide source code control
Answer: B
Explanation: Azure Data Explorer is a fast and highly scalable data analytics service designed for analyzing large volumes of log and telemetry data.
34. Which query language is used with Azure Data Explorer?
A. SQL
B. XAML
C. Kusto Query Language (KQL)
D. C#
Answer: C
Explanation: Azure Data Explorer uses KQL (Kusto Query Language) to query large volumes of structured, semi-structured, and telemetry data.
35. In Azure Synapse, what are dedicated SQL pools used for?
A. Managing source code
B. Running PowerShell scripts
C. Running large-scale data warehouse workloads
D. Securing private networks
Answer: C
Explanation: Dedicated SQL pools in Azure Synapse provide compute resources for running high-performance analytical queries.
36. Which NoSQL database type best fits storing flexible and hierarchical content like JSON?
A. Graph
B. Key-value
C. Document
D. Relational
Answer: C
Explanation: Document databases like Azure Cosmos DB (with API for MongoDB) store and manage data as documents (typically in JSON format), allowing flexible schema.
37. What is a benefit of schema-on-read?
A. Data must follow a predefined schema
B. Quicker data ingestion
C. Better encryption
D. Increased data redundancy
Answer: B
Explanation: Schema-on-read allows data to be ingested in raw form and interpreted later during analysis, which speeds up ingestion and supports flexibility.
38. Which of the following is a benefit of Azure Data Lake Gen2 over Gen1?
A. Higher pricing
B. No integration with Hadoop
C. POSIX-compliant access control and hierarchical namespace
D. Relational data support
Answer: C
Explanation: Data Lake Gen2 adds hierarchical namespaces and POSIX permissions, improving performance and access control over Gen1.
39. What type of data is best stored in Azure Blob Storage?
A. Relational data
B. Semi-structured log files
C. Binary large objects (images, videos)
D. T-SQL scripts
Answer: C
Explanation: Azure Blob Storage is optimized for storing unstructured data like images, audio, video, and backups.
40. What is data redundancy in cloud storage?
A. A way to compress files
B. A method for deduplication
C. A practice of storing multiple copies to ensure reliability
D. A temporary data loss prevention technique
Answer: C
Explanation: Redundancy ensures reliability and availability by keeping multiple copies of data across different regions or storage locations.
41. What is the benefit of horizontal partitioning in a large database?
A. Adds columns to a table
B. Increases query time
C. Distributes rows across partitions for performance
D. Encrypts the database
Answer: C
Explanation: Horizontal partitioning divides table rows into multiple partitions, improving query performance and data management.
42. What is the function of a foreign key in relational databases?
A. Encrypts user data
B. Links data between tables
C. Generates indexes automatically
D. Limits data input to a column
Answer: B
Explanation: A foreign key establishes a link between two tables, ensuring referential integrity by associating records.
43. What’s a key reason to use Azure Resource Manager templates?
A. For managing IoT devices
B. For static website hosting
C. For deploying repeatable infrastructure
D. For writing Power BI dashboards
Answer: C
Explanation: ARM templates allow you to define infrastructure-as-code for repeatable deployments and automation in Azure.
44. Which of the following tools would help analyze large-scale telemetry data over time?
A. Azure Time Series Insights
B. Azure App Services
C. Azure DevOps
D. Azure AD
Answer: A
Explanation: Azure Time Series Insights is designed for handling and analyzing high volumes of time-stamped telemetry data.
45. What type of database workload is best suited for OLAP systems?
A. High concurrency of updates
B. Frequent delete operations
C. Complex read-intensive analytics
D. Realtime transactions
Answer: C
Explanation: OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) systems handle complex queries and aggregations, ideal for business intelligence and data analysis.
46. What feature of Azure SQL Database supports scaling without downtime?
A. Manual resizing
B. Elastic pools
C. Azure Blob integration
D. Static data partitioning
Answer: B
Explanation: Elastic pools allow multiple databases to share resources, making it easier to scale and optimize costs dynamically.
47. Which option allows fast, in-place querying of files in Azure Data Lake or Blob Storage?
A. SQL Server Agent
B. PolyBase
C. Azure SQL Managed Instance
D. PowerShell
Answer: B
Explanation: PolyBase enables fast querying of external data stored in Azure Data Lake or Blob Storage using standard T-SQL.
48. Which of the following is a core concept of data integrity?
A. Backup frequency
B. Firewall rules
C. Accuracy and consistency of data
D. Data compression
Answer: C
Explanation: Data integrity ensures that data is accurate, consistent, and reliable across its lifecycle.
49. Which Azure storage solution is best for storing logs from multiple services?
A. Azure SQL Database
B. Azure Table Storage
C. Azure File Storage
D. Azure Blob Storage
Answer: D
Explanation: Blob Storage is highly scalable and suitable for storing raw logs, telemetry, and archival data.
50. What is a characteristic of analytical workloads?
A. Frequent write operations
B. Simple CRUD operations
C. Aggregations and summarization of large data sets
D. High-volume concurrent writes
Answer: C
Explanation: Analytical workloads focus on complex queries that aggregate and summarize data to generate insights and reports.
51. Which of the following Azure services supports building ETL pipelines visually?
A. Azure Monitor
B. Azure Stream Analytics
C. Azure Data Factory
D. Azure Key Vault
Answer: C
Explanation: Azure Data Factory provides a visual UI to build and orchestrate ETL and ELT workflows between various services.
52. What does the term “Data at Rest” refer to?
A. Data in motion across a network
B. Data being processed in memory
C. Data stored on disk or in databases
D. Archived data in cold storage only
Answer: C
Explanation: Data at Rest refers to data that is stored and not actively moving or being processed, such as files on disk or in databases.
53. In data modeling, what does cardinality refer to?
A. The number of users accessing data
B. The number of records in a table
C. The uniqueness of data values in a column
D. The nature of relationships between entities
Answer: D
Explanation: Cardinality describes the nature and count of relationships between entities, such as one-to-one or one-to-many.
54. Which Azure service is designed for batch ingestion and preparation of large datasets?
A. Azure Event Grid
B. Azure Stream Analytics
C. Azure Data Factory
D. Azure Functions
Answer: C
Explanation: Azure Data Factory supports batch ingestion and transformation of large datasets through its mapping and wrangling data flows.
55. Which storage tier in Azure offers the lowest cost but the highest latency?
A. Hot tier
B. Premium tier
C. Cool tier
D. Archive tier
Answer: D
Explanation: The Archive tier is the most cost-effective for long-term storage, but it has higher latency and retrieval times.
