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Storage
learning-path-anchor
Data Lake storage account
A storage feature or access model in Data Lake Storage Gen2 that helps teams store, protect, move, and govern application or analytics data with clearer ownership, safety, and operational context.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
advanced
19 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
field-manual-complete
Data Lake Storage Gen2
Data Lake Storage Gen2 is Azure Blob Storage with a hierarchical namespace enabled for analytics workloads. Microsoft Learn describes it as combining file-system style directories, ACLs, and large-scale throughput with Blob Storage durability, security, lifecycle, tiering, and ecosystem compatibility for big data scenarios.
Analytics storage
fundamentals
8 commands
Aliases: ADLS Gen2
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Storage
premium
Filesystem in Data Lake Storage
Filesystem in Data Lake Storage is the top-level container-like namespace in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 that holds directories and files in Azure.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: Filesystem in Data Lake Storage, filesystem in data lake storage
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Storage
premium
Data Lake analytics workload
A production analytics workload that stores, transforms, governs, and serves large data sets from a data lake using Azure services such as ADLS Gen2, Data Factory, Databricks, Synapse, or Fabric.
Data Lake Storage
Intermediate
6 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
premium
Data Lake bronze layer
The raw ingestion layer in a lakehouse or medallion architecture where source data first lands with minimal transformation and strong traceability.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
Intermediate
6 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
premium
Data Lake curated zone
The governed, consumer-ready area of a data lake where cleaned, conformed, and documented datasets are served for reporting, analytics, AI, or downstream applications.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
Intermediate
6 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
premium
Data Lake directory
A directory in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 is a hierarchical namespace path segment that can contain files and child directories and can have access controls applied.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: ADLS directory, Data Lake folder, Gen2 directory, lake folder
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Storage
premium
Data Lake file system
A Data Lake file system is the top-level container namespace in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 that holds directories and files for analytics workloads.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: ADLS file system, Data Lake Storage file system, Gen2 file system, lake container
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Storage
premium
Data Lake filesystem
Data Lake filesystem is the compact API and CLI naming for the ADLS Gen2 file-system resource that contains directories and files.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: filesystem, ADLS filesystem, storage fs, Azure storage fs
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Storage
premium
Data Lake Gen2 endpoint
A Data Lake Gen2 endpoint is the DFS endpoint on a storage account used by Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 APIs, ABFS URIs, and hierarchical namespace operations.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: ADLS Gen2 endpoint, DFS endpoint, dfs.core.windows.net endpoint, Data Lake endpoint
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Storage
premium
Data Lake gold layer
The Data Lake gold layer is the business-ready medallion layer where curated, aggregated, and governed data is published for analytics, reporting, and decision support.
Medallion lakehouse architecture
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: gold layer, gold zone, curated business layer, trusted reporting layer
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Storage
premium
Data Lake ingestion zone
A Data Lake ingestion zone is the controlled landing area where source data first arrives before validation, transformation, enrichment, or publication.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: landing zone, raw ingestion zone, lake landing area, ingest zone
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Storage
premium
Data Lake namespace
A Data Lake namespace is the hierarchical address space in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 that organizes file systems, directories, files, and paths for analytics.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: ADLS namespace, hierarchical namespace, HNS namespace, lake namespace
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Storage
premium
Data Lake partition folder
A Data Lake partition folder is a directory pattern, often key=value, that groups files by values such as date, region, tenant, or business domain for efficient reads.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: partition folder, Hive-style partition folder, date partition folder, lake partition path
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Storage
premium
Data Lake path ACL
A Data Lake path ACL is the access control list applied to a file or directory path in Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 for fine-grained permissions.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: ADLS path ACL, Data Lake path access control, path access control list, data-lake-path-ac
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Storage
premium
Data Lake raw zone
A storage feature or access model in Data Lake Storage Gen2 that helps teams store, protect, move, and govern application or analytics data with clearer ownership, safety, and operational context.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
premium
Data Lake silver layer
A storage feature or access model in Data Lake Storage Gen2 that helps teams store, protect, move, and govern application or analytics data with clearer ownership, safety, and operational context.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
field-manual-complete
Data Lake path
A Data Lake path is the directory or file location inside an ADLS Gen2 file system, where permissions, pipelines, and analytics jobs meet data layout.
