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Difficulty: MediumRelational Data Storage Solutions

An organization is designing the relational data storage architecture on Azure for two workloads.

- Workload 1: A legacy back-office application that requires SQL Server Agent for automated job scheduling and relies on cross-database queries.
- Workload 2: A customer-facing portal with highly unpredictable traffic that frequently experiences long periods of inactivity. Minimizing cost during idle times is a key requirement.

To ensure business continuity, the storage backups for both workloads must survive the physical failure of a primary datacenter.

Which two Azure SQL options should you recommend to meet these requirements?

  1. Azure SQL Managed Instance with zone-redundant backup storage for Workload 1Answer
  2. Azure SQL Database Serverless with zone-redundant backup storage for Workload 2Answer
  3. C
    Azure SQL Database single database with zone-redundant backup storage for Workload 1
  4. D
    Azure SQL Managed Instance with locally redundant backup storage (LRS) for Workload 1
  5. E
    SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines with Standard HDD storage for Workload 2

Answer

Azure SQL Managed Instance with zone-redundant backup storage for Workload 1, and Azure SQL Database Serverless with zone-redundant backup storage for Workload 2
The correct recommendations are Azure SQL Managed Instance with zone-redundant backup storage for Workload 1, and Azure SQL Database Serverless with zone-redundant backup storage for Workload 2. Azure SQL Managed Instance provides full compatibility with the SQL Server database engine, including SQL Server Agent and cross-database queries, which are required for Workload 1. Azure SQL Database Serverless auto-scales compute and pauses during inactive periods to minimize costs, matching the requirements of Workload 2. Utilizing zone-redundant storage (ZRS) replicates data across separate availability zones within the region, ensuring backups survive the failure of a primary datacenter.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the requirements for Workload 1.
Workload 1 requires legacy features such as SQL Server Agent and cross-database queries. These features are natively supported by Azure SQL Managed Instance, but not by Azure SQL Database single database.
This helps narrow down the service tier to Azure SQL Managed Instance or SQL Server on Azure VM.
2
Analyze the requirements for Workload 2.
Workload 2 has unpredictable, bursty traffic with idle periods and requires cost minimization when idle. Azure SQL Database Serverless supports auto-scaling and auto-pausing, which directly addresses this requirement.
This identifies the correct deployment model for the customer-facing database.
3
Evaluate the backup storage redundancy requirements.
The backups must survive the physical failure of a primary datacenter. Zone-redundant storage (ZRS) or geo-redundant storage (GRS) is required. Locally redundant storage (LRS) is insufficient as it stores data within a single datacenter.
This eliminates options that use locally redundant storage.

Key Concept

Selecting the appropriate Azure SQL relational database deployment options (Managed Instance vs. Database vs. VM) and backup redundancy levels to meet legacy feature requirements, cost-optimization goals, and resilience constraints.
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Topics

Relational Data Storage Solutions

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