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What is Azure Data Factory

Microsoft Azure Data Factory is a cloud-based data integration service that automates the movement and transformation of data. You can quickly create, deploy, schedule, and monitor highly-available, fault tolerant data flow pipelines. Move and transform data of all shapes and sizes, and deliver the results to a range of destination storage services. Monitor all of your data pipelines and service health at a glance with a rich visual experience. Easily consume the data produced with BI, analytics tools, and other applications to drive key business insights and decisions.

  • Compose data storage, movement and processing services into data flow pipelines
  • Enhanced HDInsight integration including HCAT and on-demand cluster management
  • Schedule data pipelines with fine-tuned control
  • New data connectors for on-premises and cloud data sources
  • Integration with Azure Machine Learning and Azure Batch
  • Globally deployed data movement as a service
  • Create, edit and deploy data pipelines with a Visual Studio plug-in

Just like it Sounds – a Cloud-Based Data Factory

Having the option to move to the cloud as a viable choice for your data machinations is a good thing. You may have an older SQL Server machine that isn’t used so much, but performs a couple of critical data processing jobs on a scheduled basis.

However, that old SQL Server may be approaching end-of-service, and upgrading would be a substantial cost. Deploying certain data processing tasks to a cloud-based solution could potentially be a lower-cost, lower-maintenance option. Azure SQL Databases are reasonably-pricing, and KingswaySoft SSIS can now also be deployed to an Azure Data Factory. So, for those SSIS jobs that were running a legacy SQL Server, you now have options to move that workload to the cloud without even having to install it on a virtual machine.

You can install KingswaySoft SSIS on an Azure Data Factory. You can build and deploy your SSIS jobs to the Azure Data Factory. And you can just run the jobs when needed. You can start and stop the Azure Data Factory just to run those specific jobs.

Ask us how this all can be done, and we can provide you with a comparison quote to see if you might be able to save some money on maintaining or upgrading your existing physical or virtual SQL Server machine.