Tutorial: Configure Microsoft Fabric mirrored database for Azure Cosmos DB (Preview)

In this tutorial, you configure a Fabric mirrored database from an existing Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL account.

Mirroring incrementally replicates Azure Cosmos DB data into Fabric OneLake in near real-time, without impacting the performance of transactional workloads or consuming Request Units (RUs). You can build Power BI reports directly on the data in OneLake, using DirectLake mode. You can run ad-hoc queries in SQL or Spark, build data models using notebooks and leverage built-in Copilot and advanced AI capabilities in Fabric to analyze the data.

Important

Mirroring for Azure Cosmos DB is currently in preview. Production workloads aren't supported during preview. Currently, only Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL accounts are supported.

Prerequisites

• An existing Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL account.
  • If you don't have an Azure subscription, Try Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL free.
  • If you have an existing Azure subscription, create a new Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL account.
• An existing Fabric capacity. If you don't have an existing capacity, start a Fabric trial. Mirroring might not be available in some Fabric regions. For more information, see supported regions.
• Enable Mirroring in your Fabric tenant or workspace. If the feature isn't already enabled, enable mirroring in your Fabric tenant.
  • If you do not see Mirroring in your Fabric workspace or tenant, your organization admin must enable in admin settings.

Tip

During the public preview, it's recommended to use a test or development copy of your existing Azure Cosmos DB data that can be recovered quickly from a backup.

Configure your Azure Cosmos DB account

First, ensure that the source Azure Cosmos DB account is correctly configured to use with Fabric mirroring.

1. Navigate to your Azure Cosmos DB account in the Azure portal.

2. Ensure that continuous backup is enabled. If not enabled, follow the guide at migrate an existing Azure Cosmos DB account to continuous backup to enable continuous backup. This feature might not be available in some scenarios. For more information, see database and account limitations.

3. Ensure that the networking options are set to public network access for all networks. If not, follow the guide at configure network access to an Azure Cosmos DB account.

Create a mirrored database

Now, create a mirrored database that is the target of the replicated data. For more information, see What to expect from mirroring.

1. Navigate to the Fabric portal home.

2. Open an existing workspace or create a new workspace.

3. In the navigation menu, select Create.

4. Select Create, locate the Data Warehouse section, and then select Mirrored Azure Cosmos DB (Preview).

5. Provide a name for the mirrored database and then select Create.

Connect to the source database

Next, connect the source database to the mirrored database.

1. In the New connection section, select Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL.

2. Provide credentials for the Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL account including these items:

   	Value
   Azure Cosmos DB endpoint	URL endpoint for the source account.
   Connection name	Unique name for the connection.
   Authentication kind	Select Account key.
   Account Key	Read-write key for the source account.

   

3. Select Connect. Then, select a database to mirror.

   Note

   All containers in the database are mirrored.

Start mirroring process

1. Select Mirror database. Mirroring now begins.

2. Wait two to five minutes. Then, select Monitor replication to see the status of the replication action.

3. After a few minutes, the status should change to Running, which indicates that the containers are being synchronized.

   Tip

   If you can't find the containers and the corresponding replication status, wait a few seconds and then refresh the pane. In rare cases, you might receive transient error messages. You can safely ignore them and continue to refresh.

4. When mirroring finishes the initial copying of the containers, a date appears in the last refresh column. If data was successfully replicated, the total rows column would contain the number of items replicated.

Monitor Fabric Mirroring

Now that your data is up and running, there are various analytics scenarios available across all of Fabric.

1. Once Fabric Mirroring is configured, you're automatically navigated to the Replication Status pane.

2. Here, monitor the current state of replication. For more information and details on the replication states, see Monitor Fabric Mirror replication.

Query the source database from Fabric

Use the Fabric portal to explore the data that already exists in your Azure Cosmos DB account, querying your source Cosmos DB database.

1. Navigate to the mirrored database in the Fabric portal.

2. Select View, then Source database. This action opens the Azure Cosmos DB data explorer with a read-only view of the source database.

   

3. Select a container, then open the context menu and select New SQL query.

4. Run any query. For example, use SELECT COUNT(1) FROM container to count the number of items in the container.

   Note

   All the reads on source database are routed to Azure and will consume Request Units (RUs) allocated on the account.

Analyze the target mirrored database

Now, use T-SQL to query your NoSQL data that is now stored in Fabric OneLake.

1. Navigate to the mirrored database in the Fabric portal.

2. Switch from Mirrored Azure Cosmos DB to SQL analytics endpoint.

   

3. Each container in the source database should be represented in the SQL analytics endpoint as a warehouse table.

4. Select any table, open the context menu, then select New SQL Query, and finally select Select Top 100.

5. The query executes and returns 100 records in the selected table.

6. Open the context menu for the same table and select New SQL Query. Write an example query that use aggregates like SUM, COUNT, MIN, or MAX. Join multiple tables in the warehouse to execute the query across multiple containers.

   Note

   For example, this query would execute across multiple containers:

   SELECT
       d.[product_category_name],
       t.[order_status],
       c.[customer_country],
       s.[seller_state],
       p.[payment_type],
       sum(o.[price]) as price,
       sum(o.[freight_value]) freight_value 
   FROM
       [dbo].[products] p 
   INNER JOIN
       [dbo].[OrdersDB_order_payments] p 
           on o.[order_id] = p.[order_id] 
   INNER JOIN
       [dbo].[OrdersDB_order_status] t 
           ON o.[order_id] = t.[order_id] 
   INNER JOIN
       [dbo].[OrdersDB_customers] c 
           on t.[customer_id] = c.[customer_id] 
   INNER JOIN
       [dbo].[OrdersDB_productdirectory] d 
           ON o.product_id = d.product_id 
   INNER JOIN
       [dbo].[OrdersDB_sellers] s 
           on o.seller_id = s.seller_id 
   GROUP BY
       d.[product_category_name],
       t.[order_status],
       c.[customer_country],
       s.[seller_state],
       p.[payment_type]
   

   This example assumes the name of your table and columns. Use your own table and columns when writing your SQL query.

7. Select the query and then select Save as view. Give the view a unique name. You can access this view at any time from the Fabric portal.

8. Return back to the mirrored database in the Fabric portal.

9. Select New visual query. Use the query editor to build complex queries.

   

Building BI reports on the SQL queries or views

1. Select the query or view and then select Explore this data (preview). This action explores the query in Power BI directly using Direct Lake on OneLake mirrored data.
2. Edit the charts as needed and save the report.

Tip

You can also optionally use Copilot or other enhancements to build dashboards and reports without any further data movement.

More examples

Learn more about how to access and query mirrored Azure Cosmos DB data in Fabric:

• How-to: Query nested data in Microsoft Fabric mirrored databases from Azure Cosmos DB
• How to: Access mirrored Azure Cosmos DB data in Lakehouse and notebooks from Microsoft Fabric (Preview)
• How-to: Join mirrored Azure Cosmos DB data with other mirrored databases in Microsoft Fabric

Related content

• Mirroring Azure Cosmos DB (Preview)
• FAQ: Microsoft Fabric mirrored databases from Azure Cosmos DB