Glossary
What is OneLake?
OneLake is the central storage layer of Microsoft Fabric: a single data lake for the whole organisation, in which tables are stored in the open Delta Lake format by default.
OneLake explained
Microsoft compares OneLake to OneDrive, but for data: every Fabric tenant automatically has one, and all Fabric components read from and write to it. A table a data engineer creates in a lakehouse can be queried with SQL by the warehouse component and read directly by Power BI, without a copy.
With shortcuts you can make data stored elsewhere, for example in Azure Data Lake Storage or Amazon S3, visible in OneLake without moving it. That limits the number of copies of the same data.
Because the tables are stored in the open Delta Lake format, they can also be read outside Fabric with tools that support that format. Permissions and security are managed through the workspaces and items in Fabric.
Example
In the Fabric environment of a sister company of Acme Groothandel, a pipeline loads ERP orders into a lakehouse in OneLake. The finance team queries the same table with SQL and a Power BI report reads it directly, without the data being copied three times.
OneLake in ENABLE
ENABLE does not read from OneLake and has no integration with Microsoft Fabric. ENABLE's data features work on a PostgreSQL data warehouse per customer, which is loaded outside the portal.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between OneLake and Azure Data Lake Storage?
Azure Data Lake Storage is a storage service you set up and manage yourself. OneLake is the central storage that comes automatically with Microsoft Fabric, built on the same technology, in which all Fabric components work together.
What is a shortcut in OneLake?
A shortcut is a reference to data stored somewhere else, such as another lakehouse, Azure Data Lake Storage or Amazon S3. The data then appears in OneLake without being copied.
In which format does OneLake store tables?
OneLake stores tables in the open Delta Lake format by default, based on Parquet files. That lets different Fabric components and external tools read the same tables.
Further reading
- SolutionMicrosoft Fabric: what it is and when it fitsWhat Microsoft Fabric is, when it fits and how it relates to ENABLE.Read more
- ResourcesWhat is a data warehouse? Explained and comparedA data warehouse is a central database in which you bring together data from different source systems, such as your ERP, CRM and webshop, clean it up and organise it so that you can report on it and analyse it effectively. A source system is built to process transactions; a data warehouse is built for reading, comparing and keeping history. A data lake stores raw data in any format, and a data lakehouse combines the storage of a lake with the structure of a warehouse.Read more
- SolutionBuild a data platform: layers, choices and approachFrom sources to dashboards and AI: how a data platform is structured.Read more
- ResourcesGlossary of data, AI and Power BI termsWhat is a service principal, row-level security, a semantic model, text-to-SQL or RAG? Short, clear definitions of terms around data, Power BI and AI.Read more
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