easyMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
DP-203 Practice Question: A company runs a streaming pipeline using Azure…
A company runs a streaming pipeline using Azure Stream Analytics to ingest IoT data and output to Azure SQL Database. They notice that the output latency increases over time and eventually the job fails with a timeout error. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often attribute output latency to input-side issues like partitioning or consumer groups, but the symptom of increasing latency over time points to a downstream bottleneck, specifically missing indexes on the SQL target table.
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 Azure SQL Database target table lacks proper indexes.
The most likely cause is that the Azure SQL Database target table lacks proper indexes. Without indexes, each batch of output from Stream Analytics triggers full table scans for inserts or updates, causing cumulative latency. Over time, the backlog exceeds the job's timeout threshold (default 5 minutes for output), leading to 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.
- ✗
The Stream Analytics job has a high late arrival tolerance.
Why it's wrong here
Late arrival tolerance affects event ordering but does not cause output failures.
- ✗
The event hub is not partitioned correctly.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect partitioning may affect ordering but not cause output latency or timeout.
- ✗
The event hub consumer group is misconfigured.
Why it's wrong here
Misconfigured consumer groups can cause data loss but not output latency.
- ✓
The Azure SQL Database target table lacks proper indexes.
Why this is correct
Missing indexes slow down write operations, causing backpressure and eventual timeout.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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