Answer: Structured Streaming in Azure Databricks

## Detailed Analysis ### Requirements Analysis: - **Streaming data processing** from Azure Event Hubs - **Output to Azure Data Lake Storage** - **Interactive querying** capability for analysts ### Option Evaluation: **B. Structured Streaming in Azure Databricks** ✅ **OPTIMAL CHOICE** - **Streaming Processing**: Structured Streaming provides native, scalable stream processing capabilities with exactly-once processing semantics - **Interactive Querying**: Databricks notebooks offer excellent interactive querying capabilities with Spark SQL and visualization tools - **Integration**: Seamlessly integrates with Azure Event Hubs for ingestion and Azure Data Lake Storage for output - **Real-time Analytics**: Supports both streaming processing and interactive exploration of live data - **Best Practice**: Databricks is specifically designed for data engineering and analytics workloads with strong streaming capabilities **A. Azure Stream Analytics and Azure Synapse notebooks** ⚠️ **LESS SUITABLE** - While Azure Stream Analytics can process streaming data and output to Data Lake Storage - Interactive querying requires switching between services (Stream Analytics → Data Lake → Synapse notebooks) - Less seamless integration compared to Databricks' unified platform - Additional complexity in managing multiple Azure services **C. Event triggers in Azure Data Factory** ❌ **INAPPROPRIATE** - ADF is primarily for data movement and orchestration, not real-time stream processing - Lacks native streaming processing capabilities - No built-in interactive querying functionality for analysts **D. Azure Queue storage and read-access geo-redundant storage (RA-GRS)** ❌ **IRRELEVANT** - These are storage services, not processing or analytics platforms - No streaming processing capabilities - No interactive querying functionality ### Key Decision Factors: 1. **Unified Platform**: Databricks provides both streaming processing and interactive analytics in one environment 2. **Real-time Querying**: Structured Streaming supports continuous processing with live query results 3. **Azure Integration**: Native connectors for Event Hubs and Data Lake Storage 4. **Analyst Experience**: Databricks notebooks offer superior interactive querying and visualization tools ### Conclusion: Structured Streaming in Azure Databricks is the optimal solution as it addresses all requirements in a unified, scalable platform specifically designed for real-time data processing and interactive analytics.

Author: LeetQuiz Editorial Team