Databricks-DE-Pro Debugging and Deploying Practice Question
Exhibit
JSON policy: {
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": ["s3:GetObject"],
"Resource": ["arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket/*"]
}
]
}Refer to the exhibit. A Databricks job fails with a 403 Forbidden error when trying to write to the S3 bucket. Why does this happen?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often look past explicit IAM action definitions, assuming read-only permissions like 's3:GetObject' are sufficient for writing files if storage bucket access is broadly enabled.
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
✓
The policy is missing the 's3:PutObject' action required for writing data.
The provided IAM policy only grants 's3:GetObject' permissions, which is read-only. For a job to write data, it needs additional permissions like 's3:PutObject'. In production, strict adherence to the principle of least privilege is required; however, the policy must also enable the necessary write operations for the task to complete successfully. The 403 error is a direct consequence of this missing write-specific capability in the policy definition.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The Databricks cluster needs to be restarted to apply the new IAM policy.
Why it's wrong here
While policy changes can take time to propagate, restarting the cluster is not a requirement for IAM changes to take effect. If the policy were correct, the cluster would eventually assume the new permissions. The error indicates a fundamental lack of permissions in the current policy, not a latency issue.
- ✓
The policy is missing the 's3:PutObject' action required for writing data.
Why this is correct
The provided policy explicitly only allows 's3:GetObject'. To successfully write data to an S3 bucket, the IAM policy must include 's3:PutObject' as well. The 403 Forbidden error happens because the service principal lacks the authorization to perform the write operation defined in the Spark job code.
- ✗
The S3 bucket policy is blocking the request despite the IAM policy.
Why it's wrong here
While this is a plausible scenario in AWS, the most direct cause based on the provided exhibit is the IAM policy itself. The question asks why the *job* fails, and the provided policy is clearly insufficient for a write operation, regardless of the bucket policy's state.
- ✗
The 'Resource' ARN is missing the suffix '/*'.
Why it's wrong here
The exhibit explicitly includes '/*' in the Resource field. This allows the permission to apply to objects inside the bucket. The issue is not the resource definition but the lack of the write action. The syntax of the ARN is correct, but the permission scope is too narrow.
Quick reference
AWS S3 Storage Class Comparison
| Storage Class | Min Duration | Retrieval | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| S3 Standard | None | Immediate | Frequently accessed data |
| S3 Standard-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Infrequent access, rapid retrieval |
| S3 One Zone-IA | 30 days | Immediate | Non-critical infrequent data |
| S3 Intelligent-Tiering | None | Immediate–hours | Unknown or changing access patterns |
| S3 Glacier Instant | 90 days | Milliseconds | Archive with instant retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Flexible | 90 days | Minutes–hours | Archive, flexible retrieval |
| S3 Glacier Deep Archive | 180 days | Hours | Long-term compliance archive |
About these practice questions
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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.