What's changed: Added §4.4 "Microsoft Fabric (Unified Analytics Platform)" to fix the drift from the 2026 refresh that centers the analytics domain on Fabric/OneLake/lakehouse/Real-Time Intelligence/Data Activator. Adds Fabric alongside the existing Synapse-centric content
4.4Microsoft Fabric (Unified Analytics Platform)
Understand Microsoft Fabric, which became the center of the DP-900 analytics domain in the 2026 update. Fabric is a SaaS unified analytics platform bundling ingestion, data engineering, warehousing, real-time analytics, data science, and Power BI—all running on a single data lake, OneLake.
Analytics used to be built by combining several services—Data Factory to ingest, Synapse for large-scale analytics, Power BI to visualize, and so on. Microsoft Fabric is a unified analytics platform that bundles those workloads into a single SaaS product. In the 2026 update, the DP-900 analytics domain was reorganized around Fabric. Its defining trait is that every workload runs on a single data lake, OneLake.
4.4.1OneLake — one data lake for the org
OneLake is a single data lake for the whole organization (often likened to "OneDrive for analytics"). Data is stored in one place in open formats (Delta/Parquet), and every workload uses the same data directly without making copies—eliminating the effort and inconsistency of duplicating data per service.
4.4.2The main Fabric workloads
- Data Factory: ingest and transform data (ETL/ELT pipelines).
- Data Engineering (Lakehouse): process big data with Spark; provides the lakehouse that holds raw and shaped data together.
- Data Warehouse: large-scale analytics over structured data with SQL.
- Real-Time Intelligence: analyze continuously arriving streaming data in real time.
- Data Science: build and experiment with machine-learning models.
- Power BI: visualization via reports/dashboards (integrated into Fabric).
In addition, Data Activator continuously monitors data and automatically triggers actions (alerts, kicking off processes) when conditions are met—a no-code trigger capability. It handles data-driven automation like "notify staff when stock drops below a threshold."
| You want to… | Fabric workload |
|---|---|
| Ingest/transform data | Data Factory |
| Big-data processing with Spark (lakehouse) | Data Engineering |
| Structured analytics with SQL | Data Warehouse |
| Real-time streaming analytics | Real-Time Intelligence |
| Visualize (reports/dashboards) | Power BI |
| Auto-action when conditions met | Data Activator |
Relationship to Synapse: You previously learned "large-scale warehouse / integrated analytics = Azure Synapse Analytics." Microsoft Fabric is a new unified platform that repackages those analytics capabilities as SaaS, and is now Microsoft’s primary direction for analytics. The exam increasingly centers on Fabric/OneLake (the Synapse concepts still apply).
Watch the mix-ups: (1) Fabric (the SaaS unified platform) vs OneLake (the single data lake underneath)—Fabric is the product, OneLake is the store. (2) Workload roles: ingest = Data Factory / Spark = Data Engineering (lakehouse) / SQL analytics = Warehouse / streaming = Real-Time Intelligence / visualize = Power BI / auto-trigger = Data Activator.
Common points: Microsoft Fabric = all analytics in one SaaS / OneLake = one data lake for the org (open format, no duplication) / lakehouse = raw + shaped together / Data Activator = auto-action on conditions. Also match each workload (Data Factory / Data Engineering / Warehouse / Real-Time Intelligence / Data Science / Power BI) to its role.
4.4.3Section summary
- Microsoft Fabric = SaaS unified analytics from ingestion to visualization (center of the 2026 update)
- OneLake = one data lake for the org; open format, no data duplication across workloads
- Main workloads: Data Factory / Data Engineering (lakehouse) / Warehouse / Real-Time Intelligence / Data Science / Power BI; automation via Data Activator
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Quick check
(just a quick review)Q1. Which is the SaaS unified analytics platform bundling ingestion, data engineering, warehousing, real-time analytics, and Power BI?
Q2. In Microsoft Fabric, which data lake stores the whole organization’s data in one place in an open format?
Q3. Which Fabric capability monitors data continuously and triggers actions automatically when conditions are met?
Q4. Which Fabric workload analyzes streaming data in real time?
Q5. Which Fabric construct holds raw and shaped data together and processes it with Spark?
Q6. Which correctly describes the format OneLake stores data in?
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