Data Analytics
Azure SQL Database
Managed relational storage inside the analytics chain, without a server to patch, back up, or size by hand.
Product
Azure SQL DatabaseAzure SQL Database is the managed relational store used inside the analytics chain. It holds the modelled data the semantic model reads, along with the operational tables an integration or an application writes, without the organisation running the server underneath it. Patching, backup, and high availability come with the service, so the team maintains the data model rather than the infrastructure.
How it works
- The database is provisioned and sized against the workload it will actually carry, then reviewed once real volumes are known.
- Ingestion pipelines write into it, whether from Azure Data Factory or from the pipelines in Microsoft Fabric.
- The schema is modelled for the reporting and integration it serves, rather than mirroring the source system it came from.
- Access is granted through the organisation's own identity, so permission is managed in one place and can be reviewed.
- The semantic model and the reporting above it read from the database, with refresh scheduled against the load.
A problem it solves
Each site runs its own database, so a group level view is assembled by emailing extracts between sites and no two of them are current at the same moment. Azure SQL Database gives the consolidated store one managed home that the ingestion pipelines write into and the reporting layer reads, so the group view exists in one place instead of being rebuilt every time it is asked for.