Transcribed
Microsoft Fabric Data Factory - Simply Explained
Jul 23, 2026 ·
13m 19s
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Microsoft Fabric Data Factory - Simply Explained
Description
Is Fabric Data Factory just Azure Data Factory with a new name? This episode explains the four building blocks - pipelines, Dataflow Gen2, copy jobs and mirroring - and how...
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Is Fabric Data Factory just Azure Data Factory with a new name? This episode explains the four building blocks - pipelines, Dataflow Gen2, copy jobs and mirroring - and how they work together through OneLake. Data engineers and analysts get a clear rule of thumb for when switching from ADF pays off.
In this episode
Key takeaways
Worth quoting
“ADF charges per activity run, so every copy activity stored procedure and pipeline execution adds to your bill. Fabric Data Factory uses capacity-based pricing instead.” – Mirko Peters (01:32)
“If pipelines are the assembly line that moves boxes around, data flow, Gen 2 is the kitchen where you actually chop, season, and cook the raw ingredients.” – Mirko Peters (05:20)
Explore more on M365.FM
Follow and rate M365.FM in your podcast app, and join the free M365 community at m365con.net.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/m365-fm-microsoft-365-azure-cloud-power-platform-ai--6704921/support.
show less
In this episode
- 00:00 – What Fabric Data Factory is
- 01:22 – How it differs from Azure Data Factory
- 03:05 – Data pipelines
- 04:56 – Dataflow Gen2
- 06:57 – Copy jobs
- 08:41 – Mirroring
- 10:18 – How the pieces work together
- 11:49 – Practical guidance and cost
Key takeaways
- Fabric Data Factory is the built-in data integration engine of Microsoft Fabric, with capacity-based pricing and OneLake as automatic storage instead of linked services and storage accounts.
- Pipelines orchestrate, Dataflow Gen2 transforms with Power Query, copy jobs handle continuous incremental ingestion and mirroring replicates operational databases in near real time.
- If your ADF bill is low and you are not on Fabric, staying with ADF can make sense; if you already have Fabric capacity, pipelines cost very little extra.
Worth quoting
“ADF charges per activity run, so every copy activity stored procedure and pipeline execution adds to your bill. Fabric Data Factory uses capacity-based pricing instead.” – Mirko Peters (01:32)
“If pipelines are the assembly line that moves boxes around, data flow, Gen 2 is the kitchen where you actually chop, season, and cook the raw ingredients.” – Mirko Peters (05:20)
Explore more on M365.FM
- Episode page: the full episode with chapters, quotes and a short FAQ on Fabric Data Factory
- Microsoft Fabric – the platform Data Factory is built into, sharing one capacity and OneLake with other workloads
- Power Query – the familiar interface and engine behind the transformations in Dataflow Gen2
- Fabric notebooks – called from pipelines to enrich data and used with Spark for very heavy transformations
- Related episode: Microsoft Fabric End-to-End: From Raw Data to Business Decisions with Amit Chandak [MVP]
Follow and rate M365.FM in your podcast app, and join the free M365 community at m365con.net.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/m365-fm-microsoft-365-azure-cloud-power-platform-ai--6704921/support.
Information
| Author | Mirko Peters M365, Azure & AI |
| Organization | m365 FM |
| Website | www.m365.fm |
| Tags |
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