AZ-305 Question 80
Single answerYou work for an e-commerce company that plans to store large volumes of product catalog data in a JSON format. The data must support flexible queries, scale globally, and allow low-latency reads and writes. Which Azure service should you recommend for storing this semi-structured data without significant schema constraints?
- A
Azure Table Storage
- B
Azure Files
- C
Azure Cosmos DB
- D
Azure SQL Database
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
Azure Cosmos DB is a multi-model, globally distributed database service that supports the flexible storage of JSON data, built-in partitioning for scale, and different consistency models for performance tuning. According to Microsoft documentation, Cosmos DB is the recommended choice when building modern applications requiring large-scale reads and writes, low latency, and globally distributed data. References: https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/cosmos-db/introduction and https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/cosmos-db/distribute-data-globally.
- A. Incorrect.
Although Azure Table Storage is capable of storing key-value pairs, it offers limited querying capabilities and does not provide global distribution with guaranteed low-latency reads and writes. Table Storage is more suitable for scenarios where data access patterns are simple and do not require advanced indexing or global replication.
- B. Incorrect.
Azure Files is a shared file system service that is typically used for lifting and shifting on-premises file shares to the cloud. It is not optimized for storing or querying large volumes of semi-structured data. Instead, it is best suited for scenarios requiring SMB file shares in the cloud.
- C. Correct.
Azure Cosmos DB is designed for globally distributed applications that need low-latency access. It supports multiple APIs (e.g., Core (SQL), MongoDB, Cassandra) and can handle large volumes of semi-structured data (such as JSON) with flexible schema requirements. Its built-in global distribution and guaranteed low-latency reads and writes align with the scenario's needs.
- D. Incorrect.
Azure SQL Database is a relational database service optimized for structured data and transactions. While it does support JSON data, it is typically not the first choice for massive volumes of semi-structured data when you need flexible schema evolution and global distribution. It can handle some semi-structured workloads but lacks the native multi-model and global replication of Azure Cosmos DB.