Microsoft is making it easier for organisations to move large and varied types of data into its Azure Data Factory.
The idea is to use a tool, a code-free wizard, to make it easy to move data in and out of Azure in a hassle free way.
The problem that Microsoft is tackling is the challenge of getting data into the cloud when it is coming from multiple different systems and in a variety of formats.
Microsoft has said that the Copy Wizard will simplify the process of moving data between Azure QL, Azure Blob storage, the Azure Data Lake and Azure SQL Data Warehouse. Copy Wizard will provide an interactive interface for customers to use in order to manage the process.
The Azure Data Factory is a cloud-based data integration service in the Microsoft cloud which orchestrates the process of ingesting, preparing, transforming and analysing data.
Microsoft wrote about the Copy Wizard on its Azure blog with Anand Subbaraj, principal programme manager for Azure Data Factory, said: "We are targeting to address the requirements for data scientists to upload sample data into Azure for experimentation and data developers to orchestrate data movement on a cadence for business-critical tasks such as loading an enterprise’s data lake or data warehouse, or performing predictive analytics in the cloud at scale."
The company has said that it is going to expand the offering in the next few weeks so that 20+ connectors that are currently supported will have more capabilities.
The wizard will support tasks such as one-time data copying, setting up a pipeline to regularly move data from on-premises to the Azure cloud as part of a production deployment, the wizard will also allow the user to take data out.
Microsoft isn’t the only company that has been working to make it easier to get data into the cloud. Amazon Web Services recently released its Database migration service that is designed to make it easier to get data into the cloud.
Users of the Azure Data Factory will be able to try out the Copy Wizard from the Azure customer portal.
