Exam DP-300 Topic 2 Question 260 Discussion
Actual exam question for Microsoft's DP-300 exam
Question #: 260
Topic #: 2
Question #: 260
Topic #: 2
You have an on-premises Microsoft SQL Server 2016 server named SQL1 that hosts a 25-TB database named DB1.
You need to migrate DB1 to Azure. The solution must meet the following requirements:
- Minimize downtime.
- Minimize changes to SQL1.
- Minimize administrative effort.
The solution must prevent the existing on-premises SQL Server instance from being reconfigured.
Which migration method should you use?
You need to migrate DB1 to Azure. The solution must meet the following requirements:
- Minimize downtime.
- Minimize changes to SQL1.
- Minimize administrative effort.
The solution must prevent the existing on-premises SQL Server instance from being reconfigured.
Which migration method should you use?
Suggested Answer: D Vote an answer
The best migration strategy to satisfy all requirements is an online migration using Azure Database Migration Service (DMS) targeting Azure SQL Database Hyperscale.
Because you are managing a massive 25-TB database, traditional Azure PaaS tiers and basic migration tools cannot support the scale or meet the low-downtime threshold.
Here is why this strategy works and how to execute it without altering the on-premises architecture.
Azure SQL Database Hyperscale Tier: This is the only fully managed Azure SQL service tier that seamlessly supports a 25-TB database. It leverages a cloud-native, distributed storage architecture that allows independent scaling of compute and storage without degrading performance.
Azure Database Migration Service (DMS): Using an online migration activity with DMS utilizes Change Data Capture (CDC) or transaction log shipping to stream data changes in near real- time. This keeps the source database fully active until cutover, reducing your downtime to a matter of minutes (the time it takes to point connection strings to Azure).
No Server Reconfiguration: DMS reads data from the source instance using standard network or file shares, or lightweight local agents (Self-Hosted Integration Runtime). It does not require modifying existing SQL Server instance configurations, adding failover clustering, or configuring complex Availability Groups locally.
Note on SQL MI Link (though not an option here): While the Azure SQL Managed Instance (MI) Link is excellent for low downtime, it requires creating a Distributed Availability Group on your local SQL Server 2016 instance. This would violate the constraint against reconfiguring the existing on-premises SQL Server instance.
Reference:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-nz/answers/questions/5687471/online-offline-migration-to-azure-sql-managed-inst
Because you are managing a massive 25-TB database, traditional Azure PaaS tiers and basic migration tools cannot support the scale or meet the low-downtime threshold.
Here is why this strategy works and how to execute it without altering the on-premises architecture.
Azure SQL Database Hyperscale Tier: This is the only fully managed Azure SQL service tier that seamlessly supports a 25-TB database. It leverages a cloud-native, distributed storage architecture that allows independent scaling of compute and storage without degrading performance.
Azure Database Migration Service (DMS): Using an online migration activity with DMS utilizes Change Data Capture (CDC) or transaction log shipping to stream data changes in near real- time. This keeps the source database fully active until cutover, reducing your downtime to a matter of minutes (the time it takes to point connection strings to Azure).
No Server Reconfiguration: DMS reads data from the source instance using standard network or file shares, or lightweight local agents (Self-Hosted Integration Runtime). It does not require modifying existing SQL Server instance configurations, adding failover clustering, or configuring complex Availability Groups locally.
Note on SQL MI Link (though not an option here): While the Azure SQL Managed Instance (MI) Link is excellent for low downtime, it requires creating a Distributed Availability Group on your local SQL Server 2016 instance. This would violate the constraint against reconfiguring the existing on-premises SQL Server instance.
Reference:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-nz/answers/questions/5687471/online-offline-migration-to-azure-sql-managed-inst
by Ellen at Oct 14, 2026, 08:55 AM
0
0
0
10
Comments
Upvoting a comment with a selected answer will also increase the vote count towards that answer by one. So if you see a comment that you already agree with, you can upvote it instead of posting a new comment.
Report Comment
Commenting
You can sign-up / login (it's free).