Skip to content
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: Mirrored Databricks catalog editor

CSA Loom mirrored-databricks editor — mount a Databricks Unity Catalog as a read-only mirror into ADLS Gen2 Delta and query it via Synapse. No Microsoft Fabric or OneLake required.

What it is

A Mirrored Databricks catalog brings a Databricks Unity Catalog into Loom analytics as a read-only mirror. The UC Delta tables are mirrored into ADLS Bronze (ADF CDC / Synapse Link) and queried via the Synapse serverless SQL analytics endpoint, without re-ingesting or copying governed data. Fabric mirroring into OneLake exists only as an explicit opt-in — never the default.

When to use it

  • Databricks owns the governed data (Unity Catalog) and you need it queryable alongside Loom lakehouses and warehouses.
  • You want cross-engine joins (Synapse SQL over UC Delta) without an ETL copy job to maintain.

Step-by-step in Loom

  1. Create the item. Choose + New item → Mirrored Databricks catalog (Data Factory). The editor opens at /items/mirrored-databricks/<id>.
  2. Provide the workspace. Point at the Azure Databricks workspace and Unity Catalog you want to mirror.
  3. Select the catalog/schema. Choose which catalog and schemas to expose as a read-only mirror in ADLS Bronze Delta.
  4. Query via Synapse SQL. Read the mirrored Delta tables via the Synapse serverless SQL analytics endpoint or Spark — no copy required.
  5. Respect source governance. Mirroring is read-only; writes and permissions stay governed by Unity Catalog on the Databricks side.

The Azure backend it rides on

  • Mirror: ADF CDC / Synapse Link copy into ADLS Gen2 Bronze Delta.
  • Query: Synapse serverless SQL (analytics endpoint) or Spark over the mirrored Delta.
  • Governance: Unity Catalog remains the source of truth on the Databricks side.

No Fabric required

The default mirror path is ADLS + Synapse; Fabric/OneLake mirroring is opt-in only.

Learn more