“Microsoft Fabric Support” can refer to two different things, depending on the context:
Azure Service Fabric support
Microsoft Power BI Fabric support
Next steps for Microsoft Fabric Support
Microsoft Fabric pricing can be a bit intricate because it involves two aspects: compute pricing for running your workloads and storage pricing for your data. Here’s a breakdown:
Compute Pricing
Storage Pricing
Additional Considerations:
Next Steps to Support Fabric Pricing
There are no specific certifications exclusively titled for “Microsoft Fabric,” whether referring to Microsoft Service Fabric or Fluent UI (formerly Office UI Fabric). However, related certifications are available for broader technologies and platforms within the Microsoft ecosystem that encompass skills and knowledge related to these services.
For those working with Microsoft Service Fabric, relevant certifications could include:
Azure Certifications
– Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate (Exam AZ-204): This certification is for developers who design, build, test, and maintain cloud applications and services on Microsoft Azure, which may include applications built using Service Fabric.
– Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert (Exams AZ-303 and AZ-304): This advanced certification covers aspects of implementing solutions on Azure, including compute, network, storage, and security, which can be applicable to Service Fabric architectures.
DevOps Certifications
– Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert (Exam AZ-400): This certification is for individuals who combine people, process, and technologies to continuously deliver valuable products and services that meet end-user needs and business objectives, relevant to microservices and containerized applications managed through Service Fabric.
For Fluent UI (formerly Office UI Fabric), certifications would be more aligned with front-end development and design, such as:
Microsoft 365 Certifications
– Microsoft Certified: Developer Associate (Exam MS-600): This certification involves extending Microsoft 365, which can include developing custom user interfaces that align with the Fluent UI framework for a cohesive design across Microsoft 365 applications.
Web Development and Design Certifications
– While there are no specific Microsoft certifications for web design that directly relate to Fluent UI, broader web development certifications may be valuable. These include certifications in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and modern web frameworks.
While these certifications do not specifically focus on Microsoft Service Fabric or Fluent UI, the knowledge and skills gained through these certifications can be highly relevant and beneficial for professionals working with these technologies.
Here’s a quick dive into Microsoft Fabric, focusing on its data analytics support:
Fabric is a unified platform within Azure that provides a seamless experience for data ingestion, transformation, analysis,and visualization. It combines multiple tools like Azure Synapse Analytics, Power BI, and Data Factory into a single environment.
Key Components
Getting Started
Benefits
Feature | Microsoft Fabric | Power BI |
---|---|---|
Focus | Unified data analytics platform | Business intelligence and data visualization tool |
Scope | Data ingestion, transformation, analysis, governance, visualization | Data visualization, interactive dashboards, reporting |
Components | OneLake storage, Data Factory, Synapse Analytics, Azure Cognitive Services | Desktop application, cloud service, mobile apps, connectors |
Data Sources | Diverse, including structured, semi-structured, and unstructured | Primarily structured data, connects to various external sources |
Analysis Capabilities | Data warehousing, real-time analytics, data science, machine learning | Interactive dashboards, ad-hoc analysis, KPI monitoring |
Target Users | Data analysts, data scientists, developers, IT professionals | Business analysts, decision-makers, executives, citizen data scientists |
Learning Curve | Steeper due to broader scope and technical aspects | Easier to learn for basic use cases, advanced features have a steeper learning curve |
Cost | Pay-as-you-go for individual services | Per user or per workspace pricing depending on features and deployment |
Similarities
Differences
Support Use Cases
Additional Insights
Licensing support for Microsoft Fabric involves a combination of individual service subscriptions and potential additional costs depending on your specific usage. Here’s a breakdown:
Core Services Supported
OneLake Storage Costs
Additional Licensing Considerations
Fabric Licensing Guidance
Microsoft Fabric can support a variety of architectures, as its flexibility allows it to adapt to different needs and scenarios. However, here are some common architectural patterns used with Fabric:
Factors to Consider When Choosing an Architecture
Additional Considerations
Feature | Microsoft Fabric | Databricks |
---|---|---|
Focus | Unified data analytics platform | Big data processing and machine learning platform |
Strengths | Data integration, governance, scalability, Azure integration | Scalable data processing, real-time analytics, machine learning, open-source ecosystem |
Components | OneLake storage, Data Factory, Synapse Analytics, Azure Cognitive Services | Apache Spark, Databricks Runtime, MLflow, Unity Catalog |
Data Sources | Diverse, including structured, semi-structured, and unstructured | Primarily structured, supports diverse external sources |
Analysis Capabilities | Data warehousing, real-time analytics, data science, machine learning | Large-scale data processing, interactive notebooks, streaming analytics, distributed machine learning |
Target Users | Data analysts, data scientists, developers, IT professionals | Data scientists, data engineers, analysts, developers |
Learning Curve | Steeper due to broader scope and technical aspects | Steeper for advanced features, but accessible for basic data processing |
Cost | Pay-as-you-go for individual services | Pay-as-you-go for compute resources, optional additional service fees |
Cloud Agnostic | No, Azure-native | Yes, runs on multiple cloud platforms and on-premises |
Similarities
Differences
Making the Right Choice
Additional Support Considerations
The cost of supporting “Microsoft Fabric” can vary depending on whether you’re referring to Microsoft Service Fabric or Fluent UI (formerly Office UI Fabric), and how you plan to use them. Since both are distinct technologies within Microsoft’s ecosystem, their support costs vary by platform.
