Get Your CertAZ-900PlayCompete
‹ All AZ-900 questions

AZ-900 Practice Question 95: SQL Database vs SQL on VM

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) · Test 10 · question 5 of 10

Azure Architecturemedium

A team is building a new cloud-native application. It wants a relational database that Microsoft patches, backs up, and keeps highly available automatically, so nobody on the team ever has to sign in to an operating system to maintain it. The application needs no OS-level access and no on-premises-only SQL Server feature. Which option fits?

Select one answer
Show answer and explanation

Answer:

  • B. Azure SQL Database, a fully managed platform-as-a-service database

Azure SQL Database is a platform-as-a-service offering: Microsoft owns, hosts, and maintains the underlying hardware and software, and automatically handles patching, backups, and high availability. The team continues to administer things like databases, logins, and query tuning, but never touches an operating system, which is exactly what the requirement asks for, and the stem's explicit "no OS-level access, no legacy on-premises-only feature" rules out any reason to prefer an infrastructure option instead.

Option A is infrastructure-as-a-service: even starting from a platform-provided image, the customer still owns patching the OS and the SQL Server instance, which contradicts "nobody has to maintain an operating system." Option C changes nothing about administration burden; the database is still hosted on hardware the team owns and maintains; ExpressRoute only changes how it connects to Azure privately. Option D is still IaaS: the SQL IaaS Agent extension automates some patching and backup tasks for SQL Server running in a VM, but the team remains responsible for the virtual machine and its operating system, so it does not meet the "never manage an OS" bar that only a PaaS option clears.

Reference: What Is Azure SQL?

Practice Test 10 ›

Study guides for AZ-900

Azure Administrator (AZ-104): jobs, salary and the examAzure administrator role, jobs and pay data, and the AZ-104 exam: five domains, 100 minutes, US$165 / ₹4,865, AZ-900 first or not, and what next.
Free cloud certifications in 2026: which are really freeWhich free cloud certifications are really free in 2026: Oracle's free OCI exams, and the voucher routes for AWS, Microsoft and Google, with prices.
AI-901 exam guide: Azure AI Fundamentals after AI-900AI-901 replaced AI-900: learn what changed, how much Python and Microsoft Foundry you need, exam costs in India, and how to prepare.
Microsoft Fabric certification: DP-700 vs DP-600Microsoft Fabric certification means two exams, DP-600 and DP-700. Their roles, skills, format, cost in India, and which one to take first.
Which cloud certification is best? AWS vs Azure vs GoogleWhich cloud certification is best for a beginner? AWS Cloud Practitioner, AZ-900 and Google Cloud Digital Leader compared: cost, format and which first.
Azure certification path 2026: AZ-900, AZ-104, AZ-305The Azure certification path for 2026 - AZ-900, AZ-104 and AZ-305 in order, what each covers, the AZ-305 prerequisite, renewal and what to skip.
Azure RBAC vs Azure Policy vs Entra roles vs resource locksHow Azure RBAC, Azure Policy, Microsoft Entra roles and resource locks differ, how scope inheritance works, and when deny beats audit.
Azure Storage redundancy - LRS, ZRS, GRS, GZRS and failoverHow LRS, ZRS, GRS, RA-GRS, GZRS and RA-GZRS differ, what failover does to your account, and how access tiers interact with redundancy.