We’re excited to announce the Common Availability of the SQL Server connector from Lakeflow Join. This totally managed connector is designed for dependable, production-grade ingestion with built-in Change Knowledge Seize (CDC) and Change Monitoring (CT). By eradicating the necessity for customized pipelines or complicated instruments, it simplifies ingestion, ensures knowledge freshness, and reduces operational overhead to speed up insights. Additionally, for BI-first migrations, built-in CDC assist retains analytics workloads repeatedly updated, making it simpler to deliver SQL Server knowledge into the lakehouse with the efficiency, safety, and scalability that enterprises require.
Microsoft SQL Server powers a few of the world’s most business-critical purposes, but its knowledge is usually locked in a system purpose-built for transactions, not analytics. As organizations transfer these workloads to the lakehouse, dependable ingestion is vital. Conventional ingestion pipelines are complicated to construct, pricey to keep up, and may overload manufacturing programs, whereas a number of cases and hybrid on-premises and cloud environments result in patchwork options which might be exhausting to control. The SQL Server connector from Lakeflow Join solves these challenges with a completely managed, streamlined and ruled resolution that unlocks SQL Server knowledge for superior analytics and AI.
Constructed-in knowledge ingestion assist for a lot of SQL Server database environments
The SQL Server connector makes it simple to ingest knowledge from varied SQL Server environments into the lakehouse, the place it may be used for analytics and enterprise intelligence throughout the group, together with:
- Azure SQL
- Azure SQL Managed Occasion
- AWS RDS for SQL Server
- SQL Server on GCP
- On-premises SQL Server deployments
The connector is simple to arrange with a point-and-click UI or easy API and integrates seamlessly along with your present workflows and deep platform integration with Databricks. For instance, you’ll be able to align along with your CI/CD practices through Databricks Asset Bundles or the Databricks Terraform supplier.
It’s additionally constructed for effectivity. The connector helps each CDC and CT for incremental ingestion as an alternative of needing to run full refreshes. By capturing solely new or up to date data, clients can maintain their lakehouse repeatedly up-to-date to ship helpful enterprise insights, speed up decision-making, and cut back prices.
For organizations that have to handle knowledge adjustments over time—like buyer particulars, product attributes, or organizational constructions—Lakeflow Join additionally offers out-of-the-box assist for monitoring historic adjustments with Slowly Altering Dimensions (SCD) Kind 2, decreasing the complexity with a vital characteristic to trace historic adjustments alongside present values.
Enterprise clients drive influence with Lakeflow Join
Since we launched a yr in the past, greater than 2,000 clients have used Lakeflow Connect with ingest their most business-critical knowledge to drive constructive outcomes.
For instance, Cirrus Plane Restricted, based in 1984, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells premium plane around the globe. An early adopter of the SQL Server connector, they wanted to maneuver knowledge off a number of hybrid SQL Server environments into their lakehouse to ship extra helpful knowledge again to their groups. With its easy setup and environment friendly incremental ingestion, the connector enabled Cirrus to shift from pipeline integration and upkeep to strategic initiatives that moved the needle for his or her enterprise.
“Lakeflow Join’s SQL Server connector is a recreation changer. We migrated a whole bunch of tables from hybrid environments in days-sometimes hours-instead of months. The true win: our builders can focus extra time delivering higher-value knowledge and insights to the enterprise.”— Nick Patullo, Knowledge Engineer Sr., Cirrus Plane Restricted
One other Databricks buyer, the Australian Purple Cross Lifeblood is funded by the Australian governments to supply life-giving blood, plasma, transplantation and organic merchandise, together with breast milk and FMT to ship world-leading well being outcomes with 10.5 million eligible donors. They use Lakeflow and the SQL Server connector to assist construct dependable, maintainable pipelines rapidly and persistently. Study extra by watching their on-demand presentation, a part of, “From Burnout to Breakthrough: A New Method to Knowledge Engineering,” or watch their 2025 Knowledge + AI Summit session, “From Datavault to Delta Lake: Streamlining Knowledge Sync with Lakeflow Join.”
“Databricks Lakeflow Join provides us a easy, dependable SQL Server connector that delivers knowledge into our lakehouse with out complicated knowledge engineering.” — Dr. Andrew Clarke, Senior AI/ML Engineer, Australian Purple Cross Lifeblood
Ubisoft is a creator of worlds, dedicated to enriching gamers’ lives with authentic and memorable leisure experiences. Ubisoft’s world groups create and develop a deep and numerous portfolio of video games, that includes manufacturers akin to Murderer’s Creed®, Simply Dance®, and much more. For the 2024-25 fiscal yr, Ubisoft generated internet bookings of €1.85 billion.
“Ubisoft is trying ahead to implementing the SQL Server connector from Lakeflow Join throughout our manufacturers for key initiatives to assist speed up translating SQL Server knowledge into actionable recreation manufacturing insights.” — Valéry Simon, Director of Knowledge Platform & Engineering, Ubisoft
Unlock a variety of SQL Server use instances with Databricks
The SQL Server connector allows a variety of industry-specific use instances, akin to buyer 360, portfolio administration, client analytics, and inner chatbots to assist drive significant influence.
For instance, a Buyer 360 use case in retail advertising could have to matching buyer personas to the best promotions, which regularly means stitching collectively knowledge from siloed programs, akin to:
- SQL Server operational knowledge: promotions, stock, transactions
- Salesforce buyer knowledge: emails, offers, personas
The problem is that SQL Server additionally underpins mission-critical purposes, so operating heavy queries or performing full refreshes can introduce latency and influence operational efficiency.
With Lakeflow Join, knowledge flows seamlessly into the lakehouse with out complicated pipelines or operational influence. The SQL Server connector helps multi-environment ingestion with built-in CDC and CT, whereas the Salesforce connector incrementally ingests knowledge from Salesforce core. Collectively, they ship a ruled, analytics-ready Buyer 360 view—accelerating insights and eradicating the necessity for fragile third-party instruments or customized code.
Buyer 360 Use Case with Lakeflow Join
Getting began with Lakeflow Join
Lakeflow Join affords easy and environment friendly connectors to ingest knowledge from standard purposes, databases, cloud storage sources, message buses, and extra. For the reason that Knowledge + AI Summit in June, we’ve continued to broaden the breadth of supported knowledge sources for Lakeflow Join. Each the ServiceNow and Google Analytics connectors at the moment are GA, with extra releases coming for Zerobus Ingest, SharePoint, PostgreSQL, and SFTP. We even have new query-based connectors for database and knowledge warehouse sources akin to Oracle DB, MySQL, Teradata, and extra, coming quickly in preview. Attain out to your account crew if taken with collaborating.
Get began immediately with the SQL Server connector to assist unlock high-value use instances. Try the SQL Server documentation for particulars on how you can arrange your SQL Server and the most recent options, in addition to extra particulars on charges. You may be taught extra about Lakeflow capabilities via our new “Knowledge Engineering with Databricks” video collection on YouTube or register for Lakeflow Join programs from Databricks.