Microsoft Service Fabric
Service Cost: Microsoft Service Fabric itself is a free, open-source platform. There’s no direct cost for using Service Fabric.
Infrastructure Costs: If you deploy Service Fabric on Azure, you’ll pay for the Azure resources it consumes (e.g., virtual machines, storage, networking). These costs depend on the scale and size of your deployment.
Support Plan Costs: If you require official support from Microsoft (e.g., for troubleshooting or advanced guidance), you’d typically need a support plan. Microsoft Azure support plans range from Developer to Premier, with costs varying from a few hundred to thousands of dollars per month. Third-party support is available from US Cloud for those seeking a more affordable alternative to Microsoft.
Development and Maintenance Costs: There are costs associated with the development and maintenance of applications built on Service Fabric. This includes developer salaries, training, and potentially consulting fees if external expertise is required.
Fluent UI (Formerly Office UI Fabric)
Framework Cost: Fluent UI is a free, open-source framework. There are no fees for using it.
Development Costs: The primary cost for using Fluent UI would be related to development – paying for the developers who build and maintain the UI of your applications.
Training and Learning: If your team is not familiar with Fluent UI, there might be costs associated with training or learning resources.
General Support Considerations
Integration and Compatibility: Costs may also arise from integrating these technologies into your existing systems, especially if compatibility issues occur.
Scaling and Complexity: As your usage of these technologies grows, so might the costs related to infrastructure, support, and maintenance.
Support and Updates: Ongoing support and keeping the systems updated with the latest versions can also contribute to the costs.
The total cost of ownership (TCO) includes the infrastructure, development, and operational costs, may vary widely depending on the specific use case and scale of implementation. For a detailed and accurate cost assessment, it would be advisable to consult with US Cloud or a Microsoft sales representative, particularly if you’re considering a large-scale or enterprise-level deployment.
Microsoft Fabric supports Copilot, which is an AI development assistant that helps developers write better code. Copilot can be used with Fabric to improve the development of data pipelines, data transformation scripts, and other Fabric applications.
Using Copilot with Fabric
To use Copilot with Fabric, you will need to install the Copilot extension for your IDE.
Copilot is currently available for Visual Studio Code and PyCharm. Once you have installed the extension, you can start using Copilot by writing code in your IDE and pressing Tab. Copilot will then suggest code snippets and complete code statements for you.
Benefits of using Microsoft Copilot with Fabric
Microsoft Fabric offers various login support options to help you access your Fabric resources securely and efficiently. Here’s an overview of the available methods:
In addition to these login methods, Fabric also offers support for multi-factor authentication (MFA) to enhance security and protect against unauthorized access attempts.
Microsoft Fabric provides comprehensive support for Lakehouse architecture, enabling organizations to store, manage, and analyze diverse data types in a unified repository. Its core components, such as OneLake storage, Data Factory, and Synapse Analytics, are designed to facilitate a seamless Lakehouse experience.
