MS SQL + Azure DBA Interview Questions & Answers (Fresher to 4
Years)
1. SQL Server Architecture & Fundamentals
- Explain SQL Server architecture (Database Engine, Buffer Pool, Lazy Writer, Checkpoint).
- What are MDF, NDF, and LDF files?
- What are SQL Server Editions & their differences?
- Difference between Instance and Database?
2. Installation, Configuration & Upgrades
- Steps to install SQL Server (standalone vs clustered)?
- What are collation settings and how do you choose them?
- What is a SQL Server Instance? Types (Default, Named)?
- Scenario: You upgraded SQL Server and applications started failing due to collation mismatch.
How do you fix it?
3. Backup & Restore (Core)
- Types of backups in SQL Server? (Full, Differential, Log, Copy-Only)
- What is a recovery model? Types (Simple, Full, Bulk-Logged)?
- Scenario: Database is in FULL recovery mode, but log file is growing large. Why?
- Scenario: Perform Point-in-Time Recovery with full + diff + logs.
4. High Availability & Disaster Recovery
- What is Log Shipping? How do you configure it?
- What is AlwaysOn Availability Groups? (Pre-requisites, Quorum, Listener)
- Scenario: AlwaysOn AG primary went down. How do you failover?
- Difference between FCI and AG?
5. Security & Permissions
- Difference between SQL Authentication and Windows Authentication?
- What are Server roles vs Database roles?
- Scenario: Orphaned users after database restore. How to fix?
- How do you audit logins and failed login attempts?
6. Performance Tuning & Monitoring
- What are common performance issues in SQL Server?
- How do you monitor blocking sessions?
- What is a deadlock? How do you capture and resolve it?
- Scenario: A query is running slow. What steps do you take?
7. Azure SQL Core Concepts
- Difference between Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, and SQL Server on
Azure VM?
- What are DTUs and vCores?
- Scenario: How do you scale up Azure SQL Database without downtime?
- What is Active Geo-Replication?
8. Azure Security & HA
- What is Azure AD Authentication in SQL?
- What are TDE (Transparent Data Encryption) and Always Encrypted?
- Scenario: Auto-failover group failover test steps.
- Scenario: Table accidentally deleted in Azure SQL. How do you recover?
9. Real-world Troubleshooting Scenarios
- SQL Server not starting – what steps will you take?
- TempDB is full – what do you do?
- Transaction log file full – how do you fix it?
- Scenario: Blocking vs Deadlock – how do you handle them?
