Azure Solutions Architect Expert (AZ-305) · 23% practice allocation

Azure AZ-305: Design data storage solutions Practice Questions

5 free sample questions from the Design data storage solutions domain, with answers and explanations. The full AZ-305 bank has 59 questions across 4 domains. Questions are scenario-based and written from the official Azure exam guide.

1.

A team migrating a large on-premises SQL Server database that uses SQL Agent jobs, cross-database queries, and CLR wants a managed PaaS target with maximal compatibility. Which Azure option should the architect recommend?

  • A. Azure SQL Managed Instance✓ Correct
  • B. Azure Database for MySQL
  • C. Azure Cosmos DB
  • D. Azure SQL Database single database
Explanation

SQL Managed Instance provides near-full SQL Server instance compatibility (SQL Agent, cross-database queries, CLR) as a managed PaaS — ideal for such migrations. Single-database SQL (D) lacks some instance features, Cosmos DB (C) is NoSQL, and MySQL (B) is a different engine.

2.

A mission-critical Azure SQL Database must survive a full regional outage with automatic failover and a listener endpoint that applications follow without connection-string changes. Which feature should the design use?

  • A. Auto-failover groups with geo-replication✓ Correct
  • B. Local backups only
  • C. Zone-redundant storage on a single region
  • D. A read-only replica in the same datacenter
Explanation

Auto-failover groups geo-replicate the database to a secondary region and provide a listener endpoint that redirects automatically on failover — surviving a regional outage transparently. Local backups (B) don't provide automatic regional failover, single-region zone redundancy (C) doesn't survive a regional outage, and a same-datacenter replica (D) fails with the region.

3.

A workload stores semi-structured product catalog data queried by key with flexible attributes and needs elastic scale, but the team wants to avoid managing schema and relationships. Which store should the architect recommend?

  • A. Azure Cosmos DB (NoSQL)✓ Correct
  • B. A fully normalized Azure SQL Database
  • C. Azure Files SMB share
  • D. Azure Cache for Redis as the primary store
Explanation

Cosmos DB suits semi-structured, key-accessed data with flexible schema and elastic scale, without managing relational schema. A normalized SQL Database (B) imposes the schema/relationships they want to avoid, Azure Files (C) is a file share, and Redis (D) is a cache, not a durable primary catalog store.

4.

A new cloud-native application needs a managed relational database with automatic scaling, high availability, and minimal administration, and does not require SQL Server instance-level features. Which Azure service should the architect recommend?

  • A. Azure SQL Database✓ Correct
  • B. SQL Server on an Azure VM
  • C. Azure Table Storage
  • D. Azure Blob Storage
Explanation

Azure SQL Database (PaaS) provides a managed, highly available relational database with elastic scaling and minimal admin — ideal for cloud-native apps not needing instance features. SQL on a VM (B) is IaaS with OS management, and Table/Blob storage (C, D) are non-relational.

5.

An architect needs a caching layer to reduce database load and latency for frequently read, slowly changing data in a high-traffic web application. Which Azure service should the design use?

  • A. Azure Data Lake Storage
  • B. Azure Cache for Redis✓ Correct
  • C. Azure Policy
  • D. Azure Site Recovery
Explanation

Azure Cache for Redis provides a low-latency in-memory cache to offload the database and speed up reads of frequently accessed data. Data Lake Storage (A) is bulk analytics storage, Site Recovery (D) is DR, and Azure Policy (C) is governance — none is a caching layer.

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