OneLake Storage
Data Factory
Synapse Analytics
Overall, Microsoft Fabric’s support for Lakehouse architecture empowers organizations to:
Microsoft Fabric, which generally refers to either Microsoft Service Fabric or Fluent UI (formerly Office UI Fabric), does not directly provide data warehouse support as its primary function. However, these technologies can interact with or support systems that include data warehousing in a broader enterprise architecture.
Microsoft Service Fabric
Microservices for Data Processing: While Service Fabric itself is not a data warehousing tool, it can be used to develop microservices that process and handle data, which can then be stored in a data warehouse.
Integration with Data Systems: Microservices running on Service Fabric can be designed to interact with data warehouses, performing tasks such as data ingestion, transformation, and movement. Service Fabric can manage the orchestration and scalability of these services.
Real-time Data Processing: Service Fabric is suitable for scenarios that require real-time processing and analysis of data before it is stored in a data warehouse.
Containerization and Deployment: For modern data architectures that use containers, Service Fabric provides a platform for deploying and managing these containers, which might include applications used for data warehousing tasks.
Fluent UI (Office UI Fabric)
User Interface for Data Applications: Fluent UI can be used to build the front-end of applications that interface with data warehouses. It can be employed to create dashboards, reports, and other data visualization tools that pull data from data warehouses.
Consistency in Design: For organizations using Microsoft products extensively, including their data warehouse solutions (like Azure Synapse Analytics), Fluent UI helps in maintaining a consistent look and feel across all their internal tools and applications.
Microsoft Ecosystem and Data Warehousing
– Azure Synapse Analytics: In the Microsoft ecosystem, Azure Synapse Analytics is the primary service offering for data warehousing. While Microsoft Fabric technologies don’t directly support Azure Synapse Analytics, they can be part of an overall solution involving data warehousing.
– Integration and Connectivity: Both Microsoft Service Fabric and Fluent UI can be part of a larger architecture that includes data warehousing, especially within a Microsoft-centric environment where integration with Azure services is a key consideration.
Microsoft Fabric technologies like Service Fabric and Fluent UI don’t directly provide data warehouse support but can play supportive and integrative roles in an architecture that includes data warehousing. They contribute to the processing, orchestration, management, and presentation of data, which are all key aspects of a comprehensive data warehousing strategy.
Microsoft Fabric fully supports OneLake architecture, enabling organizations to store, manage, and analyze diverse data types in a unified repository. OneLake storage, a core component of Fabric, provides a scalable and secure data lakehouse that can accommodate structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data.
Benefits of OneLake support in Microsoft Fabric
Microsoft Fabric’s comprehensive support for OneLake architecture empowers enterprises to:
By leveraging Fabric’s OneLake support, enterprises can unlock the full potential of their data assets and drive innovation and competitive advantage.
The Microsoft Fabric roadmap emphasizes the continuous improvement of data ingestion, transformation, analysis, governance, observability, and integration with dataOps practices. These advancements aim to empower organizations to derive deeper insights from their data, gain competitive advantages, and make informed decisions.
Area | Key Objectives (2024) | Key Objectives (2025) |
---|---|---|
Data Ingestion | – Enhance real-time data ingestion capabilities for IoT, streaming data, and change data capture (CDC). | – Expand integration with external data sources and cloud platforms. |
– Introduce self-service data ingestion pipelines for business users. | – Optimize resource utilization and cost for data ingestion processes. | |
Data Transformation | – Strengthen advanced data transformation features with AI-powered data wrangling and anomaly detection. | – Automate data cleansing and validation tasks through machine learning algorithms. |
– Integrate data transformation pipelines with data lineage tracking for enhanced governance. | – Enable visual data wrangling tools for user-friendly data preparation. | |
Data Analysis | – Advance explainable AI (XAI) capabilities for deeper insights into machine learning models. | – Introduce interactive data exploration tools with immersive visualizations and natural language query support. |
– Foster data collaboration through shared analytics spaces and real-time dashboards. | – Integrate advanced statistical modeling and forecasting functionalities for predictive analytics. | |
Data Governance | – Extend data lineage tracking to encompass entire data lifecycle, including access control and auditing. | – Implement automated data compliance policies and anomaly detection for proactive risk mitigation. |
– Enable decentralized data governance with granular access control at various data levels. | – Enhance data privacy features for secure data sharing and anonymization capabilities. | |
Data Observability | – Provide real-time performance monitoring and anomaly detection for data pipelines and infrastructure. | – Integrate root cause analysis and automated remediation workflows for faster troubleshooting. |
– Enable self-service observability tools for data analysts and business users. | – Implement predictive maintenance capabilities for proactive infrastructure management. | |
DataOps Integration | – Streamline data deployment and updates through continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines. | – Automate code versioning, testing, and deployment for dataOps practices. |
– Establish centralized data operations dashboards for unified monitoring and management. | – Foster collaboration and communication between data engineers, analysts, and stakeholders. | |
Performance and Scalability | – Optimize resource utilization and cost for data processing workloads through serverless and autoscaling capabilities. | – Enhance platform resiliency and disaster recovery functionalities for high availability. |
– Implement performance benchmarking and optimization tools for continuous improvement. | – Explore edge computing possibilities for latency-sensitive data processing scenarios. |
Note: This table is a summary and is not exhaustive. Specific features and timelines may be subject to change.
