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Data warehousing on Azure Databricks

Databricks SQL is a cloud data warehouse built on lakehouse architecture. It runs directly on your data lake, supports ANSI SQL with Delta Lake extensions, and provides the tools to build highly performant, cost-effective data warehouses without moving your data.

Interfaces and tools

Databricks SQL runs on SQL warehouses and is accessible from multiple interfaces for querying, visualization, pipeline management, and automation.

Interface Description
SQL editor Write and run SQL queries with integrated AI assistance, code comments, and version history.
Notebooks Run SQL alongside Python, Scala, or R by attaching a notebook to a SQL warehouse.
AI/BI Create AI-powered dashboards and Genie spaces for self-service data analysis and conversational data exploration.
Metric views Define reusable business metrics with consistent calculations using a semantic layer.
Alerts Monitor query results, evaluate conditions, and deliver notifications automatically.
Jobs Schedule SQL queries for automated data processing and reporting workflows.
ETL Define and refresh streaming tables and materialized views directly in Databricks SQL for incremental ETL pipelines.
REST API Automate and manage Databricks SQL objects programmatically.

Monitor and optimize

Resource Description
Query history Review past query runs, execution times, and resource usage across your warehouse.
Query profile Inspect the execution plan for a query to identify bottlenecks and optimization opportunities.
Query performance insights Get automatic insights and recommendations when queries run inefficiently.

Get started

If you're new to Databricks SQL, start with the concepts and then follow a hands-on walkthrough.

Resource Description
Databricks SQL concepts Learn core concepts including queries, SQL warehouses, dashboards, and data management.
Data warehousing architecture Understand lakehouse architecture, medallion layers, and data modeling approaches for Databricks SQL.
Get started with data warehousing Follow a complete walkthrough covering sample dashboards, notebooks, jobs, data ingestion, and SQL warehouse setup.
Unity Catalog metric views Define consistent, reusable business metrics with a semantic layer for use across queries and dashboards.
Create an AI/BI dashboard Build and publish your first dashboard with datasets, visualizations, and filters using AI-assisted authoring.

Reference