IBM Certification Big Data Architect 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In IBM BigInsights, which component provides a SQL-like interface for querying large datasets stored in HDFS?
- IBM BigSQL (Correct answer)
- IBM Streams
- IBM DataStage
- IBM Cognos
Correct answer: IBM BigSQL
IBM BigSQL is a massively parallel processing SQL engine that allows querying data in HDFS using standard SQL syntax.
Question 2: Which IBM tool is specifically designed for real-time streaming analytics processing continuous data flows?
- IBM Db2 Warehouse
- IBM Streams (Correct answer)
- IBM DataStage
- IBM Cognos Analytics
Correct answer: IBM Streams
IBM Streams is the platform purpose-built for processing and analyzing continuous streams of data in real time.
Question 3: When designing a Lambda architecture on IBM Cloud, which layer handles both speed and batch processing results for query serving?
- Batch layer
- Speed layer
- Serving layer (Correct answer)
- Ingestion layer
Correct answer: Serving layer
The serving layer in Lambda architecture merges batch views and real-time views to answer low-latency queries.
Question 4: Which IBM product provides governed data lake capabilities with integrated data catalog and lineage tracking?
- IBM Watson Knowledge Catalog (Correct answer)
- IBM MQ
- IBM SPSS Modeler
- IBM Netezza
Correct answer: IBM Watson Knowledge Catalog
IBM Watson Knowledge Catalog provides metadata management, data lineage, and governance policies for enterprise data lakes.
Question 5: In a Hadoop cluster managed by IBM, what is the primary role of YARN?
- Storing data blocks redundantly across nodes
- Managing cluster resources and scheduling jobs (Correct answer)
- Coordinating distributed metadata operations
- Providing fault-tolerant name resolution
Correct answer: Managing cluster resources and scheduling jobs
YARN (Yet Another Resource Negotiator) is responsible for resource management and job scheduling across the Hadoop cluster.
Question 6: Which data serialization format is preferred in IBM big data pipelines for schema evolution support with compact binary encoding?
- CSV
- XML
- Apache Avro (Correct answer)
- Plain JSON
Correct answer: Apache Avro
Apache Avro supports schema evolution and uses a compact binary format, making it ideal for Hadoop-based big data pipelines.
Question 7: A Big Data Architect must choose between vertical and horizontal scaling for an IBM data warehouse. What is the primary advantage of horizontal scaling?
- Reduced network latency between nodes
- Ability to add commodity nodes without downtime constraints (Correct answer)
- Lower licensing costs per CPU socket
- Simplified single-node administration
Correct answer: Ability to add commodity nodes without downtime constraints
Horizontal scaling allows adding more commodity nodes to distribute load, providing near-linear scalability without expensive hardware upgrades.
IBM Certification Big Data Architect 2
In IBM BigInsights, which component provides a SQL-like interface for querying large datasets stored in HDFS?