Cross-Workspace Lakehouse Querying Without Data Copies

DP-600 Last updated

Get data

Short answer

A Use a shortcut to reference tables across different workspaces and lakehouses without making additional copies of the data.

Question

You have a Fabric tenant that contains two workspaces named Workspace1 and Workspace2. Workspace1 contains a lakehouse named Lakehouse1. Workspace2 contains a lakehouse named Lakehouse2. Lakehouse1 contains a table named dbo.Sales. Lakehouse2 contains a table named dbo.Customers. You need to ensure that you can write queries that reference both dbo.Sales and dbo.Customers in the same SQL query without making additional copies of the tables. What should you use?

  1. a shortcut Correct Answer
  2. a dataflow
  3. a view
  4. a managed table

Key Takeaways

This question tests cross-workspace data access in Fabric; the common trap is thinking a view can span lakehouses without an underlying shortcut.

Microsoft Fabric shortcuts allow you to query tables across different lakehouses and workspaces without duplicating data. This page establishes that a shortcut is the correct feature to use for cross-workspace SQL queries.

Common mistake: Choosing a view because views combine data, but failing to realize views cannot directly reference external lakehouses without a shortcut first.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

A shortcut in Microsoft Fabric creates a reference to data in another location without moving or copying it. By creating a shortcut to the table in the other workspace's lakehouse, you can query both tables in the same SQL context seamlessly. This natively satisfies the requirement to reference both tables without making additional copies.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

A dataflow would physically copy the data, violating the requirement of no additional copies. A view cannot be created directly across different workspaces without first establishing a shortcut to bring the table into the local lakehouse context. A managed table is just a storage format and does not provide cross-workspace referencing capabilities.

Community Comment Notes

Commenters emphasized that shortcuts are designed specifically for accessing data without copying, as vernillen noted: "specifically designed for accessing data without making an additional copy". Another user pointed out the prerequisite for views, stating "you need to create shortcuts first to access table in different workspaces".

Official Reference

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/onelake/onelake-shortcuts

Exam Strategy

When asked to access data across workspaces or lakehouses without moving or copying it, immediately look for a shortcut as the solution. Remember that views and other virtualization layers still require the underlying data to be accessible within the same context.

Community Votes

A
100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer A. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 12 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded.

From public community threads 12

  1. pppppppppie 👍 24
    you can not create view directly. you need to create shortcuts first to access table in different workspaces .https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/General-Discussion/Cross-Workspace-access/m-p/3744282#:~:text=You%20cannot%20directly%20query%20the,and%20then%20query%20the%20shortcut.
  2. vernillen 👍 14 Answered A
    It's a fabric exam and they're really proud of their shortcuts, which are specifically designed for accessing data without making an additional copy of it.
  3. prabhjot 👍 3
    C. a view A view is a virtual table that contains data from one or more tables. You can create a view that references tables from different lakehouses (in this case, dbo.Sales from Lakehouse1 and dbo.Customers from Lakehouse2).
  4. woliveiras 👍 3 Answered A
    Shortcuts enable you to do it in an easy way.
  5. 282b85d 👍 2 Answered A
    Shortcuts are specifically designed for cross-lakehouse referencing and provide a seamless and efficient way to query data across different workspaces without data duplication or complex configurations, making them the best choice for this scenario. Views typically reference tables within the same database or lakehouse. While you can create views that reference tables in different schemas or databases, they generally do not support cross-workspace references directly. Creating views for cross-workspace data might require additional configuration or data duplication.
Show 7 more comments
  1. os_ca 👍 1
    I checked the query below using MS fabric. The below query runs in both lake houses (warehouses under those). As long as they are managed tables, the below query works. select from Lakehouse1.dbo.Sales select from Lakehouse2.dbo.Customers
  2. os_ca 👍 1
    I checked the query below with MS fabric. The below query runs in both lake houses (warehouses under those). As long as they are tables, the below query works. select from Lakehouse1.dbo.Sales select from Lakehouse2.dbo.Customers
  3. zolfoman 👍 1
    the d option is changed to script, that is the correct one anyway
  4. popo1235 👍 1 Answered A
    First create shortcut in order to be able to create view on top
  5. os_ca 👍 1
    My mistake. Please delete my post.
  6. woliveiras 👍 5 Answered A
    shortcut (100%)
  7. Nefirs 👍 2 Answered A
    shortcut first

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