Azure Data Factory Overview – 2022

Azure Data Factory is a cloud data integration service that provides variations of extract, transform, and load options, including ETL and ELT. It is an enterprise-scale service that automates integration and transformation from multiple data stores, including on-premises, third-party database services, and Azure-hosted services. Data Factory offers quick deployment, scalability, and global reach and provides a locally deployed gateway component to support hybrid configurations.

The service has two design and deployment configurations (called modes) that vary significantly: Native mode and Integration Services mode. Native mode is the primary focus of Microsoft’s Data Factory investment and continues to receive new features on a regular basis, while Integration Services mode only receives feature updates when SQL Server is updated.

Native Mode

Native mode is a low-code solution that helps developers create integration processes with minimal coding. It will appeal to organizations looking for a data integration solution that reduces the need to code, with less complex integration requirements, and in situations when they are using other Azure data management services that provide data or are the recipients of data.