So in the next weeks I am going to highlight a few things with short, informative posts.
Fabric, Power BI, Power Platform, Data Platform
Blogging about Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, Power Platform and other things I find interesting.
Friday, April 19, 2024
Governance & Administration - Tenant Settings: Searching
So in the next weeks I am going to highlight a few things with short, informative posts.
Monday, March 4, 2024
Governance & Administration - Tenant Settings: Visual Cues
So in the next weeks I am going to highlight a few things with short, informative posts.
You can find other posts in the series here:
Monday, February 26, 2024
Governance & Administration - Fabric (Tenant Settings) API's
So in the next weeks I am going to highlight a few things with short, informative posts.
This first post in the series is focused on the Tenant settings API and other Fabric API's available at the time of writing.
Get Tenant Settings API
- Documentation purposes when you have multiple Fabric Administrators
- Distributing tenant settings to users, and explaining why we (as a team of Administrators/within the Center of Excellence) made certain choices
- Get notified of the changes in the tenant settings, without having to use Microsoft Defender or M365 Security & Compliance center like mentioned here
Get Capacities Tenant Settings Overrides
With the introduction of Fabric, there has also been the ability to have capacity admins override certain tenant settings.
Example of a tenant setting that can be delegated |
Some settings in the Admin portal are automatically delegated to capacity admins, like shown above.
Other Fabric API's
Next to the API's on the tenant settings, there are already a lot more API's in the Admin section for you to check out, for example to handle workspaces, users, domains, and items as a Fabric Admin.
Next to that, so not as a Fabric Admin, you can also interact with Lakehouse tables, and there's a bunch of Core API's, for example to use Git or OneLake Shortcuts.
Preview note
Thursday, January 25, 2024
The Conference Season Has Begun!
The conference season is kicking off again! I have quite some events and sessions already lined up for the next months, so I though I'll update you here.
First up is Data Community Day Austria, in Vienna. I'm actually at Schiphol Airport now, waiting to board my plane 😀 I'm presenting a new session on Direct Lake in Microsoft Fabric.
In March, 7-9, the Dutch Power BI Gebruikersdagen are in Utrecht and I'm presenting a session on Saturday: How to use Power BI External Tools.
After that is SQLBits, which I'm skipping this year. MVP Summit is unfortunately also online for me this year, but that has a very good reason...
Because, in the last week of March the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference is happening in Las Vegas, and I'm delighted and excited to say I am presenting 2 sessions there!
The first session is with Ulrich Christ, Program Manager Azure Data Factory at Microsoft, and we are going to talk about Connecting to SAP Data with Data Factory in Microsoft Fabric.
Because the second session is still in the works I can't share any details yet, so you'll just have to wait a bit longer for that.
After that, there's also DataGrillen in Lingen, Germany on May 16 & 17. I'm presenting a session dear to my heart: Fabric Admin in a Day. Do check the amazing 2-day schedule on their site. It's also happening during the Kievelinge Fest, which happens the weekend right after DataGrillen, how convenient... 😁
I'm very excited for the coming months and hope to see many of you there, meeting up with old friends and making new ones! 💛
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Ignite News: Microsoft Fabric is Now GA (and more)!
Over the (roughly) last 6 months we all had the ability to play with Microsoft Fabric, when it went Public Preview at Microsoft Build.
Now that the keynote of Microsoft Ignite by CEO Satya Nadella has been delivered, and also the amazing in-depth Fabric session by Amir Netz, Arun Alagaratchagan: Make your data AI ready with Microsoft Fabric and Azure Databricks. Back then at Build, Satya called it:
"...the biggest launch of a data product from Microsoft since the launch of SQL Server!"
Generally available
But now, Satya went one step further and announced GENERAL AVAILABITIY of Fabric!
Also, Copilot in Fabric is now in public preview.
More updates
There's a ton of updates inside Fabric on existing features on the latest Fabric blog here.