The Microsoft Fabric roadmap for 2024 and 2025 focuses on:
These advancements aim to empower enterprises to achieve deeper data insights, improve data-driven decision-making, and optimize their data analytics operations.
Microsoft Fabric and Microsoft Synapse are distinctly different technologies within the Microsoft ecosystem, each serving its own unique purpose.
Microsoft Fabric
“Microsoft Fabric” can refer to two different Microsoft technologies: Microsoft Service Fabric and Fluent UI (formerly Office UI Fabric).
– Type: A distributed systems platform used to build scalable and reliable microservices and containerized applications.
– Purpose: Primarily aimed at developers to manage and deploy complex, large-scale applications, focusing on high availability, resilience, and microservice management.
– Usage: It’s used for backend infrastructure, orchestrating services, managing application lifecycles, and ensuring that applications can scale and recover from failures.
– Type: A front-end framework for building user interfaces in line with Microsoft’s design principles.
– Purpose: Designed to help developers create web applications that align visually and functionally with Microsoft 365.
– Usage: It provides React components and styling that follow Microsoft’s design language, ensuring a consistent look and feel across web applications.
Microsoft Synapse (Azure Synapse Analytics)
– Type: An analytics service that brings together big data and data warehousing.
– Purpose: Designed to enable businesses to query and analyze large volumes of data efficiently. It provides a unified experience to ingest, prepare, manage, and serve data for immediate BI and machine learning needs.
– Usage: Synapse is used for data exploration, data warehousing, data integration, and big data analytics. It features deep integration with other Azure services, offering tools like SQL data warehousing, Apache Spark, and Data Explorer.
Differences Supporting Fabric or Synapse
– Focus Area: Microsoft Fabric (both Service Fabric and Fluent UI) is centered around application development (back-end and front-end), while Azure Synapse Analytics focuses on data processing, warehousing, and analytics.
– Target Audience: Fabric technologies are targeted towards software developers and IT professionals for building and managing applications. In contrast, Synapse is geared towards data engineers, data scientists, and business analysts for data analytics and insights.
– Functionality: Service Fabric is about orchestrating and managing services for applications, Fluent UI is for UI design consistency, and Synapse is for comprehensive data analysis and management.
– Integration: While both sets of technologies integrate into Microsoft’s ecosystem, they serve different stages of the technology stack – Fabric in application development and deployment, and Synapse in data analytics and business intelligence.
Understanding these differences is crucial for determining which technology best fits the specific needs of a project or an organization, as they address different aspects of technology infrastructure and data management.
