Databricks-DA-Assoc Managing Data — Timed 10 Questions

Question 1

A data engineering team has created a managed Delta table in Unity Catalog. Which TWO of the following statements accurately describe the characteristics and management of this managed table? (Choose two)

10 minute time limit — choose an answer to begin.

Accepted Answer

Dropping the managed table using a DROP TABLE statement automatically deletes the underlying data files from cloud storage.. Managed tables in Unity Catalog store both metadata and underlying data files within the metastore's designated root storage location. Unity Catalog fully manages the lifecycle of these files, meaning dropping the table deletes both the catalog metadata and the underlying Parquet and Delta log files automatically.

Answer

Managed tables require the user to explicitly define a custom LOCATION clause pointing to an external cloud storage path.

Answer

External tools cannot read managed table data files directly because Unity Catalog encrypts all underlying Parquet files at rest using proprietary keys.

Answer

Converting a managed table to an external table can be performed in-place using an ALTER TABLE RENTER statement.

Question 2

An analyst must grant read-only access to a Unity Catalog table `sales.orders` so that members of the group `analysts` can query it but cannot modify it. Which TWO actions accomplish this? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Run `GRANT SELECT ON TABLE sales.orders TO analysts;` from a principal with sufficient privileges.. Read-only access requires the SELECT privilege, which can be granted either at the table level for a narrow scope or at the schema level to cover all tables within it. Both approaches grant only reading capability. Administrative roles and ownership transfer are far more permissive and would let the group modify or destroy data, so they cannot be the intended solution.

Answer

Run `ALTER TABLE sales.orders OWNER TO analysts;` so the group owns the table and can read it.

Answer

Add the group to the workspace admins role so they inherit implicit read access to all tables.

Answer

Run `GRANT USAGE ON TABLE sales.orders TO analysts;` from a principal with sufficient privileges.

Question 3

An analyst needs to make a Delta table `main.finance.transactions` readable by every member of the `finance_analysts` group while keeping write access restricted. The analyst also wants future columns added to the table to be readable without re-granting. Which TWO actions should the analyst take? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Grant USE SCHEMA on main.finance to the finance_analysts group in addition to the table-level SELECT.. Unity Catalog requires layered privileges: USE CATALOG on the catalog, USE SCHEMA on the schema, and SELECT on the table. Granting SELECT to the group covers all members and automatically applies to columns added later, so no re-grant is needed when the schema evolves. Granting ALL PRIVILEGES would breach the read-only intent, and schema-level SELECT or temporary views do not provide the required persistent, inherited access.

Answer

Create a temporary view over the table and grant SELECT on the temporary view to the finance_analysts group.

Answer

Grant SELECT on the parent schema main.finance so that all present and future tables in the schema are automatically readable.

Answer

Grant ALL PRIVILEGES on the table to the finance_analysts group so that reads and future operations are both covered.

Question 4

A data analyst needs to give a colleague read-only access to a single Delta table finance.transactions in Unity Catalog without granting access to any other table in the finance schema. The analyst has MANAGE privileges on the schema. Which grant should the analyst issue?

Accepted Answer

GRANT SELECT ON TABLE finance.transactions TO `colleague@example.com`;. Unity Catalog allows privileges to be granted at the table level, so SELECT on finance.transactions alone gives the colleague read access to that table only. Schema-level SELECT would expose every table in finance, USAGE alone does not permit reading data, and ALL PRIVILEGES grants more than read access. The table-scoped SELECT grant matches the least-privilege requirement.

Answer

GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA finance TO `colleague@example.com`;

Answer

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON TABLE finance.transactions TO `colleague@example.com`;

Answer

GRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA finance TO `colleague@example.com`;

Question 5

A data engineer has created a Delta table named `sales_summary` and needs to ensure that downstream analysts can only read rows where the `region` column matches their assigned territory. Which Databricks feature should be implemented to enforce this restriction securely at the row level?

Accepted Answer

Implement Unity Catalog row filters using a SQL function that evaluates the current user.. Row filters in Unity Catalog allow administrators and data owners to apply SQL-based filtering logic directly to tables, ensuring users only see authorized rows. This mechanism is critical for maintaining data governance, security, and compliance across diverse enterprise teams accessing shared datasets in Databricks.

Answer

Apply dynamic views using standard Spark SQL case statements that evaluate session user functions.

Answer

Grant SELECT privileges on filtered partitions using Unity Catalog folder-level access controls.

Answer

Configure cluster-level environment variables to filter data frames automatically upon session start.

