Shortcuts in OneLake

1. Shortcuts in OneLake

In this video, we'll explore shortcuts in Microsoft Fabric. We'll dive into its concept, types, deletion scenarios, and security features. Let's get started!

2. Introduction to Shortcuts in Microsoft Fabric

Shortcuts in Fabric act as symbolic links within OneLake, pointing to various storage locations. The location can be internal or external to Fabric environment. Think of them like the shortcuts you create on your desktop. Shortcuts allow seamless access to data without any data degradation, duplication, or latency. You can create these shortcuts interactively through the Fabric UI or programmatically using the REST API. Shortcuts support a wide range of data sources, including other OneLake instances, ADLS Gen2, Dataverse, Amazon S3 storage accounts, on-premise locations and network-restricted locations via the Fabric on-premises data gateway. This makes managing and accessing data across different platforms straightforward and efficient.

3. Key Terminology

Here is the Key Terminology for Shortcuts! Think of the Target Path as the original storage spot of your data, where the data resides. On the other hand, the Shortcut Path is where the magic happens — it is where you access and utilize that data. For instance, if you are bringing data into your Lakehouse from ADLSGen2, the Shortcut Path is where you have ingested data in your Lakehouse, while the Target Path is its actual location in ADLSGen2.

4. Shortcuts in Lakehouse

This visual shows the Lakehouse Explorer and where shortcuts can be created. Lakehouse has two main folders: Tables and Files. The Tables folder lets you store data in formats like Delta, Parquet, and CSV. Here, shortcuts can only be added at the top level, and not inside subfolders. The Files folder, on the other hand, lets you store any type of file, like images, videos, or documents. Shortcuts in the Files section can be created at any level of the folder hierarchy. Additionally, if the target in the Tables folder is in Delta or Parquet format, table discovery happens automatically. This automatic discovery doesn't apply to the Files folder, making the Tables folder unique in this aspect!

5. Deletion Handling in Shortcuts

Handling deletions with shortcuts is straightforward. Shortcuts do not perform cascading deletes, meaning they are independent objects from their targets. Deleting a shortcut object does not affect the actual data it points to. However, if you delete the content referenced by a shortcut and you have write permissions on the target path, the actual content will be deleted.

6. OneLake Shortcut Security

Finally, let's look at OneLake Shortcut Security. To create a shortcut, you’ll need Write permission on the shortcut path and Read permission on the target path. For example, if you're linking Lakehouse to ADLS Gen2, you need Write permission in Lakehouse and Read on ADLS Gen2. For accessing or writing data via shortcuts, permissions on both paths are important. Read permission on both paths allows you to view data, while Write permissions on both let you make changes. Your actions are always limited by the stricter permission between the two paths.

7. Let's practice!

Now Let's practice what we have learned!

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