Microsoft Azure Database Administrator Associate

Course Objectives

After completing this course, students will be able to:

Plan and implement data platform resources
Implement a secure environment
Monitor and optimize operational resources
Optimize query performance
Perform automation of tasks
Plan and implement a High Availability and Disaster Recovery (HADR) environment
Perform administration by using T-SQL

Who Should Attend?

None

Pre-requisite

None

Course Outlines

Module 01: Plan and Implement Data Platform Resources

Deploy resources by using manual methods

deploy database offerings on selected platforms
configure customized deployment templates
apply patches and updates for hybrid and IaaS deployment

Recommend an appropriate database offering based on specific requirements

evaluate requirements for the deployment
evaluate the functional benefits/impact of possible database offerings
evaluate the scalability of the possible database offering
evaluate the HA/DR of the possible database offering
evaluate the security aspects of the possible database offering

Configure resources for scale and performance

configure Azure SQL database/elastic pools for scale and performance
configure Azure SQL managed instances for scale and performance
configure SQL Server in Azure VMs for scale and performance
calculate resource requirements
evaluate database partitioning techniques, such as database sharding

Evaluate a strategy for moving to Azure

evaluate requirements for the migration
evaluate offline or online migration strategies
evaluate requirements for the upgrade
evaluate offline or online upgrade strategies

Implement a migration or upgrade strategy for moving to Azure

implement an online migration strategy
implement an offline migration strategy
implement an online upgrade strategy
implement an offline upgrade strategy

Module 02: Implement a Secure Environment

Configure database authentication by using platform and database tools

Configure Azure AD authentication
create users from Azure AD identities
configure security principals

Configure database authorization by using platform and database tools

configure database and object-level permissions using graphical tools
apply principle of least privilege for all securables

Implement security for data at rest

implement Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)
implement object-level encryption
implement Dynamic Data Masking
implement Azure Key Vault and disk encryption for Azure VMs

Implement security for data in transit

configure SQL DB and database-level firewall rules
implement Always Encrypted
configure Azure Data Gateway

Implement compliance controls for sensitive data

apply a data classification strategy
configure server and database audits
implement data change tracking
perform vulnerability assessment

Module 03: Monitor and Optimize Operational Resources

Monitor activity and performance

prepare an operational performance baseline
determine sources for performance metrics
interpret performance metrics
assess database performance by using Azure SQL Database Intelligent Performance
configure and monitor activity and performance at the infrastructure, server, service, and
database levels

Implement performance-related maintenance tasks
• implement index maintenance tasks
• implement statistics maintenance tasks
• configure database auto-tuning
• automate database maintenance tasks
- Azure SQL agent jobs, Azure automation, SQL server agent jobs
• manage storage capacity

Identify performance-related issues
• configure Query Store to collect performance data
• identify sessions that cause blocking
• assess growth/fragmentation of databases and logs
• assess performance-related database configuration parameters
o including AutoClose, AutoShrink, AutoGrowth
Configure resources for optimal performance
• configure storage and infrastructure resources
o optimize IOPS, throughput, and latency
o optimize tempdb performance
o optimize data and log files for performance
• configure server and service account settings for performance
• configure Resource Governor for performance

Configure a user database for optimal performance
• implement database-scoped configuration
• configure compute resources for scaling
• configure Intelligent Query Processing (IQP)

Module 04: Optimize Query Performance

Review query plans
• determine the appropriate type of execution plan
o live Query Statistics, Actual Execution Plan, Estimated Execution Plan, Showplan
• identify problem areas in execution plans
• extract query plans from the Query Store

Evaluate performance improvements
• determine the appropriate Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) to gather query
• performance information
• identify performance issues using DMVs
• identify and implement index changes for queries
• recommend query construct modifications based on resource usage
• assess the use of hints for query performance

Review database table and index design
• identify data quality issues with duplication of data
• identify normal form of database
• assess index design for performance
• validate data types defined for columns
• recommend table and index storage including filegroups
• evaluate table partitioning strategy
• evaluate the use of compression for tables and indexes

Module 05: Perform Automation of Tasks

Create scheduled tasks
• manage schedules for regular maintenance jobs
• configure multi-server automation
• configure notifications for task success/failure/non-completion

Evaluate and implement an alert and notification strategy
• create event notifications based on metrics
• create event notifications for Azure resources
• create alerts for server configuration changes
• create tasks that respond to event notifications

Manage and automate tasks in Azure
• perform automated deployment methods for resources
• automate Backups

• automate performance tuning and patching
• implement policies by using automated evaluation modes

Module 06: Plan and Implement a High Availability and Disaster Recovery (HADR) Environment

Recommend an HADR strategy for a data platform solution
• recommend HADR strategy based on RPO/RTO requirements
• evaluate HADR for hybrid deployments
• evaluate Azure-specific HADR solutions
• identify resources for HADR solutions

Test an HADR strategy by using platform, OS and database tools
• test HA by using failover
• test DR by using failover or restore

Perform backup and restore a database by using database tools
• perform a database backup with options
• perform a database restore with options
• perform a database restore to a point in time
• configure long-term backup retention

Configure DR by using platform and database tools
• configure replication
• configure Azure Site Recovery for a database offering

Configure HA using platform, OS and database tools
• create an Availability Group
• integrate a database into an Availability Group
• configure quorum options for a Windows Server Failover Cluster
• configure an Availability Group listener

Perform Administration by Using T-SQL

Examine system health
• evaluate database health using DMVs
• evaluate server health using DMVs
• perform database consistency checks by using DBCC

Monitor database configuration by using T-SQL
• assess proper database autogrowth configuration
• report on database free space
• review database configuration options

Perform backup and restore a database by using T-SQL
• prepare databases for AlwaysOn Availability Groups
• perform transaction log backup
• perform restore of user databases
• perform database backups with options

Manage authentication by using T-SQL
• manage certificates
• manage security principals

Manage authorization by using T-SQL
• configure permissions for users to access database objects
• configure permissions by using custom roles