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azurecloudazure-data-factorylifecycle

How do new features/changes in azure data factory become available?

Suppose I start using Azure Data Factory today, at some point the tool is likely to see improvements or other changes. Note that I am not talking about what I do inside the tool, but I am talking about the Data Factory itself. How will these changes become available to me?

  1. Will I be able to look at the changes before they happen (and how long)?
  2. Will I be able to stay on an old version if I do not like the new one or have not finished testing (e.g. security testing)?
  3. Is there any indication of how often changes are rolled out? (Every year, 10x per day)

Does any of the above depend on the type of change (big, small, feature/bug/vulnerability).

I suspect that people have this question for many similar tools, so though I am specifically interested in the Azure Data Factory at this time, an indication of whether the answer applies to other types of solutions (within Azure or perhaps it is even similar for other vendors) would be useful.

Solution

  • Suppose I start using Azure Data Factory today, at some point the tool is likely to see improvements or other changes. Note that I am not talking about what I do inside the tool, but I am talking about the Data Factory itself. How will these changes become available to me?

    Will I be able to look at the changes before they happen (and how long)?

    You are talking about a Managed Solution so I expect a continuous stream of (small) fixes and improvements. That said, changes are generally announced for various Azure Products. See the ADF updates

    Big changes might be first accessible as an opt-in preview feature before becoming General Available.

    Is there any indication of how often changes are rolled out? (Every year, 10x per day)

    Since it is a managed solution, why bother with such details? Rest assured that breaking changes are very limited and announced well before.

    Will I be able to stay on an old version if I do not like the new one or have not finished testing (e.g. security testing)?

    Again, this is a managed cloud service we are talking about. It is not an installable product you can decide to stay on older versions forever. They will push changes and you have to hope it is for the better ;-)

    I suspect that people have this question for many similar tools, so though I am specifically interested in the Azure Data Factory at this time, an indication of whether the answer applies to other types of solutions (within Azure or perhaps it is even similar for other vendors) would be useful.

    It will vary per company per (type of) product. For most Azure Services the answer will be the same.