Introduction
When working with Microsoft Fabric, one of the essential tasks is establishing secure and reusable connections to your data sources. If you're planning to use a Fabric SQL Database in your pipelines or dataflows, you must first create a connection inside the Fabric workspace. This guide walks you through the entire process in a clear and practical manner so lets follow along.
Step 1: Open “Manage Connections and Gateways” in the Fabric Workspace
➤ To begin, navigate to your Fabric workspace and go to the Settings menu.
➤ Under Settings, choose Manage connections and gateways(This section is where all your workspace-level connections are created and stored. It acts as a central place where administrators and developers can manage connectivity and credentials securely)
Step 2: Click the New Button to Create a Connection
➤ Once you are inside the Manage Connections and Gateways page, look at the top-left corner of the screen.
➤ Click on the New button to launch the New Connection wizard.
➤ This wizard allows you to choose the type of connection, authentication mechanism, and other configuration details.
Step 3: Select Cloud Connection and Provide Details
➤ In the wizard, choose Cloud as the connection category. Fabric SQL Database is a cloud-hosted service, so this option is appropriate
You will now see a form where you must provide your connection details:
➤ Connection Name: Enter a meaningful name, In this example, we are using SQLDB_Fabric.
➤ Connection Type: Select Fabric SQL Database
➤ Authentication Method: Choose OAuth for simple, secure sign-in using your Microsoft credentials. Fabric also supports Service Principal authentication if you want to automate Enterprise-grade connections, but for this demo OAuth is sufficient.
Step 4: Create the Connection
➤ Once you have entered all details, click Create
➤ Fabric will validate your credentials and connection configuration. After successful creation, your new connection will automatically appear in the Manage connections and gateways list.
➤ You can now view, edit, or reuse this connection across your workspace.
Conclusion
By completing these steps, you’ve set up a secure, reusable connection to your Fabric SQL Database. This makes it easier to manage data access, improve consistency across your workspace, and streamline your Fabric projects.