DP-203 Copy activity pagination Practice Question
You are building a data pipeline that uses Azure Data Factory to copy data from a REST API to Azure Blob Storage. The REST API returns JSON data in pages of 1000 records each. The total number of records is 50,000. Which activity or feature should you use to loop through the pages?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mistake is to think you need a loop activity (ForEach or Until) to handle pagination, but the Copy activity can be configured with pagination rules to automatically page through REST API responses.
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
✓
Use a Copy activity with pagination rules enabled in the source.
The Copy activity in Azure Data Factory supports pagination rules, allowing it to automatically iterate through API pages without a separate loop activity. Option A is incorrect because a ForEach activity would need to know the exact number of pages upfront, which is not dynamic. Option B is incorrect because the Lookup activity retrieves a single value and cannot iterate through pages. Option C is incorrect because an Until activity would require custom logic to check for the next page, whereas the Copy activity with pagination rules handles this natively.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use a ForEach activity to iterate over a fixed number of pages.
Why it's wrong here
ForEach requires a fixed array; pagination is dynamic and unknown upfront.
- ✗
Use a Lookup activity to retrieve the total number of pages and then use a ForEach.
Why it's wrong here
This adds complexity; the Copy activity natively supports pagination.
- ✗
Use an Until activity to loop until the API returns no more pages.
Why it's wrong here
While an Until activity can loop, it is not designed to dynamically handle varying page counts or determine the end of a paged API response based on the content returned. It would require a predefined condition, making it unsuitable for iterating through an unknown number of pages. This option is tempting because Until activities are used for conditional looping, which is generally required for pagination, but they lack the built-in logic to inspect the API's response for a "no more pages" indicator.
- ✓
Use a Copy activity with pagination rules enabled in the source.
Why this is correct
The Copy activity supports pagination for REST APIs using pagination rules (e.g., next URL).
Quick reference
Azure Blob Storage Tier Comparison
| Tier | Storage Cost | Retrieval Cost | Latency | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot | Highest | Lowest | Immediate | Active data, frequent reads |
| Cool | Lower | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / month |
| Cold | Lower still | Higher | Immediate | Data accessed < once / quarter |
| Archive | Lowest | Highest + rehydration delay | Hours | Long-term compliance retention |
Go deeper
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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.