DP-203 Develop data processing Practice Question
You have an Azure Data Factory pipeline that copies data from an on-premises SQL Server to Azure Blob Storage. The pipeline uses a self-hosted integration runtime. You notice that the copy activity fails intermittently with the error: 'Failure happened on 'Source' side. ErrorCode=SqlOperationFailed'. The on-premises SQL Server is under heavy load during business hours. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse a source-side error with a sink-side error, or assume that any intermittent failure must be a network or connectivity issue, rather than recognizing that SQL Server resource contention under heavy load is a classic cause of intermittent 'SqlOperationFailed' errors.
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 SQL Server is experiencing resource contention or timeout due to heavy load.
The error 'SqlOperationFailed' on the source side indicates that the SQL Server itself is failing to complete the query or data extraction operation. Under heavy load, the SQL Server may experience resource contention (CPU, memory, I/O) or reach query timeout thresholds, causing the copy activity to fail intermittently. This is consistent with the described scenario of heavy load during business hours.
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 SQL Server is experiencing resource contention or timeout due to heavy load.
Why this is correct
Under heavy business-hours load, the on-premises SQL Server cannot service the copy activity's queries within the timeout window, so the source-side SqlOperationFailed error surfaces intermittently. The self-hosted integration runtime simply relays this; the constraint is server resource contention, not connectivity or credentials.
- ✗
The Azure Blob Storage account is throttling requests.
Why it's wrong here
The error is raised on the Source side against SQL Server, so Blob Storage throttling cannot produce SqlOperationFailed; that would surface as sink-side errors. Storage throttling is the likely cause when copying into Blob Storage at excessive request rates.
- ✗
The authentication method to SQL Server is incorrect.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect credentials fail every copy activity consistently, not intermittently during business hours, and would raise a login or authentication error rather than SqlOperationFailed. Wrong authentication is the cause when all runs fail identically regardless of server load.
- ✗
The self-hosted integration runtime is not connected to the network.
Why it's wrong here
A disconnected integration runtime would fail every copy run, not intermittently, and would report a connectivity or gateway error rather than SqlOperationFailed from the source. It is tempting because the self-hosted runtime is the on-premises connectivity component, and reinstalling or restarting it is the correct fix when the node is offline or deregistered.
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
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Implement Azure Data Factory Pipelines
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.
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.
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