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Difficulty: Very hardRelational Data Storage Solutions

A company is planning to migrate an on-premises database that supports a mission-critical financial ledger application to Azure. The migration must meet the following requirements:
- Support native SQL Server Agent jobs and cross-database queries between databases on the same database engine instance.
- Provide storage latency of less than 2 milliseconds for database transaction log writes.
- Minimize administrative effort for operating system and database engine patching.
- Provide a read-only replica to offload reporting queries without incurring additional licensing or compute costs.

Which two options should you recommend? (Choose two.)

  1. Azure SQL Managed InstanceAnswer
  2. B
    SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines
  3. C
    Azure SQL Database (Single Database)
  4. Business Critical service tierAnswer
  5. E
    General Purpose service tier

Answer

The correct options are Azure SQL Managed Instance and Business Critical service tier.
Azure SQL Managed Instance is the correct deployment option because it provides high compatibility with on-premises SQL Server features (such as SQL Server Agent and cross-database queries) while operating as a fully managed PaaS service that eliminates patching overhead. The Business Critical service tier is the correct tier choice because it leverages local SSD storage to achieve sub-2ms transaction log write latency and includes a built-in read-only replica for offloading read workloads at no additional cost.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the application compatibility requirements for SQL Server Agent and cross-database queries.
Azure SQL Database (Single Database) is ruled out because it lacks native support for SQL Server Agent and cross-database queries.
To avoid refactoring the application, the database platform must natively support these database engine features.
2
Evaluate the administrative overhead constraints.
SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines is ruled out because it does not minimize administrative effort for OS and database engine patching.
Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) requires the customer to manage OS and SQL Server patching, whereas Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) options automate this.
3
Compare the performance (latency) and cost requirements for read scale-out across the remaining service tiers.
The General Purpose tier is ruled out because it uses remote storage (typical latency 5-10 ms) and does not offer a free, built-in read-only replica. The Business Critical tier is selected because it uses local SSDs (providing sub-2ms transaction log write latency) and includes a free read-only replica.
This satisfies both the sub-2ms transaction log write latency and the requirement to offload reporting queries without incurring extra licensing or compute costs.

Key Concept

Selecting the appropriate Azure SQL deployment option and service tier based on legacy feature compatibility, management overhead, storage performance, and read-scale requirements.
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Relational Data Storage Solutions

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