Forum Discussion
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 them in stored procedures, views, and other SQL objects.We have attempted several approaches but haven’t been able to get this working as expected. Has anyone successfully set up this kind of integration, and if so, could you share the steps or best practices? Any guidance or examples would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
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.
7 Replies
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.Kristian_nho During Ignite we announced the Public Preview of Data Virtualization for Fabric SQL Database, the end goal is offer a solution for the very problem you described. You can check the capabilities, demos and requirements here:
Data Virtualization in SQL Database - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn
Basically to can do OPENROWSET, OPENROWSET + Views or External Tables itself, depending on your requirements.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.Hi Kristian_nho ,
Thank you for the update and for sharing your decision with the community.
Choosing Fabric Warehouse is a solid approach for this scenario, as it provides tighter integration with Lakehouse data and avoids the current limitations around external table support in Fabric SQL Database.
If you have any follow-up questions while working with Fabric Warehouse or need guidance on optimizing your setup, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re always happy to help.
Best Regards.
Hi Kristian,
I haven't tested this out but you might find this link interesting:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/statements/create-external-data-source-transact-sql?view=azuresqldb-current&preserve-view=true&tabs=dedicated#c-create-an-external-data-source-for-bulk-operations-retrieving-data-from-azure-storage
In theory you can create a link to underlying data storage and use the OPENROWSET to do load the data into a table in SQL Server. Unfortunately you can't create an external table on top of a Blob Storage. It is just for doing bulk actions.
Btw, it would be nice if we could do what you've asked for, I suggest adding this as an idea to the product team.Best
Onur
😊 If this post helped you, feel free to give it some Kudos! 👍
✅ And if it answered your question, please mark it as the accepted solution.
Hi Kristian_nho ,
Thank you HugoQueiroz-MSF , OnurOz for your inputs.
I hope the above details help you fix the issue. If you still have any questions or need more help, feel free to reach out. We are always here to support you.
Regards,
Community Support Team.Hi Kristian_nho ,
May I ask if you have resolved this issue? Please let us know if you have any further issues, we are happy to help.
Thank you.