Data Lake Storage Gen2
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: ADLS path, lake path, Data Lake directory path
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Analytics
field-manual-complete
Synapse lake database
Synapse lake database is documented by Microsoft as part of the Synapse Analytics area in Azure.
Synapse Analytics
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Synapse lake database, Synapse database designer, Synapse lake database, lake database, lake-backed database, metadata over data lake, synapse lake database, synapse-lake-database
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Analytics
field-manual-complete
Lake database
A lake database in Azure Synapse Analytics combines database design, metadata, and storage layout for data stored in the lake, helping teams describe structure and query files through shared Spark and serverless SQL metadata without turning the data lake into a traditional database.
Analytics platform
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Analytics
learning-path-anchor
Databricks metastore
The top-level Unity Catalog container for catalogs, schemas, tables, volumes, models, functions, and governance permissions.
Databricks
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: Unity Catalog metastore, Databricks Unity Catalog metastore, metastore
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Analytics
premium
Databricks access connector
A first-party Azure resource that gives Azure Databricks a managed identity for Unity Catalog storage credentials and other governed service access.
Azure Databricks
intermediate
6 commands
Aliases: Access Connector for Azure Databricks, Azure Databricks access connector, Databricks managed identity connector
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Analytics
premium
Databricks catalog
The top-level Unity Catalog namespace that organizes schemas, tables, views, volumes, models, functions, permissions, lineage, and governed data ownership.
Azure Databricks
fundamentals
6 commands
Aliases: Unity Catalog catalog, Azure Databricks catalog, catalog object
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Analytics
premium
Databricks DBFS
The Databricks file-system abstraction behind dbfs:/ paths, useful for workspace files and legacy mounts but carefully governed alongside Unity Catalog.
Azure Databricks
fundamentals
6 commands
Aliases: DBFS, Databricks File System, dbfs:/
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Analytics
premium
External data source
An External data source is a database object that defines the location and connection information used by SQL engines to access external data. Teams use it to point serverless SQL, dedicated SQL pools, or PolyBase-style queries to data stored outside the database, such as Azure Storage or Data Lake paths. It is not the external table schema, the file format definition, the storage account itself, or proof that the credential can read every file under the path.
Synapse SQL and data virtualization
intermediate
6 commands
Aliases: CREATE EXTERNAL DATA SOURCE, PolyBase external data source, Synapse external data source
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Analytics
premium
Azure Data Explorer
A fully managed, high-performance analytics service for near-real-time analysis of large telemetry, log, event, and time-series datasets.
Real-time analytics
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: ADX, Kusto
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Analytics
premium
Azure Databricks
A unified, open analytics platform on Azure for building, deploying, sharing, and maintaining enterprise data, analytics, and AI solutions at scale.
Data engineering and AI
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Databricks on Azure
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Analytics
premium
Azure Databricks Unity Catalog
A unified governance layer in Azure Databricks for data and AI assets, including catalogs, schemas, tables, volumes, models, privileges, and lineage.
Data governance
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Unity Catalog
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Analytics
premium
Dataset
A dataset is a logical description of data used by analytics or integration services; in Azure Data Factory and Synapse pipelines, it describes the data structure, location, and linked service used by activities.
Data integration
beginner
5 commands
Aliases: data set, logical dataset, pipeline dataset, data reference
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Analytics
premium
Dataset in Data Factory
A dataset in Data Factory is a named JSON definition that describes the data an activity reads or writes, including the linked service, dataset type, path, table, schema, parameters, and annotations.
