Introduction
As organizations accelerate their cloud adoption, optimizing spend while maintaining performance and scalability is a top priority. Microsoft Fabric, our all-in-one, software-as-a-service data platform, is designed to help teams accomplish any data project. But how can you ensure your investment delivers maximum value? In this post, we’ll explore how Azure reservations for Microsoft Fabric can help you optimize costs, simplify purchasing, and streamline your data analytics spend.
What Is Microsoft Fabric?
Microsoft Fabric is an end-to-end data platform that brings together data orchestration, transformation, machine learning, real-time event processing, reporting, and databases in a single SaaS experience. It’s designed for data engineers, scientists, analysts, and business users, offering role-specific workloads and integrated AI experiences, all backed by a unified data lake—OneLake.
Unlike traditional services that require managing different pricing and capacities for each workload, Fabric simplifies this with a single capacity model. You purchase Fabric Capacity Units (CUs), which power all workloads, and jobs consume CUs at different rates depending on your compute needs.
How Azure reservations Work with Fabric
Azure reservation is a pricing model that helps you save when you commit to a specific resource, region, and term - ideal for stable, predictable workloads. Reservations don’t affect capacity or runtime; they simply provide discount benefits. Azure analyzes your usage and recommends reservation options, and tools like Azure Advisor guide you toward the right purchase.
You may be familiar with how reservations work with virtual machines, but Azure reservations can also apply to other services such as Microsoft Fabric. When purchasing Fabric, you can choose a pay-as-you-go model for flexible usage or save substantially with Azure reservations for consistent workloads. For example, if you deploy an F64 SKU in Fabric for ongoing reporting and analytics, buying an Azure reservation for this SKU ensures you pay the discounted rate for your consistent usage.
How to Purchase a Reservation for Microsoft Fabric
Let’s look at how you can purchase a reservation for Microsoft Fabric. Follow these steps below or watch this video:
1. Start in the Microsoft Marketplace or Azure Portal:
- Visit the Microsoft Marketplace and look up Microsoft Fabric. Click “Get it now” and it will take you to the Azure Portal.
2. Create Fabric Capacity:
- Select Configuration: In Azure Portal, on the Create Fabric Capacity page, select your subscription and resource group, name your capacity, and select your region.
- Select Size: Use the Fabric SKU estimator to determine the right capacity for your workloads, or start with a free trial and monitor usage with the capacity metrics app. You can always upgrade or create multiple capacities as needed.
- Organize with Tags: Use Azure tags to track costs and automate management across environments.
3. Buy Fabric Reservations:
- In the Azure portal, search for and select “Reservations.”
- On the Reservations page, click “Add” and select Microsoft Fabric. Choose your scope and subscription, select Fabric Capacity with upfront or monthly payments, and adjust the quantity as needed.
Best Practices for Maximizing Savings
To get the most value from your reservations, follow these best practices:
- Estimate Carefully: Avoid over-committing (which leads to wasted resources) or under-committing (which leads to higher costs). Understand your resource needs and usage and use Azure Advisor recommendations to make informed decisions.
- Enable Auto-Renew: Ensure your reservations automatically renew so you don’t lose the discount but adjust your reservation needs as workloads change.
- Monitor Usage: Use Azure Cost Management to continuously track reservation usage.
- Choose the Right Scope: Align reservation benefits with your organizational structure to maximize savings.
Conclusion:
Microsoft Fabric and Azure reservations empower organizations to streamline analytics spend, simplify purchasing, and unlock significant savings without sacrificing performance or scalability. Following best practices and leveraging the right tools ensures your cloud investments deliver maximum value.
Get started today by visiting the Microsoft Marketplace and Azure Portal to purchase Fabric Capacity units and reservations or read Save costs with Microsoft Fabric Capacity reservations - Microsoft Cost Management | Microsoft Learn to learn more.
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