A reserved block of compute for a tenant whose size is fixed by its SKU; Fabric F SKUs express it in capacity units (CUs). Workspaces assigned to it unlock features like Copilot, and from F64 upwards people with free licences can view Power BI content.
Read more: Microsoft Learn
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains Capacity in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- Tenant
A trusted, dedicated Microsoft Entra ID instance that stores the users, groups and app registrations of one organisation. A subscription trusts only a single tenant, although a tenant can be trusted by several subscriptions.
- SKU
The size or tier of a service, for example a VM size or the Premium tier of ACR.
- Document Intelligence add-on capabilities
Extra Document Intelligence options switched on with the features query parameter: barcodes, formulas, keyValuePairs, languages, ocrHighResolution, queryFields and styleFont.
- LIKE
Compares strings with a pattern that can contain the % and _ wildcards. Because it only understands character patterns, searching big volumes of text this way is much slower than using full-text search.
- F64
Equal in compute to a P1, this Fabric capacity has 64 capacity units. From this size upwards, Power BI content can be opened by people with just a Free licence and the Viewer role.
- View
Shows a system through one chosen group of related concerns. No view is generic; each one is tied to whichever architecture it depicts.
- Power BI
Microsoft's analytics and reporting service. It reaches data held on-premises through the on-premises data gateway.
Related terms
- Architecture Capability
An enterprise's capacity to build, apply and maintain its architecture, and to steer change through it. Established during the Preliminary Phase, it is a management idea rather than an organisational unit.
- Automatic page refresh
A page-level option that makes visuals re-query a DirectQuery source on a timer or whenever a change detection measure's value moves. It isn't available for Import models, and in the service the capacity sets the shortest interval allowed.
- Azure Spot Virtual Machines
Heavily discounted VMs using Azure's spare capacity. Azure can reclaim them with 30 seconds' warning when it needs the capacity back or the price rises above your limit, and with no SLA they fit work that can tolerate interruption.
- Battery health
A report in Advanced Analytics, under Reports > Endpoint analytics > Battery health, giving 0–100 scores for battery runtime and capacity, views by OS and model, and the impact of apps over 14 days.
- Bursting
When a job needs extra power, Fabric lets it briefly run above what its capacity SKU provides so it completes faster; that excess is later smoothed across subsequent timepoints.
- Capacity administrator
Assigned when a Fabric capacity is created, this role applies to that one capacity only. Its holders can alter settings, attach workspaces, add contributors and override any tenant settings delegated to the capacity; it is not the same as the Fabric administrator role.
- Capacity notifications
Settings on a capacity that send an email to its admins, or to named contacts, once usage crosses a chosen percentage or goes beyond what is available. Usage is checked every quarter of an hour, and the same alert is sent at most once in three hours.
- Capacity pools
Custom Spark pools defined by a capacity admin in the Spark Compute settings of a capacity, which then show up as choices for workspaces and environments and take roughly two to three minutes to start. From the same place the admin can stop workspaces customising pools or using the starter pool.