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CSA Loom — the Microsoft Fabric experience for Azure tenants where Fabric isn't yet available: lakehouses, warehouses, notebooks, semantic models, Activator rules, Data Agents, across Commercial, GCC, GCC-High, and DoD IL5

Tutorial: Linked service editor

CSA Loom linked-service editor — the 31-connector gallery for reusable connection definitions on Azure Data Factory (default) or a Synapse workspace: the bind target for pipelines, datasets, and data flows. Real ARM / Synapse dev plane, no Microsoft Fabric required.

What it is

A Linked service is a first-class, reusable connection definition (connection string + authentication) that pipelines, datasets, Copy activities, and Mapping data flows bind to — exactly the ADF / Synapse Studio Manage-hub "Linked services" object. In Loom every connection is a real Microsoft.DataFactory/factories/linkedservices (or Synapse workspace linkedservices) resource.

When to use it

  • You're about to author a pipeline, dataset, or data flow and need its connection defined once, reusable everywhere.
  • You need governed authentication — Managed Identity, key, SAS, or service principal — with secrets stored as ARM secureString.

Step-by-step in Loom

  1. Create the item. Choose + New item → Linked service (Data Factory). The editor opens at /items/linked-service/<id> in manage mode.
  2. Pick a backend. Choose Azure Data Factory (the deployment-default factory) or a Synapse workspace. ADF is the Azure-native default; both share the same {name, properties} contract.
  3. Browse the connector gallery. Search or browse 31 connectors grouped by Azure / Database / File / NoSQL / Generic protocol / Services & apps, then pick one.
  4. Fill the structured form. Select an authentication method (Managed Identity, key, SAS, service principal) and complete its fields. Secrets are stored as ARM secureString — never round-tripped as plaintext, never freeform JSON.
  5. Test + create. Run Test connection (a real validate round-trip via the BFF), then Create — a real ARM / Synapse upsert. Edit and Delete existing linked services from the same surface.

The Azure backend it rides on

  • Resources: Microsoft.DataFactory/factories/linkedservices ARM REST, or the Synapse dev plane for workspace-scoped connections.
  • Secrets: ARM secureString fields; Key Vault references where the connector supports them.

No Fabric required

Linked services live on ADF / Synapse; no Fabric capacity, workspace, or OneLake is involved.

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