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Difficulty: Very hardRelational Data Storage Solutions

A global pharmaceutical firm is designing the cloud architecture for its new drug discovery and manufacturing platform. The architecture requires deploying two distinct relational database workloads:

* Workload 1 runs a proprietary legacy control application. It requires a relational database that executes scheduled tasks via SQL Server Agent, requires operating system-level registry modifications, and must run a proprietary third-party assembly that requires access to the local host filesystem.
* Workload 2 runs an analytics ingestion application. It requires cross-database queries across three databases, SQL Server Agent for scheduled data consolidation, and native Common Language Runtime (CLR) integration. Operating system management must be fully offloaded to Azure to minimize administrative overhead.

Which two Azure SQL solutions should you recommend to support these workloads?

  1. SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines for Workload 1Answer
  2. Azure SQL Managed Instance for Workload 2Answer
  3. C
    Azure SQL Database single database for Workload 2
  4. D
    Azure SQL Managed Instance for Workload 1

Answer

Select SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines for Workload 1 and Azure SQL Managed Instance for Workload 2.
For Workload 1, the requirement for operating system registry modifications and local host filesystem access necessitates SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines (an IaaS solution). For Workload 2, the requirement for SQL Server Agent, CLR, and cross-database queries combined with a need to eliminate OS administrative overhead is satisfied by Azure SQL Managed Instance (a PaaS solution).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the requirements for Workload 1.
Workload 1 requires OS-level registry access and local filesystem access for a third-party assembly.
This rules out all fully managed platform-as-a-service (PaaS) options such as Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance, which do not permit host OS access.
2
Select the correct service for Workload 1.
SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines is the only relational option providing full OS-level administration.
An infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) model is necessary whenever an application depends on operating system configurations or running legacy third-party software that interacts directly with the host filesystem.
3
Analyze the requirements for Workload 2.
Workload 2 requires SQL Server Agent, cross-database queries, and CLR, but must avoid OS management overhead.
These requirements match the feature set of a managed relational service that supports instance-level capabilities.
4
Select the correct service for Workload 2.
Azure SQL Managed Instance is chosen.
Unlike Azure SQL Database single database (which lacks SQL Server Agent and native cross-database query support), Managed Instance provides instance-scoped features without OS management overhead.

Key Concept

Selecting appropriate Azure SQL services based on legacy feature requirements (SQL Agent, CLR, cross-database queries) and operational model constraints (OS access vs. managed service).
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Relational Data Storage Solutions

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