What is the difference between external data and an integration dataset in Azure Synapse?

Question

What is the difference between external data and an integration dataset in Azure Synapse?

Answer 1

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

Below is the difference between and integration dataset and an external data.

INTEGRATION DATASET:

An integration dataset is a way to define the structure and location of your data within a data store. It is used in pipeline activities and data flows to specify where your data is located and how it is organized.

For example, let's say you have a CSV file stored in Azure Blob Storage that contains customer data. You can create an integration dataset that defines the structure of the CSV file (e.g., the column names and data types) and the location of the file in Blob Storage. You can then use this integration dataset in a Synapse pipeline activity or data flow to read or write data to/from the CSV file.

In other words, an integration dataset is a way to define the "what" and "where" of your data within a data store. It specifies the structure of your data (e.g., column names and data types) and the location of your data (e.g., Blob Storage or SQL Server).

EXTERNAL DATA:

An External data in Azure Synapse Workspace refers to data that is stored outside of the Synapse Workspace environment, which can be accessed and queried from within Synapse Workspace using external tables. An external table is a table that is defined in Synapse Workspace but is backed by data that is stored in an external data store/source.

Once an external data connection is created, the underlying data of that connection will be available for analysis in the Data hub or for pipeline activities in the Integrate hub. Please note this is limited to below data sources only.

For better understanding of the external data and its use case scenarios, please refer to this video demonstration: Connecting to External Data with Azure Synapse

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have further questions.

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Answer 2

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