1/17/2015

Top50TeradataInterviewQuestions

Top 50 Teradata Interview Questions

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1.HowdoyoudefineTeradata?Give
someoftheprimarycharacteristicsof
thesame.
TeradataisbasicallyanRDMSwhichis
usedtodrivetheDatamart,Datawarehouse,
OLAP,OLTP,aswellasDSSAppliancesof
thecompany.Someoftheprimary
characteristicsofTeradataaregivenbelow.
IscapableofrunningonSinglenodes,as
wellasmultinodes.
Parallelismisbuiltintothesystem.
VerymuchcompatiblewiththestandardsofANSI.
Tendstoactinthesamewayasaserver.
ItisanOpenSystemthatbasicallyexecutesforUNIXMRRAS,SuseLinuxETC,WIN2K,
etc.

2.WhatarethenewlydevelopedfeaturesofTeradata?
SomeofthenewlydevelopedfeaturesofTeradataare:
Automatedtemporalanalytics
Extensioninthecompressioncapabilitieswhichallowsflexiblecompressionofdataabout20
timesmoredatathanthepreviousversion.
Customerassociatedinnovationliketetradataviewpoint.
3.HighlightafewoftheimportantcomponentsofTeradata.
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SomeoftheimportantcomponentsofTeradataare:
Bynet
AccessModuleProcessor(AMP)
ParsingEngine(PE)
VirtualDisk(vDisk)
VirtualStorageSystem(VSS)

[http://cdn.career.guru99.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/08/TeradataLogoVertical.gif]
4.Mentiontheprocedureviawhich,wecanrunTeradatajobsinaUNIXenvironment.
AllyouhavetodoisperformexecutioninUNIXinthewayasmentionedbelow.
$Sh>BTEQ<[ScriptPath]>[LogfilePath]
or
$Sh>BTEQ<[ScriptPath]TEE[LogfilePath]
5.InTeradata,howdoweGenerateSequence?
InTeradata,weGenerateSequencebymakinguseofIdentityColumn

6.DuringtheDisplaytime,howisthesequencegeneratedbyTeradata?
AllyouhavetodoisuseCSUM.
7.Acertainloadisbeingimposedonthetableandthattoo,everyhour.Thetrafficinthe
morningisrelativelylow,andthatofthenightisveryhigh.Asperthissituation,whichis
themostadvisableutilityandhowisthatutilitysupposedtobeloaded?
ThemostsuggestibleutilityherehastobeTpump.Bymakinguseofpacketsizedecreasingor
increasing,thetrafficcanbeeasilyhandled.
8.IfFastLoadScriptfailsandonlytheerrortablesaremadeavailabletoyou,thenhow
willyourestart?
Therearebasicallytwowaysofrestartinginthiscase.
MakingtheoldfiletorunMakesurethatyoudonotcompletelydroptheerrortables.
Instead,trytorectifytheerrorsthatarepresentinthescriptorthefileandthenexecute
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again.
RunninganewfileInthisprocess,thescriptisexecutedsimplyusingendloadingand
beginningstatements.Thiswillhelpinremovingthelockthathasbeenputuponthetarget
tableandmightalsoremovethegivenrecordfromthefastlogtable.Oncethisisdone,you
arefreetorunthewholescriptonceagain.

9.MentionafewoftheETLtoolsthatcomeunderTeradata.
SomeoftheETLtoolswhicharecommonlyusedinTeradataareDataStage,Informatica,SSIS,
etc.
10.HighlightafewoftheadvantagesthatETLtoolshaveoverTD.
SomeoftheadvantagesthatETLtoolshaveoverTDare:
Multipleheterogeneousdestinations,aswellassourcescanbeoperated.
DebuggingprocessismucheasierwiththehelpofETLtoolsowingtofullfledgedGUI
support.
ComponentsofETLtoolscanbeeasilyreused,andasaresult,ifthereisanupdatetothe
mainserver,thenallthecorrespondingapplicationsconnectedtotheserverareupdated
automatically.
DepivotingandpivotingcanbeeasilydoneusingETLtools.

