Question 11
Domain 2: Data Ingestion & AcquisitionYou need continuous cloud-file ingestion from an object store landing zone, with scalable file discovery and checkpointed progress. Which Databricks feature is designed for this?
Correct answer: B
Explanation
Auto Loader is built for continuous file ingestion from cloud object stores. It provides scalable file discovery and tracks progress with checkpoints so new files are processed incrementally from the landing zone.
Why each option is right or wrong
A. COPY INTO
COPY INTO is mainly a batch-style loading command, not the primary continuous discovery mechanism.
B. Auto Loader
Databricks Auto Loader is the feature intended for incremental ingestion from cloud object stores because it continuously discovers new files in a landing zone and persists ingestion state in a checkpoint so only unseen data is processed on subsequent runs. In practice, it scales file discovery across large directories and supports structured streaming semantics, which is why it fits a continuous, checkpointed ingestion pipeline rather than a one-time batch load.
C. Delta Sharing
Delta Sharing is for secure data sharing across systems, not ingesting files from landing zones.
D. Lakehouse Federation
Lakehouse Federation queries external data sources; it does not continuously ingest object-store files.