Quickly get started with samples in Azure Synapse Analytics

Get started immediately on your first project with the new Knowledge center in the Azure Synapse Studio.

To further accelerate time to insight in Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics, we are introducing the Knowledge center to simplify access to pre-loaded sample data and to streamline the getting started process for data professionals. You can now create or use existing Spark and SQL pools, connect to and query Azure Open Datasets, load sample scripts and notebooks, access pipeline templates, and tour the Azure Synapse Studio—all from one place.

The Knowledge center can be accessed from the Azure Synapse Studio Homepage under Useful links or by clicking the Question mark icon on the Navigation bar.

Use samples immediately

The Knowledge center offers several one-click tutorials that create everything you need to instantaneously explore and analyze data.

In the Explore sample data with Spark tutorial, you can easily create an Apache Spark pool and use notebooks natively inside Azure Synapse to analyze New York City (NYC) Yellow Taxi data and customize visualizations. This is possible as Azure Synapse unifies both SQL and Spark development within the same analytics service.

In the Query data with SQL tutorial, you can query and analyze the same NYC Yellow Taxi dataset with a serverless SQL pool, which allows you to use T-SQL for fast data lake exploration without provisioning or managing dedicated resources. The tutorial also enables you to quickly visualize results with one click.

The Create external table with SQL tutorial allows you to use either a serverless or dedicated SQL pool to create an external table, giving you the flexibility to harness data on your own terms and choose the most cost-effective option for each use case. Dedicated SQL pools provide a broad set of workload management capabilities including workload isolation and workload priority.

Browse available samples

The new Knowledge center also contains numerous sample datasets, notebooks, scripts, and pipeline templates to allow you to quickly get started.

Add Azure Open Datasets to access sample data on COVID-19, public safety, transportation, economic indicators, and more. The datasets are automatically loaded into the Data hub on the main navigation under the Linked tab and then Azure Blog Storage. With the click of a button, you can run sample scripts to select the top 100 rows and create an external table or you can also create a new notebook.

Regardless of whether you prefer to use PySpark, Scala, or Spark.NET C#, you can try a variety of sample notebooks. These will open in the Develop hub of the Azure Synapse Studio under Notebooks.

In addition to sample notebooks, there are samples for SQL scripts like Analyze Azure Open Datasets using SQL On-demand, Generate your COPY Statement with Dynamic SQL, and Query CSV, JSON, or Parquet files. Once these scripts are published in your workspace, they will open in the Develop hub of the main navigation under SQL scripts.

Furthermore, there are around 30 different templates for pipelines, including templates for copying data from various sources.

Tour Azure Synapse Studio

The Knowledge center offers a comprehensive tour of the Azure Synapse Studio to help familiarize you with key features so you can get started right away on your first project.