11.WhatisthemeaningofCachinginTeradata?
CachingisconsideredasanaddedadvantageofusingTeradataasitprimarilyworkswiththe
sourcewhichstaysinthesameorderi.e.doesnotchangeonafrequentbasis.Attimes,Cache
isusuallysharedamongstapplications.
12.HowcanwechecktheversionofTeradatathatweareusingcurrently?
Justgivethecommand.SHOWVERSION.
13.GiveajustifiablereasonwhyMultiloadsupportsNUSIinsteadofUSI.
TheindexsubtablerowhappenstobeonthesameAmpinthesamewayasthedatarowin
NUSI.Thus,eachAmpisoperatedseparatelyandinaparallelmanner.
14.HowisMLOADClientSystemrestartedafterexecution?
Thescripthastobesubmittedmanuallysothatitcaneasilyloadthedatafromthecheckpoint
thatcomeslast.
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15.HowisMLOADTeradataServerrestartedafterexecution?
Theprocessisbasicallycarriedoutfromthelastknowncheckpoint,andoncethedatahas
beencarriedoutafterexecutionofMLOADscript,theserverisrestarted.
16.Whatismeantbyanode?
Anodebasicallyistermedasanassortmentofcomponentsofhardwareandsoftware.Usually
aserverisreferredtoasanode.
17.Letussaythereisafilethatconsistsof100recordsoutofwhichweneedtoskipthe
firstandthelast20records.Whatwillthecodesnippet?
WeneedtouseBTEQUtilityinordertodothistask.Skip20,aswellasRepeat60willbeused
inthescript.
18.ExplainPDE.
PDEbasicallystandsforParallelDataExtension.PDEbasicallyhappenstobeaninterface
layerofsoftwarepresentabovetheoperationsystemandgivesthedatabaseachanceto
operateinaparallelmilieu.
19.WhatisTPD?
TPDbasicallystandsforTrustedParallelDatabase,anditbasicallyworksunderPDE.Teradata
happenstobeadatabasethatprimarilyworksunderPDE.ThisisthereasonwhyTeradatais
usuallyreferredtoasTrustedParallelorPureParalleldatabase.
20.WhatismeantbyaChannelDriver?
AchanneldriverissoftwarethatactsasamediumofcommunicationbetweenPEsandallthe
applicationsthatarerunningonchannelswhichareattachedtotheclients.
21.WhatismeantbyTeradataGateway?
Justlikechanneldriver,TeradataGatewayactsasamediumofcommunicationbetweenthe
ParseEngineandapplicationsthatareattachedtonetworkclients.OnlyoneGatewayis
assignedpernode.
22.WhatismeantbyaVirtualDisk?
VirtualDiskisbasicallyacompilationofawholearrayofcylinderswhicharephysicaldisks.Itis
sometimesreferredtoasdiskArray.
23.ExplainthemeaningofAmp?
AmpbasicallystandsforAccessModuleProcessorandhappenstobeaprocessorworking
virtuallyandisbasicallyusedformanagingasingleportionofthedatabase.Thisparticular
portionofdatabasecannotbesharedbyanyotherAmp.Thus,thisformofarchitectureis

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portionofdatabasecannotbesharedbyanyotherAmp.Thus,thisformofarchitectureis
commonlyreferredtoassharednothingarchitecture.
24.WhatdoesAmpcontainandwhatarealltheoperationsthatitperforms?
AmpbasicallyconsistsofaDatabaseManagerSubsystemandiscapableofperformingthe
operationsmentionedbelow.
PerformingDML
PerformingDDL
ImplementingAggregationsandJoins.
Releasingandapplyinglocks,etc.