Feature | Microsoft Fabric | Snowflake |
---|---|---|
Focus | Unified data analytics platform | Cloud data warehouse as a service (DWaaS) |
Target users | Data analysts, data scientists, developers, IT professionals | Data analysts, data scientists, engineers |
Use cases | Data ingestion, transformation, analysis, governance, visualization | Data warehousing, data lakes, analytics, machine learning, big data |
Data storage | OneLake (unified data lakehouse) | Separate storage for data lake/warehouse (object storage, columnar format) |
Processing engine | Diverse – Azure Data Factory, Spark, various engines | Primarily SQL, supports Python & Spark for advanced analytics |
Analytics capabilities | Diverse – SQL, Python, Spark, machine learning | SQL-centric, with Python & Spark for advanced analytics, some built-in ML features |
Governance and security | Centralized data lineage, access control, compliance | Comprehensive data governance features, role-based access control, encryption |
Scalability and performance | Highly scalable and elastic | Elastic data lake, dedicated serverless or provisioned pools for data warehouse |
Cost | Pay-as-you-go for individual services | Pay-as-you-go for compute hours, storage charges for data lake/warehouse |
Integration | Tight integration with other Azure services | Integrates with Azure services, additional connectors for external tools |
Similarities to Supporting Both Fabric and Snowflake
Differences Between Fabric and Snowflake
Making the Right Choice
While Microsoft Fabric and Snowflake are part of the broader cloud technology landscape, they serve very different needs. Microsoft Fabric is about building and managing applications, whereas Snowflake is focused on data warehousing and analytics. The choice between them would depend on whether the primary requirement is for application development or for data warehousing solutions.
Microsoft Fabric supports a variety of data factory architectures, including:
Microsoft Fabric also supports a number of other architecture patterns, such as data lakehouse, and can be customized to meet the specific needs of each organization.
Architecture | Pros | Cons |
---|---|---|
ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) | Simple to implement: Easier to set up and manage pipelines. | Data quality concerns: Data cleansing and validation happen later, potentially impacting analysis. |
ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) | Improved data quality: Cleans and validates data before loading, ensuring reliable analysis. | More complex: Requires additional staging area and transformation steps, increasing complexity. |
ELT with Delta Lake: | Combines simplicity and data quality: Leverages Delta Lake’s features for versioning and transactional support. | Requires additional setup: Needs Delta Lake configuration and management within the data lake. |
Serverless Data Factory: | Cost-effective: Pays only for used resources, ideal for variable workloads. | Limited control: Less control over infrastructure compared to traditional data factories. |
Hybrid Architectures: | Flexibility: Combines benefits of different architectures for specific needs. | Increased complexity: Requires careful planning and integration of different components. |
The best data factory architecture for your enterprise will depend on your specific needs and requirements. You should carefully consider your budget, data volume, data quality requirements, and processing needs before making a decision.
Microsoft Fabric supports a wide variety of APIs, including:
Microsoft Fabric’s API ecosystem is designed to be flexible and extensible, allowing organizations to integrate Fabric with their existing IT infrastructure and workflows.
API Category | Description | Examples |
---|---|---|
OneLake Storage APIs | Manage data in the unified data lakehouse | – Access and manage files and tables – Create, read, update, and delete data – Implement ACID transactions and versioning |
Data Factory APIs | Orchestrate and schedule data pipelines | – Define and manage data pipelines – Trigger and monitor pipeline executions – Control data flow and transformations |
Synapse Analytics APIs | Interact with data warehouse and analytics services | – Query and manage data in Synapse SQL pools – Execute stored procedures and functions – Access data warehouse resources and metadata |
Power BI APIs | Embed visuals and reports in applications | – Access and share Power BI content – Integrate reports and dashboards with external tools – Automate content refresh and distribution |
Azure Cognitive Services APIs | Integrate cognitive capabilities into data processing | – Text analytics, speech recognition, image analysis, and more – Enhance data pipelines with AI features – Extract insights and automate tasks |
Custom Connectors APIs | Build custom integrations with external data sources | – Develop and manage custom connectors – Extend Fabric’s reach to diverse data ecosystems – Enable data exchange with niche or proprietary systems |
Management APIs | Manage Fabric resources and environment | – Provision and manage workspaces, storage accounts, and pipelines – Control access and permissions – Monitor resources and troubleshoot issues |
This table represents a high-level overview, each category includes multiple specific APIs with varying functionalities.
Microsoft Fabric utilizes REST APIs and SDKs for programmatic access.
Refer to the official Fabric documentation for detailed API references and usage examples.
In addition to these standard APIs, Microsoft Fabric also supports a number of custom connectors that can be used to connect to specific data sources or applications. For example, there are custom connectors for Salesforce, Amazon S3, and Google Cloud Storage.
The availability of a wide range of APIs makes it easy for enterprises to integrate Fabric into their existing IT environments and workflows. This flexibility is essential for organizations that are looking to adopt a unified data analytics platform that can be used to address a variety of use cases.