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Analytics
verified
Parquet file
A Parquet file is a columnar data file commonly stored in Azure Blob Storage or Data Lake Storage and queried by analytics services. Microsoft Learn examples show Azure Synapse serverless SQL reading Parquet with OPENROWSET by specifying the file URL and PARQUET format.
Data lake file formats
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Apache Parquet file, Parquet data file, columnar file, lakehouse Parquet
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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
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
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
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 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 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
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
verified
Wrangling data flow
A wrangling data flow in Azure Data Factory uses Power Query Online to build code-free data preparation logic, then translates the generated Power Query M into Data Flow execution for cloud-scale processing inside pipelines and repeatable scheduled integration workflows at scale.
Data Factory
fundamentals
5 commands
Aliases: ADF wrangling data flow, Power Query data flow, Data Factory data wrangling, Power Query in ADF
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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
External file format
An External file format is a database object that describes the file type, delimiter, compression, and parsing options used to read or write external data. Teams use it to tell SQL engines how to interpret external files such as delimited text, Parquet, ORC, or compressed data before external tables and CETAS jobs use them. It is not the data source location, the external table schema, the actual lake file, or a guarantee that every file in a folder has the same structure.
Synapse SQL and data virtualization
intermediate
6 commands
Aliases: CREATE EXTERNAL FILE FORMAT, PolyBase file format, Synapse external file format
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Storage
premium
File service endpoint
A File service endpoint is the Azure Storage endpoint used by clients and services to access Azure Files shares in a storage account through supported protocols and network paths. Teams use it to connect applications, users, file sync agents, and automation to Azure file shares through the correct public endpoint, private endpoint, or virtual network service endpoint path. It is not a file share itself, a private endpoint by itself, a DNS record alone, authorization proof, or a guarantee that SMB, NFS, FileREST, firewall, and identity settings all match.
Azure Files
intermediate
6 commands
Aliases: Azure Files endpoint, storage file endpoint, file endpoint, Azure Storage file service endpoint
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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
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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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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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
learning-path-anchor
Databricks repo
A workspace Git integration, now called Git folders, for versioning notebooks and files used in Databricks development and CI/CD.
Databricks
fundamentals
4 commands
Aliases: Databricks Repos, Databricks Git folder, Azure Databricks Git folders, workspace Git folder
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Analytics
learning-path-anchor
Databricks table
A governed Databricks data object, commonly managed, external, or foreign, queried through Unity Catalog and optimized for analytics.
Databricks
fundamentals
4 commands
Aliases: Unity Catalog table, Delta table in Databricks, Databricks managed table
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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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Analytics
top-250-pre130-priority-upgraded
Delta Lake
Delta Lake is an open-source storage layer that extends Parquet data files with a transaction log to support ACID transactions, scalable metadata, and reliable batch and streaming workloads.
Data lake
intermediate
4 commands
Aliases: Delta format, Delta table storage, lakehouse Delta, Delta Lake
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Analytics
premium
Change data capture in Data Factory
A Data Factory capability for processing changed data from supported sources.
Data integration
intermediate
10 commands
Aliases: CDC
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Analytics
premium
Databricks job
A scheduled or triggered Databricks workflow that runs one or more tasks using configured compute, parameters, retries, notifications, and access controls.
Azure Databricks
fundamentals
7 commands
Aliases: Databricks workflow job, Lakeflow Job, Databricks Jobs
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Analytics
premium
Data Factory
Azure’s managed data integration service for creating pipelines that move, transform, schedule, and orchestrate data across cloud, SaaS, and hybrid stores.
Data integration and orchestration
Intermediate
6 commands
Aliases: Data Factory, Data Factory, data factory
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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 cluster
A Databricks compute resource that runs notebooks, jobs, libraries, Spark workloads, and data processing tasks using configured runtime, workers, policies, and access controls.
Azure Databricks
fundamentals
6 commands
Aliases: Databricks compute, Azure Databricks compute cluster, classic cluster
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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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Storage
premium
Azure NetApp Files
Azure NetApp Files provides managed enterprise SMB and NFS volumes in Azure for performance-sensitive file workloads.
Backup and recovery
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Analytics
premium
Data flow sink
The mapping data flow transformation that writes processed rows to a target dataset, table, file path, or inline destination at the end of a flow branch.
Data Factory
Intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Analytics
premium
Data flow source
The mapping data flow transformation that reads input rows from a dataset or inline source before downstream transformations reshape the data.
Data Factory
Intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Analytics
premium
Data warehouse unit
Data warehouse unit is documented by Microsoft as part of the Synapse Analytics area in Azure.
Synapse Analytics
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: No aliases yet
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Analytics
premium
Databricks workflow
A Databricks workflow is a scheduled or triggered orchestration of tasks in Azure Databricks, commonly managed through Lakeflow Jobs, for running notebooks, SQL, pipelines, scripts, and production data workloads.
Data engineering and analytics
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: Databricks Jobs workflow, Lakeflow Jobs workflow, Databricks scheduled workflow, Databricks orchestration
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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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Analytics
premium
Dataset parameter
A dataset parameter is a named value on a Data Factory or Synapse dataset that lets pipelines pass runtime information such as folder, file, schema, table, or partition values into a reusable dataset definition.
Data engineering and analytics
intermediate
5 commands
Aliases: ADF dataset parameter, Data Factory dataset parameter, parameterized dataset, dataset runtime value
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