hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
DP-203 Practice Question: Running a Spark job on Azure Databricks that…
A company is running a Spark job on Azure Databricks that processes 500 GB of data daily. The job frequently fails with 'OutOfMemoryError' during shuffles. The cluster uses 10 workers of type Standard_DS3_v2 (14 GB memory each). Which configuration change should you make to improve stability without over-provisioning?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often assume adding more workers (Option C) is the only way to fix memory errors, but the question tests understanding that partition size, not just cluster size, is the root cause of shuffle OOM errors.
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
✓
Set spark.sql.shuffle.partitions to a higher value, e.g., 500.
The 'OutOfMemoryError' during shuffles indicates that individual partitions are too large for the executor memory. Increasing `spark.sql.shuffle.partitions` to 500 reduces the amount of data per partition, lowering memory pressure during shuffle operations. This directly addresses the error without adding more hardware.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Set spark.sql.shuffle.partitions to a higher value, e.g., 500.
Why this is correct
Reduces data per partition, easing memory.
- ✗
Increase the driver memory to 28 GB.
Why it's wrong here
Driver memory not the bottleneck.
- ✗
Increase the number of workers to 20.
Why it's wrong here
Increases parallelism but may not address memory per task.
- ✗
Reduce spark.sql.shuffle.partitions to 100.
Why it's wrong here
Increases partition size, worsening OOM.
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 |
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This DP-203 question is part of Courseiva's 760-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This DP-203 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft 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 DP-203 exam.