Connecting to Data Sources

Data source connections tell Semantic Modeler where your data lives. You configure them inside an environment, and your model's table partitions reference them to know which database or service to query.

Adding a Data Source Connection

1. Click Environments in the activity bar.
2. Select the environment you want to add a connection to (or create one first).
3. Under Data Source Connections, click Add Connection.
4. Choose the connector type from the list.
5. Fill in the connection properties.
6. Click Test Connection to verify, then save.

You can add multiple data sources to a single environment. Each table partition in your model references one of these connections.

Supported Data Sources

Databases

• SQL Server — On-premises SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, or Fabric SQL Database
• PostgreSQL — Self-hosted or cloud-managed (Azure, RDS, Supabase)
• Snowflake — Snowflake data warehouses
• Azure Synapse — Dedicated or serverless SQL pools

Microsoft Fabric

• Fabric Warehouse — Fabric Warehouse via Entra ID
• Direct Lake — Delta tables in a Fabric Lakehouse

Cloud Storage

• Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2 — Delta tables, Parquet, or CSV in ADLS

Other Sources

• SharePoint — SharePoint Lists via Microsoft Graph
• OData — Any OData v4 service
• REST API — Any JSON-returning REST endpoint
• CSV File — Local CSV files

Next Steps

• Building Your First Model: Walk through adding tables that use your data source connections.
• Environments: Learn more about how environments organize your connections.
• Connection Troubleshooting: Having trouble connecting? Check common issues and fixes.