We primarily use the solution for data warehousing. I'm integrating data from multiple sources.
Director of Business Intelligence Analytics at The Gibraltar Group - Insurance Services
Lots of features and easy data collection but needs more integrations
Pros and Cons
- "It makes it easy to collect data from different sources."
- "Sometimes I need to do some coding, and I'd like to avoid that. I'd like no-code integrations."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
I have a team helping me out from India. It helps manage the data and collect everything from sources.
What is most valuable?
The product has a lot of features.
It makes it easy to collect data from different sources.
The solution offers good integration with pretty much any system.
I like that it is cloud-based.
What needs improvement?
Sometimes when I run some jobs, I have issues with the log flow. I want to see where the data goes. I want to see the data stream.
I'd like more integrations with other APIs. Sometimes I need to do some coding, and I'd like to avoid that. I'd like no-code integrations.
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Azure Data Factory
November 2024
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For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for four or five years.
What other advice do I have?
I'm using the solution as an end-user.
We are using the latest version of the solution.
I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Data Strategist, Cloud Solutions Architect at BiTQ
Great innovative features with a user-friendly UI
Pros and Cons
- "UI is easy to navigate and I can retrieve VTL code without knowing in-depth coding languages."
- "Lacks in-built streaming data processing."
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is for traditional ETL; moving data from the web and data sources to a data warehouse. I've also used Data Factory for batch processing and recently for streaming data sets. We have a partnership with Microsoft and I am a cloud solution architect.
What is most valuable?
There are a lot of innovative features that Microsoft releases regularly. The UI is easy to navigate and finding information on new features has proven to be quite easy. I like that I can retrieve VTL code pretty quickly without knowing in-depth coding languages like Python. Microsoft has very good support teams that I've dealt with and they are very helpful in resolving problems.
What needs improvement?
Improvement could be made around streaming data because I feel that the Data Factory product is mainly geared for batch processing and doesn't yet have in-built streaming data processing. Perhaps it's on the way and they are making some changes to help facilitate that. If they were to include better monitoring that would be useful. I'd like to see improved notifications of what the actual errors are.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The way we've used the product is around streaming data, and that doesn't work well with Data Factory. As loads increase, some of the underlying infrastructure that gets used to process data seems to slow down. This is basically a development product, so in terms of scalability it doesn't have a wide user base, it's only meant for developers and analysts. The number of users will vary from anywhere between one to five people.
How are customer service and support?
The customer service is excellent.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've previously used Microsoft SSIS, which is the last incarnation of Azure Data Factory. I've also used IBM Data Manager and Teradata's Management Loads, so I have quite a bit of experience in this area. One of the major differences is that Azure Data Factory is a SaaS service. The other solutions were in-house and you managed your own infrastructure to run them. What I get from Data Factory is a lot better than what I got for the other products. Azure Data Factory is great because it's evolving day-to-day.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is relatively straightforward. That's assuming that when you're creating the Data Factory, you have some knowledge about how to create it. We deployed in-house and it took about ten minutes for the initial creation process. The provisioning itself is not something you have control over because it's a self-service that does what it needs and happens in the background. The infrastructure doesn't require any maintenance, it's all managed on the backend. There is maintenance in terms of your codes, connections, and the like, but that is separate from the infrastructure maintenance.
What was our ROI?
The Data Factory itself will not give you a return on investment, it's the entire solution that brings a return, I'd say at least 20% to 30% of return for investment over a five-year period.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Azure Data factory is a pay-as-you-go service so cost depends on the number of connections, how many times each activity in that node is run, and how much data gets moved. There are a number of factors that define the price, but it pairs with your service. You're charged for the amount of data that's moved, but there are no charges for the features you use.
What other advice do I have?
I would definitely recommend this solution. If you decide to implement Data Factory, I suggest reaching out to qualified professionals because there are a lot of moving parts. That said, if you have internally qualified staff, deployment shouldn't be a problem. Apart from a few minor issues, it's pretty reliable with good support and a whole bunch of resources available on the web.
I rate this solution a solid nine out of 10.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Buyer's Guide
Azure Data Factory
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Azure Data Factory. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
IT Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Improved data resilience, in the way that we move data from on-prem to the cloud and vice versa
Pros and Cons
- "The most important feature is that it can help you do the multi-threading concepts."
- "There should be a way that it can do switches, so if at any point in time I want to do some hybrid mode of making any data collections or ingestions, I can just click on a button."
What is our primary use case?
It's a PaaS service. It's a hybrid solution. The cloud provider is Microsoft.
