Skills at a glance

• Plan and implement data platform resources (20–25%)

• Implement a secure environment (15–20%)

• Monitor, configure, and optimize database resources (20–25%)

• Configure and manage automation of tasks (15–20%)

• Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) environment (20–25%)

Plan and implement data platform resources (20–25%)

Plan and deploy Azure SQL solutions

• Deploy database offerings on selected platforms

• Understand automated deployment

• Apply patches and updates for hybrid and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) deployment

• Deploy hybrid SQL Server solutions

• Recommend an appropriate database offering based on specific requirements

• Evaluate the security aspects of the possible database offering

• Recommend a table partitioning solution

• Recommend a database sharding solution

Configure resources for scale and performance

• Configure Azure SQL Database for scale and performance

• Configure Azure SQL Managed Instance for scale and performance

• Configure SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines for scale and performance

• Configure table partitioning

• Configure data compression

Plan and implement a migration strategy

• Evaluate requirements for the migration

• Evaluate offline or online migration strategies

• Implement an online migration strategy

• Implement an offline migration strategy

• Perform post migration validations

• Troubleshoot a migration

• Set up SQL Data Sync for Azure

• Implement a migration to Azure

• Implement a migration between Azure SQL services

• Implement Azure SQL Managed Instance database copy and move

Implement a secure environment (15–20%)

Configure database authentication and authorization

• Configure authentication by using Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID

• Create users from Microsoft Entra identities

• Configure security principals

• Configure database and object-level permissions using graphical tools

• Apply the principle of least privilege for all securables

• Troubleshoot authentication and authorization issues

• Manage authentication and authorization by using T-SQL

Implement security for data at rest and data in transit

• Implement transparent data encryption (TDE)

• Implement object-level encryption

• Configure server- and database-level firewall rules

• Implement Always Encrypted

• Implement Always Encrypted with VBS enclaves

• Configure secure access

• Configure Transport Layer Security (TLS)

Implement compliance controls for sensitive data

• Apply a data classification strategy

• Configure server and database audits

• Implement data change tracking

• Implement dynamic data masking

• Manage database resources by using Microsoft Purview

• Implement database ledger in Azure SQL

• Implement row-level security

• Configure Microsoft Defender for Azure SQL

Monitor, configure, and optimize database resources (20–25%)

Monitor resource activity and performance

• Prepare an operational performance baseline

• Determine sources for performance metrics

• Interpret performance metrics

• Configure and monitor activity and performance

• Monitor by using SQL Insights

• Monitor by using database watcher

• Monitor by using Extended Events

Monitor and optimize query performance

• Configure Query Store

• Monitor by using Query Store

• Identify sessions that cause blocking

• Identify performance issues using dynamic management views (DMVs)

• Identify and implement index changes for queries

• Recommend query construct modifications based on resource usage

• Assess the use of query hints for query performance

• Review execution plans

• Monitor by using Intelligent Insights

Configure database solutions for optimal performance

• Implement index maintenance tasks

• Implement statistics maintenance tasks

• Implement database integrity checks

• Configure database automatic tuning

• Configure server settings for performance

• Configure Resource Governor for performance

• Implement database-scoped configuration

• Configure compute and storage resources for scaling

• Configure intelligent query processing (IQP)

Configure and manage automation of tasks (15–20%)

Create and manage SQL Server Agent jobs

• Manage schedules for regular maintenance jobs

• Configure job alerts and notifications

• Troubleshoot SQL Server Agent jobs

Automate deployment of database resources

• Automate deployment by using Azure Resource Manager (ARM) and Bicep templates

• Automate deployment by using PowerShell

• Automate deployment by using Azure CLI

• Monitor and troubleshoot deployments

Create and manage database tasks in Azure

• Create and configure elastic jobs

• Create and configure database tasks by using automation

• Configure alerts and notifications on database tasks

• Troubleshoot automated database tasks

Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) environment (20–25%)

Recommend an HA/DR strategy for database solutions

• Recommend HA/DR strategy based on Recovery Point Objective/Recovery Time Objective (RPO/RTO) requirements

• Evaluate HA/DR for hybrid deployments

• Evaluate Azure-specific HA/DR solutions

• Recommend a testing procedure for an HA/DR solution

Plan and perform backup and restore of a database

• Recommend a database backup and restore strategy

• Perform a database backup by using database tools

• Perform a database restore by using database tools

• Perform a database restore to a point in time

• Configure long-term backup retention

• Backup and restore a database by using T-SQL

• Backup and restore to and from cloud storage

Configure HA/DR for database solutions

• Configure active geo-replication

• Configure an Always On availability group on Azure virtual machines

• Configure failover groups

• Configure quorum options for a Windows Server Failover Cluster

• Configure Always On Failover Cluster Instances on Azure virtual machines

• Configure log shipping

• Monitor an HA/DR solution

• Troubleshoot an HA/DR solution