hardMultiple Choice
DP-203 Practice Question: Refer to the exhibit
Network Topology
Refer to the exhibit. A data engineer notices that the copy activity sometimes copies 0 rows despite reading 1 million rows. What is the most likely cause?
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 source query includes a 'WHERE' clause that filters out all rows on alternate runs.
In Azure Data Factory, the copy activity can be configured for incremental loads by using a source query with a WHERE clause that filters rows based on a watermark (e.g., last modified timestamp). On pipeline runs where no new or updated rows exist in the source table, this WHERE clause will return zero rows. Although the source table contains 1 million rows, the incremental filter causes the copy activity to read and write 0 rows. This is the most likely cause of the described behavior.
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 source table is being updated between pipeline runs, but the copy activity is not configured to upsert.
Why it's wrong here
If the source table is updated but the copy activity is not configured for upsert, it would still copy all 1 million rows (append or overwrite), not 0 rows.
- ✓
The source query includes a 'WHERE' clause that filters out all rows on alternate runs.
Why this is correct
An incremental load pattern uses a WHERE clause (e.g., WHERE LastModified > @{pipeline().parameters.lastRun}) that returns zero rows when no changes have occurred, resulting in 0 rows copied despite the source having 1 million rows.
- ✗
The pipeline is using a full load each time, overwriting the sink, so the second run sees the same data and skips because the sink already has it.
Why it's wrong here
A full load with overwriting would still copy all 1 million rows to the sink; it does not skip rows because the sink already has the data. 0 rows would not occur in this scenario.
- ✗
The sink is a file system that fails to write due to permission issues.
Why it's wrong here
Permission issues would typically cause the copy activity to fail with an error, not silently copy 0 rows.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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