SQL analytics endpoint

In the Ultra Transcenders books

AZ-305DP-900DP-600DP-700

Each book explains SQL analytics endpoint in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.

Terms in this definition

• Serverless

  Compute tier for single Azure SQL databases that scales automatically, pauses when idle and charges by the second. It is offered in General Purpose and Hyperscale, not Business Critical, and reserved capacity does not apply.

• Lakehouse

  Fabric storage item in OneLake that holds structured and unstructured content side by side: managed Delta tables go under Tables, other files under Files. Spark is used for processing, and a read-only SQL analytics endpoint allows T-SQL queries.

• Power BI

  Microsoft's analytics and reporting service. It reaches data held on-premises through the on-premises data gateway.

• DirectQuery

  Power BI connection mode in which reports fetch data from the source in real time; Direct Lake outperforms it.

• Direct Lake

  Mode for Fabric semantic models that loads Delta or Parquet files from OneLake straight into VertiPaq, giving almost import-level performance without duplicating data.

Related terms

• Automatic statistics

  When queries run against the Fabric Data Warehouse or the SQL analytics endpoint, the engine creates statistics (histograms, cardinality and average column length) on columns used for filtering, joining, grouping, sorting or DISTINCT. The histogram objects are named with a _WA_Sys_ prefix.

• Compute permissions

  Access rules that live inside one Fabric engine and govern only queries run through it. They include T-SQL GRANT or DENY, masking and row-level security on a warehouse or SQL analytics endpoint, and DAX-based security in a semantic model.

• Cosmos DB in Fabric

  A document-style NoSQL database living inside Fabric, optimised for AI workloads and running on Azure Cosmos DB technology. Fabric copies its contents into OneLake as Delta tables without any setup, so they can be queried through a SQL analytics endpoint.

• Direct Lake on SQL

  A Direct Lake variant that relies on the SQL analytics endpoint of a single item to discover tables and check permissions. Queries switch to DirectQuery when they hit SQL views, row-level security defined on the endpoint or exceeded guardrails, subject to the DirectLakeBehavior setting.

• DQL

  Data query language: SELECT and the other read-only parts of SQL. A Fabric warehouse handles DDL and DML alongside it, while an SQL analytics endpoint is limited to querying.

• Fabric Data Warehouse MCP server

  A preview MCP server hosted by Microsoft that offers one tool, executeSQL, for running approved T-SQL on a Fabric warehouse or SQL analytics endpoint. Queries run with the Fabric permissions of whoever is signed in.

• Lifecycle DMVs

  Three system views for watching current activity in a Fabric warehouse or SQL analytics endpoint: sys.dm_exec_connections lists connections, sys.dm_exec_sessions lists sessions and sys.dm_exec_requests lists requests.

• Metadata sync

  Fabric watches the Delta logs under a lakehouse's /Tables folder and brings the SQL analytics endpoint up to date with them automatically, so a new or altered table becomes queryable there after a brief lag.