Configure data access and Auditing (20–25%)

Configure encryption

• Implement cell-level encryption, implement Always Encrypted, implement backup encryption, configure transparent data encryption, configure encryption for connections, troubleshoot encryption errors

Configure data access and permissions

• Manage database object permissions, create and maintain users, create and maintain custom roles, configure user options for Azure SQL Database, configure row-level security, configure dynamic data masking

Configure auditing

• Configure an audit on SQL Server, query the SQL Server audit log, manage a SQL Server audit, configure an Azure SQL Database audit, analyze audit logs and reports from Azure SQL Database

Manage backup and restore of databases (20-25%)

Develop a backup strategy

• Back up very large databases, configure alerting for failed backups, back up databases to Azure, manage transaction log backups, configure database recovery models, configure backup automation

Restore databases

• Perform piecemeal restores, perform page recovery, perform point-in-time recovery, restore file groups, develop a plan to automate and test restores

Manage database integrity

• Implement database consistency checks, identify database corruption, recover from database corruption

Manage and monitor SQL Server instances (35-40%)

Monitor database activity

• Monitor current sessions, identify sessions that cause blocking activity, identify sessions that consume tempdb resources, configure the data collector

Monitor queries

• Manage the Query Store, configure Extended Events and trace events, identify problematic execution plans, troubleshoot server health using Extended Events

Manage indexes

• Identify and repair index fragmentation, identify and create missing indexes, identify and drop underutilized indexes, manage existing columnstore indexes

Manage statistics

• Identify and correct outdated statistics, implement Auto Update Statistics, implement statistics for large tables

Monitor SQL Server instances

• Create and manage operators, create and manage SQL Agent alerts, define custom alert actions, define failure actions, configure database mail, configure Policy-Based Management, identify available space on data volumes, identify the cause of performance degradation

Manage high availability and disaster recovery (20-25%)

Implement log shipping

• Configure log shipping, monitor log shipping

Implement AlwaysOn Availability Groups

• Configure Windows clustering, create an availability group, configure read-only routing, manage failover, create distributed availability groups

Implement failover cluster instances

• Manage shared disks, configure cluster shared volumes