Data Factory Adds Apache Airflow Option

• Managed Airflow is a new Data Factory deployment option, using native Apache Airflow.
• Based on Python, it will mostly interest data engineering, data wrangling, and data science professionals.
• It supports native Airflow processes and extensions, providing an Azure destination for existing workloads.
• Integration with Azure is still under way, with high-end security and scaling features expected before general availability.

Managed Airflow (in preview) is an Azure Data Factory deployment option for Apache Airflow, a Python-based, open-source platform used to create, schedule, and monitor complex data integration workflows. Data Factory automates the provisioning of back-end infrastructure components for an Airflow environment and provides Azure-based security, auditing, and scaling. The service will appeal to organizations with existing processes and skills in Airflow that prefer to run them in a managed service or are using other Azure services. (For more details on Azure Data Factory, see the sidebar “Azure Data Factory Overview 2023”.)