Authored by: Mariya Ali - Program Manager II and Twinkle Cyril - Senior Product Manager
When performance issues happen in a data warehouse, the hardest part is often not fixing the problem—it’s figuring out what’s going on.
- Which queries are running right now?
- Is the slowdown new or a regression?
- Is it one bad query or a broader workload pattern?
- And if something is clearly stuck… how do you stop it now?
To help answer those questions faster, we’re introducing Data Warehouse Monitor (Previously Query Activity), a new monitoring experience in Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse that brings active and historical query visibility, performance analysis, and direct control into one unified UI.
Why Data Warehouse Monitor?
Before DW Monitor, troubleshooting often meant bouncing between multiple tools and views:
- One place to see running queries.
- Another to analyze historical performance.
- Yet another to correlate trends or confirm regressions.
DW Monitor was designed to collapse those steps into a single, purpose‑built experience — so you can move from “something feels slow” to actionable insight without context switching.
At its core, DW Monitor focuses on three goals:
- Unified visibility across live and completed queries.
- Fast pattern recognition across executions.
- Immediate action when a query is causing impact.
Active and historical Queries together
DW Monitor shows currently running queries and completed query runs side by side, in the same UI. This makes it easy to answer questions like:
- Is this query still running, or has it already finished?
- How does this execution compare to previous runs?
- Is this slowdown isolated or part of a recurring pattern?
By eliminating the split between “live” and “historical” views, DW Monitor enables faster comparison and quicker diagnosis during real incidents.
Analyze query performance patterns
Troubleshooting isn’t just about a single execution — it’s about patterns over time.
DW Monitor lets you analyze query performance across multiple executions, helping you:
- Spot regressions compared to prior runs.
- Identify frequently slow or resource‑intensive queries.
- Understand whether a problem is new, intermittent, or systemic.
This pattern‑based view is especially useful when validating changes, investigating user‑reported regressions, or explaining performance behavior to stakeholders.
Fast control for long-running queries
When a query is clearly stuck or causing downstream impact, you shouldn’t have to switch tools to act.
DW Monitor allows you to cancel long‑running or problematic queries with a single click, directly from the monitoring experience. This puts operational control in the same place as diagnostic insight, reducing time‑to‑mitigation during incidents.
Powered by query insights
Under the hood, DW Monitor is powered by Query Insights, which provides the execution‑level telemetry needed to support:
- Active and historical query visibility.
- Cross‑run performance analysis.
- Reliable comparison across executions.
This foundation allows DW Monitor to evolve toward deeper diagnostics and smarter insights over time, while remaining fully integrated with Fabric’s native monitoring stack.
A new monitoring UX, built for troubleshooting
DW Monitor is not just a feature — it’s a redesigned monitoring experience optimized for real‑world troubleshooting workflows:
- One unified view instead of fragmented tools.
- Consistent navigation across query states.
- Faster paths from symptoms to action.
The goal is simple: reduce the time it takes to understand what’s happening and what to do next.
What’s next
This is just the beginning. DW Monitor establishes the foundation for a more intelligent, more proactive monitoring experience — one that will continue to evolve with richer insights, deeper analysis, and tighter integration across Fabric.
We look forward to seeing how you use DW Monitor to troubleshoot faster, explain performance with confidence, and keep their warehouses running smoothly.
Resources
- To get started with Data Warehouse Monitor, refer to the Monitor T-SQL queries (Preview) documentation.
- Monitor Your Running and Completed Queries Using Query Activity
- Mastering monitoring in Microsoft Fabric Data Warehouse
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