🚀 Azure Data Engineer Interview Questions: Master Guide 2025
Section 1: Azure Cloud Fundamentals
Q1. What are the practical uses of Azure Cloud?
- Cloud Storage
- App Storage
- Virtualizations
- Cloud Computing
- All Above
Q2. What is the difference between Azure Cloud Services and Azure Cloud Resources?
| Feature | Azure Cloud Service [cite: 7] | Azure Cloud Resource [cite: 7] |
| Definition | An offering from cloud. We enjoy using the service as is. [cite: 8] | An item we buy from Azure [cite: 11] |
| Cost | Most of the cases, its free. [cite: 9] | Used to perform all operations like storage, computing, ETL, DWH. [cite: 12] |
| Examples | Azure AD (Entra), Azure Metrics, Azure Cost Management Service. [cite: 10] | (e.g., Virtual Machines, Azure SQL Database, Data Factory) |
Q3. What are the different types of environment in Azure cloud?
- IaaS
- PaaS
- SaaS
Q4. What are the Pricing Tiers in Azure?
- Pay per month
- Pay per hour
- Pay per GB / TB
Section 2: Azure Storage and Data Handling
Q5. What kind of data you can store in Azure cloud?
- File
- Tables
- Apps
Q6. How do you store Files in Azure Cloud?
- Storage Account
- Data Lake Storage Account
Q7. How do you store Tables in Azure Cloud?
- Azure Tables in Storage Account
- Data Lake Storage Account
- Azure SQL Databases
Q8. What kind of databases you can store in Azure Cloud?
- OLTP
- DWH
- OLAP
- NoSQL Databases
Section 3: Database Migration and Tools
Q9. How do you generate bacpac & dacpac files in Azure Cloud?
- Bacpac File (DB Migrations): Generated from SSMS Tool: Right Click Database > Tasks > Export data Tier. This generates bacpac file. Used in DB Migrations.
- Dacpac File (DevOps @ CI-CD Pipelines): Generated from SSMS Tool: Right Click Database > Tasks > Extract data Tier. This generates dacpac file. Used in DevOps @ CI-CD Pipelines.
Q10. How do you generate dacpac files in Azure Cloud?
- Not Possible. Only possible from standalone tools like SSMS, Visual Studio, etc..
Q11. What are the various tools you are aware of in Azure Cloud?
- SSMS Tool
- Azure Storage Explorer
- Azure Self Hosted IR
- Data Migration Assistant (DMA)
- ADS Tool
Section 4: Azure Data Factory (ADF) & ETL Concepts
Q12. What are the practical uses of a pipeline?
- ETL Pipelines: Used for ETL & DWH Operations.
- DevOps Pipelines: Used for Code Automations and CI-CD.
Q13. What is a Trigger in ETL process?
- Trigger is a means of execution of a published pipeline.
- Debugging is a means of testing / execution of an unpublished pipeline.
Q14. What is a linked service?
- A connection item stored in Azure Data Factory resource and Synapse Analytics resource.
- It is used to perform ETL Operations.
Q15. What is SHIR (Self-Hosted IR)?
- This IR is used to establish connections from On-Premises to Cloud.
Q 16: What are the different ADF Copy Methods?
- Bulk Insert
- Upsert
- Copy Command
Q17: What is Upsert Copy Method?
- Upsert is Responsible for Data Delta Computations.
- It is used to perform Table to Table Merge (OLTP Versus DWH).
- It Needs a Business Key [Only one business key].
Q18: What are the various ADF Optimizations?
- Staging
- Logging (Reliable)
- DIU : Data Integration Unit
- DOCP : Degree of Copy parallelism
- Partitions
- Distributions
- Compressions
- Parallel Connections
Q19: How do you implement ADF Staging?
- We can implement staging by using Storage Account and ADLS Storage Account.
- Container service (storage service) is mandatory.Reason: Staging results in automated BLOB Files for “staging” or preloading the data into storage account for faster, efficient ETL transformations.ADLS Storage Account is preferred as compared to regular Storage Account.Optimization: Deploy the storage account in the same region in which the source data resided, if possible. This results in cost optimization as well as performance (compute) optimization