Self-Study Guide: Microsoft Azure Certification DP-201 Designing an Azure Data Solution
Microsoft recently released a certification named Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate. To get this tag you need to clear two examinations named:
- Exam DP-200: Implementing an Azure Data Solution
- Exam DP-201: Designing an Azure Data Solution
In a hurry? … Jump to examination pattern section below and read from there.
Clear two of the below examinations to get the Azure Data Engineer certification
This article is a self-study guide for data engineers who design data solutions on Microsoft Azure. We are covering topics about Exam DP-201 in this article.
*All images are taken from microsoft.com
Exam 201: Designing an Azure Data Solution
“Candidates for this exam are Microsoft Azure data engineers who collaborate with business stakeholders to identify and meet the data requirements to design data solutions that use Azure data services.
Azure data engineers are responsible for data-related tasks that include designing Azure data storage solutions that use relational and non-relational data stores, batch, and real-time data processing solutions, and data security and compliance solutions” -Microsoft
Skills To Demonstrate: Designing
Candidates have to demonstrate solution designing skills using the following Azure services- Azure Blob Storage, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Databricks, Azure Data Factory, Azure DevOps, Azure Stream Analytics, Data Lake Storage, SQL Database and Azure SQL Data Warehouse.
DP-201: Examination Pattern
Total of 44 questions will be asked in 150 minutes. Apart from this, you will also be given extra time to read instructions. Two case studies will be asked as well.
You need a minimum of 700 out of 1000 to clear the examination.
Type of Questions
Below are the type of questions
- Single choice based on the scenario
- Multiple-choice questions
- Arrange in right sequence type questions
- Case studies with multiple questions
- Complete the architecture: You have to drag and drop the right solution in the given architecture diagram.
- Questions that cannot be skipped: There will be at least three questions in a sequence where you have to select from Yes or No. These questions cannot be skipped or reanswered afterward.
My Experience
Found DP-201 to be easy as compared to many other Azure certifications. I comfortably finished it within 120 minutes and had ample time left to recheck stuff. I can not reveal any questions but will give you the direction to prepare towards. Case studies that I got
Case study 1: You will select suitable storage solutions for a company based on its existing scenario.
Case Study 2: Global customer scenario with the requirement of distributed databases and a massively parallel processing system with data consistency.
A lot of questions were on optimizing Azure SQL warehouse, I found them tricky and quite challenging.
Study Guide
Here is a comprehensive list of study material covering DP-201 scope & questions.
*All links are either from Microsoft or publically available blogs that I am just listing here …credit goes to respective authors
**You need to understand the design choices: why/when/how in all links You can do free labs on microsoft learn for handon https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/Core principles for creating architectures
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/pillars-of-a-great-azure-architecture/Big data architectures (imp): Understand why, when and differences https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/data-guide/big-data/
https://www.blue-granite.com/blog/a-different-way-to-process-data-kappa-architectureDescribe Lambda architectures from a Batch Mode Perspective
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/data-guide/big-data/batch-processinghttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/data-guide/technology-choices/batch-processinghttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cosmos-db/lambda-architecture
Design an Enterprise BI solution in Azurehttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/data/enterprise-bi-sqldwhttps://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/blog/technical-reference-implementation-for-enterprise-bi-and-reporting/
Automate enterprise BI solutions in Azurehttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/data/enterprise-bi-adfArchitect an Enterprise-grade conversational bot in Azure (understand data/storage requirements)
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/ai/conversational-botLambda architectures for a Real-Time Mode Perspective
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/data-guide/big-data/real-time-processingArchitect a stream processing pipeline with Azure Stream Analyticshttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/stream-analytics/stream-analytics-solution-patternshttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/data/stream-processing-stream-analyticshttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/data-guide/technology-choices/stream-processingDesign a stream processing pipeline with Azure Databricks
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/reference-architectures/data/stream-processing-databricksSecurity Design Considerationshttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/design-for-security-in-azure/Designing distributed tables in Azure SQL Data Warehouse
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-data-warehouse/sql-data-warehouse-tables-distributehttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-data-warehouse/sql-data-warehouse-best-practicesHorizontal, vertical, and functional data partitioninghttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/best-practices/data-partitioningAzure Cosmos DB: Designing your data structurehttps://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/39421.azure-cosmos-db-designing-your-data-structure.aspxAzure Example Scenarios
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/example-scenario/#data-scenariosDatasize organizing in one folderhttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/data-lake-storage-performance-tuning-guidancehttps://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/blog/azure-cosmos-db-pushing-the-frontier-of-globally-distributed-databases/https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-data-warehouse/sql-data-warehouse-tables-temporaryTransparent data encryption or always encryptedhttps://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/blog/transparent-data-encryption-or-always-encrypted/SQL database auditinghttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-auditinghttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/security/auditing/sql-server-audit-database-engine?view=sql-server-2017Azure SQL Database security capabilitieshttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-database/sql-database-security-overviewData Compressionhttps://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sql-data-warehouse/sql-data-warehouse-memory-optimizations-for-columnstore-compressionhttps://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sqldw/2016/05/05/the-effects-of-column-level-compression/
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Also, do let me know about any changes in the question pattern that you get, I will update the article for others. Thanks!!
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