What is the role of metadata in keeping lakehouse data trustworthy?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Metadata is how you decide whether a table is the right one before you build on it. It’s a discovery and trust layer, not storage, not encryption, and definitely not a substitute for permissions.
Full Explanation
Metadata records structure, meaning, ownership and context. That is what makes a data asset discoverable and lets a consumer judge suitability rather than guessing from a table name. The option that says metadata stores the row data itself is incorrect because metadata describes data; the rows live in the underlying files and are read through an engine. The option that says metadata encrypts sensitive columns as they are written to object storage is incorrect because encryption is a separate protection mechanism operating on data at rest, not a function of the descriptive catalog. The option that says metadata replaces the need for access policies is incorrect and inverts the relationship: good metadata makes governance easier to apply, but describing data does not authorise anyone to read it. For the exam, metadata answers what and whose; access control answers who may.