Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) Practice Exam

Which service is known as Microsoft's globally distributed, multi-model database service?

1. HDInsight

2. Azure Cosmos DB

3. Hadoop

4. Azure SQL Database

The correct answer is: Azure Cosmos DB

Azure Cosmos DB is recognized as Microsoft's globally distributed, multi-model database service due to its unique architecture and capabilities. It allows developers to work with multiple data models, including key-value, document, graph, and column-family, making it extremely versatile for various application needs. One of its standout features is the ability to replicate data across multiple regions worldwide, ensuring high availability and reliability. This global distribution helps in reducing latency for users by providing consistent performance regardless of geographical location. Furthermore, Cosmos DB is designed to scale horizontally, accommodating huge amounts of data and handling thousands of requests per second, which is essential for large-scale applications. The other services mentioned do not possess the same global distribution and multi-model capabilities specifically characteristic of Azure Cosmos DB. For instance, HDInsight is primarily focused on providing a cloud-based service for big data analytics using technologies like Apache Hadoop and Spark but lacks the multi-model features. Hadoop itself is not a Microsoft service but rather an open-source framework for distributed storage and processing of large data sets. Azure SQL Database, while powerful for relational data, does not offer the same flexibility in handling multiple data models or global distribution as Cosmos DB.