AZ-305 Question 65
Single answerAn online retail company expects unpredictable spikes in traffic during sales events and wants to minimize costs during normal traffic. They need a fully managed solution for their transactional database that can automatically scale to handle large surges of incoming data while reducing compute costs when demand is low. Which Azure SQL Database service tier and compute tier combination would best meet these requirements?
- A
Basic tier with provisioned compute
- B
General Purpose tier with serverless compute
- C
Business Critical tier with provisioned compute
- D
Hyperscale tier with provisioned compute
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
For workloads with highly variable or unpredictable traffic patterns, the General Purpose tier in Azure SQL Database combined with the serverless compute tier is recommended. It automatically scales resources up or down based on demand and can pause the database to further reduce costs when there's little to no activity. Refer to Microsoft’s documentation (docs.microsoft.com/azure/azure-sql/database/serverless-tier-overview) for details on how serverless compute can help optimize costs while maintaining the ability to handle burst workloads.
- A. Incorrect.
Option 1: Basic tier with provisioned compute offers limited performance and does not provide auto-scaling for varying workloads. It is not ideal for handling unpredictable traffic spikes, as you are locked to provisioned resources that may be insufficient under heavy load.
- B. Correct.
Option 2: General Purpose tier with serverless compute is correct. The serverless compute tier automatically scales up to handle spikes and scales down (even pausing when inactive) to reduce costs during periods of low activity. This combination meets both scalability and cost-optimization goals.
- C. Incorrect.
Option 3: Business Critical tier with provisioned compute provides higher performance and lower latency, but it does not offer a serverless compute option. It can be significantly more expensive, especially during periods of low usage.
- D. Incorrect.
Option 4: Hyperscale tier with provisioned compute is designed for very large databases but does not inherently address the need for cost savings through automated compute scaling. While it can handle huge data volumes, it remains provisioned, thus incurring costs even when traffic is low.