Published: October 18, 2016
Languages: English
Audiences: IT professionals
Technology: SQL Server
Credit toward certification: MCP, MCSA

Skills measured
This exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below. The percentages indicate the relative weight of each major topic area on the exam. The higher the percentage, the more questions you are likely to see on that content area on the exam. View video tutorials about the variety of question types on Microsoft exams.

Please note that the questions may test on, but will not be limited to, the topics described in the bulleted text.

Do you have feedback about the relevance of the skills measured on this exam? Please send Microsoft your comments. All feedback will be reviewed and incorporated as appropriate while still maintaining the validity and reliability of the certification process. Note that Microsoft will not respond directly to your feedback. We appreciate your input in ensuring the quality of the Microsoft Certification program.

If you have concerns about specific questions on this exam, please submit an exam challenge.

If you have other questions or feedback about Microsoft Certification exams or about the certification program, registration, or promotions, please contact your Regional Service Center.

Manage data with Transact-SQL (40–45%)
Create Transact-SQL SELECT queries
Identify proper SELECT query structure, write specific queries to satisfy business requirements, construct results from multiple queries using set operators, distinguish between UNION and UNION ALL behaviour, identify the query that would return expected results based on provided table structure and/or data
Query multiple tables by using joins
Write queries with join statements based on provided tables, data, and requirements; determine proper usage of INNER JOIN, LEFT/RIGHT/FULL OUTER JOIN, and CROSS JOIN; construct multiple JOIN operators using AND and OR; determine the correct results when presented with multi-table SELECT statements and source data; write queries with NULLs on joins
Implement functions and aggregate data
Construct queries using scalar-valued and table-valued functions; identify the impact of function usage to query performance and WHERE clause sargability; identify the differences between deterministic and non-deterministic functions; use built-in aggregate functions; use arithmetic functions, date-related functions, and system functions
Modify data
Write INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements; determine which statements can be used to load data to a table based on its structure and constraints; construct Data Manipulation Language (DML) statements using the OUTPUT statement; determine the results of Data Definition Language (DDL) statements on supplied tables and data

Query data with advanced Transact-SQL components (30–35%)
Query data by using subqueries and APPLY
Determine the results of queries using subqueries and table joins, evaluate performance differences between table joins and correlated subqueries based on provided data and query plans, distinguish between the use of CROSS APPLY and OUTER APPLY, write APPLY statements that return a given data set based on supplied data
Query data by using table expressions
Identify basic components of table expressions, define usage differences between table expressions and temporary tables, construct recursive table expressions to meet business requirements
Group and pivot data by using queries
Use windowing functions to group and rank the results of a query; distinguish between using windowing functions and GROUP BY; construct complex GROUP BY clauses using GROUPING SETS, and CUBE; construct PIVOT and UNPIVOT statements to return desired results based on supplied data; determine the impact of NULL values in PIVOT and UNPIVOT queries
Query temporal data and non-relational data
Query historic data by using temporal tables, query and output JSON data, query and output XML data

Program databases by using Transact-SQL (25–30%)
Create database programmability objects by using Transact-SQL
Create stored procedures, table-valued and scalar-valued user-defined functions, and views; implement input and output parameters in stored procedures; identify whether to use scalar-valued or table-valued functions; distinguish between deterministic and non-deterministic functions; create indexed views
Implement error handling and transactions
Determine results of Data Definition Language (DDL) statements based on transaction control statements, implement TRY…CATCH error handling with Transact-SQL, generate error messages with THROW and RAISERROR, implement transaction control in conjunction with error handling in stored procedures
Implement data types and NULLs
Evaluate results of data type conversions, determine proper data types for given data elements or table columns, identify locations of implicit data type conversions in queries, determine the correct results of joins and functions in the presence of NULL values, identify proper usage of ISNULL and COALESCE functions

Click here to view complete Q&A of 70-761 exam
Certkingdom Review

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft 70-761 Training at certkingdom.com

Published: August 26, 2016
Languages: English
Audiences: Developers
Technology: SQL Server
Credit toward certification: MCP, MCSA

Skills measured
This exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below. The percentages indicate the relative weight of each major topic area on the exam. The higher the percentage, the more questions you are likely to see on that content area on the exam. View video tutorials about the variety of question types on Microsoft exams.

