Problem
Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB is a very popular tool. There is a certification exam DP-420 Designing and Implementing Cloud Native Applications Using Microsoft Azure Cosmos Database. Is there good material to study to help prepare for this test?
Solution
This article discusses books, links, videos, and other material to prepare and pass this exam.
What is the DP-420 Exam?
The DP-420 exam is a Microsoft exam related to Azure Cosmos DB, specifically to design, integrate, optimize, and maintain an Azure DB.
Is this Exam Difficult?
If you have a lot of experience with Azure Cosmos DB, this exam will reinforce your knowledge. However, if you do not have experience in Azure and No-SQL databases, this exam can be very difficult, requiring months to study the material if you’re knowledge is limited or no experience with similar technologies.
What is Azure Cosmos DB?
It is a highly scalable database created by Microsoft in Azure. It is a very responsive NoSQL database that can be used for web and mobile apps for IoT and Big Data.
What Score is Required to Pass the Exam?
The score required to pass the exam is 700/1000 points approximately.
Can You Recommend Any Books to Prepare for this Exam?
Yes – here is a list of books to help prepare for the exam:
- Designing and Implementing Cloud-native Applications Using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB: Study Companion for the DP-420 Exam (Certification Study Companion Series) 1st ed.
- Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB Revealed: A Multi-Model Database Designed for the Cloud
- Guide to NoSQL with Azure Cosmos DB: Work with the massively scalable Azure database service with JSON, C#, LINQ, and .NET Core 2
- DP-420: Designing and Implementing Cloud-Native Applications Using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB – Practice Tests Kindle Edition
- Designing and Implementing Cloud-Native Applications Using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB Exam Dumps & Pocket Guide: Exam Review for Microsoft DP-420 Certification Kindle Edition
- DP-420: Designing and Implementing Cloud-Native Applications Using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB – Practice Tests Kindle Edition
- DP-420: Designing and Implementing Cloud-Native Applications Using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB 51 Questions: This Practice Course will help you get full … in your Microsoft DP-420 Certification exam Kindle Edition
Are There Any Courses Recommended for this Exam?
Yes – the following courses can help:
- DP-420: Designing and Implementing Cloud-Native Applications Using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB
- DP-420 Azure Cosmos DB – Prep Exam Questions
- Designing and Implementing Cloud-Native Applications Using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB
- Exam DP-420: Designing and Implementing Cloud-Native Applications Using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB Crash Course
Could You Provide Some Links to Study for the Exam?
Yes – the following links can be useful:
Designing and Implementing Data Models
Create a Non-relational Data Model for Azure Cosmos DB, Focusing on NoSQL
- Store multiple types of entities in the same container.
- Store related entities in the same document.
- Design a model that denormalizes data across documents.
- Establish relationships between documents.
- Identify primary and unique keys.
- Define data and associated access patterns.
- Set a default time to live (TTL) for a container in a transactional store.
Data Partitioning Strategy
- Choose a partitioning strategy based on your workload.
- Select an appropriate partition key.
- Plan for transactions when a partition key is selected.
- Calculate the cost of cross-partition queries.
- Assess data and throughput distribution based on partition key selection.
- Create and implement a synthetic partition key.
- Design and develop a hierarchical partition key.
- Plan partitioning for workloads requiring multiple keys.
Sizing and Scaling
- Check throughput and data storage requirements for your workload.
- Analyze serverless and provisioned models.
- Decide when to use database-level provisioned throughput.
- Plan granular scale units and resource governance.
- Assess the cost of globally distributing data.
- Setup throughput using the Azure portal.
Client Connectivity
- Choose between gateway and direct connectivity modes.
- Implement the chosen connectivity mode.
- Establish a connection to a database.
- Enable offline development with the Azure Cosmos DB emulator.
- Manage connection errors.
- Develop singleton for the client.
- Select a region to use global distribution.
- Setup client-side threading and parallelism options.
- Learn how to enable SDK logging.
Implementing Data Access with SQL
- Create queries that involve arrays, nested objects, aggregation, and ordering.
- Incorporate correlated subqueries into your queries.
- Utilize array and type-checking functions in your queries.
- Develop queries that adapt to variable data.
Data Access with Azure Cosmos DB SDKs
- Choose between point operations and query operations based on your needs.
- Implement point operations for document creation, updates, and deletions.
- Use patch operations for updates.
- Manage multi-document transactions with the SDK Transactional Batch.
- Load multiple documents simultaneously using Bulk Support in the SDK.
- Develop optimistic concurrency control with ETags.
- Customize consistency using query request options.
- Enforce session consistency using session tokens.
- Execute queries with pagination.
- Develop query operations with continuation tokens
- Handle transient errors and HTTP 429 responses.
- Set a time to live (TTL) for a document.
- Get and utilize query metrics.
Server-Side Programming with JavaScript
- Write, deploy, and invoke stored procedures.
- Design stored procedures to handle transactions involving multiple documents.
- Implement and invoke triggers.
- Develop user-defined functions.
Designing and Implementing Data Distribution
- Design a replication strategy for Azure Cosmos DB.
