Azure Data engineer DP-201 /DP-203 Certification Tips
In this story, we are going to see
How to prepare for Azure Data Engineer DP-201 Certification
Exam overview and rough breakup of questions
Important concepts and links
Exam Taking Tips
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How to prepare for Azure Data Engineer DP-201 Certification
I have cleared Azure data Engineer DP-201certification with 882/1000 marks. If you read this story, you can also clear this exam with good marks.I took the exam from my home.
I prepared for a week and refreshed my knowledge in Azure gained from my current project on Microsoft website and practiced free mock test.
Understanding the design decisions for Batch ad Stream data pipelines is key to this DP-201 exam.
Exam overview and Rough breakup of Questions
The exam duration is 180 minutes
The number of questions that I got in exam are around 45. The following is the high-level break of the questions in the exam.
Lambda and kappa architectures :
Hot path and Cold Path — 5 to 6 questions.
Azure storage solutions :
Azure Blob storage and ADLS Gen2 — 5 to 6 questions
Azure Cosmos db — 4 to 5 questions
Azure SQL db — 4 to 5 questions
Azure synopsis — 4 to 5 questions
Data processing solutions :
Azure databricks — 5 to 6 questions
Azure stream analytics — 3 to 4
Azure data factory — 4 to 5
Data security and compliance :
Data encryption — 2 to 3 questions
Key Vault — 2 to 3 questions
Backup and disaster recovery –1or 2
Use case — around 8 questions
Important Concepts and Links
ARCHITECTURE
What are the various layers/paths in Lambda Architecture
-Hot path, cold path, batch layer, speed layer, serving layer Reference:
What is the difference between Lambda and Kappa architecture
Kappa uses same tech stack for both real time and batch processing
Reference:
https://hazelcast.com/glossary/kappa-architecture/
COSMOS DB
When to use Azure Cosmos db
-low latency in ms, high availability -99.999, High throughout, multi regional
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cosmos-db/use-cases
What are the various types of API
-Core (SQL) api, Gremlin (graph) api, Mongo DB api, Cassandra api, Table api
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/choose-api-for-cosmos-db/
AZURE DATABRICKS
What are the various types of Data bricks cluster types
Interactive cluster ,Automatic Job cluster and concurrency cluster https://docs.databricks.com/clusters/index.html
When to use Stream analytics
eg:Real time alerts, dashboards, job service
e.g. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/stream-analytics/streaming-technologies
What are various window types in stream analytics?
Hopping, Tumbling, Sliding, Session
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/stream-analytics/stream-analytics-window-functions
AZURE DATA FACTORY
What are various Integration Runtimes
Self hosted, Azure hosted, Azure SSIS
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/data-factory/concepts-integration-runtime
AZURE SYNOPSE
What are the various partitions and when to choose what partition type
Hash, Round Robin and Replicated
When to use Azure SQL db and when to use Azure Synopsis
Azure SQL DB is for OLTP and Azure synopsis is for OLAP (Massive Parallel processing)
Azure storage accounts: Comparison of various storage accounts
E.g. Blob, Gen 1, Gen 2
What are the various Storage account tiers and life cycle management
Hot, Cold and Archive
Various Redundancy support for different storage accounts
E.g. LRS (Locally Redundant Storage)and GRS(Geo Redundant Storage)
AZURE SQL DB
What are the various data migration tools from on premise to azure. E.g. Data base migration service(DMS)
What are various back up policies for disaster recovery.
Azure SQL db default Back up retention is last 7 days
What is Elastic pool. What are various purchasing models.
DTU and vCore model
DATA SECURITY
What are various data encryption and data masking techniques?
Always Encrypted, Encryption at Rest
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/transparent-data-encryption-or-always-encrypted/
When to use what masking technique? Eg:Credit card
How to store secrets and keys in azure?
Azure Key Vault
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/key-vault/general/basic-concepts
TIPS AND PRACTICE QUESTIONS
- On the day of exam, I completed all the 46 questions in 2 hours and reviewed the questions for last 10 min
Use elimination rule to eliminate the wrong answers and focus on key words like stream/real time/cold path/hot path/un-structured
- Skip the unknown questions and answer at the end
- Practice mock questions before actual exam
- You can watch my video on “AZURE DATA ENGINEER DP-201 Mock Questions” Link: https://youtu.be/ZOvFifemhHM
