Azure Cosmos DB is a multi-model-based database service offered by Microsoft. It offers a range of features and capabilities that make it a popular choice for modern application development. Whether you are a job seeker preparing for an interview or an interviewer looking for a comprehensive list of questions, this blog post is here to help you.
In this blog post, we have compiled a set of commonly asked Azure Cosmos DB questions and answers. These questions cover various aspects of Cosmos DB, including its architecture, data modeling, partitioning, indexing, querying, and more.
Whether you are a beginner or have some experience with Cosmos DB, this collection of questions will provide you with a solid foundation and help you prepare for your interview.
Let’s dive in and explore the world of Azure Cosmos DB together!
Top 20 Azure Cosmos DB Interview Questions and Answers
The below-shown Azure Cosmos DB Questions and Answers for the interview equip you with the knowledge and confidence to tackle Cosmos DB interview questions effectively.
Also Read : Azure Cosmos DB – Complete Guide
Each question is accompanied by a detailed answer that not only provides the correct solution but also explains the underlying concepts. This will help you understand the reasoning behind the answers and enhance your overall understanding of Azure Cosmos DB.
1. What is meant by Azure Cosmos DB?
Azure Cosmos DB refers to NoSQL databases that are fully managed and mainly utilized for modern application development. Its response time will be single digit and you can achieve the automatic as well as instant scalability by just assuring the speed. And also it aids in the advantage of business continuity with the help of SLA-based availability and enterprise-grade security. And it completely handles the database administration activity using automatic updates, management, and patching.
Apart from the above benefits, it also cost-effectively features capacity management and it has the automatic scaling option to respond to the requirements of the application to get matched with the demanding needs.
A variety of applications and use cases take advantage of the multi-model, globally distributed Azure Cosmos DB database. It is a good option for any serverless application that requires response times of the millisecond level and needs to scale quickly and internationally.
2. What is the difference between Azure Cosmos DB and Azure DB?
Azure SQL is built using an SQL Server engine, you can easily transfer the applications and help to use the tools, languages, and resources that are required. Azure Cosmos DB can be employed for web, mobile, gaming, and IoT applications that help to process massive amounts of data, reads, and writes globally.
3. Where the Azure Cosmos DB is mainly used?
A variety of applications and use cases take advantage of the multi-model, globally distributed Azure Cosmos DB database. It is a good option for any serverless application that requires response times of the millisecond level and needs to scale quickly and internationally.
Microsoft’s core e-commerce platforms, which power the Windows Store and Xbox Live, make considerable use of Azure Cosmos DB. Additionally, it is utilized in the retail sector to store catalog data and source events for order processing pipelines.
4. What are the different API types used in Azure Cosmos DB?
Numerous database APIs, including NoSQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL Cassandra, Gremlin, and Table, are available through Cosmos DB. Real-world data can be modeled using documents, key-value, charts, and column-family models of data by utilizing these APIs.
5. How is the data stored in Azure Cosmos DB?
Azure Cosmos DB helps in automatic data indexing and it will happen without the need for schema and index management.
Cosmos DB is a multi-model database, which can store information in databases based on key-value pairs, documents, graphs, and column families. An indexed row-based “transactional store” is used internally by Azure Cosmos DB containers to store the multi-model operational data.
6. Is Azure Cosmos DB serverless or PaaS?
Azure Cosmos DB is a completely managed serverless distributed database that supports NoSQL and relational workloads and construction of the apps at any size can be done more quickly.
It has a flexible structure and can store native JSON documents at will. The SQL query language has a JSON-specific flavor that may be used to query the automatically indexed data.
7. Which API works well with Cosmos DB?
The Apache Cassandra API is a wire protocol that is interoperable with the original Cassandra software. If you want to take advantage of the elasticity and fully managed nature of Azure Cosmos DB while still using the majority of the native Apache Cassandra features, resources, and ecosystem, then you must use the API for Cassandra.
8. What is Cosmos DB’s maximum size?
The maximum document size for Cosmos Db is 2 MB, while the largest logical partition size is 20 GB.
