2026-W38

Sep 14, 2026 – Sep 20, 2026 · 7 articles · 0 low-priority · latest →

API Automation · 1

Find Unused Objects In Power BI Semantic Models With Semantic Link Labs

Crossjoin Sep 20, 2026 4/5 · Tier A API AutomationSemantic ModelGovernance tutorial

<p><strong>Semantic Link Labs</strong> can identify unused tables, columns, and measures in Power BI semantic models from a Fabric notebook. The <code>find_unused_objects</code> function can inspect downstream report structure or analyze DAX queries captured by Workspace Monitoring.</p><p>The result can be displayed in an interactive widget or returned as a pandas dataframe, making the analysis suitable for repeatable model-maintenance workflows. Query-based results depend on the observation window and activity captured in Workspace Monitoring.</p>

Semantic Link Labs automates unused-object detection using report structure or Workspace Monitoring DAX queries.

Delta & Parquet · 1

Mirroring for Google BigQuery in Microsoft Fabric (Generally Available)

Fabric Updates Sep 17, 2026 4/5 · Tier A Delta & ParquetDirect LakeMigration announcement

<p><strong>Mirroring for Google BigQuery</strong> is generally available and continuously replicates BigQuery datasets into OneLake without customer-built pipelines, schedules, or transformation logic. Fabric manages snapshots, change capture, and schema evolution, while the data lands as open Delta tables for use across Fabric workloads.</p><p>Mirrored data can support Direct Lake semantic models, SQL analytics endpoints, notebooks, Eventhouse scenarios, and cross-source warehouse analysis. Connectivity includes Virtual Network support and on-premises Data Gateway support at version 3000.286.6 or later. The announcement states no Fabric replication compute or network ingress fees, but downstream analytics still consumes compute, and current limitations and supported schema changes require review before production adoption.</p>

GA BigQuery mirroring adds supported cross-cloud replication into open Delta tables, enabling Fabric workloads without pipeline maintenance.

Governance · 1

Soft delete for On-premises data gateways in Microsoft Fabric (Preview)

Fabric Updates Sep 17, 2026 3/5 · Tier B GovernanceAPI Automation announcement

<p><strong>Gateway soft delete</strong> is in preview for standard-mode on-premises data gateways. Deleted gateway clusters and members are retained for 30 days, allowing tenant administrators and gateway administrators to restore the gateway with its previous metadata and permissions.</p><p>This is recovery from accidental resource deletion, not a backup system: it does not restore individual nodes, data sources, or partial permission sets. Personal-mode and virtual network data gateways are unsupported, and preview API and audit-log support are unavailable. Gateways are permanently deleted after the retention window unless an administrator removes them earlier.</p>

Preview recovery reduces gateway deletion risk, but unsupported gateway types and absent API or audit support limit governance value.

Migration · 1

Moving off ODBC — A self-serve scanner for your ADBC migration

Fabric Updates Sep 15, 2026 5/5 · Tier A MigrationBreaking ChangeAPI Automation announcement

<p>Power Query is moving Fabric and Power BI connections from legacy embedded <strong>ODBC</strong> drivers to <strong>ADBC</strong>, Apache Arrow Database Connectivity. Each connector has a default flip, where new connections use ADBC while existing connections continue on ODBC, followed by a cutover that disables ODBC in the service.</p><p>The <strong>pq-adbc-advisor</strong> scanner inventories affected semantic models, dataflows, and Data Pipelines, classifies them as <strong>Will fail</strong>, <strong>Needs review</strong>, or <strong>Ready</strong>, and recommends a per-item fix. It can scan a workspace or use the Fabric admin Scanner API for a tenant sweep, tracks progress across scans, and does not rewrite M, trigger refreshes, or transmit item contents. Anonymous adoption counts are collected by default, with an opt-out.</p>

ADBC cutovers can break refreshes, and the scanner inventories connector risk across workspaces and tenants before deadlines.

Real-Time Intelligence · 1

From Business Events, Fabric Events, and Azure Events to Real-Time Hub

Fabric Updates Sep 14, 2026 2/5 · Tier B Real-Time IntelligenceCommunity deep-dive

<p>Fabric event-driven architectures use <strong>Real-Time Hub</strong> as the common entry point for Business Events, Fabric Events, and Azure Events. The publisher determines the event pillar: business workloads publish business meaning, Fabric publishes platform activity, and Azure Storage supplies external storage activity.</p><p>Consumer choice follows the required outcome: <strong>Activator</strong> handles actions, <strong>Eventhouse</strong> provides queryable event history, and <strong>Eventstream</strong> transforms or routes streams. The article emphasizes event names, payloads, versions, ownership, and schemas as contracts so publishers and consumers can evolve independently, but it does not provide detailed throughput, latency, retention, or cost limits.</p>

Provides useful event-channel and consumer guidance, but remains conceptual adoption advice without operational limits or cost analysis.

Warehouse · 1

Diagnose Fabric Data Warehouse workloads with the SQL DW operations skill (Generally Available)

Fabric Updates Sep 14, 2026 4/5 · Tier A WarehouseAPI AutomationCapacity announcement

<p>The <strong>SQL DW operations skill</strong> is generally available as an open-source Fabric skill for compatible AI coding tools such as GitHub Copilot CLI. It turns natural-language operational questions into bounded, read-only diagnostics across Query Insights, warehouse system views, SQL pool metrics, and the Capacity Metrics app.</p><p>Results separate diagnosis, evidence, ruled-out causes, recommendations, and validation steps. The skill distinguishes failed queries from cancellations, execution volume from per-run cost, and capacity consumption from warehouse CPU. Capacity Metrics operation identifiers are not joined directly to Query Insights statement identifiers, so the signals remain correlated by time rather than treated as equivalent measurements.</p>

GA read-only diagnostics correlate warehouse queries, capacity metrics, contention, and custom SQL pool candidates.