The Definitive Guide to Microsoft Fabric

Master Microsoft Fabric from basics to advanced architectures with expert guidance to unify, secure, and scale analytics on real-world data platforms

Key Features

• Build a complete data analytics platform with Microsoft Fabric
• Apply proven architectures, governance, and security strategies
• Gain real-world insights from five seasoned data experts
• Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook

Book Description

Microsoft Fabric is reshaping how organizations manage, analyze, and act on data by unifying ingestion, storage, transformation, analytics, AI, and visualization in a single platform.

The Definitive Guide to Microsoft Fabric takes you from your very first workspace to building a secure, scalable, and future-proof analytics environment. You’ll learn how to unify data in OneLake, design data meshes, transform and model data, implement real-time analytics, and integrate AI capabilities. The book also covers advanced topics, such as governance, security, cost optimization, and team collaboration using DevOps and DataOps principles. Drawing on the real-world expertise of five seasoned professionals who have built and advised on platforms for startups, SMEs, and Europe’s largest enterprises, this book blends strategic insight with practical guidance.

By the end of this book, you’ll have gained the knowledge and skills to design, deploy, and operate a Microsoft Fabric platform that delivers sustainable business value.

What you will learn

• Understand Microsoft Fabric architecture and concepts
• Unify data storage and data governance with OneLake
• Ingest and transform data using multiple Fabric tools
• Implement real-time analytics and event processing
• Design effective semantic models and reports
• Integrate AI and machine learning into data workflows
• Apply governance, security, and compliance controls
• Optimize performance and costs at scale

Who this book is for

This book is for data engineers, analytics engineers, architects, and data analysts moving into platform design roles. It’s also valuable for technical leaders seeking to unify analytics in their organizations. You’ll need only a basic grasp of databases, SQL, and Python.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Getting started with Fabric
3. From Lakehouse to First Analysis
4. Unifying Data in OneLake
5. Ingesting Data into Fabric
6. Advanced Data Transformation
7. Organizing data between Data Warehouse and Data Lake
8. Processing and Analyzing Real-Time Data
9. Designing Semantic Models
10. Enterprise analysis and reporting
11. Using AI in Fabric
12. Collaborating as a team
13. Architecture
14. Securing Your Data Platform
15. Administer Fabric
16. Mastering and Optimizing Platform Costs

Christopher Maneu is a Principal Data Engineering Advocate at Microsoft, he focuses on data and analytics within the Azure platform. Christopher is part of the Azure Engineering team, working on Microsoft Fabric well before its launch. This early involvement has provided him with in-depth knowledge of the platform's development and capabilities. He has authored multiple books, including a reference book about Microsoft Fabric in French. Additionally, he has contributed to open-source projects related to Microsoft Fabric, such as the 'fabricnotes' repository on GitHub, which offers simple drawings illustrating the main concepts of Microsoft Fabric to empower users to build on the platform

Emilie BEAU is a technical specialist in data processing technologies. She has been at Microsoft for 15 years, enjoys sharing her knowledge, and engages in discussions about how advances in BI, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence can help industries address new challenges.She spent years in the Microsoft Technology center, addressing CxOs at the intersection of business and technical needs.

Jean-Pierre is a Technology leader who combines data, innovation, and business value. Passionate about data, a fan of Power BI and Fabric, guided by innovation yet business-oriented, and “artificially intelligent,” he has worked for more than 25 years on exciting projects—from the web to IoT—encompassing vast amounts of data and AI. A recognized Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for the Data Platform since 2008, he has always been deeply involved in communities in France, both as an organizer and speaker. He leads the Microsoft Data community in France, notably through the Power BI Club and the Fabric Club.

Romain CASTERES is a Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft. He is passionate about music, new technologies, travel... and Data. Ex MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional) with over 15 years' experience in Data, he enjoys solving challenges by harnessing the value of data, learning and sharing knowledge, mainly on his blog and YouTube channel

Frédéric GISBERT has been a cloud solution architect at Microsoft for nearly 17 years. He has worked in various parts of the company, from Microsoft Professional Services to customer divisions, and has been in the partner division for the last 4 years. Passionate about new technologies, he covers topics ranging from databases to generative AI and Microsoft Fabric today.