Data Platform Tips 80 - Data Virtualization using PolyBase

One of the key scenarios for SQL Server 2019 is the ability to virtualize data. This process allows the data to stay in its original location and still virtualize the data in a SQL Server instance so that it can be queried there like any other table in SQL Server. This is possible using PolyBase connectors.

PolyBase enables SQL Server to process Transact-SQL queries that read data from external data sources.

With SQL Server 2016 and above PolyBase was able to access data in Hadoop and Blob storage alone. Starting in SQL Server 2019,

PolyBase can be used to access external data in SQL Server, Oracle, Teradata, and MongoDB.

PolyBase enables

• Query data stored in Hadoop from SQL Server
• Query data stored in Azure Blob Storage
• Import data from Hadoop, Azure Blob Storage, or Azure Data Lake Store
• Export data to Hadoop, Azure Blob Storage, or Azure Data Lake Store
• Integrate with BI tools