25.WhatismeantbyaParsingEngine?
PEhappenstobeakindVproc.ItsprimaryfunctionistotakeSQLrequestsanddeliver
responsesinSQL.Itconsistsofawidearrayofsoftwarecomponentsthatareusedtobreak
SQLintovariousstepsandthensendthosestepstoAMPs.
26.Whatdoyoumeanbyparsing?
Parsingisaprocessconcernedwithanalysisofsymbolsofstringthatareeitherincomputer
languageorinnaturallanguage.
27.WhatarethefunctionsofaParser?
AParser:
Checkssemanticserrors
Checkssyntacticalerrors
Checksobjectexistence
28.Whatismeantbyadispatcher?
Dispatchertakesawholecollectionofrequestsandthenkeepsthemstoredinaqueue.The
samequeueisbeingkeptthroughouttheprocessinordertodelivermultiplesetsofresponses.
29.HowmanysessionsofMAXisPEcapableofhandlingataparticulartime?
PEcanhandleatotalof120sessionsataparticularpointoftime.
30.ExplainBYNET.
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30.ExplainBYNET.
BYNETbasicallyservesasamediumofcommunicationbetweenthecomponents.Itisprimarily
responsibleforsendingmessagesandalsoresponsibleforperformingmerging,aswellas
sortingoperations.
31.WhatismeantbyaClique?
ACliqueisbasicallyknowntobeanassortmentofnodesthatisbeingsharedamongstcommon
diskdrives.PresenceofCliqueisimmenselyimportantsinceithelpsinavoidingnodefailures.
32.Whathappenswhenanodesuffersadownfall?
Wheneverthereisadownfallintheperformancelevelofanode,allthecorrespondingVprocs
immediatelymigratetoanewnodefromthefailnodeinordertogetallthedatabackfrom
commondrives.
33.ListoutallformsofLOCKSthatareavailableinTeradata.
TherearebasicallyfourtypesofLOCKSthatfallunderTeradata.Theseare:
ReadLock
AccessLock
ExclusiveLock
WriteLock
34.WhatistheparticulardesignatedlevelatwhichaLOCKisliabletobeappliedin
Teradata?
TableLevelAlltherowsthatarepresentinsideatablewillcertainlybelocked.
DatabaseLevelLockAlltheobjectsthatarepresentinsidethedatabasewillbelocked.
RowHashLevelLockOnlythoserowswillbelockedwhicharecorrespondingtothe
particularrow.
35.InthePrimaryIndex,whatisthescoreofAMPsthatareactivelyinvolved?
OnlyoneAMPisactivelyinvolvedinaPrimaryIndex.
36.InTeradata,whatisthesignificanceofUPSERTcommand?
UPSERTbasicallystandsforUpdateElseInsert.ThisoptionisavailableonlyinTeradata.
37.HighlighttheadvantagesofPPI(PartitionPrimaryIndex).
PPIisbasicallyusedforRangebasedorCategorybaseddatastoragepurposes.Whenit
comestoRangequeries,thereisnoneedofFulltablescanutilizationasitstraightawaymoves
totheconsequentpartitionthusskippingalltheotherpartitions.
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totheconsequentpartitionthusskippingalltheotherpartitions.
38.GivethesizesofSMALLINT,BYTEINTandINTEGER.
SMALLINT2Bytes16Bites>32768to32767
BYTEINT1Bytes8Bits>128to127
INTEGER4Bytes32Bits>2,147,483,648to2,147,483,647
39.WhatismeantbyaLeastCostPlan?
ALeastCostPlanbasicallyexecutesinlesstimeacrosstheshortestpath.
40.HighlightthepointsofdifferencesbetweenthedatabaseanduserinTeradata.
Adatabaseisbasicallypassive,whereasauserisactive.
Adatabaseprimarilystoresalltheobjectsofdatabase,whereasausercanstoreanyobject
whetherthatisamacro,table,view,etc.
Databasedoesnothaspasswordwhiletheuserhastoenterpassword.
41.HighlightthedifferencesbetweenPrimaryKeyandPrimaryIndex.
Primaryindexisquitemandatory,whereasPrimaryKeyisoptional.
PrimaryIndexhasalimitof64tables/columns,whereasPrimaryKeydoesnothaveany
limit.
PrimaryIndexallowsduplicatesandnulls,whereasPrimaryKeydoesnt.
PrimaryIndexisaphysicalmechanism,whereasPrimaryKeyispurelylogicalmechanism.
42.Explainhowspoolspaceisused.
SpoolspaceinTeradataisbasicallyusedforrunningqueries.Outofthetotalspacethatis
availableinTeradata,20%ofthespaceisbasicallyallocatedtospoolspace.
43.HighlighttheneedforPerformanceTuning.
PerformancetuninginTeradataisbasicallydonetoidentifyallthebottlenecksandthenresolve
them.
44.Commentwhetherbottleneckisanerrorornot.
Technically,bottleneckisnotaformoferror,butitcertainlycausesacertainamountofdelayin
thesystem.
45.Howcanbottlenecksbeidentified?
Therearebasicallyfourwaysofidentifyingabottleneck.Theseare:
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TeradataVisualExplain
ExplainRequestModifier
TeradataManager
PerformanceMonitor
46.WhatismeantbyaHighestCostPlan?
AsperHighestCostPlan,thetimetakentoexecutetheprocessismore,andittakesthe
longestpathavailable.
47.HighlightallthemodesthatarepresentunderConfidenceLevel.
Low,No,HighandJoinarethefourmodesthatarepresentunderConfidenceLevel.
48.NamethefivephasesthatcomeunderMultiLoadUtility.
PreliminaryPhase,DMLPhase,DataAcquisitionPhase,ApplicationPhaseandEndPhase.
49.HighlightthelimitationsofTPUMPUtility.
FollowingarethelimitationsofTPUMPutility:
WecannotuseSELECTstatement.
DataFilescannotbeconcatenated.
AggregateandExponentialoperatorsarenotsupported.
Arithmeticfunctionscannotbesupported.
50.InBTEQ,howarethesessionmodeparametersbeingset?
.setsessiontransactionBTET>Teradatatransactionmode
.setsessiontransactionANSI>ANSImode
Thesecommandswillworkonlywhentheyareenteredbeforeloggingintothesession.

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Sagar 8monthsago

Nicequestionsandclearanswers,simplywow!!!
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