OneLake as the Fabric data foundation

1. OneLake as the Fabric data foundation

We’ve already met OneLake as the storage foundation of Fabric. Now let's look more closely at where data actually lives.

2. What is OneLake?

Imagine a very large shared library that different teams use for different reasons: adding new information, organizing it, studying it, or summarizing it. OneLake is the shared collection at the center of that library. It is Fabric's organization-wide data lake, the single storage foundation that items like lakehouses, warehouses, notebooks, semantic models, and reports all work with. That shared foundation is why Fabric feels like one platform instead of a set of disconnected tools.

3. OneLake and Fabric items

Picture the building from earlier as this library. OneLake is the shared collection, and a workspace is a room where a team collaborates. Inside that room are specialist tools, which represent Fabric items. The tools differ, but they all work with data from the same shared collection.

4. Files and tables

OneLake stores data as files and as tables. Files are like boxes of documents dropped off just as they arrived: you can look inside, but nothing is sorted yet. A CSV, JSON, or Parquet file holds useful data in its raw, original form. Tables are those same documents unpacked and arranged on labeled shelves, with each row a record and each column a type of information. Because they are organized, tables are much easier to search, filter, summarize, and use in reports.

5. How a lakehouse works with OneLake

A lakehouse is an item that works with both the files and tables stored in OneLake. If OneLake is the shared collection, the lakehouse is the desk we work at to reach it. When we open a lakehouse, the Explorer panel on the left shows its tables and files, and we can browse the folders and subfolders.

6. Using sample data

If a lakehouse is empty, we can populate it with a ready-made dataset using the Start with sample data option. That's useful for exploring how files and tables look.

7. Viewing files in a lakehouse

Selecting a folder displays its files in the main panel, and we can minimize the Explorer panel to see them better. Each file shows its details, including a Type column with the file format, such as CSV or Parquet.

8. Shortcuts

Another important OneLake feature is the shortcut. A shortcut makes data from another location available without creating a copy: the original stays where it is, and users access it through their lakehouse. This reduces duplication and the risk of working with an outdated copy.

9. Reasons to use a shortcut

Shortcuts avoid duplicate storage costs, prevent data staleness, and remove the need for complex pipelines to move files.

10. Let's practice!

Now let's practice identifying files, tables, shortcuts, and OneLake's place at the foundation of Fabric.

Create Your Free Account

By continuing, you accept our Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy and that your data is stored in the USA.