Microsoft Fabric Updates Blog

Get skilled on Microsoft Fabric – the AI-powered analytics platform

Core

Scalable analytics can be complex, fragmented, and expensive. With Microsoft Fabric, you don’t have to spend all your time combining various services from different vendors. Instead, you can use a single product that is easy to understand, set up, create, and manage. Every data source and analytics service is connected, reshaping how you will access, manage and act on data and insights.

Fabric, a unified software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering, reshapes how you use data. Data is now stored in a single open format in OneLake, accessible by all the analytics engines in the platform. Fabric offers scalability, cost-effectiveness, accessibility from anywhere with an internet connection, and continuous updates and maintenance provided by Microsoft.

Fabric offers a set of analytics workloads that are designed to accomplish specific tasks and work together seamlessly. Fabric’s workloads include:

- Data factory combining Power Query with the scale of Azure Data Factory to move and transform data.
- Data engineering with a Spark platform for data transformation at scale.
- Data warehousing with industry-leading performance and scale to support data use.
- Data science with Azure Machine Learning to enrich organizational data.
- Real-time analytics using Kusto.
- Power BI for translating data to decisions.

Fabric provides a comprehensive data analytics solution by unifying all these workloads on a single platform.

Who is Fabric for?

Microsoft Fabric’s unified management and governance make it easier for data professionals to work together on data projects. Fabric removes data silos and the need for access to multiple systems, enhancing collaboration between data professionals.

Fabric is for everyone – whether you’re a:

- Data engineer
- Data scientist
- Data analyst
- Business user

Fabric’s workloads have experiences tailored to both pro devs and no-code users.

How can I get skilled?

The Fabric Learning Path is a great way for data professionals to get comfortable with Fabric’s capabilities. Each of the modules gives an overview of the skills you need to know to use Fabric, with links to additional information.

Introduction to Microsoft Fabric
Module	Summary	Learning objectives
Introduction to end-to-end analytics using Microsoft Fabric	Discover how Microsoft Fabric can meet your enterprise’s analytics needs in one platform. Learn about Microsoft Fabric, how it works, and identify how you can use it for your analytics needs.	Describe end-to-end analytics in Microsoft Fabric
Get started with Lakehouses	A Lakehouse combined the flexible and scalable storage of a data lake with the analytical querying and modeling capabilities of a data warehouse. Microsoft Fabric provides a lakehouse solution that powers end-to-end data analytics in a single software-as-a-service platform.	Describe core features and capabilities of lakehouses in Microsoft Fabric Create a lakehouse Ingest data into files and tables in a lakehouse Query lakehouse tables with SQL
Use Apache Spark to work with files in a lakehouse	Apache Spark is a core technology for large-scale data analytics. Microsoft Fabric provides support for Spark clusters, enabling you to analyze and process data in a Lakehouse at scale.	Configure Spark in a Microsoft Fabric workspace Identify suitable scenarios for Spark notebooks and Spark jobs Use Spark dataframes to analyze and transform data Use Spark SQL to query data in tables and views Visualize data in a Spark notebook
Work with Delta Lake tables in Microsoft Fabric	Tables in a Microsoft Fabric lakehouse are based on the Delta Lake storage format commonly used in Apache Spark. By using the enhanced capabilities of delta tables, you can create advanced analytics solutions.	Understand Delta Lake and delta tables in Microsoft Fabric Create and manage delta tables using Spark Use Spark to query and transform data in delta tables Use delta tables with Spark structured streaming
Use Data Factory pipelines in Microsoft Fabric	Microsoft Fabric includes Data Factory capabilities, including the ability to create pipelines that orchestrate data ingestion and transformation tasks.	Describe pipeline capabilities in Microsoft Fabric Use the Copy Data activity in a pipeline Create pipelines based on predefined templates Run and monitor pipelines
Ingest data with Dataflows Gen2 in Microsoft Fabric	Ingesting data into an analytical store is a key workload in a data analytics solution. Microsoft Fabric’s Data Factory capability includes Dataflows (Gen2), which enable you to visually build multi-step data ingestion and transformation solutions using Power Query.	Describe Dataflow (Gen2) capabilities in Microsoft Fabric Create Dataflow (Gen2) solutions to ingest data Include Dataflow (Gen2) data flows in a pipeline
Get started with data warehouses in Microsoft Fabric	Data warehouses are analytical stores built on a relational schema to support SQL queries. Microsoft Fabric enables you to create a relational data warehouse in your workspace and integrate it easily with other elements of your end-to-end analytics solution.	Describe data warehouses in Fabric Understand a data warehouse vs a data Lakehouse Work with data warehouses in Fabric Create and manage datasets within a data warehouse
Get started with real-time analytics in Microsoft Fabric	Analysis of real-time data streams is a critical capability for any modern data analytics solution. You can use the Real-Time Analytics capabilities of Microsoft Fabric to ingest, query, and process streams of data.	Describe Real-Time Analytics in Microsoft Fabric Create Real-Time Analytics databases and tables Use KQL to query tables
Get started with data science in Microsoft Fabric	Data science is the foundation of machine learning and AI. In Microsoft Fabric, data scientists can manage data, notebooks, experiments, and models while easily accessing data from across the organization and collaborating with their fellow data professionals.	Understand the data science process Train models with notebooks in Microsoft Fabric Track model training metrics with MLflow and experiments
Administer Microsoft Fabric	Microsoft Fabric is a SaaS solution for end-to-end data analytics. As an administrator, you can configure features and manage access to suit your organization’s needs.	Describe Fabric admin tasks Navigate the admin center Manage user access

Get started with Microsoft Fabric

Microsoft Fabric is currently in preview. Try out everything Fabric has to offer by signing up for the free trial—no credit card information required. Everyone who signs up gets a fixed Fabric trial capacity, which may be used for any feature or capability from integrating data to creating machine learning models. Existing Power BI Premium customers can simply turn on Fabric through the Power BI admin portal. After July 1, 2023, Fabric will be enabled for all Power BI tenants.

Sign up for the free trial. For more information read the Fabric trial docs.