DP-203 Develop data processing Practice Question
You are running a Spark notebook in Azure Synapse Analytics that reads from a Delta table and writes to a Parquet file. The job fails with the error: 'AnalysisException: Table or view not found: bronze.sales'. The table exists in the lakehouse. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Microsoft often tests the misconception that a table existing in the lakehouse automatically makes it visible to Spark notebooks, when in fact the Spark metastore and lakehouse catalog are separate metadata layers that must be explicitly synchronized.
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 table is not registered in the Spark metastore; it is only in the lakehouse.
In Azure Synapse Analytics, a Spark notebook uses its own Spark metastore to resolve table references. If the table 'bronze.sales' exists only in the lakehouse (i.e., as a Delta table in the underlying storage) but is not registered in the Spark metastore, the Spark engine cannot find it and throws an AnalysisException. The error indicates a metadata resolution failure, not a permission or data corruption issue.
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 user does not have read permission on the table.
Why it's wrong here
Permission errors typically return an AuthorizationException, not AnalysisException.
- ✓
The table is not registered in the Spark metastore; it is only in the lakehouse.
Why this is correct
In Synapse, lakehouse tables are stored in a separate catalog; the Spark session's default catalog may not include it, so the table is not found.
- ✗
The Parquet file format is incompatible with the Delta source.
Why it's wrong here
Delta can be read as Parquet, but the error is about table not found, not format.
- ✗
The Delta table is corrupted.
Why it's wrong here
Corruption would cause a read failure, not a table not found error.
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