Understanding a DWU for a dedicated SQL pool

Question

Hi,

I've read this article Data Warehouse Units (DWUs) for dedicated SQL pool (formerly SQL DW) - Azure Synapse Analytics | Microsoft Learn and I'd like understanding better the DWU meaning considering this passage at "What are Data Warehouse Units" paragraph:

In the above period, it talks that "changing data warehouse units does non affect storage costs": but does it pass to DW100c service level to DW200c service level mean having a major storage (from 60 GB to 120 GB) and so a major storage cost? Thanks

Answer 1

Hi @pmscorca

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A Platform. Thank you for posting your query.

According to the article you provided, Data Warehouse Units (DWUs) are a measure of compute power in Azure Synapse Analytics.

DWUs are used to describe the performance level of a dedicated SQL pool, which is the enterprise data warehousing feature of Azure Synapse Analytics. The higher the DWU level, the more compute resources are allocated to the dedicated SQL pool, resulting in faster query performance.

DWUs are available in increments of 100, ranging from DW100c to DW30000c. The "c" in the DWU level stands for "concurrent queries," which refers to the number of queries that can be processed simultaneously at that DWU level.

Regarding your other question, the answer is no. Changing the Data Warehouse Units (DWUs) from DW100c to DW200c does not affect storage costs. The DWUs are a measure of compute power, and the storage cost is billed separately. So, upgrading from DW100c to DW200c will not result in a major storage cost increase. The storage cost is based on the amount of data stored in the dedicated SQL pool, and it is not affected by the DWU level. For better understanding check the below GIF.

To check for pricing calculator

Hope this helps. Do let us know if you any further queries.

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