Databricks-DE-Pro Data Sharing and Federation Practice Question
Which statement correctly describes the relationship between Unity Catalog and Databricks SQL Warehouses when using Lakehouse Federation?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often think the data is copied into Databricks first, missing that Lakehouse Federation allows pushdown execution directly against the source database.
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 SQL Warehouse pushes down query predicates to the external database.
Lakehouse Federation allows users to query external databases directly from Databricks SQL Warehouses. The SQL Warehouse acts as the compute engine that translates Spark SQL queries into the native dialect of the external source. Unity Catalog acts as the central governance layer that stores the connection information, credentials, and schema mapping, allowing users to query external data as if it were local tables.
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 SQL Warehouse performs the data ingestion into the Unity Catalog metastore.
Why it's wrong here
Lakehouse Federation does not ingest data. It enables 'query-in-place' functionality, where the SQL Warehouse executes the query directly against the external database. Ingestion would require building ETL pipelines, which is a different architectural pattern compared to the real-time, direct access provided by Lakehouse Federation's query pushdown capabilities.
- ✓
The SQL Warehouse pushes down query predicates to the external database.
Why this is correct
A key benefit of Lakehouse Federation is query pushdown. The SQL Warehouse optimizes the execution plan by sending filters, aggregations, and joins to the external database engine. This reduces data movement across the network and leverages the external database's compute power, significantly improving query performance for federated sources.
- ✗
Unity Catalog must store the external data in a managed Delta table.
Why it's wrong here
Unity Catalog does not store the external data itself in managed tables when using Federation. It only stores the connection metadata, such as the JDBC URL and authentication details. The actual data remains stored in the external database system, maintaining the original source of truth and avoiding data duplication.
- ✗
All federated queries are executed solely within the Databricks control plane.
Why it's wrong here
Queries are executed within the data plane on SQL Warehouses, not the control plane. The control plane manages the orchestration and metadata, but the compute intensive tasks of connecting to external sources and retrieving data occur on the assigned SQL Warehouse resources within the customer's cloud account.
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.