DP-300 In preparation
Azure Database Administrator
DP-300 covers the operational side of Azure SQL and SQL Server: planning and migration, security, performance monitoring and tuning, automation, and high availability and disaster recovery.
Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate · for database administrators who run Azure SQL and SQL Server
- Level
- Associate
- Exam time
- 100 minutes
- Passing score
- 700 of 1000
- Microsoft Learn during the exam
- Allowed
- Skills outline
- October 27, 2026
Study cards and questions for DP-300 are being written.
The official skills outline is below, so you can already see what the exam covers. Until this exam is ready, the best free preparation is the learning path on Microsoft Learn.
DP-300 on Microsoft Learn ↗Skills measured
What the exam covers
The domains and objectives as Microsoft lists them in the official study guide, version of October 27, 2026. The percentage is the share of the exam.
1 Plan and implement data platform resources
15-20%Plan and deploy Azure SQL solutions
- Recommend a database offering based on specific requirements
- Choose an automated deployment method
- Identify use cases for Azure Arc-enabled SQL services
- Identify use cases for Azure SQL Database in Microsoft Fabric
- Plan for table partitioning
- Recommend a database sharding solution
- Deploy database offerings on selected platforms
- Deploy hybrid SQL Server solutions
- Apply patches and updates for hybrid and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) deployment
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 a migration
- Evaluate offline or online migration strategies
- Implement an online migration strategy
- Implement an offline migration strategy
- Implement a migration to Azure
- Implement a migration between Azure SQL services
- Implement Azure SQL Managed Instance database copy and move
- Troubleshoot a migration
2 Implement a secure environment
20-25%Configure database authentication and authorization
- Configure Microsoft Entra ID authentication for Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, and SQL Server
- Configure authentication for SQL on Azure VMs and Azure SQL Managed Instance
- Configure security principals
- Create users from Microsoft Entra identities
- 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 secure enclaves
- Configure private links and service endpoints
Implement compliance controls for sensitive data
- Apply a data classification strategy
- Configure server and database audits
- Implement change data tracking
- Implement dynamic data masking
- Implement ledger in Azure SQL
- Implement row-level security
3 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 database watcher
- Monitor by using Extended Events
Monitor and optimize query performance
- Configure Query Store
- Monitor by using Query Store
- Identify and resolve session blocking
- Identify performance issues using dynamic management views (DMVs)
- Identify and implement index changes for queries
- Recommend query construct modifications based on resource usage
- 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
- Identify use cases for intelligent query processing (IQP) features
4 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 Azure 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
5 Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) environment
20-25%Plan 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
- Plan 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 native tools
- Perform a database restore by using native 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 to and restore from cloud storage
Configure HA/DR for database solutions
- Configure active geo-replication
- Configure Always On availability groups on SQL Managed Instance and Azure virtual machines
- Configure failover groups
- Configure Always On Failover Cluster Instances on Azure virtual machines
- Configure log shipping
- Monitor an HA/DR solution
- Troubleshoot an HA/DR solution