We are not using Azure Data Factory as for users. Rather, we're using it as a process base. We're just using it for orchestration, not for any kind of ETL stuff.
We have plans to increase usage. It's going to take a major role in any kind of traditional data warehousing. It has big potential, especially as a PaaS offering.
How has it helped my organization?
There has been improvement in data resilience, in the way that we're moving the data from on-prem to cloud and vice versa.
What is most valuable?
The most important feature is that it can help you do the multi-threading concepts. It's in Informatica, but the resourcing is quite robust. You can scale up and scale down as per your needs.
What needs improvement?
There should be a way that it can do switches, so if at any point in time I want to do some hybrid mode of making any data collections or ingestions, I can just click on a button. I can change a switch and make sure a batch can be a streaming process.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Azure Data Factory for more than two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Azure as a PaaS could be improved.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate their technical support 3 out of 5. It's not great, but it isn't bad.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is complex. It has nothing to do with the technology but with the design. We were wondering how to leverage the orchestration layer where we are having the Azure Data Factory and how to integrate with the Databricks. That's where we had some challenges in terms of choosing the right product.
What about the implementation team?
You can do deployment in-house.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.
For someone who is looking to use this solution, my advice is to do proper due diligence of your current application, know where your application is fitting, and look for the requirements. It all depends upon the current use case that you have currently in your system.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Lead Engineering at GlobalLogic
A fully managed, monolithic serverless data integration service
Pros and Cons
- "I like that it's a monolithic data platform. This is why we propose these solutions."
- "The performance could be better. It would be better if Azure Data Factory could handle a higher load. I have heard that it can get overloaded, and it can't handle it."
What is our primary use case?
Depending on their pipeline, our customers use Azure Data Factory for their ELT or ETL transformation processes.
What is most valuable?
I like that it's a monolithic data platform. This is why we propose these solutions.
What needs improvement?
The performance could be better. It would be better if Azure Data Factory could handle a higher load. I have heard that it can get overloaded, and it can't handle it.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been providing customers Azure Data Factory solutions for about five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Azure Data Factory is a stable solution. The performance is good.
How are customer service and support?
Microsoft technical support is good. We are a Gold partner, and we have got good tech support from them.
How was the initial setup?
From a cloud perspective, the initial setup is straightforward. We have a data engineering team with about 15 professionals managing and maintaining this solution.
What about the implementation team?
We have an accelerated solution around it. We utilize our accelerated solutions to spin all these services into the cloud. So, for us, it does not take much time.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution depending on whether they want AWS, Azure, or GCP. We recommend all of them to our customers. We have about 50 to 80 people who are using this solution.
On a scale from one to ten, I would give Azure Data Factory a nine.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Enterprise Architect at TechnipEnergies
Feature-rich, scales well, and it provides good extract, transform, and load functionality
Pros and Cons
- "The best part of this product is the extraction, transformation, and load."
- "The need to work more on developing out-of-the-box connectors for other products like Oracle, AWS, and others."
What is our primary use case?
We are not using this product specifically as a data factory. We have taken Synapse Analytics as the entire component for the data warehousing solution. Azure Data Factory is one of the components of that, and we are using it for ETL.
How has it helped my organization?
Prior to this, we did not have a proper data warehousing solution. Instead, we had segregation between different tools like Oracle Data Warehouse, Exadata, and other products. Now, most of the tools that we have are from Microsoft, including Power BI, which has been rolled out throughout the organization. Synapse was the better choice for us to implement, as it has a lot of out-of-the-box connectors that we can utilize for data transformation and organization.
What is most valuable?
The best part of this product is the extraction, transformation, and load. In fact, we have found that the three of them work quite well. We are implementing the cloud-based system right now.
We see a lot of improvement with the most recent version of this solution. Some of the new features are very important to us.
What needs improvement?
The need to work more on developing out-of-the-box connectors for other products like Oracle, AWS, and others.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been working with Azure Data Factory for approximately six months. We are still implementing and it is not live, yet, but we expect it to be in 2021.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have found it to be quite stable. Here and there, there could be some issues and problems but overall, I'm okay with the product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is one of the points that we were looking for because we are hosting approximately two terabytes of data and we expect that it will grow at least five times over the next two years. This is one of the reasons that we adopted this solution.
In perhaps a year, we will increase our usage.
How are customer service and technical support?
The technical support from Microsoft is quite good. if you get good resources and they can provide you with free consulting, then it is quite good. However, when you purchase paid consulting and dedicated support, it is quite costly compared to the market.
