Databricks-DE-Pro Monitoring and Alerting Practice Question
A data engineer is reviewing the event log of a Databricks job that has just failed. They need to determine the exact cause of the failure. Which event type in the event log indicates that a task failed due to an exception?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse JOB_FAILED with TASK_FAILED, assuming that a job failure event contains the specific task exception details.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
TASK_FAILED
The TASK_FAILED event is logged when an individual task within a job run encounters an exception. It captures the error message, stack trace, and other relevant metadata, making it the primary source for diagnosing task-level failures. Other event types like JOB_FAILED indicate a higher-level failure but lack the specific task exception details. Therefore, TASK_FAILED is the correct choice for determining the exact cause of a task failure.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
RUN_FAILED
Why it's wrong here
RUN_FAILED is not a standard event type in Databricks job event logs. The event log primarily uses TASK_FAILED and JOB_FAILED to denote failures at different levels. Using RUN_FAILED would not yield the specific task exception information required.
- ✓
TASK_FAILED
Why this is correct
TASK_FAILED is the event type logged when a task within a job run fails due to an exception or error. It includes details such as the error message and stack trace, which are essential for diagnosing the root cause. This event is the most direct indicator of a task-level failure in the event log.
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JOB_FAILED
Why it's wrong here
JOB_FAILED indicates that the entire job run has failed, but it does not provide the granular task-level details needed to pinpoint the exact cause. It may be triggered after one or more tasks fail, but the specific exception is not captured here. For root cause analysis, TASK_FAILED is more informative.
- ✗
EXECUTION_FAILED
Why it's wrong here
EXECUTION_FAILED is not a recognized event type in Databricks job event logs. While it sounds plausible, the actual event types are TASK_FAILED and JOB_FAILED. Relying on this would lead to confusion and missing the actual error details.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every Databricks-DE-Pro question from scratch — 267 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Databricks exam blueprint
This Databricks-DE-Pro practice question is part of Courseiva's free Databricks certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the Databricks-DE-Pro exam.