Azure Data Factory Interview Question & Answers

ADF Interview Questions and Answers

Introduction to Azure Data Factory

1. What is Azure Data Factory and Why Do We Use Azure Data Factory?

Integration Runtime (IR)

1. What is Integration Runtime in ADF, and what are the Types of IR?
2. Which IR will you use if you need to read data from an on-premises network to Azure Cloud?
3. If your Self-Hosted IR is running slowly, what steps will you take in Azure Data Factory?
4. How will you check if SHIR is not working?
5. Can a single Self-Hosted IR be used in more than one Data Factory?
6. For load balancing and failover scenarios, what is the maximum number of nodes we can add in SHIR?
7. Is it okay to create multiple Integration Runtimes in a single Data Factory, and why?

Pipelines and Activities

1. What are Pipelines in Azure Data Factory?
2. What is an Activity in Azure Data Factory?
3. How will you control the flow of activities in an Azure Data Factory Pipeline?
4. Which activity will you use to delete all files in Azure Data Factory?
5. Explain a few activities in Azure Data Factory Pipeline that can run a stored procedure.
6. How can you complete a task that cannot be done with built-in activities in Azure Data Factory?
7. Can the same linked service be used in multiple Pipelines in Azure Data Factory?
8. To get a list of all files from Azure Blob Storage, which activity will you use?

Triggers

1. What is a Schedule Trigger in Azure Data Factory?
2. What are Event-Based Triggers in Azure Data Factory?
3. What is a Tumbling Window Trigger in Azure Data Factory?

Linked Services and Datasets

1. What are Linked Services in Azure Data Factory?
2. What is a Dataset in Azure Data Factory?
3. What are Parameterized Linked Services, and why do you use them in Azure Data Factory?

SSIS Integration

1. You need to run an SSIS Package in Azure Data Factory. Where will you save the SSIS package?
2. What are your thoughts on which is better: SSIS vs. ADF?

Data Operations

1. Does Copy Activity support UPSERT operations?
2. How to remove duplicate records in Azure Data Factory?
3. If you need to add an extra column or derive extra columns from source columns, can you use Copy Activity?
4. You are given hundreds of files, and you need to load them into separate tables and create the tables on the fly. How would you do this?
5. Multiple files are loaded to a single table. How will you identify the file names for each record?

Error Handling and Recovery

1. If your Data Factory is deleted, how will you recover or restore it?
2. How can you backup and restore Azure Data Factory?

Security and Networking

1. What are the steps to create Private Endpoints in Azure Data Factory?
2. Why do you use Azure Key Vault with Data Factory?

Parameters and Variables

1. What is the difference between a Parameter and a Variable in Azure Data Factory?
2. What are the three different types of variables available in Azure Data Factory?

Monitoring and Logging

1. Where will you see the Pipeline Runs and Triggers?
2. How will you keep the execution log history of ADF Pipelines for more than 3 months?
3. How will you get the last 2 months' execution details of pipelines if your pipelines have been failing?
4. How to find out which Pipeline is billed the most?
5. How will you check if a file exists or does not exist in Blob storage in Azure Data Factory?

Data Flows

1. Your Data Flow is running slowly in ADF. What steps will you take?
2. What is the difference between General Purpose and Memory Optimized Mapping Data Flows?
3. What is the minimum and maximum Vcore for Mapping Data Flow?

CI/CD and Source Control

1. Which source control repository will you use in Azure Data Factory?
2. Which tool have you used for CI/CD for Azure Data Factory?
3. How to copy an Azure Data Factory Pipeline from one Data Factory to another?

Notifications

1. How will you send an email with a file attachment from Azure Data Factory?
2. How will you send an email from an Azure Data Factory Pipeline?
3. How will you send an email from Azure Data Factory?

Miscellaneous

1. In which modes can an Azure Data Factory Pipeline run?
2. The Microsoft EventGrid resource provider is not registered in the subscription. How to resolve this?
3. What steps will you take if your pipelines are stuck in a queue or in progress status?
4. How often do you upgrade or update your Self-Hosted Integration Runtime?

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