Microsoft Fabric Blog introduces the Schema Registry for Real-Time Intelligence, providing a robust foundation for type-safe, reliable pipelines in streaming data applications.

Schema Registry: Creating Type-Safe Pipelines Using Schemas and Eventstreams (Preview)

Overview

Microsoft Fabric’s Real-Time Intelligence (RTI) now includes the Schema Registry—a centralized solution for managing and validating data schemas within Fabric Eventstreams and beyond. This feature enables organizations to build reliable, type-safe, and governed event-driven data pipelines using standardized, enforceable schemas.

What Is the Schema Registry?

The Schema Registry is a repository designed to serve as a contract enforcement layer between data producers and consumers. Built around the Avro (v1.12) format, it defines the structure, names, and types of event data for ingestion, processing, and downstream consumption, ensuring quality and predictability across your data flows.

Why Use the Schema Registry with Eventstreams?

Accurate Schema Discovery: Prevents errors caused by incomplete inferred schemas when ingesting streaming data or handling ‘dry streams’ that lack sample events.
Governance and Data Contracts: Enforces shared schema definitions, which improves collaboration and pipeline maintenance.
Downstream Reliability: Ensures destinations like Eventhouse consistently receive well-structured data, automatically creating or mapping tables as needed.

Key Benefits

Improved Data Quality: Validation happens at every stage—ingestion, transformation, and output.
Control and Consistency: Only events matching registered schemas pass through, reducing surprises.
Reusability: Schemas are organized in “schema sets” and can be reused across multiple eventstreams.
Versioning Support: While full version compatibility checks are upcoming, new schema versions can be created and referenced to support evolving pipelines.

Core Concepts

Event Schema Sets: Logical containers for grouping and securing related schemas.
Avro Format: Compact, binary-encoded schema language; currently the only supported option.
Registration Methods: Build visually, upload files, or paste schemas in Code View.
Versioning: Create new versions for substantial changes; avoid modifying in-place.

Limitations in Preview

Validation must be enabled at Eventstream creation (not retroactively applied).
Supported data sources: Custom Endpoint and Azure SQL Change Data Capture (CDC).
Destinations: Eventhouse (Push Mode), Custom App, or Derived Stream.
Compatibility enforcement: Not yet implemented—be cautious when editing schemas.
Dropped events: Logged in Fabric Diagnostics; not re-routed or stored elsewhere yet.

Best Practices

Monitor diagnostics for validation errors.
Add instead of modifying schemas for major changes.
Plan migrations as preview matures and new features release.

Getting Started

Go to Fabric RTI portal and create a new Event Schema Set (preview).
Name and build/upload/paste your schemas.
Assign schemas to eventstream input sources.
Reference updated schemas as needed in pipelines.

What’s Next

Azure EventHub Integration: Private preview opens 8/15 through 9/15.
Participate in feedback programs to influence the evolution of schema management.
Watch for new features and wider compatibility in upcoming releases.

References

Microsoft Fabric Blog provides ongoing updates as Schema Registry and Real-Time Intelligence capabilities expand in Microsoft Fabric.

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