Forum Discussion
Linked Table display rows of NULL data
Anonymous I've subitted a support ticket
Hi GregMarbais ,
Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community.
What you're experiencing with linked tables intermittently displaying rows of NULLs is something we've seen in a few complex medallion-style deployments. It often points to a temporary metadata desync in the linkage particularly when lakehouses are chained or when refresh operations overlap.
As you mentioned recreating the linked table triggers a metadata refresh, which is why it resolves the issue temporarily.
Here are a few suggestions that may help:
- Watch for schema changes in the source lakehouse tables even subtle changes can affect linkage integrity.
- Consider scheduling refreshes with slight offsets across linked lakehouses to reduce potential timing conflicts.
- Use the "Refresh schema" option on the linked table before deleting it, this can sometimes resolve the issue without full re-creation.
- If possible, enable logs or monitoring to catch when and how the issue starts this may uncover patterns.
We understand the instinct to fix it quickly and move on, especially if it's faster than reporting. However, since this seems to be recurring and could affect others with similar architectures, we recommend raising a Microsoft support ticket. This will ensure the issue is officially tracked and can contribute to any long-term improvements or fixes.
If this post helps, then please give us Kudos and consider Accept it as a solution to help the other members find it more quickly.
Thankyou.
Anonymous , I'll look at the scheduled refreshes. Do you have a document that shows how to refresh the schema? I'm not seeing a way that I'm able to do that. I'll enter a support ticket as well.
Hi [OP's name],
Currently, there isn’t a dedicated documentation page specifically for refreshing the schema on linked tables in Microsoft Fabric. However, you can find general information on schema management and optimization in the Schema Optimization Best Practices documentation, which may provide helpful context for your setup.
Unfortunately, the "Refresh Schema" option isn't extensively documented yet. I recommend continuing with the steps I shared earlier and opening a support ticket to ensure the issue is tracked properly.
If this post helps, then please give us Kudos and consider Accept it as a solution to help the other members find it more quickly.
Thankyou.