Data Factory
beginner
5 commands
Aliases: ADF dataset, Azure Data Factory dataset, Data Factory dataset definition, Synapse dataset
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Storage
premium
General-purpose v2 storage account
General-purpose v2 storage account is an Azure Storage account resource using the StorageV2 kind to host common storage services under one managed namespace. Teams use it to provide durable storage for applications while centralizing endpoints, redundancy, encryption, lifecycle management, networking, monitoring, and access control. In daily Azure work, it appears when engineers provision blob containers, file shares, queues, tables, static websites, backups, application artifacts, or Data Lake Gen2-enabled storage in a landing zone. It is not a specific blob container, an unlimited performance guarantee, an identity provider, or a safe design unless access, networking, and data protection are configured.
Storage accounts
beginner
5 commands
Aliases: Azure general-purpose v2 storage account, GPv2 storage account, StorageV2 storage account
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Storage
premium
SFTP for Azure Blob Storage
SFTP for Azure Blob Storage lets clients connect to a storage account through SSH File Transfer Protocol for file access, transfer, and management. It requires a supported storage account with hierarchical namespace enabled, then local users and scoped permissions control access to containers and paths.
Storage platform
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Blob Storage SFTP, SFTP support for Azure Blob Storage, storage account SFTP, Blob SFTP endpoint, SFTP for Azure Blob Storage
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Storage
premium
SFTP for Blob Storage
SFTP for Blob Storage is the storage-account feature that exposes blob containers to SFTP clients after hierarchical namespace is enabled. Administrators configure local users, authentication methods, home directories, and permission scopes so external or internal clients can transfer files without custom SFTP infrastructure.
Blob Storage
advanced
5 commands
Aliases: Blob Storage SFTP, SFTP for Blob Storage, SFTP landing zone, storage SFTP local user, SFTP-enabled storage account
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Storage
premium
Azure Storage Actions
Azure Storage Actions is a fully managed platform for automating data management tasks across Azure Blob Storage and Azure Data Lake Storage objects without provisioning separate compute.
Storage platform
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Analytics
premium
Delta Lake table
A Delta Lake table is a Databricks table stored in Delta format, using data files and a transaction log to support reliable reads, writes, metadata, and table history.
Delta Lake
fundamentals
4 commands
Aliases: Delta table in Delta Lake, Databricks Delta Lake table, Delta format table, lakehouse Delta table
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Storage
premium
Geo-redundant storage
Geo-redundant storage is an Azure Storage redundancy option that protects data by keeping primary-region replicas and asynchronously copying that data to a paired secondary region. Teams use it to reduce the chance that a regional outage destroys blob, file, queue, table, or Data Lake data that must survive a disaster. In daily Azure work, it shows up when engineers choose a storage account replication SKU, review disaster recovery requirements, compare GRS with RA-GRS or GZRS, or investigate why secondary-region reads are unavailable.
Storage redundancy
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: GRS, Standard_GRS, read-access geo-redundant storage, RA-GRS
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Analytics
premium
Microsoft Fabric lakehouse
Microsoft Fabric lakehouse is a Microsoft Fabric data item that stores files and tables in OneLake while exposing lakehouse-style analytics and engineering experiences. Teams should manage it with clear ownership, monitoring, rollback evidence, and production change discipline.
Microsoft Fabric
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: Fabric lakehouse, lakehouse item, OneLake lakehouse
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AI and Machine Learning
premium
ML datastore
ML datastore is a workspace-level Azure Machine Learning connection to underlying storage used by jobs, data assets, pipelines, and experiments. Teams should manage it with clear ownership, monitoring, rollback evidence, and production change discipline.
Azure Machine Learning
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: AML datastore, Azure ML datastore, Machine Learning datastore, workspace datastore
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Storage
premium
NFS 3.0 for Blob Storage
NFS 3.0 for Blob Storage means an Azure Blob Storage protocol option that lets Linux clients mount blob containers through NFS version 3. You see it when teams connect analytics jobs, HPC workloads, migration tools, or Linux applications that expect mounted file paths. Think of it as a storage protocol choice with account, namespace, and network requirements. It matters because the setting changes how teams design, secure, operate, and troubleshoot the workload. Before changing it in production, know the owner, dependency, evidence, expected result, and rollback path.
Blob Storage
advanced
4 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
premium
Azure Storage Discovery
Azure Storage Discovery is a fully managed service that provides enterprise-wide visibility into Azure Blob Storage and Azure Data Lake Storage estates for analysis, optimization, security, and operations.
