Databricks-GenAI-Assoc Governance Practice Question
Exhibit
GRANT USAGE ON CATALOG main TO `finance_team`; GRANT SELECT ON TABLE main.sales.data TO `finance_team`; GRANT SELECT ON TABLE main.sales.summary TO `finance_team`; -- User attempts to join the two tables in a query: SELECT * FROM main.sales.data d JOIN main.sales.summary s ON d.id = s.id;
Refer to the exhibit. The user is a member of the 'finance_team'. Why might the user encounter an access error when executing this join query?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume that having 'SELECT' on a table is enough to query it, overlooking the mandatory 'USAGE' permission required at the schema and catalog levels.
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 user lacks the USAGE privilege on the 'sales' schema.
In Unity Catalog, users require the USAGE privilege on all parent objects—the catalog and the schema—to access a table. While the user has USAGE on the catalog and SELECT on the tables, they lack the USAGE privilege on the 'sales' schema. Without explicit USAGE permission on the schema, the user cannot traverse the hierarchy to reference the tables, causing a permission denied error.
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 user lacks the SELECT privilege on the schema object.
Why it's wrong here
The SELECT privilege is not applicable to schema objects in Unity Catalog; permissions for schemas are governed by the USAGE privilege. The failure occurs because the user lacks USAGE on the schema, not because they are missing SELECT permissions on the schema container itself.
- ✓
The user lacks the USAGE privilege on the 'sales' schema.
Why this is correct
Accessing any object in Unity Catalog requires the USAGE privilege on all containing objects, including the schema. Even if a user has explicit SELECT rights on the tables, the query will fail if they have not been granted USAGE on the parent schema container.
- ✗
The user requires the MODIFY privilege to perform joins.
Why it's wrong here
A join operation is a read-only activity that only requires the SELECT privilege on the underlying tables. The MODIFY privilege is required for DML operations like INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE, and it is not a requirement for performing complex read operations or joining datasets.
- ✗
The user needs to be an owner of the tables to perform joins.
Why it's wrong here
Table ownership is not required for users to query tables. As long as the user has been granted the necessary SELECT and USAGE privileges via the Databricks SQL GRANT command, they can access and join tables regardless of who originally created or currently owns the table objects.
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-GenAI-Assoc 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-GenAI-Assoc exam.