CERTIFIED-DATA-ANALYST-ASSOCIATE Question #68: Real Exam Question with Answer & Explanation

Question

What is used as a compute resource for Databricks SQL?

Options

• ASingle-node clusters
• BDownstream BI tools integrated with Databricks SQL
• CSQL warehouses
• DStandard clusters

Explanation

SQL warehouses are the dedicated compute resource for Databricks SQL - they are purpose-built clusters optimized for running SQL queries and BI workloads, providing features like auto-scaling, auto-stop, and query result caching specific to the SQL analytics use case.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A (Single-node clusters) - Single-node clusters are for development/ML workloads, not SQL analytics; they lack the multi-worker architecture SQL warehouses provide.
• B (Downstream BI tools) - BI tools like Tableau or Power BI connect to Databricks SQL as clients, they don't provide compute - they consume results.
• D (Standard clusters) - Standard (all-purpose) clusters run notebooks and jobs; while you can run SQL on them, they are not the compute resource used by Databricks SQL.

Memory tip: Think of "warehouse" as a data warehouse analogy - just as a data warehouse is optimized for analytical queries, a SQL warehouse in Databricks is compute optimized specifically for SQL. If the question mentions "Databricks SQL," the answer involves SQL warehouses.

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