SQL Server 2025 and Microsoft Fabric: Integration Patterns and Trade-offs

With SQL Server 2025, integration with Microsoft Fabric becomes a core architectural decision rather than a simple data movement task. Teams now have multiple ways to integrate SQL Server with Fabric, each with different implications for latency, complexity, cost, and operational effort.

In this session, we explore the main integration patterns between SQL Server 2025 and Fabric. We start with classic ETL approaches, including pipeline-based ingestion, and then compare them with newer near-real-time options such as Mirroring (in its different variants) and Change Event Streams (CES). Rather than presenting these as competing features, we focus on the problems each pattern is designed to solve—and the trade-offs they introduce.

Using practical scenarios and real project experience, we examine how these approaches differ in terms of data freshness, schema evolution, monitoring and operations, and cost behavior. The emphasis is on understanding how each option behaves in real systems, not just how it works in isolation.

By the end of the session, attendees will have a clear mental model for SQL Server–Fabric integration and the confidence to choose the right pattern for their workloads—whether they need batch analytics, near-real-time insights, or a hybrid approach.

After attending this session, attendees will be able to: - Understand the available integration patterns between SQL Server 2025 and Microsoft Fabric and how they differ in practice. - Evaluate trade-offs between classic ETL, Mirroring, and CES based on workload requirements. - Make informed integration decisions aligned with data freshness, operational effort, and cost expectations. - Avoid common pitfalls by understanding how these integration options behave in real-world scenario