Microsoft Azure Database Administrator Associate
The DP-300 exam is designed for professionals who implement and configure Azure. It validates your ability to plan and implement data platform resources, implement a secure environment, monitor, configure, and optimize database resources, configure and manage automation of tasks, and plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) environment.
Exam details
- Certification
- Microsoft Azure Database Administrator Associate
- Exam code
- DP-300
- Level
- Associate
- Duration
- Approximately 100 minutes
- Questions
- Typically 40–60 questions
- Passing score
- 700 out of 1000
- Cost
- USD $165 — typical price; the exact fee varies by country/region and currency, and local taxes may apply.
- Prerequisites
- None required
- Languages
- English (also available in Chinese (Simplified), Japanese, Korean, French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), Italian, Chinese (Traditional) and Spanish)
- Delivered by
- Pearson VUE
- Renewal
- Free online assessment, every 12 months
Skills measured
Plan and implement data platform resources (15–20%)
- Recommend and deploy Azure SQL, hybrid, Arc-enabled, and Fabric SQL offerings.
- Configure scale, performance, partitioning, and compression.
- Plan and implement online or offline migrations between on-premises and Azure SQL services.
Implement a secure environment (20–25%)
- Configure Entra ID authentication, principals, least privilege, and T-SQL authorisation.
- Implement TDE, Always Encrypted, firewalls, private links, and service endpoints.
- Implement data classification, auditing, dynamic data masking, ledger, and row-level security.
Monitor, configure, and optimize database resources (20–25%)
- Monitor performance with baselines, database watcher, Extended Events, and Query Store.
- Identify blocking, index changes, and execution plan issues.
- Configure automatic tuning, Resource Governor, integrity checks, and compute scaling.
Configure and manage automation of tasks (15–20%)
- Manage SQL Server Agent jobs, schedules, alerts, and troubleshooting.
- Automate deployments with ARM, Bicep, PowerShell, and Azure CLI.
- Create elastic jobs and Azure automation for database tasks.
Plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) environment (20–25%)
- Recommend HA/DR based on RPO and RTO, including Azure-specific and hybrid options.
- Perform backups and restores, including point-in-time and long-term retention.
- Configure geo-replication, failover groups, Always On, and log shipping.
Study resources & practice tests
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Frequently asked questions
Who should take DP-300?
DP-300 is for Azure database administrators, SQL DBAs, and data platform administrators. Most work in enterprise IT, at ISVs, or at Microsoft partners, in financial services, healthcare, and software.
What is the average salary for an Azure Database Administrator?
As of 2026, US Azure and SQL database administrators commonly earn about $90,000 to $140,000 depending on seniority. In the United Kingdom, Azure SQL and data platform jobs often advertise around £65,000 to £80,000. Western European database and data-platform engineers in Germany typically earn about €65,000 to €90,000. There is no single published EMEA average.
Where do I find exam questions to practice?
You will find websites selling exam dumps or brain dumps that claim to be real DP-300 questions. Those materials are not official. Microsoft treats using brain dumps as cheating. It can invalidate your score, revoke certifications you already hold, and ban you from future exams. Microsoft publishes a free Practice Assessment for DP-300 on Microsoft Learn. Those questions are examples only, not the live exam. MeasureUp also sells the official practice test linked in the study resources on this page. You can try the Microsoft exam sandbox to see the question types and timer, but it does not use real exam questions. Practise the skills measured in a real product environment rather than memorising leaked items.
Does the exam include official labs I can use to practice?
Microsoft does not publish a stable list of which certification exams include labs, and a lab can be dropped for a candidate if the live environment is unavailable. Role-based Azure and security exams such as DP-300 may include performance-based labs in a live cloud environment. You only find out at the start of your sitting. For practice, Microsoft Learn modules for this exam often include a free Azure sandbox, and official instructor-led DP-300T00 training delivered by a Microsoft Learning Partner includes labs. Those labs are for the course, not a copy of the exam. Applied Skills assessment labs are a separate Microsoft credential, not DP-300 exam labs. The Microsoft exam sandbox shows traditional question types only. It does not give you the lab virtual machine.