Exploring Azure data services for modern data warehouses

When we think of modern data warehouse architecture, we think of the process consisting of data analytics, which can be summarized in the following phases:

1. Data ingestion and preparation (ELT)
2. Making data ready for consumption (modeling)
3. Providing access to this data (reporting or API connections)

In this chapter, we will explore the possibilities of services that Azure offers to implement these phases. In Chapter 12, Provisioning and Configuring Large-Scale Data Analytics in Azure, there is a hands-on exercise that will help us understand in practice phases 1 and 2, and then in Chapter 13, Working with Power BI, we will explore Power BI for reporting.

Let’s start with data ingestion and preparation.

Data ingestion and preparation (ELT/ETL)

ELT stands for extract, load, and transform, and ETL (as mentioned earlier) stands for extract, transform, and load. These reflect the process of data...