Monthly Archives: July 2021

IDENTITY is a SQL keyword to specify that a column in the table will be used as a Surrogate Key. Surrogate Key column contains numerical data to uniquely identify a row in the table. A surrogate key is used to assign unique row identifiers in various scenarios. One of the most common use cases forContinue reading “Comparing SQL Server and Synapse Analytics IDENTITY Columns”

Synapse Analytics Dedicated SQL Pools support a new concept called query labels. Query labels are tags that can be applied to SQL queries using the OPTION keyword. e.g. As we know, Synapse Analytics has an MPP architecture where data is stored across multiple nodes. This means that table rows can be distributed across multiple nodesContinue reading “Query Labels in Azure Synapse Analytics Dedicated SQL Pool”

Az PowerShell is a powerful and convenient way to manage an Azure subscription with PowerShell scripts. It is an add-on module to the PowerShell scripting tool pre-installed with Windows. It is very useful for automating tasks and monitoring resources on the Azure cloud. Let’s have a look at the steps to install the Az PowerShellContinue reading “How to install Az PowerShell module correctly?”

As we know, Azure Synapse Analytics has an MPP architecture, which means there are multiple nodes which can process queries in parallel. Another important concept is table distribution. There are various table distribution options suited to different use cases. We have already discussed Synapse table distributions in a previous post. Replicated tables are replicated acrossContinue reading “When to (and when not to) use Replicated tables in Synapse SQL Pool?”

Optimizing performance is one of the most important design decisions while implementing a Data Warehouse using dedicated SQL Pool in Azure Synapse Analytics. We have discussed how to update Data Warehousing Units in Azure Synapse Analytics in previous post. Data Warehousing Units or DWUs (cDWUs) determine the query performance level of the Synapse Analytics dedicatedContinue reading “How to optimize DWUs in Azure Synapse Analytics ?”

For Each activity is a Control Flow activity available in Azure Data Factory that lets user iterate through a collection and execute specific activities in a loop. To understand what is control flow, please read my previous post on Azure Data Factory control flows and data flows. If you have worked in the data analyticsContinue reading “Azure Data Factory : For Each Activity”