And there are also some exciting new features:
- Seamlessly connect your data sources to Fabric
The ability to create shortcuts was already there, where you virtualize data in OneLake without having to move or duplicate that data.. You can create shortcuts to another Lakehouse and Warehouse, but also to files on ADLS or even Amazon S3 or Google storage.
The newest feature just announced is called Mirroring, where you can add and manage existing cloud data warehouses (and databases) in Fabric's Data Warehouse experience. The way this works, is like replication in SQL Server. Fabric replicates a snapshot of that database to OneLake in Delta Parquet files and keeps that in sync in near real time, which relies on the Change Data Capture feature of the underlying source. Initially it's supported for Azure Cosmos DB, Azure SQL DB and Snowflake, more sources will follow next year. - Copilot in Power BI (public preview)
Just be aware that Copilot will be rolling out in stages, - Smart Narrative is an existing visual in Power BI Desktop, now rebranded to Narrative with Copilot
- The November Desktop update let's you generate synonyms for your fields, measures and tables using Copilot.
- In the future, there's also going to be:
- a report creation experience
- a DAX writing experience
- Direct Lake support on Data Warehouse
There's also an update on the size limits of your Fabric capacity and when it will fallback to Direct Query. - Stored credentials for Direct Lake semantic model
You can now specify a fixed identity (like a service principal) for a Direct Lake mode semantic model - Pricing on Fabric is updated!
Reserved pricing is now available, with a rough discount of around 41% off of Pay-As-You-Go pricing. - OneLake integration for Import-mode semantic models is coming!
This allows for a seamless (at least that's what Microsoft claims 😄) integration for your import Power BI Desktop models into OneLake. I wonder if this also implies that you can convert your import report to a Direct Lake mode model afterwards. It's not totally clear to me at this point.
- Power BI Desktop November is also out!
Power BI November 2023 Feature Summary - DAX query view
- Stored credentials for Direct Lake
- Explore
Conclusion
Friday, October 20, 2023
Data, Insights, and Community: My Reflections on Data Saturday Holland and dataMinds Connect
The Lamot conference center alongside the river Dijle in Mechelen, Belgium |
Data Saturday Holland - Where Passion Meets Expertise
Data Saturday Holland, formerly known as SQL Saturday Holland, is a renowned event that brings together data professionals, enthusiasts, and experts to share their knowledge and experiences.
One of the things that struck me the most at Data Saturday Holland was the passion of the speakers and participants. From Power BI to data engineering, there was a wide range of sessions to choose from. I attended sessions covering various topics like Direct Lake in Power BI and improving your Power BI report. These sessions provided me with valuable insights and practical tips that I could immediately apply to my work. It was enlightening to learn from experts who shared their real-world experiences and demonstrated the tools and techniques they use on a daily basis.
A highlight of the Saturday was being able to attend my favorite podcast, Knee-Deep in Tech, live in a movie theater!
Another highlight of the event were the networking opportunities. I had the chance to meet old friends and new people, exchange ideas, and even discuss potential collaborations. It's incredible how the event fostered a sense of community and encouraged knowledge sharing. I left Data Saturday Holland inspired and motivated!
DataMinds Connect - A Deep Dive into Data and AI
Just when I thought my week couldn't get any better, I had the privilege of attending dataMinds Connect. This event is an annual conference organized by the dataMinds community, focusing on Microsoft Data Platform technologies. The event spans (for now 😏) two days and covers a wide range of topics related to data and AI.
One of the standout features of dataMinds Connect was the depth and breadth of the sessions. Experts from various domains within data and AI shared their knowledge. From advanced SQL Server features to leading AI applications, there was something for everyone. I especially enjoyed the in-depth sessions that allowed me to explore complex topics in detail, like Mathias Thierbach's Power BI Source Control precon.
I also volunteered during the two days this year, assisting speakers and visitors in making the most of their own experience. During Mathias' workshop, I helped answer questions and on the second day, I addressed general visitor questions and took care of the speakers, so they didn't have to worry about the technical aspects, drinks, or other logistics.