9. Is Azure Cosmos DB fast?
Azure Cosmos DB is a quick and adaptable distributed database with assured throughput and latency and scales smoothly. With Azure Cosmos DB, scaling the database does not require writing a lot of code or any significant changes to its architecture.
Using a single API call is all that is necessary to scale up or down. However, since the SQL.NET SDK accesses Azure Cosmos DB over network calls, there are client-side optimizations you can execute to achieve the best speed.
10. What is meant by Azure Cosmos DB emulator?
The Azure Cosmos DB Emulator simulates the Azure Cosmos DB service. It can create data, query data, deploy and scale containers, run stored methods and triggers, and perform all other functions that Azure Cosmos DB can.
11. What is Throughput in Cosmos DB
The throughput of a Cosmos account determines how many queries it can handle. The two throughput options that Cosmos DB presently offers are manual and auto-scale. If your resource uses more throughput than allotted, rate limitations can be in effect. You have two options for adjusting the throughput to meet the application’s changing requirements such as manually or by setting it to autoscale.
12. What are the various levels of consistency that exist in Cosmos DB?
You can choose a consistency level in Azure Cosmos DB that meets your demands for latency, throughput, and availability. The following are the several available consistency levels:
- Strong Consistency: Makes consistency all through every node and region, but at the cost of performance as a whole.
- Staleness with a Boundary Consistency: Offers a way to regulate the degree of data freshness. This is still a significant consistency dependent on the level of freshness specified, though.
- Session Consistency: Assures that the writer does not receive any dirty reads, even though other individuals may have received them. This is the default consistency level for the Azure Cosmos DB.
- Consistent Prefix: Although there may be some stale data, this consistency level ensures that all reading operations will produce the most current version of the data. For systems that need high availability and can handle some data staleness, this is an excellent alternative.
- Eventual: This level of consistency assures that all operations involving reading and writing will ultimately converge to a consistent state, but there’s no assurance that it will occur at a particular time. The systems that can accept a certain amount of data staleness in exchange for improved availability and reduced latency should use this consistency level because it is the most lenient.
13. Explain the concept of partitioning in Azure Cosmos DB.
The technique of horizontally dividing a container’s data across several physical partitions is known as partitioning in Azure Cosmos DB. To increase availability and improve fault tolerance, each partition may include one or more replicas.
A partition key is supplied when data is loaded into a container in Cosmos DB. To choose which partition to store the data in, use the partition key. The same partition will house all of the data that has the same partition key.
The data access pattern is used to determine the partition key. To guarantee good speed and scalability, it should be chosen in a way that distributes the data among partitions in an even manner.
14. What are the use cases for the Azure Cosmos DB?
Some of the use cases for Azure Cosmos DB are:
- Mobile apps: Data may be stored and retrieved for mobile apps using Cosmos DB, providing low-latency accessibility to data from anywhere in the world.
- IoT: Cosmos DB can be utilized to store and analyze significant volumes of data from IoT devices, enabling real-time insights and decision-making.
- Online gaming: Data can be stored and retrieved using Cosmos DB, enabling high-performance gameplay and low-latency data access.
- E-commerce: Cosmos DB may be used for storing and retrieving information for e-commerce applications, providing low-latency data access and high-performance purchasing experiences.
15. How to integrate Azure Cosmos DB with other Azure services?
Numerous additional Azure services can be combined with Azure Cosmos DB to build strong and scalable applications. Here are a few instances of how you can combine Azure Cosmos DB with other Azure services:
- Azure Functions: Serverless operations can be carried out on data stored in Azure Cosmos DB using Azure Functions. For instance, design a function that, in response to a modification in your Cosmos DB data, executes a task like delivering an email or updating a system.
- Azure Stream Analytics: Using Azure Stream Analytics, you can instantly analyze streaming data coming from Azure Cosmos DB. As data is being uploaded to the database, this enables you to carry out complex data manipulation and analytics on the Cosmos DB data.
- Azure Logic Apps: Using Azure Logic Apps, you can develop workflows that communicate with data kept in Azure Cosmos DB. As an illustration, you could create a logic application that gets data from Cosmos DB, analyze it, and then keeps the results somewhere else.
