DP-203 Practice Question: Secure, monitor, and optimize data storage and data processing
Your Azure Data Factory pipeline is failing with the error: 'Operation on target Copy data1 failed: The remote server returned an error: (403) Forbidden.' The source is Azure Blob Storage and the sink is Azure SQL Database. You have verified the SQL Database firewall rules allow Azure services. 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 Data Factory managed identity lacks Storage Blob Data Contributor role on the storage account
A 403 Forbidden error when reading from Azure Blob Storage typically indicates that the Data Factory does not have permission to access the storage. The managed identity used by Data Factory must have the Storage Blob Data Contributor role (or equivalent) on the storage account. Option A is incorrect because the error is 403, not a connectivity issue. Option B is incorrect because a private endpoint alone does not cause a 403; it would affect network connectivity. Option D is incorrect because throttling from Azure SQL Database would produce a different error (e.g., 429 Too Many Requests).
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 Database firewall is blocking the Data Factory IP
Why it's wrong here
Firewall would return 403 but you verified it's open
- ✗
The storage account is behind a private endpoint
Why it's wrong here
Would give a different error, not 403
- ✓
The Data Factory managed identity lacks Storage Blob Data Contributor role on the storage account
Why this is correct
403 Forbidden indicates authentication/authorization failure
- ✗
The SQL Database is throttling the write operations
Why it's wrong here
Throttling returns 429, not 403
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
Introduction to Azure Data Engineering
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.
About these practice questions
This DP-203 question is part of Courseiva's 760-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
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.