Availability of Sandbox environment for ADF

Question

Presently, I’m engaged in the Data Integration at Scale learning path, focusing on Azure Data Factory or Azure Synapse Pipeline. During certain modules, the task involves creating a data factory instance. However, there’s no available sandbox environment. Thus, my inquiry is whether Microsoft Learn provides a sandbox environment for Data Factory.

Answer 1

Hi,

While Microsoft Learn doesn't directly offer a full-fledged sandbox environment for Azure Data Factory (ADF), here are several ways to work around this and gain hands-on experience:

1. Free Azure Subscription:

• New Users: If you're new to Azure, you can create a free Azure account (https://azure.microsoft.com/free/), which includes $200 in credits for the first 30 days. Use these credits to experiment with ADF.
• Visual Studio Dev Essentials: If you have a Visual Studio Dev Essentials subscription, you may be eligible for monthly Azure credits.

Important: Be cost-conscious when using a free or credit-based subscription. Always monitor your resource usage and delete or stop services when not in use to avoid unexpected charges. 2. Limited-functionality ADF in the Azure Portal:

• Even without a full subscription, you can access the Azure portal and create an Azure Data Factory instance. While you won't be able to run fully functional pipelines, you can still explore the interface, create some basic elements, and get familiar with the workflow.

3. Microsoft Learn Hands-On Labs:

• Some Microsoft Learn modules feature hands-on labs or guided exercises with pre-provisioned Azure environments. These provide a way to practice using ADF within a temporary sandbox, without incurring costs on your own subscription. Look for modules that explicitly mention lab environments.

4. Consider Azure Synapse Analytics:

• Although not quite the same, Azure Synapse Analytics often includes free sample workspaces to test workspace functionality and pipelines. The experience is very similar to working with ADF.

If this answer helped you, please accept this as answer else please provide more information to help you better.

Regards,

Dr. Gomathi S