Configure Lakeflow Connect to Reliably Ingest Data from Diverse Enterprise Sources into UnityCatalog–governed Tables. DATA-ENGINEER-ASSOCIATE Practice Questions (Page 5)

Questions 21–25

1. 21application · medium

   A financial services company is ingesting transaction data from a mainframe system into a Unity Catalog table. The source uses a packed decimal format for monetary amounts, but the target table requires a DECIMAL(10,2) column. The data engineer needs to ensure the data is correctly interpreted and stored. What should be done in the Lakeflow Connect pipeline?

   • ASkip the transformation and store the raw bytes in a BINARY column.
   • BDefine a schema mapping that converts the source packed decimal to DECIMAL(10,2) using a transformation step.
   • CIngest the source data as STRING and rely on downstream queries to cast the values.
   • DUse the source's native format and let Unity Catalog automatically infer the target type.
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2. 22expert · hard

   A data platform team manages a Lakeflow Connect pipeline that ingests data from a legacy mainframe system. The mainframe only supports full exports, and the export takes 6 hours. The team needs to keep the Unity Catalog table updated with minimal delay, but the mainframe cannot be changed. The pipeline currently runs nightly and takes 7 hours, which is too long. What should the data engineer do to meet the requirement?

   • ARun the full export more frequently, such as every 6 hours, and use MERGE to upsert changes.
   • BSwitch to a different source system that supports incremental loading.
   • CAccept the nightly full load and optimize the pipeline to complete faster by increasing parallelism.
   • DUse the mainframe's log files to implement incremental loading via CDC.
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4. 23foundation · easy

   What is the primary advantage of using an incremental load strategy over a full load strategy in Lakeflow Connect?

   • AIt simplifies the pipeline configuration by not requiring a primary key.
   • BIt reduces the amount of data transferred and processing time by only loading new or changed records.
   • CIt ensures that the target table always contains a complete snapshot of the source data.
   • DIt eliminates the need for source system change tracking capabilities.
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5. 24foundation · easy

   How does Lakeflow Connect integrate with Unity Catalog?

   • AIt requires manual registration of each table in Unity Catalog after ingestion.
   • BIt stores data in a separate catalog that is not governed by Unity Catalog.
   • CIt automatically registers ingested data as tables in Unity Catalog, making them governed and discoverable.
   • DIt bypasses Unity Catalog permissions and writes directly to cloud storage.
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6. 25application · medium

   A data engineer is configuring a Lakeflow Connect pipeline that ingests data from a SaaS application that only provides a full snapshot via API. The target table is used for daily reporting and must reflect the latest state. The pipeline runs nightly. What load strategy should be used?

   • AFull load with append, adding the snapshot to the existing table.
   • BFull load with overwrite, replacing the entire target table each night.
   • CIncremental load using CDC.
   • DIncremental load using a timestamp column.
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