- Decide when to distribute data.
- Define automatic failover policies for regional failures.
- Choose an appropriate consistency model.
- Identify use cases for different consistency models.
- Evaluate the impact of consistency model choices on availability and request unit (RU) cost.
- Evaluate the impact of consistency model choices on performance and latency.
- Specify how application connections should handle replicated data.
Multi-Region Write
- Decide when to implement multi-region write.
- Set up multi-region write functionality.
- Create a custom conflict resolution policy for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL.
Integrating an Azure Cosmos DB Solution
- Enable analytical workloads in Azure Cosmos DB.
- Choose between Azure Synapse Link and Spark Connector for integration.
- Activate the analytical store on a container.
- Establish a connection to an analytical store and perform queries from Azure Synapse Spark or Azure Synapse SQL.
- Execute a query against the transactional store from Spark.
- Write data back to the transactional store from Spark.
Implementing Solutions Across Services
- Integrate events with other applications using Azure Functions and Azure Event Hubs.
- Denormalize data by leveraging Change Feed and Azure Functions.
- Enforce referential integrity with Change Feed and Azure Functions.
- Aggregate data using Azure Functions and Change Feed, including reporting.
- Archive data using Change Feed and Azure Functions.
- Apply Azure Cognitive Search in an Azure Cosmos DB solution.
Optimizing an Azure Cosmos DB Solution
- Improve query performance when using the Azure Cosmos DB NoSQL API.
- Adjust indexes on the database.
- Calculate the cost of queries.
- Retrieve the request unit cost of a point operation or query.
- Implement Azure Cosmos DB integrated cache.
Designing and Implementing Change Feeds
- Set up change feeds for Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL.
- Create an Azure Functions trigger to handle changes in the feed.
- Access the change feed from within an application using the SDK.
- Control the number of change feed instances using the change feed estimator.
- Utilize change feeds for denormalization, referential enforcement, aggregation persistence, and data archiving.
Defining and Implementing Indexing Strategy
- Decide when to use a read-heavy versus a write-heavy index strategy.
- Select an appropriate index type.
- Customize indexing policies through the Azure portal.
- Implement composite indexes for complex queries.
- Optimize index performance.
Maintaining an Azure Cosmos DB Solution
- Monitor and troubleshoot the solution effectively.
- Evaluate response status codes and failure metrics.
- Monitor normalized throughput usage with Azure Monitor.
- Track server-side latency metrics with Azure Monitor.
- Monitor data replication considering latency and availability.
- Set up Azure Monitor alerts for Cosmos DB.
- Implement and query Azure Cosmos DB logs.
- Keep an eye on throughput and data distribution across partitions.
- Ensure security through logging, auditing, and access controls.
Implementing Backup and Restore
- Choose between periodic and continuous backup methods.
- Configure periodic backup schedules.
- Set up continuous backup and recovery mechanisms.
- Locate specific recovery points for point-in-time recovery.
- Successfully recover a database or container from a chosen recovery point.
Implementing Security Measures
- Decide between service-managed and customer-managed encryption keys.
- Configure network-level access controls for Azure Cosmos DB.
- Implement data encryption for added security.
- Manage control plane access using Azure role-based access control (RBAC).
- Control data plane access using keys and Microsoft Entra ID.
- Configure cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) settings.
- Safely manage account keys using Azure Key Vault.
- Implement customer-managed keys for encryption.
- Implement Always Encrypted for an extra layer of security.
Implementing Data Movement
- Select a strategy for moving data in your Azure Cosmos DB solution.
- Transfer data using bulk operations in the client SDK.
- Utilize Azure Data Factory and Azure Synapse pipelines for data movement.
- Move data using a Kafka connector.
- Employ Azure Stream Analytics for seamless data transfer.
- Utilize the Azure Cosmos DB Spark Connector for efficient data movement.
Implementing DevOps for an Azure Cosmos DB Solution
- Decide when to use declarative or imperative operations in your DevOps processes.
- Provision and manage Azure Cosmos DB resources using Azure Resource Manager templates.
- Migrate between standard and autoscale throughput using PowerShell or Azure CLI.
- Trigger a regional failover using PowerShell or Azure CLI.
- Maintain indexing policies in production with Azure Resource Manager templates.
Next Steps
For more information about Microsoft exams, check out the following links.
- SQL Server Professional Development Certifications Tips
- Power BI Certification FAQ for Exams PL-300 and PL-900
- Resources for PL-900 Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals Certification Exam
- PL-100 Certification Exam Preparation – Microsoft Power Platform App Maker
Daniel Calbimonte is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, Microsoft Certified Trainer and Microsoft Certified IT Professional for SQL Server. He is an accomplished SSIS author, teacher at IT Academies and has over 10 years of experience as a QE and developer for SQL Server related software. He has worked for the government, oil companies, web sites, magazines and universities around the world. Daniel also regularly speaks at SQL Servers conferences and blogs.
- MSSQLTips Awards: Author of the Year Contender – 2015-2018, 2022, 2023 | Champion (100+ tips) – 2018
