In this post I want to cover two groups of services that I recommend when working with Microsoft Fabric in an Enterprise environment. Which are Microsoft Purview and Azure DevOps.
Even though some enterprises work with alternative products I recommend these to get the most out of working with Microsoft Fabric. By the end of this post you will know why. Along the way I share plenty of links.
I wanted to do this post after showing a couple of versions of the below diagram recently which highlights them. Including during Data Toboggan and in my previous post about spreading your SQL Server wings with Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouses.
In addition, I want others to realize that even though Microsoft Fabric contains lots of different workloads you still need these services. For the reasons that I mention below.
Microsoft Purview
You need to have Microsoft Purview configured if you take governance and compliance seriously.
I know that some enterprises have other established solutions in-place. Especially when it comes to governance solutions.
However, Microsoft Fabric is tightly integrated Microsoft Purview. In fact, Microsoft Fabric has its own Microsoft Purview hub. Which you can access within the Settings menu in Microsoft Fabric.
In reality, there are two groups of Microsoft Purview solutions that you must consider when working with Microsoft Fabric.
Risk and compliance solutions
First are the Microsoft Purview risk and compliance solutions that you would use with Microsoft Fabric. Including managing labels with Information Protection, detecting sensitive data in semantic models with Data Loss Prevention and auditing solutions.
You currently manage all of this with the Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager. Which I cover in a post about configuring compliance for Microsoft Fabric.
To work with these you need a Microsoft 365 E5 subscription. However, you can also register for a Microsoft Purview risk and compliance solutions trial.
Governance solutions
Second group are the Microsoft Purview governance solutions which you manage in the Microsoft Purview Governance Portal. Which has a separate pricing structure and are the solutions most data platform professionals tend to associate with Microsoft Purview.
Within these solutions you manage all the governance duties. Including working with the Data Map to handle the scanning of selected assets and their classification. Which you can find in the Data Catalog.
Other functionality has been introduced into the Governance Portal over time as well. For example, Data Sharing and Workflows.
Recently, the Microsoft Purview Governance Portal has been given a new lease of live. Due to the fact that there is a new Governance Portal which is currently in Preview. I cover this in another post about big UI updates for two Azure Data Platform services.
Plus, you can now view Microsoft Fabric items in Microsoft Purview gracefully. You can read more about recent updates relating to this Microsoft Fabric and Purview integration in a recent post by Ryan Majidimehr.
Azure DevOps
Second service is Azure DevOps, or to be more precise the cloud-based version. Because at this moment in time this is the only service that is supported by Microsoft Fabric Git integration.
I have written a few posts about this topic. In fact, last week I updated the below posts to reflect the fact that both Lakehouses and Notebooks are now supported by Microsoft Fabric Git integration.
- Prepare Azure DevOps for Microsoft Fabric Git integration
- Initial Microsoft Fabric Git integration tests for Power BI Reports
- Working with Microsoft Fabric Git integration and multiple workspaces
- Microsoft Fabric Git integration jargon guide for Fabricators
Microsoft also supplies a very useful Power BI Project (PBIP) and Azure DevOps build pipelines for continuous integration guide that you can use with it as well.
In addition to Microsoft Fabric Git integration, you can use it to deploy CI/CD for Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouses. Which I covered in another post about performing CI/CD for Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouses using YAML Pipelines.
However, I must point out one very important fact relating to this. Even though you can use Azure DevOps to perform CI/CD for Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouses you can look to work with other solutions to do this as well.
For example, you can look to perform CI/CD for the Data Warehouse with GitHub Actions. However, if you are already using Azure DevOps for Git integration it makes sense to use it for everything.
One key point to remember is that if you are looking to test Azure DevOps in a new organization the first five users are free.
However, what a lot of people do not realize is that Visual Studio subscribers get free access to Azure DevOps. You can find out more about this on the official page about pricing for Azure DevOps.
Final words about services that I recommend when working with Microsoft Fabric
I hope this post about services that I recommend when working with Microsoft Fabric has proven to be useful.
Because I wanted to make sure everybody realized that you need these services as well to make Microsoft Fabric enterprise worthy.
Of course, if you have any comments or queries about this post feel free to reach out to me.
[…] I highlight the two groups of services I recommend when working with Microsoft Fabric. Plus, I highlight how some of the Microsoft Fabric items interact with each […]