- Azure Event Grid: You can utilize Azure Event Grid to make changes to the Azure Cosmos DB data causing events to be triggered. This enables you to develop highly scalable, event-driven systems that react immediately to changes in the information you have.
16. What is a JSON document defined as?
JSON is a straightforward data format for JavaScript objects. JSON was made to be very compatible with the literal object notation used in JavaScript. Since many frameworks, web browsers, as well as databases natively support JSON, it is widely used for delivering and storing data.
17. What does Azure Cosmos DB’s SQL API do?
The Azure Cosmos DB SQL API is a quick NoSQL database service that enables rich querying across a variety of data, aids in providing flexible, dependable performance, and enables quick development.
The fundamental or native API is the SQL API for interacting with documents. The SQL API enables quick and flexible development via JSON documents, a query language with a well-known syntax, and client libraries for popular programming languages. The native SQL API has the same fundamental foundation as other Azure Cosmos DB APIs like Mongo, Gremlin, and Cassandra, enabling compatibility across database ecosystems.
18. What elements make up the Azure Cosmos DB SQL API?
Before using Azure Cosmos DB, you must first create user accounts, databases, containers, and other items in Azure.
The most fundamental distribution units and accounts have an elevated degree of availability. You can set the region(s) for your data in Azure Cosmos DB SQL API at the account level. Accounts also contain information about the worldwide distinctive DNS domain used for API requests. The account’s baseline consistency level for requests can also be specified. You can manage or create reports using the Azure interface, Azure Resource Manager templates, Azure CLI, and Azure PowerShell.
19. How can I create a new Azure Cosmos DB database?
Databases are quick to establish logical management units in the Azure Cosmos DB SQL API. All you need to do is create a new database identifier within the account.
20. How can a new container be created?
Containers are the main scalability component of the Azure Cosmos DB SQL API. You must incorporate the following details when building a container:
- The original database
- A distinctive name for the database’s container.
- The path of the partition key value.
- Provisioned throughput is optional if not deduced from database provisioning.
Your data will be seamlessly and transparently partitioned by the Azure Cosmos DB service by considering the numerical value of the partition key for every single item.
21. What is meant by indexing?
Every container in Azure Cosmos DB includes an indexing policy that specifies how items inside the container must be indexed. The default indexing strategy for newly generated containers imposes range indexes for any kind of string or number and indices every property of each component.
22. How are data backups handled and managed by Azure Cosmos DB?
Data backups are created and managed automatically by Azure Cosmos DB. The data is continuously snapshotted by the service and stored in Azure’s globally dispersed storage centers. In the event of an error or other problem, you can restore your data using these snapshots. You may also set up the service to automatically produce point-in-time backups, which let you roll back the information to a particular moment. Additionally, you always have the option of manually starting a data backup.
23. What is NoSQL database in Azure Cosmos DB?
A native non-relational solution for interacting with a file’s data model is termed as Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL. It has a flexible structure and can hold native JSON documents at will. The SQL query language has a JSON-specific flavor that may be used to query the automatically indexed information.
24. What is Databricks access in Cosmos DB?
Azure Cosmos DB from Microsoft is a multi-model, globally dispersed database. With Azure Cosmos DB, you can autonomously and flexibly expand throughput and storage over any number of Azure geographical zones. Throughput, delay, accessibility, and consistency (SLAs) are guaranteed with comprehensive SLAs.
25. What is meant by Master Keys and How do they operate?
A master key comprises a security token that provides access to all of the assets associated with an account. The resources of the database account are accessible to those who have the key in both read and write modes. You may discover the primary master key and auxiliary master key on the Azure portal Key blade.
Conclusion
Whether you are a job seeker or an interviewer, we hope this blog post has been a valuable resource for you. Azure Cosmos DB is a dynamic technology, and it’s essential to stay updated with the latest advancements and best practices.
Continuously learning and exploring new concepts will help you excel in your career and make the most out of Azure Cosmos DB’s capabilities. By going through these Azure Cosmos DB questions and answers, you will gain a deeper understanding of Azure Cosmos DB and be better prepared for your next interview.
If you have any questions about this blog post, please contact us today!
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