Azure Synapse Analytics is a limitless and powerful analytics service that merges business data storage and Big Data analysis. Azure SQL Data Warehouse, which was released in 2016, is the predecessor of Azure Synapse Analytics. After multiple iterations and with the introduction of several new useful features, Azure SQL Data Warehouse was relaunched as Azure Synpase Analytics.
In this article, we will explore the different features of Azure Synapse Analytics and how this service helps businesses optimize their operations.
Introduction
- Azure Synpase Analytics is a wholesome service that combines big data analytics, data warehousing, and data integration into a single service. With Azure Synapse, data undergoes several processes such as ingestion, exploration, preparation, training, and management through a single user interface. The unification of these processes helps businesses by reducing the time to market, improving development efficiencies, and eliminating the silos between different teams.
Azure Synapse Studio
- Synapse Studio is a web-based Software as a Service (SaaS) tool. This tool enables users to perform multiple functions such as data ingestion, exploration, analysis, and visualization through a single user interface.
To access the different features, create a workspace in the Synapse Studio. The User Interface of Synapse Studio is similar to Azure Data Factory and Azure Databricks. So if you have used these services, Synapse Studio would feel familiar to you, and you can get on with it without much difficulty.
Let us explore the different functions of Azure Synapse Studio.
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Data Ingestion
- Ingestion is the first step of data analytics in which data from multiple sources is transported to a target site for analysis and processing. The ingestion process for Azure Synapse Studio is similar to Azure Data Factory. Users can build pipelines and leverage data flows to perform business transformations. Users can schedule the execution of pipelines manually.
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Data Exploration
- Using this feature, users can access storage accounts, data lakes, and databases while remaining in the same interface. The User Interface and features of Synapse Explore are similar to Azure Data Explorer or Azure Data Studio. Synapse Azure has some excellent built-in features that enable users easy navigation and discovery of data that is stored in data lakes or storage accounts.
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Analyze and Visualize
- Azure Synapse combines both SQL and Spark and allows them to run side by side. As a result, users can transform and analyze data simultaneously using T-SQL and Spark Notebooks. This bridges the gap between data engineers and scientists. By accessing the ‘develop tab’ of the Synapse Studio, users can develop and explore T-SQL scripts, data flow, spark notebooks, Power BI, and spark job definitions.
What makes Azure Synapse Studio a truly remarkable and useful tool is the integration of Power BI into Synapse Studio. A direct connection between Synapse Studio and Power BI Service has been established. This allows users to access the datasets or reports that exist in the Power BI workspaces through Synapse Studio.
- The reports can be edited using Synapse Studio and the changes will be saved in the Power BI Service. Alternatively, new reports and datasets can be created in the Synapse Studio and published to Power BI as well.
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