Whre is data stored in OneLake?

[ItGoat]

don't know if I'm in the right place with this topic, but I thought I'd give it a shot nonetheless and maybe someone can answer my question ^^

What I still don't get—and can't find anything about in the Fabric documentation—is whether the data stored in my workspace gets copied to a repository area in OneLake or is only available to others if I share it. I understand that the OneLake architecture should enable companies to get rid of their data swamps and data silos, but I'm not quite sure how this is managed here, since I can create as many workspaces as I like, and it's still a silo that no one else can access.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Hi @ItGoat ,

In OneLake, data is not automatically copied to a repository area; it remains within your workspace until you decide to share it. OneLake is designed to be a single, unified, logical data lake for your entire organization, and it supports distributed ownership through workspaces¹. Each workspace can have its own administrator, access control, region, and billing capacity, allowing different parts of the organization to operate independently while still contributing to the same data lake.

To share data between different workspaces and users, OneLake uses shortcuts. These shortcuts allow you to easily share data without having to move or duplicate information unnecessarily. When teams work independently in separate workspaces, shortcuts enable you to combine data across different business groups and domains into a virtual data product to fit a user's specific needs.

So, while you can create as many workspaces as you like, and they may initially seem like silos, the architecture of OneLake and the use of shortcuts are meant to facilitate collaboration and sharing of data across the organization, effectively eliminating data swamps and silos.

Best Regards,

Neeko Tang

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