A quick guide to sharing real-time data in Microsoft Fabric

There has never been a higher need for smooth and secure data-sharing solutions than today in the field of data management and communication. Traditional methods of sharing data include file shares, FTP, email, and APIs. However, to transfer data between teams and organizations, most of these techniques require creating and maintaining data pipelines at both ends. Microsoft Fabric, a unified platform designed to meet your organization’s data and analytics needs, can help you solve this problem!  

Database shortcuts in Real-Time Analytics for smooth data sharing

The database shortcut in Real-Time Analytics is an embedded reference within the KQL database. It lets you source databases in Azure Data Explorer (ADX) for smooth in-place data sharing. The database shortcut behaves in a manner to follower the database.

When to use database shortcut?

You can construct a database shortcut if you are a data provider hosting data in Azure Data Explorer and you would like to share this data with customers in Microsoft Fabric. Real-time data sharing is possible by using database shortcuts, which eliminate the need to create and manage data pipelines. Every database modification made by the supplier, including schema and data, is immediately available to the consumer.

With just a few clicks, your current ADX clients may also test Microsoft Fabric without having to re-ingest the data.

Scenario

Imagine a scenario where:

• Data provider shares data with business partners
• Data consumers combine their own data with data they have collected from various business partners in order to gain insights.

How does a database shortcut work?

Within Azure Data Explorer, the owner of the source of the database, and data provider share the database with the user who created a shortcut in Real-Time Analytics, who is referred to as the data consumer.

The database shortcut is attached in read-only mode, which lets you view and run queries on data ingested into the source Azure Data Explorer database. Changes made in the source database are synchronized using the database shortcut.

In order for ISVs to easily exchange data with their clients, the source ADX database and the database shortcut in Real-Time Analytics must be located in the same region, however they may be in separate tenants.

How to configure data sharing: A step by step guide

The steps below demonstrate how to share real-time data in Microsoft Fabric:

Data Provider: Creating an invitation token

A token must be obtained from the data provider in order for a data consumer to use invitation tokens to create a database shortcut. Data consumers can create shortcuts to the source database using tokens, which are pieces of code. If you create a database shortcut using the cluster URI method, you don’t need a token.

To create an invitation token, the data provider must follow these steps:

1. Go to the Azure portal.
2. Browse to the Azure Data Explorer database you wish to use as source.
3. Select Share.

4. Type in the email address of the recipient. This should be the email address linked to the Fabric user account where the database shortcut will later be created. You or someone else may own this email address.

5. Click on Share.

6. Select Copy link. Share it with the data consumer. The person who the token was created for can later paste this link into a browser to create the shortcut.

Data Consumer: Creating a database shortcut

Once a data provider creates an invitation link, use the link to open Real-Time Analytics showing the New database shortcut dialog box, and then follow these steps:

1. Enter a name for your database shortcut.
2. Specify the Workspace in which you want to create the database shortcut.
3. Optionally, modify the default cache policy.
4. Check that the Invitation token is populated with the token you created and verified.

5. Hit Create.

Once you have successfully created the shortcut, you will be taken to the database details view of the new database shortcut.

You can now seamlessly begin consuming the real-time data feed through KQL Queryset, Power BI, Notebooks, etc.

While you can already share data between an Azure Data Explorer database and a KQL database, Microsoft Fabric will soon allow you to do the same between KQL databases.

Conclusion

Real-Time Analytics in Microsoft Fabric is a fully managed big data analytics platform optimized for streaming and time-series data. It empowers you to leverage data communication in a way that enhances productivity, efficiency, and overall performance.

If you’re ready to explore Microsoft Fabric’s possibilities or have inquiries about its implementation within your enterprise, our experts are here to help. Contact us at marketing@confiz.com, and our consultants will guide you in harnessing the full potential of Microsoft Fabric for your unique business needs. Together, we can take your data-sharing capabilities to the next level, setting your organization up for success in the digital age.

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