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Kristian_nho's avatar
Kristian_nho
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8 months ago
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How to Use Fabric Lakehouse as External Data Source in Fabric SQL Database

Hello community, We are trying to use a MS Fabric lakehouse as an external data source within a Fabric SQL database. The goal is to create external tables that reference lakehouse data so we can use...
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sql database
  • Kristian_nho's avatar
    Kristian_nho
    8 months ago

    Hello all,
    Thank you for your suggestions. After careful consideration, our team has decided to go with Fabric Warehouse instead of SQL Database. I am sure these suggestions will still be helpful for other users.
    Thank you again.

v-echaithra's avatar
v-echaithra
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8 months ago

Hi Kristian_nho ,

You can work with Lakehouse data in a Fabric SQL Database today, but not through a fully general availability external table feature yet. The supported options are:

1. Query via the Lakehouse SQL analytics endpoint

Any Lakehouse data is automatically exposed through its SQL analytics endpoint. You can build views, stored procedures, and other SQL objects directly against that endpoint.

2. Use Data Virtualization (preview)

If enabled in your tenant, you can define external data sources pointing to OneLake, set up file formats (Delta, Parquet, CSV, JSON), and create external tables. Some regions also support OPENROWSET / external data source patterns to query Delta/Parquet files in OneLake without ingestion.

 

External tables are read‑only and tuned for analytical workloads.

Use Managed Identity for secure authentication.

Align schemas carefully to avoid mismatches.

Inserts/updates aren’t supported yet.

3. Ingest into SQL DB/Warehouse

If virtualization isn’t available, the fallback is to load Lakehouse tables into the SQL DB (e.g. with CTAS or INSERT INTO) and then build your SQL objects on top.

There’s no general‑availability “external table to Lakehouse” feature yet. Depending on what’s enabled in your workspace, either use the SQL analytics endpoint, data virtualization (preview), or ingestion into SQL DB/Warehouse.

Hope this helps.
Thank you.