Simplify Your Data Strategy: Mirroring for Azure Database for PostgreSQL in Microsoft Fabric for Effortless Analytics on Transactional Data
PostgreSQL is a popular relational database in application development, and Azure Database for PostgreSQL provides a fully managed service with enterprise-level security, availability, and scalability. Integrating Azure Database for PostgreSQL with Microsoft Fabric through Mirroring (Preview) enables seamless replication of transactional data for analytics, simplifying data processes and ensuring real-time insights and data consistency.
Microsoft Fabric’s data integration tools allow organizations to focus on insights rather than data pipeline complexities, adapting to business needs for faster decision-making and fostering innovation. The combination of Azure Database for PostgreSQL and Microsoft Fabric helps data engineers and analysts create enriched visualizations and predictive models, improving operational efficiency and strategic impact.
Preview Announcement
At the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference in Las Vegas in March 2025, Microsoft unveiled the preview of Mirroring for Azure Database for PostgreSQL in Microsoft Fabric. This release empowers users with near-real-time replication to Fabric OneLake, enabling effortless analytics on transactional data. The mirroring process ensures minimal impact on transactional workloads while providing comprehensive support for advanced analytics, AI, and data science.
This week we’re glad to announce that Mirroring for Azure SQL Database for PostgreSQL in Microsoft Fabric is now supported in all Azure public regions! Please refer to this page in our public documentation for more details.
How Mirroring Works
Fabric mirroring in Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server is based on principles such as logical replication and the Change Data Capture (CDC) design pattern. Here are the key steps:
- Once Fabric mirroring is established for a database in Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server, an initial snapshot is created by a background process for selected tables to be mirrored.
- That snapshot is shipped to a Fabric OneLake’s landing zone in Parquet format. A process running in Fabric, known as replicator, takes these initial snapshot files and creates tables in Delta format in the Mirrored database artifact.
- Subsequent changes applied to selected tables are also captured in the source database and shipped to the OneLake landing zone in batches. Those batches of changes are finally applied to the respective Delta tables in the Mirrored database artifact.
For Fabric mirroring, the CDC pattern is implemented in a proprietary PostgreSQL extension called azure_cdc, which is installed and registered in source databases during Fabric mirroring enablement workflow. This guided process has a new dedicated page in Azure Portal and is setting up all required pre-requisites and is offering a simplified experience where you just need to select which databases you want to replicate to Fabric OneLake (default is up to 3).
Setup and Configuration
Microsoft provides a dedicated enablement page in the Azure Portal, making the setup process simple and intuitive. Users can select up to three databases for replication by default, with options to configure pre-requisites and monitor progress throughout the workflow.
You can read additional details regarding the server enablement process and other critical configuration and monitoring options on a dedicated page in Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server product documentation.
Features and Benefits
The integration unlocks numerous possibilities for analytics and data engineering:
- Immediate Data Consumption: Mirrored data in Delta format is ready for use across Fabric experiences, including Power BI, Data Warehouse, and Lakehouse.
- Power BI Direct Lake Mode: This mode enables fast data loading with semantic model capabilities for analyzing large datasets directly from OneLake.
- Cross-Database Analysis: Querying across multiple mirrored databases and data sources is supported, enabling unified analytics across diverse data environments.
Direct Lake mode is a fast path to load the data from the lake with groundbreaking semantic model capability for analyzing very large data volumes in Power BI. As Direct Lake mode also supports reading Delta tables right from OneLake, the Mirrored PostgreSQL database is Power BI ready along with Copilot capabilities.
Once data is on OneLake, mirrored data in the delta format is ready for immediate consumption across all Fabric experiences and features, such as Power BI with new Direct Lake mode, Data Warehouse, Data Engineering, Lakehouse, KQL Database, Notebooks and Copilot, which work instantly.
Applications for Data Scientists and Engineers
Data in OneLake in Microsoft Fabric can be cross-joined no matter if coming from different sources like Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Azure SQL Database or Azure CosmosDB, enabling querying across any database, warehouse or Lakehouse (either as a shortcut to AWS S3 or ADLS Gen 2 etc.).
Getting Started
To summarize, Mirroring Azure Database for PostgreSQL in Microsoft Fabric plays a crucial role in enabling analytics and driving insights from operational data by ensuring that the most recent data is available for analysis. This allows businesses to make decisions based on the most current situation, rather than relying on outdated information. Improving accuracy also reduces the risk of discrepancies between the source and the replicated data, leading to more accurate analytics and reliable insights. In addition, it is essential for predictive analytics and AI models provide the most recent data to make accurate predictions and decisions.
To get started and learn more about Mirroring Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server in Microsoft Fabric, its pre-requisites, setup, FAQ’s, current limitations, and tutorial, you can access this Mirroring Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server documentation to stay tuned for more updates and new features coming soon.
Please also refer to the Mirroring in Fabric – What’s new blog post to get a comprehensive view on other news and announcements for Mirroring in Microsoft Fabric.
