Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure (AZ-204) Practice Exam

When processing events in Event Hubs, what term describes when the position of the last processed event is saved?

1. Buffering

2. Checkpointing

3. Session management

4. Load balancing

The correct answer is: Checkpointing

The term that describes when the position of the last processed event is saved in Event Hubs is checkpointing. Checkpointing is a critical process that allows an application to remember its last read position, so in the event of a failure or restart, it can continue processing from that point rather than starting over. This is especially important in event-driven architectures where data streams can be continuous and voluminous. Checkpointing ensures that data is not lost and that the application remains efficient and reliable. By recording offsets or event markers, it provides a way for consumers of events to manage the progress of their processing, effectively minimizing the risk of duplication or data loss. In general, it is a common pattern in managing stateful applications interacting with stream processing systems, allowing for resilient and fault-tolerant designs. In contrast, other terms do not capture this specific concept. Buffering refers to temporarily storing data when it is being transferred. Session management deals with handling user sessions, typically related to authentication and maintaining user identity. Load balancing involves distributing workloads across multiple resources to ensure no single resource is overwhelmed, which is not directly related to preserving the state of event processing.