Question 6

You are a data analyst working in Databricks SQL. Your workspace has Unity Catalog enabled. You need to inspect the metadata of a table named `customers` in the `sales` schema of the `retail` catalog, but you do not want to return any rows of data. Which SQL statement should you use?

Accepted Answer

DESCRIBE TABLE retail.sales.customers;. In Databricks SQL with Unity Catalog, DESCRIBE TABLE is the standard command to retrieve column names, types, and comments for a table, and it accepts the three-part namespace catalog.schema.table. The other commands either list table names, run a data query, or return a CREATE statement, none of which match the requirement to inspect column metadata without returning rows.

Answer

SELECT * FROM retail.sales.customers LIMIT 0;

Answer

SHOW CREATE TABLE retail.sales.customers;

Answer

SHOW TABLES IN retail.sales;

Question 7

A data analyst has a Delta table `events` in Unity Catalog and needs to see the history of operations performed on it, including which user ran each operation and when, in order to audit recent changes. Which command should the analyst run?

Accepted Answer

DESCRIBE HISTORY events;. Delta Lake records every transaction in its log, and DESCRIBE HISTORY exposes that log as a table with version, timestamp, operation, and user columns. This is the intended command for auditing who changed a table and when. The other options either list schema objects, describe storage metadata, or read data at a point in time, none of which provide the operation audit trail.

Answer

DESCRIBE DETAIL events;

Answer

SELECT * FROM events VERSION AS OF 0;

Answer

SHOW TABLES IN main.default;

Question 8

You are an analyst in a Unity Catalog-enabled Databricks workspace. A colleague has shared a table `finance.transactions` with you, and you need to confirm what privileges you currently hold on it before running a sensitive query. Which TWO of the following statements about inspecting privileges in Unity Catalog are accurate? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

You can run SHOW GRANTS ON TABLE finance.transactions to see the privileges granted on that specific table.. Unity Catalog uses a hierarchical privilege model, so inspecting a table involves both the direct grants on the table and the inherited grants from its catalog and schema. SHOW GRANTS ON TABLE reveals direct table grants, while effective access can come from higher levels. The other statements misstate the command's scope, required permissions, or inheritance behavior and would lead an analyst to wrong conclusions about their access.

Answer

You must be the table owner or a metastore admin to run SHOW GRANTS ON TABLE on a table you can query.

Answer

SHOW GRANTS ON TABLE finance.transactions will also list the privileges granted on the parent catalog and schema automatically.

Answer

SHOW GRANTS ON TABLE returns only the privileges of the current user and hides grants to other principals for privacy.

Question 9

An analyst needs to create a new table in a Unity Catalog schema to store aggregated results, and the table should be managed by Unity Catalog so that storage lifecycle and access are handled by the platform. Which SQL statement correctly creates a managed Delta table named `summary` in the `analytics` schema of the `reporting` catalog?

Accepted Answer

CREATE TABLE reporting.analytics.summary (id INT, total DOUBLE);. In Unity Catalog, a table created with CREATE TABLE and a three-part name but no LOCATION is managed by Unity Catalog, which controls its storage and lifecycle. External tables require a LOCATION and are not managed by the platform. The MANAGED keyword is not part of the syntax, and legacy dbfs paths are not the Unity Catalog managed pattern.

Answer

CREATE MANAGED TABLE reporting.analytics.summary (id INT, total DOUBLE);

Answer

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE reporting.analytics.summary (id INT, total DOUBLE) LOCATION '/mnt/data/summary';

Answer

CREATE TABLE reporting.analytics.summary USING DELTA LOCATION 'dbfs:/user/hive/warehouse/summary';

Question 10

A data analyst runs the following command in a Databricks SQL editor connected to a Unity Catalog workspace:

```sql
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS analytics.events.raw_clicks;
```

What is the result of this statement if `analytics.events.raw_clicks` is a managed Delta table?

Accepted Answer

The table metadata, data files, and any associated directories are permanently removed from the metastore and cloud storage.. Dropping a managed Delta table in Unity Catalog removes both the catalog metadata and the underlying data files because Databricks owns the data lifecycle. External tables behave differently: their files persist. Analysts must therefore treat DROP on a managed table as destructive and irreversible through normal query tools, which is why knowing the table type before running DDL matters.

Answer

The table is renamed to a recycle-bin schema and can be restored by any workspace user within 30 days.

Answer

The command fails because Databricks SQL does not permit dropping tables that other users may be querying.

Answer

Only the table metadata is removed; the underlying Parquet data files remain in cloud storage for later recovery.