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DP-201 Certification Guide: Designing an Azure Data Solution

DP-201 Certification Guide: Designing an Azure Data Solution

Data Engineering is one of the most sought-after skill sets in today’s time. According to CIO, Data Engineering is one of the hottest jobs of 2021. According to PayScale, the average salary of a Data Engineer is ₹800k/annum in India, and in the US it is $100k per annum.

Data is growing at an unprecedented rate right now, according to a survey done by IDC it is predicted that by 2025, 75% of the world’s population will be on the internet, which will lead to a 61% growth in the data that we generate every day!

Let us see how are the above facts good for a data engineer, what a person can do to get Dp-201 certification, and how to become a data engineer along with a lot more interesting facts, we will try to cover today in this blog. Below is the list of things that we will be learning today.

Following are the topic that we will cover in this blog:

Watch this video in order to understand how to become Microsoft Certified Data Engineer:

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Let us read more about Microsoft certification and what are the benefits one can get if they are certified.

Why Microsoft’s Data Engineer Certification?

As per the survey, 93% of employees having certification are given more exposure to jobs. Certification like Microsoft’s Data Engineer Certification will be an added advantage for jobs related to the Data Analyst, Data Engineer. This certification will reveal the problem-solving skills and knowledge about methods and strategies to be taken when it comes to handling data efficiently and securely. This certification when added to a resume will act as a catalyst in success.

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How to get the Data Engineer certification?

There is a Microsoft certification that will make a person certified Azure Data Engineer Associate. If you want to become a Data Engineer then two exams need to be cleared in order to accomplish your dream. The latest version of this exam is called DP-203.

  • DP-200 Exam
  • DP-201 Exam

Once you complete the above two exams, you will become Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate. In the next section, we can learn more about what is the scope of a Data Engineer and what career growth looks like for a Data Engineer.

Future Scope of a Data Engineer

For data engineers there are a lot of career opportunities and growth are available, we can see the flow in the diagram below.

Career Path for a Data Scientist

Now let us move to the next section which will tell us a few more of the details related to exam Dp-201 like duration and questions which will give a little idea related to the exam.

Check our Data Scientist Certification which will help you in deciding your first step toward success!

How to prepare for the Microsoft Data Engineer Certification?

For preparation, there are several courses available online which can be taken. These courses are specially designed for the preparation of DP-201. If you want to take practice tests then that is also available. Once you have completed the course then you can apply by clicking on the link given at the bottom. You have to enter your personal details and pay the application fee of $165.

Details of exam :

Duration:120-210 minutes
No of Questions:40-60
Exam fee:$165
Difficulty Level :Average
Question Type:Single and multiple-choice questions, Drag & Drop
Is Case Study Included:yes

In order to prepare for DP-201, we need to understand what the syllabus is and what all topics we need to read. We can check these details in the next section. We can also understand how the marks distribution is done.

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Syllabus for the DP-201 Certification

The questions will come from the three subsections mentioned below. Each subsection has a set of skills that will be measured. It is mandatory to prepare for all the sections in order to successfully clear the exam. DP-201 practice tests are also available so that one can take tests after completion of the course so that he/she can be exam-ready.

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Designing Azure data storage solutions (40-45%)

This section turns out to be more important as it contains  40-45 % marks. Almost half of the total questions come from this part. Hence, it is an important section to be considered while preparing for the certification. Data storage is most important when it comes to carrying out a business. Storage type can be a major factor for a successful project. Depending upon the type of requirements the storage type can be selected. The skills which will be tested in this section are as follows: 

  • The design solution for efficient storage and access of data
  • Design ways for data recovery in case of disaster
  • Choosing a suitable storage type for current requirements

Designing data processing solutions (25-30%)

Data Processing Image

Data when collected is in raw form. Data processing refers to the process of converting the raw data into information that can be used by an organization. The process is carried out by Data engineers. The skills which will be tested in this section are as follows:

  • Designing a system where the real-time data can be processed
  • Skills related to parallel computing
  • Would check the knowledge of data processing languages such as Python, SQL
  • Designing a system where all types of data can be used to its full extent
  • Selecting ways in which the data can be cleaned, processed at the earliest

Design for data security and compliance (25-30%)

Data security is one of the biggest concerns. The thing which is most valuable today is data. The unauthorized access of data might result in manipulation, stealing, or data loss. If the data gets stolen it can lead to a breach of privacy. In this section, the skills that are related to the decision-making of security measures are checked. The skills which will be tested in this section as follows:

  • Designing a solution for securing data from security breaches
  • Designing ways in which the source code can be secured

Crack your Data Engineer Interviews with our comprehensive list of Data Engineer Interview Questions!

In the upcoming section of this DP-201 study guide, we will be able to see some of the questions that will help us to understand what we need to study and how the questions will be asked in the exam.

