External table 'RetailDB.dbo.Product' is not accessible because content of directory cannot be listed

Question

External table 'RetailDB.dbo.Product' is not accessible because content of directory cannot be listed

Amriteshwar Singh 30

So I want to ingest data in a lake database table in Azure Synapse Studio, but I'm getting this error.

"External table 'RetailDB.dbo.Product' is not accessible because content of directory cannot be listed"

Even though the networking is set to All Networks for my data lake storage account.

This is a part of exercise https://microsoftlearning.github.io/dp-203-azure-data-engineer/Instructions/Labs/04-Create-a-Lake-Database.html . Please Help!!

Sedat SALMAN 14,185 Reputation points MVP

2023-03-26T19:54:52.4833333+00:00

please add the error !!
KranthiPakala-MSFT 46,647 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-03-29T07:57:30.3766667+00:00

@Amriteshwar Singh Just checking in to see if the below information was helpful. If it answers your query, please do click Accept Answer and Yes for "was this answer helpful", as it might be beneficial to other community members reading this thread. If you have any further query, do let us know.

Thank you
KranthiPakala-MSFT 46,647 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-03-31T22:37:53.01+00:00

@Amriteshwar Singh We still have not heard back from you. Just wanted to check if the below information was helpful? If it answers your query, please do click Accept Answer and Yes for "was this answer helpful", as it might be beneficial to other community members reading this thread. And, if you have any further query do let us know.

Thank you
ScottN2602 20 Reputation points

2023-07-19T21:10:25.2033333+00:00

I can confirm the instructions in the lab guide are a bit ambiguous. It directs you to ensure that the Input Folder in the properties tab of the table is files/RetailDB/Product but only files/RetailDB/ is actually needed as the name of the table puts itself as a child folder with its name. If you specify files/RetailDB/Product in the instructions, it actually shows files/RetailDB/Product/Product in the Input Folder in the General tab at the bottom (not the right side). Once this is changed the data is enumerated properly.

1 answer

Your answer

Sedat SALMAN 14,185 Reputation points MVP

2023-03-26T19:54:52.4833333+00:00

please add the error !!
KranthiPakala-MSFT 46,647 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-03-29T07:57:30.3766667+00:00

@Amriteshwar Singh Just checking in to see if the below information was helpful. If it answers your query, please do click Accept Answer and Yes for "was this answer helpful", as it might be beneficial to other community members reading this thread. If you have any further query, do let us know.

Thank you
KranthiPakala-MSFT 46,647 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2023-03-31T22:37:53.01+00:00

@Amriteshwar Singh We still have not heard back from you. Just wanted to check if the below information was helpful? If it answers your query, please do click Accept Answer and Yes for "was this answer helpful", as it might be beneficial to other community members reading this thread. And, if you have any further query do let us know.

Thank you
ScottN2602 20 Reputation points

2023-07-19T21:10:25.2033333+00:00

I can confirm the instructions in the lab guide are a bit ambiguous. It directs you to ensure that the Input Folder in the properties tab of the table is files/RetailDB/Product but only files/RetailDB/ is actually needed as the name of the table puts itself as a child folder with its name. If you specify files/RetailDB/Product in the instructions, it actually shows files/RetailDB/Product/Product in the Input Folder in the General tab at the bottom (not the right side). Once this is changed the data is enumerated properly.

Answer 1

Hi @Amriteshwar Singh ,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum and thanks for reaching out here.

As per the error message, it seems like directory specified in the external table definition does not exist or the user does not have sufficient permissions to access the directory. You can try the following steps to resolve the issue:

Check if the directory specified in the external table definition exists in the data lake storage account. Check if you have specified the correct path to the directory in the external table definition.
Ensure that you have sufficient permissions to access the directory. You can grant the necessary permissions by using the Access Control (IAM) feature in the Azure portal (ADLSGen2 account).

Please make sure that you have followed all the steps mentioned in these 3 steps:

User's image

Also please ensure that the product file is uploaded to your Primary ADLS Gen2 container which has been used to create a table in your lake database. Once the file is uploaded, please make sure to Publish the changes you have made. Then you can right click on the table and select New SQL script and select the online SQL pool and run the query which will display the results.

User's image

Hope this helps.

Please don’t forget to Accept Answer and Yes for "was this answer helpful" wherever the information provided helps you, this can be beneficial to other community members.

Pavan Kumar Gudivada 20 Reputation points

2023-08-09T12:21:15.8233333+00:00

I have created External table with Lake database From data lake (The file provided holds few records), I can preview the data while creating.

After creation of the external table, when i select the newly created table from the list of tables and query select top 100 rows. I am not seeing any query in built in, blank script is opening.

When i query with required statements also, not showing any records and is saying invalid object. But the table name is visible under lake database.

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External table 'RetailDB.dbo.Product' is not accessible because content of directory cannot be listed

1 answer

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