Source control integration for SQL database in Microsoft Fabric
At Ignite this year (Nov. 2024), Microsoft Fabric announced the preview of SQL database in Fabric– a database focused simple, autonomous, and secure experiences that empower you to develop solutions faster and easier. SQL database in Fabric has a tightly integrated and fully extensible DevOps feature set, including a source control integration for GitHub and Azure DevOps. With the source control integration for SQL database in Fabric you can both quickly keep your database in sync with a git repository as well as configure more advanced workflows for SQL code quality and complex application architectures. Catch up on the overall preview announcement for SQL database in Fabric with the blog post Announcing SQL database in Microsoft (Preview).
Every database under source control
Microsoft Fabric source control integration works at the workspace level. A workspace is connected to a source control branch in Azure DevOps or GitHub. With that simple setup, the Fabric web-based development environment interacts with the git repository directly through a streamlined source control panel.
Commit to source control: Committing the database to source control automatically converts the database objects to their code definitions and writes those files to a git repository. The object definition files are organized by schema and object type, such that when you are browsing the files it mirrors the familiar database object explorer. This format is established as SQL projects (Microsoft.Build.Sql SDK) and is shared with Data warehouse in Fabric as well as SQL Server and Azure SQL. As you develop your database, you can repeatedly commit the database to source control, creating checkpoints of your database definition over time. In the git repository, those checkpoints are commits in the history view of the repository and the details of what changes were applied are visible as file-level changes to each object.
Update from source control: Source control integration is bidirectional, meaning that updates to the contents of source control can be applied to a SQL database in Fabric. With this capability, development can occur locally with the contents of the git repository in a development environment like VS Code or Visual Studio. Changes in the branch connected to the workspace are evaluated for pending updates, whether the new changes were directly committed to the branch or a result of git merges from other branches. The incremental changes to your database are automatically calculated so it can be updated in place while you avoid needing to write ALTER statements during active development.
Branch a workspace: Conceptually, creating a branch in a git repository creates a new slice of the development timeline where changes can occur independently of other development until they’re evaluated for a merge (pull request). Establishing a development environment and creating the source control branch are often two distinct steps in the development process. In Microsoft Fabric, the source control integration creates a branching workflow where a new workspace can be created at the same time as a new branch, immediately deploying new instances of the objects from source control. With the source control integration for SQL database in Fabric, you branch to a new workspace where the database is automatically created and the objects (tables, stored procedures, etc.) are deployed. Once your changes are tested and checked into source control from the branched workspace, the pull request process in source control will combine your changes with the definition of the previous workspace. SDK-style SQL projects are optimized for collaborative workflows, where the shortened project file will result in fewer merge conflicts.
Getting started with the source control integration for SQL database in Fabric takes just moments and tracking database updates by committing them to source control requires no git expertise. The source control integration is compatible with code repositories in Azure DevOps and GitHub. Learn more about git integration by referring to Fabric git integration documentation and begin your journey to keeping every database under source control with the SQL database in Fabric git integration tutorial.
Ecosystem of CI/CD capabilities
The source control integration in Fabric is part of the greater ecosystem of CI/CD capabilities for SQL database that enables development workflows for varying team sizes and backgrounds. The CI/CD extensibility is by design and ensured by the source control format, SDK-style SQL projects, being shared with several other client tools and automation environments.
In Fabric, deployment pipelines streamline the process of applying changes between multiple workspaces. From day 1 in the SQL database in Fabric preview, deployment pipelines are available for moving object definition changes between workspaces. With a deployment pipeline you are able to develop and test your database before seamlessly applying the updates to a staging or production environment. Learn more by referring to our documentation Introduction to Deployment Pipelines documentation.
Client tools integrated with SQL projects include Visual Studio, Azure Data Studio, and VS Code. These tools contain features for developing data applications across SQL Server, Azure SQL, and Microsoft Fabric – including a table designer, schema comparison, and GitHub Copilot. Local development can be extended to deploying objects to a SQL database such as LocalDB (Visual Studio) or SQL in a container (Azure Data Studio and VS Code).
Database deployments from a Microsoft.Build.Sql project can be automated in Windows and Linux environments where the Microsoft.SqlPackage .Net tool publishes the build artifact (.dacpac) from the SQL project. The SqlPackage CLI contains commands for detecting database changes and deploying updates with numerous options, including blocking table recreation and allowing data loss. Learn more about the preview of Microsoft.Build.Sql and SQL projects capabilities in the SQL projects documentation.
Get started
Get started for free today with a Fabric free trial. If you are already using Fabric, contact your Tenant Admin to get SQL database in Fabric enabled, it does not depend on a specific capacity. To check region availability of SQL database in Fabric in your region, see Microsoft Fabric supported regions documentation.
We have multiple resources to help you, and your teams swiftly ramp up on Fabric Databases:
- Explore the documentation and end-to-end tutorials.
- Skill up with the new Fabric Databases learn modules.
- Watch new Data Exposed episodes starting Thursday, November 21st.
- Watch the new Microsoft Mechanics episode ‘Build autonomous SQL databases in Microsoft Fabric’.
- Join the community for a free live learning series starting on December 3rd.
- Get the latest product news here on the Fabric updates blog.