FAQs

Below mentioned are some of the questions that were asked in the previous year’s DP-201 Exam.

There is a scenario given, you need to read it and understand the requirements mentioned. Based on the scenario, a few questions are asked. The answer can be either Yes or No:

Scenario: Let us consider that you are designing an HDInsight/Hadoop cluster solution. The database that was used is Azure Data Lake Gen1 Storage. This solution needs POSIX permissions and it has a feature that enables diagnostics logging for auditing. In order to reduce database optimization, you need to find a solution?

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Q1: According to the above solution can we say that this solution ensures that the files which are larger than 250MB can also be stored?

Q2: Can this solution be used for implementing compaction jobs such as combining small files into larger files?

Q3: Is this suitable for file storage that is less than 250MB?

Scenario: An Azure SQL Database has to be designed that will use elastic pools. Data of customers has to be stored in the form of a table. The primary key for this will be CustomerID which cannot be null. You need to find a strategy that will partition data on the basis of values given in CustomerID.

Q1: Can the data be separated into customer regions by using the vertical partitioning method?

Q2: Can the data be separated into customer regions by using the horizontal partitioning method?

Question: We need to design a data processing solution that will be implementing the lambda architecture pattern. For data processing this should use Spark that would run on HDInsight.can you recommend a data storage technology for this type of solution. Which among the following technologies would you select?

A. Azure Cosmos DB

B. Azure Service Bus

C. Azure Storage Queue

D. Apache Cassandra

E. Kafka HDInsight

Question: A data storage solution that should support a new application.Which data storage solution denotes data by using nodes and relationships in the form of graph structures. Which data storage solution would you suggest for the above solution?

A. Blob Storage

B. Azure Cosmos DB

C. Azure Data Lake Store

D. HDInsight

Want to learn Azure in detail, check our Microsoft Azure Tutorial!

Question: There is a company that stores data in multiple types of databases that are cloud-based databases. There is a need to design a solution that will consolidate data into a single relational database. Data Ingestion might occur at a set time every day. What would be your suggestion?

A. SQL Server Migration Assistant

B. SQL Data Sync

C. Azure Data Factory

D. Azure Database Migration Service

E. Data Migration Assistant

Question: Azure Cosmos DB database has to be designed that should support vertices and edges. Which among the following Cosmos DB APIs you would include in the design?

A. SQL

B. Cassandra

C. Gremlin

D. Table

Question: An Azure Databricks interactive cluster has to be designed. This design must ensure that the cluster should be able to fulfill the following requirements:

✑ It has to enable auto-termination

✑ Retaining cluster configuration indefinitely after the cluster is terminated.

Which solution among the following do you suggest?

A. Start the cluster after it is terminated.

B. Pin the cluster

C. Clone the cluster after it is terminated.

D. Terminate the cluster manually at process completion.

Question: A company is purchasing IoT devices that will be used to monitor manufacturing machinery. The company is using an IoT appliance that will communicate with the IoT devices. The company should be able to monitor the devices in real-time. You have to design the solution which approves the requirement. What will you choose?

A. Azure Analysis Services using Azure Portal

B. Azure Analysis Services using Microsoft Visual Studio

C. Azure Stream Analytics Edge application that will use Microsoft Visual Studio

D. Azure Data Factory instance using the application named Microsoft Visual Studio

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Question: You have to manage a process that will be performing an analysis of daily web traffic logs using the HDInsight cluster. Each web server among  250 generates approximately 10megabytes  of log data every day. All of the log data will be stored in a single folder in the application  Microsoft Azure Data Lake Storage Gen 2. You have to enhance the performance of the entire process. You can make two changes, in order to improve which two you will change? 

A. Combining of daily log files from all servers into a single file

B. Increase the value of the mapReduce.map.memory parameter

C. Moving of the log files into folders so that each day total of ג€™s logs are stored in their own folder

D. Increasing the number of worker nodes.

E. Increasing the value of the hive.tez.container.size parameter

Enroll for Azure DP-201 training, and crack your exam on the first attempt!

Conclusion

As the years are passing by, we can analyze the amount of data is increasing. Even our personal data such as images, documents are also increasing, so the opportunity for Data Engineers. With the advancement in technology, so many doors are going to open for a good career in the field of handling and processing data. It is high time to get trained and give the DP-201 exam. We can find numerous courses and practice tests related to DP-200 and DP-201 online. So grab the chance to learn and grow more.

Course Schedule

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Azure Training 14 Dec 2024(Sat-Sun) Weekend Batch View Details
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About the Author

Senior Cloud Computing Associate

Rupinder is a distinguished Cloud Computing & DevOps associate with architect-level AWS, Azure, and GCP certifications. He has extensive experience in Cloud Architecture, Deployment and optimization, Cloud Security, and more. He advocates for knowledge sharing and in his free time trains and mentors working professionals who are interested in the Cloud & DevOps domain.