Please note that the questions may test on, but will not be limited to, the topics described in the bulleted text.

Do you have feedback about the relevance of the skills measured on this exam? Please send Microsoft your comments. All feedback will be reviewed and incorporated as appropriate while still maintaining the validity and reliability of the certification process. Note that Microsoft will not respond directly to your feedback. We appreciate your input in ensuring the quality of the Microsoft Certification program.

If you have concerns about specific questions on this exam, please submit an exam challenge.

If you have other questions or feedback about Microsoft Certification exams or about the certification program, registration, or promotions, please contact your Regional Service Center.

Design and implement database objects (25–30%)
Design and implement a relational database schema
Design tables and schemas based on business requirements, improve the design of tables by using normalization, write table create statements, determine the most efficient data types to use
Design and implement indexes
Design new indexes based on provided tables, queries, or plans; distinguish between indexed columns and included columns; implement clustered index columns by using best practices; recommend new indexes based on query plans
Design and implement views
Design a view structure to select data based on user or business requirements, identify the steps necessary to design an updateable view, implement partitioned views, implement indexed views
Implement columnstore indexes
Determine use cases that support the use of columnstore indexes, identify proper usage of clustered and non-clustered columnstore indexes, design standard non-clustered indexes in conjunction with clustered columnstore indexes, implement columnstore index maintenance

Implement programmability objects (20–25%)
Ensure data integrity with constraints
Define table and foreign key constraints to enforce business rules, write Transact-SQL statements to add constraints to tables, identify results of Data Manipulation Language (DML) statements given existing tables and constraints, identify proper usage of PRIMARY KEY constraints
Create stored procedures
Design stored procedure components and structure based on business requirements, implement input and output parameters, implement table-valued parameters, implement return codes, streamline existing stored procedure logic, implement error handling and transaction control logic within stored procedures
Create triggers and user-defined functions
Design trigger logic based on business requirements; determine when to use Data Manipulation Language (DML) triggers, Data Definition Language (DDL) triggers, or logon triggers; recognize results based on execution of AFTER or INSTEAD OF triggers; design scalar-valued and table-valued user-defined functions based on business requirements; identify differences between deterministic and non-deterministic functions

Manage database concurrency (25–30%)
Implement transactions
Identify DML statement results based on transaction behavior, recognize differences between and identify usage of explicit and implicit transactions, implement savepoints within transactions, determine the role of transactions in high-concurrency databases
Manage isolation levels
Identify differences between Read Uncommitted, Read Committed, Repeatable Read, Serializable, and Snapshot isolation levels; define results of concurrent queries based on isolation level; identify the resource and performance impact of given isolation levels
Optimize concurrency and locking behavior
Troubleshoot locking issues, identify lock escalation behaviors, capture and analyze deadlock graphs, identify ways to remediate deadlocks
Implement memory-optimized tables and native stored procedures
Define use cases for memory-optimized tables versus traditional disk-based tables, optimize performance of in-memory tables by changing durability settings, determine best case usage scenarios for natively compiled stored procedures, enable collection of execution statistics for natively compiled stored procedures

Optimize database objects and SQL infrastructure (20–25%)
Optimize statistics and indexes
Determine the accuracy of statistics and the associated impact to query plans and performance, design statistics maintenance tasks, use dynamic management objects to review current index usage and identify missing indexes, consolidate overlapping indexes
Analyze and troubleshoot query plans
Capture query plans using extended events and traces, identify poorly performing query plan operators, create efficient query plans using Query Store, compare estimated and actual query plans and related metadata, configure Azure SQL Database Performance Insight
Manage performance for database instances
Manage database workload in SQL Server; design and implement Elastic Scale for Azure SQL Database; select an appropriate service tier or edition; optimize database file and tempdb configuration; optimize memory configuration; monitor and diagnose scheduling and wait statistics using dynamic management objects; troubleshoot and analyze storage, IO, and cache issues; monitor Azure SQL Database query plans
Monitor and trace SQL Server baseline performance metrics
Monitor operating system and SQL Server performance metrics; compare baseline metrics to observed metrics while troubleshooting performance issues; identify differences between performance monitoring and logging tools, such as perfmon and dynamic management objects; monitor Azure SQL Database performance; determine best practice use cases for extended events; distinguish between Extended Events targets; compare the impact of Extended Events and SQL Trace; define differences between Extended Events Packages, Targets, Actions, and Sessions