Storage platform
intermediate
3 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Storage
field-manual-complete
Blob Storage
Blob Storage is Azure object storage for massive amounts of unstructured data such as documents, images, video, backups, logs, and application files.
Storage
advanced
5 commands
Aliases: Blob Storage, blob-storage, blob, blob-container, blob-access-tier, blob-soft-delete, blob-versioning, storage-account, account-sas, private-endpoint-for-storage, azure-files, data-lake-storage-gen2, queue-storage
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Storage
field-manual-complete
Private endpoint for Storage
A private endpoint for Storage is the private network entry point to one storage account service, such as Blob, Files, Queue, Table, Data Lake Storage, or static website content.
Storage platform
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Analytics
verified
Reference data
Reference data is the lookup information your streaming job needs but does not receive as live events. Think device catalogs, store locations, tariff codes, risk bands, or product mappings. In Azure Stream Analytics, the event stream keeps moving while reference data supplies
Stream Analytics
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Stream Analytics reference data, lookup data, slowly changing lookup data, streaming reference dataset
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Analytics
verified
Reference data input
A reference data input is the wiring between a Stream Analytics job and the lookup data it needs. The reference data is the table or file; the input is the job setting that says where that data lives, what alias the query
Streaming analytics
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: Stream Analytics reference input, reference input alias, reference lookup input
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Storage
field-manual-complete
Storage endpoint
A storage endpoint is the service URL used to reach an Azure Storage account data service, such as Blob, Data Lake Storage, File, Queue, Table, or static website hosting. Endpoints identify where clients connect, while authorization, firewall rules, DNS, and private endpoints determine whether access succeeds.
Storage platform
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: storage service endpoint, Azure Storage endpoint, storage account endpoint, storage URL
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Analytics
field-manual-complete
Stream Analytics reference data
Stream Analytics reference data is the lookup table your stream uses while events are flowing. Instead of sending every business attribute inside each event, you keep stable or slowly changing information separately, such as device metadata, route codes, tariff bands, or product categories. The query joins live events to that reference set and produces richer output. The key idea is simple: events tell you what happened now, while reference data explains what that event means in the business context your operators care about.
Streaming analytics
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Azure Stream Analytics reference data, reference data input, ASA reference data, lookup data for Stream Analytics
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Analytics
top-250-pre130-priority-upgraded
Databricks Unity Catalog
Databricks Unity Catalog is the centralized governance layer in Azure Databricks for managing data and AI asset metadata, permissions, lineage, discovery, and workspace access relationships.
Databricks
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Unity Catalog in Azure Databricks, Azure Databricks Unity Catalog, governed catalog, Databricks data governance
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Storage
complete
Standard storage account
Microsoft Learn describes a standard general-purpose v2 storage account as the recommended account type for most Azure Storage scenarios. It provides a namespace for blobs, Azure Files, queues, tables, and Data Lake Storage capabilities, with standard redundancy choices such as LRS, ZRS, GRS, RA-GRS, GZRS, and RA-GZRS.
Storage accounts
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: standard-storage-account, Standard storage account, standard general-purpose v2 storage account, standard GPv2 storage account, Azure Storage standard account, StorageV2 standard account
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Storage
complete
Storage account primary endpoint
Microsoft Learn explains that each Azure Storage account exposes service endpoints for supported storage services. The primary endpoint is the main service URL for the account’s primary location, such as Blob, File, Queue, Table, or Data Lake Storage access paths.
Storage accounts
advanced
5 commands
Aliases: primary storage endpoint, primary blob endpoint, storage account service endpoint URL, primary file queue table endpoint
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Analytics
field-manual-complete
Lakehouse architecture
Lakehouse architecture combines data lake scale with warehouse-style querying, governance, and analytics patterns. On Azure, it commonly uses Delta Lake, OneLake or ADLS storage, Spark, SQL experiences, BI tools, and layered data design such as bronze, silver, and gold at enterprise scale.
Azure Databricks
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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