The community at dataMinds Connect was incredibly welcoming, and I had the opportunity to engage in conversations with participants and speakers. This sense of community and feeling of being welcome was a common theme throughout the event, and it's something that truly sets this conference apart. A beer and some chocolate certainly works wonders too! :-)
The Value of Conferences
Attending Data Saturday Holland and dataMinds Connect provided me with a comprehensive overview of the Power BI and Fabric landscape and the latest developments in this field. I left with new skills and insights and a better understanding of the latest trends and technologies. Moreover, the connections I made during these events were invaluable. Networking with professionals who share my passion and interests can lead to future collaborations, career opportunities, or simply the joy of being part of a vibrant and supportive community.
In summary, my week at Data Saturday Holland and dataMinds Connect was an incredible experience! These events not only expanded my knowledge but also allowed me to connect (and continue to connect) with fellow data enthusiasts and experts!
- New Stars of Data with my mentee Ioannis Philippides
- Data Left Unattended
- Data Saturday Vienna
- ... A few more things are in the works, but nothing definitive yet...
Friday, September 29, 2023
Pausing a Fabric Capacity - What Does It Actually Mean?
If a #MicrosoftFabric capacity is not running, you cannot use the #PowerBI reports? cc @BenniDeJagere @cwebb_bi
— Koen Verbeeck 🇺🇦 🌈 (@Ko_Ver) September 27, 2023
- What does it actually mean when I pause a Fabric capacity?
- What will stop working?
- What can I still do and won't stop working?
Important considerations
Microsoft Fabric is a prerelease online service that is currently in public preview and may be substantially modified before it's released. Preview online service products and features aren't complete but are made available on a preview basis so that customers can get early access and provide feedback.
TL;DR
Start setup
- I created a Fabric capacity in the Azure Portal for my tenant. You can even start an Azure (30 day) free trial and use that to create a Fabric capacity. Erwin did a great job explaing how to create a Fabric capacity, so I won't go into details here.
- Then I set up a basic Lakehouse from the Lakehouse tutorial on Microsoft Learn. I followed the tutorial up untill step 3 (Build a lakehouse), where I end up with a dataflow Gen2, a lakehouse and a Power BI (Direct Lake) report on the default dataset.
- I also created 2 workspaces:
- Test Fabric Capacity holds all my Fabric
artifactsitems and has the Fabric capacity (nickyscapacity, see below) assigned. This is the workspace I used for my tutorial. Let's call this the Fabric workspace. - Test Fabric semantic model has no capacity assigned, so it's a regular (pro) workspace. Let's call this workspace.
- After that, I've created a few datasets/reports (or semantic models if you will 😀) (with Direct Lake, DirectQuery and Import) on top of the SQL Endpoint of my lakehouse.
My tests
- Access dataflow Gen2
- Access the Lakehouse
- Access SQL Endpoint (of the Lakehouse)
- Access Direct Lake model from Fabric workspace
- Access Direct Lake model from workspace
- Access DQ model from Fabric workspace
- Access DQ dataset from workspace
- Access Import dataset from Fabric workspace
- Access Import dataset from workspace
- Download import dataset and re-publish to workspace
- Refresh Import dataset from workspace
- Move the Fabric workspace to Pro
- Access the Fabric Capacity Metrics app
- Edit capacity settings
Access my dataflow Gen2
Access the Lakehouse
Access SQL Endpoint (of the Lakehouse)
Access Direct Lake model from Fabric workspace
This one IS helpful, it actually mentions my capacity is not active, although it doesn't give the ID like with accessing the lakehouse.
Access Direct Lake model from workspace
Access DQ model from Fabric workspace
Access DQ dataset from workspace
Access Import dataset from Fabric workspace
Access Import dataset from workspace ✅
Download import dataset and re-publish to workspace ✅
Refresh Import dataset from workspace
Move the Fabric workspace to Pro
Access the Fabric Capacity Metrics App ✅
Editing capacity settings
Conclusion
1: Depending on the way you created the report, it might still have some cache, so it might work partially |
I hope this overview was usefull to you, I can at least use it as a reference and lookup post :-)
If you are missing something from this overview let me know in the comments and I can see if I can add it here.
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