Managed Airflow (MWAA, Cloud Composer, Astronomer) - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Understanding Managed Airflow Services

Which of the following statements correctly describes a key advantage of using Managed Airflow services like MWAA, Cloud Composer, or Astronomer?

A They require manual installation and management of Airflow components on your own servers.

B They prevent you from customizing DAGs or plugins in any way.

C They only support running Airflow on local machines, not in the cloud.

D They automatically handle Airflow infrastructure, scaling, and upgrades for you.

💡 Hint

Think about what 'managed' means in cloud services.

Managed Airflow services handle the setup, scaling, and maintenance of Airflow infrastructure, so you can focus on writing workflows.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

Checking MWAA Environment Status

You run the AWS CLI command to list MWAA environments:

aws mwaa list-environments --region us-east-1

What is the expected output format of this command?

A {"Environments": ["prod-airflow", "dev-airflow"]}

B ["prod-airflow", "dev-airflow"]

C {"EnvironmentNames": ["prod-airflow", "dev-airflow"]}

D {"Envs": ["prod-airflow", "dev-airflow"]}

💡 Hint

Check AWS CLI documentation for MWAA list-environments output keys.

The AWS CLI returns a JSON object with the key "Environments" containing a list of environment names.

❓ Configuration

advanced

Configuring Airflow Connections in Cloud Composer

Which of the following is the correct way to add a new connection to Airflow in Google Cloud Composer using the gcloud CLI?

A gcloud composer environments run ENVIRONMENT_NAME --location LOCATION connections add --conn_id my_conn --conn_type mysql --conn_host 127.0.0.1 --conn_port 3306

B gcloud composer environments run ENVIRONMENT_NAME --location LOCATION connections -- add --conn_id my_conn --conn_type mysql --conn_host 127.0.0.1 --conn_port 3306

C gcloud composer environments run ENVIRONMENT_NAME --location LOCATION connections --add --conn_id my_conn --conn_type mysql --conn_host 127.0.0.1 --conn_port 3306

D gcloud composer environments run ENVIRONMENT_NAME --location LOCATION connections -- add --conn_id=my_conn --conn_type=mysql --conn_host=127.0.0.1 --conn_port=3306

💡 Hint

Remember the syntax for running Airflow CLI commands through gcloud composer environments run.

The correct syntax uses double dashes before the Airflow command and its arguments, with spaces separating flags and values.

❓ Troubleshoot

advanced

Diagnosing DAG Deployment Issues in Astronomer

You deployed a new DAG to Astronomer, but it does not appear in the Airflow UI. Which of the following is the most likely cause?

A Astronomer does not support custom DAGs.

B The DAG was deployed but Airflow UI caches the old list and needs a browser refresh.

C The DAG file has a syntax error causing it to fail parsing.

D The DAG file was placed in the plugins folder instead of the DAGs folder.

💡 Hint

Think about what happens if Airflow cannot parse a DAG file.

If a DAG file has syntax errors, Airflow will skip loading it, so it won't show up in the UI.

🔀 Workflow

expert

Automating MWAA Environment Updates

You want to automate updating the Airflow configuration options in an MWAA environment using AWS CLI. Which sequence of commands correctly updates the environment's Airflow configuration options and then triggers the environment update?

A aws mwaa update-environment --name my-env --airflow-configuration-options '{"core.dag_concurrency":"10"}'

B aws mwaa update-environment --name my-env --airflow-configuration-options core.dag_concurrency=10 && aws mwaa get-environment --name my-env

C aws mwaa update-environment --name my-env --airflow-configuration-options '{"core.dag_concurrency":10}'

D aws mwaa update-environment --name my-env --airflow-configuration-options {"core.dag_concurrency":"10"} && aws mwaa get-environment --name my-env

💡 Hint

Check the correct JSON format and quoting for the --airflow-configuration-options parameter.

The --airflow-configuration-options parameter expects a JSON string with keys and string values properly quoted.