Azure Synapse Analytics Readiness Resources

Azure Synapse Analytics is an analytical service evolved from Azure SQL Data Warehouse that brings together enterprise data warehousing and big data analytics. Provisioned or on-demand, Azure Synapse offers a unified experience to ingest, prepare, manage, and serve data for analytics, BI, and machine learning needs.

Content is broken down as follows:

Keeping Up: latest information and links
Fundamentals, Associate, Expert, Specialist: content categorized in increasing level of complexity
Certifications: relevant Microsoft exams or certifications
Community resources: user groups, events, blogs

Keeping Up

The latest updates on Azure Sypanse Analytics.

February 2023 Update
- SQL Collation and SQL Package support
- Updates for Apache Spark for Synapse: Spark 3.3 GA; Spark 2.4 retirement in September 29,2023
October 2022 Update
- New Microsoft 365 Pipeline Template Dataflows in Preview
- SAP Change Data Capture (CDC) Connector is now General Available
- R language support with key library management capabilities is now in preview
September 2022 Update
- Auto-statistics for OPENROWSET in CSV datasets
- MERGE T-SQL is now Generally Available
- New informative Livy errors codes
- Logstash connector HTTP/HTTPS proxy configuration
- Kafka Connect support of Protobuf format
- Embed Azure Data Explorer dashboards in third-party apps
- Funnel visuals
- .NET and Node.js support in Sample App Generator
- Gantt Chart view supported in Integration Runtime Monitoring
- Maximum column optimization in mapping dataflow
August 2022 Update
- Distribution Advisor for dedicated SQL pools
- Spark Delta Lake tables in serverless SQL
- New Cast transformation that was added to mapping data flows.
- Synapse Data Explorer updates
- SynapseML improvements
- Security Updates
June 2022 Update
- Azure Orbital analytics
- Azure Synapse Success by Design
- Synapse Data Explorer updates
May 2022 Update
- Data warehouse migration guide for dedicated SQL Pools
- Apache Spark for Synapse
- Synapse Data Explorer
- Data Integration
- Synapse Link
January 2022 Update
- Additional database templates (Automotive, Genomics, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals)
- SynapseML improvements
- Data flow connector for Dynamics

Fundamentals

Introducing Azure Synapse Analytics (Ignite session / 1 hour)
- Customer talk track on the problems that Azure Synapse is designed to address.
Data Warehouse workloads (Microsoft Docs)
- Defines the building blocks and workloads for a Modern Data Warehouse.
- Big Data is a synonym for Modern Data Warehouse in this article
Azure Data Architecture Guide (Microsoft Docs)
- Azure Data architecture guide is a deep dive into each workload in a Modern Data Warehouse
- Review all content under the “Guides” directory on the left-hand menu
Data Management Patterns (Microsoft Docs)
- These are different design patterns your Data Warehouse might need to address
- Database Developers or Administrator might use these terms to define their current architecture
What is Data Engineering? (3rd Party, Document)
- Industry definition of a data warehouse, ETL and data engineer
- Provide a common set of concept and terms you need to know when talking with your customers
Understanding Star Schema (Microsoft Docs)
- How best to model your business data for analytics
- Star schemas are defined as dimensional models and central to data warehouse analysis
AWS to Azure Services Comparison (Microsoft Docs)
- Reference guide for alternative Cloud platforms
Azure Partner Tech Talks - Modern Data Warehouse (Webinar)
- Specifically, the Modern Data Warehouse presentation from April 23, 2020
Beginner’s Guide to Azure Data Factory (3rd Party)
- Series of 26 blog posts reviewing the fundamentals of Azure Data Factory
Customer References and Use Cases (PPTX)

Associate

Introducing the Modern Data Warehouse Solution Pattern (YouTube, ~20 minutes)
Big Data Architectures (Microsoft Docs)
- Review all content under “Big Data” directory on left-hand menu
Modern Data Warehouse Architecture (Microsoft Docs)
- Reference architecture for a Modern Data Warehouse
Implement a Data Warehouse with Azure Synapse Analytics (Microsoft Docs)
- Hands-on lab with three modules to complete.
Azure SQL Database vs SQL Data Warehouse (Microsoft Blog)
- Decision criteria for best Azure Data Service for data warehousing
Dimensional Modelling Case Study: eWallet (3rd Party, Document)
Power BI Guidance (Microsoft Docs)
- Review all content in the Data Modeling section.
Criteria for Choosing a Data Store (Microsoft Docs)
- Alternative options to relational databases.
Azure Data Factory: Mapping Data Flows (Tutorials)
- Review all content and complete NYC Taxi Demo Lab
Extending on-premises data solutions to the cloud (Microsoft Docs)
- Azure Services required for a Hybrid architecture
Securing Data Solutions (Microsoft Docs)
- General security requirements needed for any data platform architecture
Architect Migration and BCDR (Microsoft Docs)

The following documents are intended to be consumed in order, as they begin with a reference architecture through solution building:

1. Reference Architecture: Automated Enterprise BI with Synapse (Microsoft Docs)
2. Example Workloads: Data warehousing and analytics (Microsoft Docs)
3. Solution Ideas: Streaming using HDInsight (Microsoft Docs)

Pluralsight Courses:

Implementing a Cloud Data Warehouse in Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics (3rd Party, $)
Modern Data Warehousing at Scale Using Azure Data Factory (3rd Party)
- This is a session from Big Data LDN in Nov 2019. This is a good primer/use case on Azure Data Factory for ETL.

Expert

Tutorial: Load data using Azure portal and SSMS (Microsoft Docs)
Tutorial: Load the NY Taxicab Dataset (Hands on lab)
Building OSS Analytical Solutions with Azure HDInsight (Microsoft Docs)
Azure End2End - Azure Data Platform Workshop (Hands on lab)
Azure Data Factory - Labs (Hands on lab)
Azure Synapse Analytics Deep Dive: Perform data engineering and exploration (Webinar)
Azure Synapse Analytics Deep Dive: Build automated data integration pipelines with Azure Synapse Pipelines (Webinar)
Azure Synapse Analytics Deep Dive: Run interactive queries using serverless SQL pool with Azure Synapse Analytics (Webinar)
Azure Synapse Analytics Deep Dive: Optimize a data warehouse with dedicated SQL pools (Webinar)
Azure Synapse Analytics Deep Dive: Machine Learning in Azure Synapse Analytics (Webinar)

WhatTheHack events are often in-person in a hands on format. However, it can be worked on individually and self-paced:

WhatTheHack - Driving Miss Data (Hands on lab)
WhatTheHack - This Old Data Warehouse (Hands on lab)

Microsoft OpenHack events are immersive, multi-day hands on experiences; specifically, the Modern Data Warehouse dives into Azure Synapse, Databricks, Azure Data Factory, and Azure Data Lake.

OpenHack - Modern Data Warehouse (Hands on lab / workshop)
CICD For SQL Analytics using SSDT (SQL Server Blog)

Specialist

Analytics in a Day
- Self-guided labs for Analytics in Day workshop.

Certifications

Exams such as the 70-767 Implementing a Data Warehouse is no longer available and was retired on January 31, 2021. We recommend the new role-based certifications, as these better align to industry trends and the mix of technical skills needed to successfully design and implement Data & AI solutions.

The first two role-based exams, DP-200 and DP-201 have also been retired and replaced with DP-203 Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure. DP-203 consolidates all of the goals of DP-200 and DP-201, and includes the latest features in Azure Synapse.

Passing DP-203 is required for the Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Engineer Associate certification.