How was the initial setup?
I don't think that the initial setup was very complex. We have quite an advanced IT infrastructure team and the Microsoft FastTrack team also helped us a lot during the programming of the development and setup.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would not say that this product is overly expensive. It is competing with the other providers, and they have almost the same pricing model.
What other advice do I have?
In general, I would recommend this product. However, it depends on the target IT ecosystem. If they are utilizing a lot of Microsoft products like Power BI, Office, Project, SharePoint, and so forth, it's better to implement Data Factory because it will reduce a lot of effort spent to consume data from other sources.
At this point, I can only rate based on my pre-implementation experience, so I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Founder and CEO at Zertain
A stable solution that can be used to set up a data lake information repository
Pros and Cons
- "Most of our customers are Microsoft shops and prefer Azure Data Factory because they have good licensing options and a trust factor with Microsoft."
- "Azure Data Factory's pricing in terms of utilization could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use Azure Data Factory to set up a data lake information repository.
What is most valuable?
Most of our customers are Microsoft shops and prefer Azure Data Factory because they have good licensing options and a trust factor with Microsoft. Our core customers are traditional Microsoft shops who prefer to expand on Microsoft on-cloud.
What needs improvement?
Azure Data Factory's pricing in terms of utilization could be improved. Our customers complain that the solution's bills keep growing.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have worked with Azure Data Factory for more than five years as a consultant.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Azure Data Factory is a pretty stable solution. I rate Azure Data Factory a nine out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Azure Data Factory is a scalable solution. We have around 15 to 20 customers, of which about 8 to 10 use Azure Data Factory.
How was the initial setup?
Azure Data Factory's initial setup needs some amount of professional training and qualification.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It seems very low initially, but as the data grows, the solution’s bills grow exponentially.
What other advice do I have?
Azure Data Factory is deployed on-cloud for our clients.
Azure Data Factory is a pretty solid solution with all the factors and integration built in. It's as good as any product.
I recommend users compare with Snowflake before choosing Azure Data Factory. We've had customers who prefer Snowflake just for its ease of use. Since we're not a Microsoft official reseller, I give options to customers and then let them pick and choose some from Azure Data Factory, Snowflake, or anything on Amazon.
Overall, I rate Azure Data Factory an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Executive Manager at Hexagon AB
Light, inexpensive way to ingest data
Pros and Cons
- "Data Factory's best features are simplicity and flexibility."
- "Data Factory would be improved if it were a little more configuration-oriented and not so code-oriented and if it had more automated features."
What is our primary use case?
I primarily use Data Factory to ingest data. For example, if we need to pull data into our data warehouse from somewhere like Azure Event Hub or salesforce.com.
How has it helped my organization?
We have telemetry that streams into an Azure Event Hub, and Data Factory allowed us to move that data from the Event Hub into our data lake and reduce the cost of that compared to the other tooling we were using.
What is most valuable?
Data Factory's best features are simplicity and flexibility. It's been very easy to set up connections to different types of data sources to pull data into our warehouse.
What needs improvement?
Data Factory would be improved if it were a little more configuration-oriented and not so code-oriented and if it had more automated features.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Data Factory for about three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate Data Factory's stability eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would rate Data Factory's scalability eight out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward, and only one person was required for deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would rate Data Factory's pricing nine out of ten.
What other advice do I have?
I think Data Factory is a good fit when you need a light, inexpensive way to ingest data. I would rate it eight out of ten.
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
ETL/BI Senior Consultant at Qrious
A good data migration tool that has strong security features, but needs more development to be able to deal with complex data transformations
Pros and Cons
- "This solution has provided us with an easier, and more efficient way to carry out data migration tasks."
- "This solution is currently only useful for basic data movement and file extractions, which we would like to see developed to handle more complex data transformations."
What is our primary use case?
We mainly use this solution to carry out data movement and transformation.
What is most valuable?
This solution has provided us with an easier, and more efficient way to carry out data migration tasks.
What needs improvement?
This solution is currently only useful for basic data movement and file extractions, which we would like to see developed to handle more complex data transformations.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have found this to be a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is an easily scalable product, due to it being cloud-based.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support for this solution is very good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of this product is straightforward, if you deploy the solution using a template; rather than implementing the solution first, and configuring the features afterwards.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented the product using both in-house staff, and members of a vendor team. The vendor team were very helpful, and gave good advice while we were deploying the solution.
What other advice do I have?
We would recommend this solution as it is very solid and has good security features.
I would rate this solution an eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Updated: November 2024
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