Click here to view complete Q&A of 70-762 exam
Certkingdom Review

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft 70-762 Training at certkingdom.com

Published: October 18, 2016
Languages: English
Audiences: IT professionals
Technology: SQL Server
Credit toward certification: MCP, MCSA

Skills measured
This exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below. The percentages indicate the relative weight of each major topic area on the exam. The higher the percentage, the more questions you are likely to see on that content area on the exam. View video tutorials about the variety of question types on Microsoft exams.

Please note that the questions may test on, but will not be limited to, the topics described in the bulleted text.

Do you have feedback about the relevance of the skills measured on this exam? Please send Microsoft your comments. All feedback will be reviewed and incorporated as appropriate while still maintaining the validity and reliability of the certification process. Note that Microsoft will not respond directly to your feedback. We appreciate your input in ensuring the quality of the Microsoft Certification program.

If you have concerns about specific questions on this exam, please submit an exam challenge.

If you have other questions or feedback about Microsoft Certification exams or about the certification program, registration, or promotions, please contact your Regional Service Center.

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, create a utility control point (UCP)
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 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

Click here to view complete Q&A of 70-764 exam
Certkingdom Review

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft 70-764 Training at certkingdom.com

Published: August 26, 2016
Languages: English
Audiences: IT professionals
Technology: SQL Server
Credit toward certification: MCP, MCSA

Skills measured
This exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below. The percentages indicate the relative weight of each major topic area on the exam. The higher the percentage, the more questions you are likely to see on that content area on the exam. View video tutorials about the variety of question types on Microsoft exams.

Please note that the questions may test on, but will not be limited to, the topics described in the bulleted text.

Do you have feedback about the relevance of the skills measured on this exam? Please send Microsoft your comments. All feedback will be reviewed and incorporated as appropriate while still maintaining the validity and reliability of the certification process. Note that Microsoft will not respond directly to your feedback. We appreciate your input in ensuring the quality of the Microsoft Certification program.

If you have concerns about specific questions on this exam, please submit an exam challenge.

If you have other questions or feedback about Microsoft Certification exams or about the certification program, registration, or promotions, please contact your Regional Service Center.

Implement SQL in Azure (30–35%)
Deploy a Microsoft Azure SQL Database
Choose a service tier, create servers and databases, create a sysadmin account, configure elastic pools
Plan for SQL Server installation
Plan for an IaaS or on-premises deployment, select the appropriate size for a virtual machine, plan storage pools based on performance requirements, evaluate best practices for installation, design a storage layout for a SQL Server virtual machine
Deploy SQL Server instances
Deploy a SQL Server instance in IaaS and on-premises, manually install SQL Server on an Azure Virtual Machine, provision an Azure Virtual Machine to host a SQL Server instance, automate the deployment of SQL Server databases, deploy SQL Server by using templates

Manage databases and instances (35–40%)
Configure secure access to Microsoft Azure SQL Databases
Configure firewall rules, configure Always Encrypted for Azure SQL Database, configure cell-level encryption, configure dynamic data masking, configure transparent data encryption (TDE)
Configure SQL Server performance settings
Configure database performance settings, configure max server memory, configure the database scope, configure operators and alerts
Manage SQL Server instances
Create databases, manage files and file groups, manage system database files, configure tempdb

Deploy and migrate applications (30–35%)
Deploy applications to Microsoft Azure SQL Database
Manage deployments that support multiple tenants, migrate on-premises SQL Server to Azure SQL Database, migrate data to Azure SQL Database
Deploy applications to SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines
Migrate an on-premises SQL Server database to an Azure Virtual Machine, generate benchmark data for performance needs, perform performance tuning on Azure IaaS, support availability sets in Azure
Migrate client applications
Configure application connection strings, manage traffic between on-premises applications and Azure services, develop application retry connection logic, identify application patterns that must be migrated with SQL Server data, evaluate network performance between applications and databases

Click here to view complete Q&A of 70-765 exam
Certkingdom Review

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft 70-765 Training at certkingdom.com