DP-203 Practice Question: Secure, monitor, and optimize data storage and data processing
You are monitoring an Azure Data Factory pipeline that runs hourly. The pipeline executes a stored procedure in an Azure SQL Database. Recently, you have observed that the pipeline occasionally fails with a 'Deadlock' error when the stored procedure runs. The Azure SQL Database is configured with the 'Read Committed Snapshot' isolation level enabled. You need to resolve the deadlock issue with minimal impact on performance. The stored procedure updates multiple tables in a single transaction and is critical for reporting. What should you do?
⚠ Common exam trap
DP-203 often tests the misconception that disabling RCSI or adding NOLOCK will fix deadlocks — in reality deadlocks are transient and the correct minimal-impact fix is retry logic, not isolation-level changes.
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
✓
Add retry logic in the Data Factory pipeline for the stored procedure activity
Adding retry logic in the Data Factory pipeline for the stored procedure activity is the least invasive fix. Deadlocks are transient by nature — SQL Server chooses a victim and rolls back its transaction — so retrying the activity typically succeeds on the next attempt without changing isolation levels or query semantics.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Change the stored procedure to use NOLOCK hints
Why it's wrong here
NOLOCK hints apply only to SELECT statements, yet the deadlock arises from the procedure's multi-table updates, so dirty reads are introduced without resolving write-write contention. NOLOCK suits read-only reporting queries tolerating uncommitted data, not transactional writers.
- ✗
Remove the transaction from the stored procedure
Why it's wrong here
Removing the transaction breaks atomicity across the multiple table updates the reporting procedure requires, leaving partial data on failure while deadlocks can still occur between individual statements. It suits independent statements where consistency across tables is unnecessary.
- ✓
Add retry logic in the Data Factory pipeline for the stored procedure activity
Why this is correct
Retry logic in the Data Factory activity handles transient deadlock failures without altering the stored procedure's transaction semantics or isolation level. Since the procedure updates multiple tables in one transaction and is critical for reporting, retrying the activity preserves Read Committed Snapshot behaviour and avoids performance penalties, satisfying the minimal-impact constraint.
- ✗
Disable the 'Read Committed Snapshot' isolation level
Why it's wrong here
Disabling Read Committed Snapshot makes readers take shared locks, so they block writers and worsen the deadlock cycle rather than breaking it. RCSI was likely enabled to reduce blocking; removing it reintroduces reader-writer contention. It would suit a workload where snapshot overhead or tempdb pressure must be eliminated, not a deadlock fix.
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Related to this question
Learn chapter
Implement Azure Data Factory Pipelines
Key term
Data Transformation Pipelines
Data transformation pipelines are automated sequences of steps that take raw data from a source, clean and reshape it into a usable format, and then load it into a destination for analysis or storage.
Key term
Azure Data Factory
Azure Data Factory is a cloud-based data integration service that lets you create, schedule, and orchestrate data pipelines to move and transform data from various sources to destinations.
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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 Microsoft exam blueprint
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.