Study Azure AZ-305 Data Integration: key concepts, common traps, and exam decision cues.
AZ-305 data questions often hide two different problems inside one stem: where the data should live and how the data should move or be analyzed. The exam rewards candidates who notice that those are related but different architecture decisions.
| Need | Strongest first fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| move and orchestrate data between systems | Azure Data Factory pattern | orchestration and movement are the main goal |
| design an analytics environment over large data sets | Synapse-style analysis architecture | the requirement is analysis, not just movement |
| stream data into downstream systems | event or streaming architecture | movement pattern depends on whether the flow is batch or event-driven |
If you skip that sequence, it is easy to force an analysis platform into an orchestration problem or vice versa.
| Trap | Better rule |
|---|---|
| choosing the analytics platform before clarifying the integration pattern | decide whether the primary problem is movement or analysis |
| treating storage choice as if it automatically answers ingestion and orchestration | storage and movement architecture are connected but separate |
| ignoring workload timing | batch and event-driven designs rarely have the same first answer |