Azure Data Share is a service provided by Microsoft Azure that allows users to securely and easily share data with other organizations or individuals, such as partners, vendors, or customers. With Azure Data Share, users can share data from a variety of Azure data sources, including Azure Blob storage, Azure Data Lake Storage, and Azure SQL Database.
The service enables users to create one or multiple shares, specify which data to share, and define the level of access to be granted to the recipient. Share recipients can be granted one-time access or ongoing access with scheduled data updates.
Azure Data Share also provides advanced features such as monitoring and auditing, ensuring that users can keep track of who is accessing their data and when.
This is part of a series of articles about Azure Storage.
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Here are the main concepts in the Azure Data Share architecture.
The data provider is the organization or individual who owns the data that they want to share with others. The data provider can choose which data to share and who to share it with, as well as set up the sharing rules and permissions for the data. Data providers might share different types of data, including raw or preprocessed time-series or point-of-sales data.
The data consumer is the organization or individual who receives the shared data from the data provider. Data consumers can be given read and write access to the data for one-time or ongoing use, and they can access the data using their own Azure account or a guest account provided by the data provider.
A snapshot is a point-in-time view of the shared data that is created by the data provider. Snapshots are read-only copies of the data that are shared with data consumers, and they can be used to create a consistent view of the data at a specific point in time. Data providers can create snapshots on a schedule or manually, and they can choose which data to include in the snapshot.
An invitation is a message sent from the data provider to the data consumer, enabling them to access shared data. Invitations can be sent through email or by generating a URL link that the data provider can share directly with the data consumer. The invitation includes information about the data that will be shared, the level of access granted to the data consumer, and any specific sharing rules or requirements that the data provider has set up.
A share subscription is the connection between the data provider and data consumer that enables data sharing. When a data consumer accepts an invitation to share data, they create a share subscription that links them to the data provider. The share subscription specifies the data that the data consumer has access to, the permissions that have been granted, and the schedule for data updates if ongoing access has been granted.
Azure Data Share enables two main types of data sharing.
Snapshot-based data sharing is a data sharing approach that uses point-in-time copies of data, called snapshots, to share data between organizations or individuals. In this approach, a data provider creates one or more snapshots of their data and shares them with data consumers. The data consumers can use the snapshot to access a consistent and reproducible view of the data at a specific point in time.
Snapshot-based data sharing can be used to share a variety of data types, including structured and unstructured data. It is particularly useful for sharing large datasets that may be difficult or expensive to transfer over a network. By creating snapshots, data providers can reduce the amount of data that needs to be transferred and ensure that the data remains consistent and accurate.
One of the main benefits of snapshot-based data sharing is that it provides a secure and auditable way to share data. Data providers can control who has access to the shared data and how it is used, and they can monitor and audit the use of the shared data to ensure that it is being used appropriately.
In-place data sharing allows organizations to share data without creating additional copies of the data. Instead, data providers grant data consumers access to their existing data resources, such as a file share or a database. This approach can be more efficient than snapshot-based data sharing since it does not require the creation and transfer of additional copies of the data.
However, in-place data sharing requires careful management of access permissions, such as read and query permissions, to ensure that data consumers can access only the data they need and do not inadvertently modify or delete data.
Before you can start sharing data with Azure Data Share you’ll need an Azure subscription and the Azure email addresses of all recipients - an email alias will not be sufficient. If your source data store is under another Azure subscription, you’ll need to register the resource provider “Microsoft.DataShare” in the relevant subscription.
Creating an account
To create an Azure Data Share account:
Creating a share
Image Source: Azure
Image Source: Azure
Image Source: Azure
Image Source: Azure
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