N.R.DAS: A view on Lakehouse Architecture

Deploying a SQL Data Warehouse over a Data Lake—often referred to as a "Lakehouse" architecture—combines the scalability and flexibility of a Data Lake with the structured querying power of a Data Warehouse. Here's a comprehensive deployment plan ......

🧭 Phase 1: Strategy & Architecture Design

🔹 Define Objectives

Enable structured analytics over semi-structured/unstructured data
Support BI tools (e.g., Power BI, Tableau) via SQL endpoints
Ensure scalability, cost-efficiency, and governance

🔹 Choose Technology Stack

Layer	Azure Option	AWS Option
Data Lake	Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2	Amazon S3
SQL Warehouse	Azure Synapse Analytics / Fabric	Amazon Redshift Spectrum
Metadata Catalog	Azure Purview	AWS Glue Data Catalog
Orchestration	Azure Data Factory	AWS Step Functions / Glue ETL
CI/CD	Azure DevOps / GitHub Actions	AWS CodePipeline / GitHub

🏗️ Phase 2: Data Lake Foundation

🔹 Provision Storage

Create hierarchical namespace-enabled containers
Define folder structure: /raw/, /curated/, /sandbox/

🔹 Ingest Raw Data

Use ADF pipelines or Glue jobs to ingest from sources (RDBMS, APIs, logs)
Apply schema-on-read using Parquet/Delta formats

🔹 Implement Governance

Tag datasets with business metadata
Register assets in Purview or Glue Catalog

🧱 Phase 3: SQL Warehouse Layer

🔹 Create External Tables

Use CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE to define schema over Data Lake files
Partition by date or business keys for performance

🔹 Optimize Performance

Use columnar formats (Parquet, Delta)
Enable caching or materialized views for frequent queries
Implement statistics and auto-refresh policies

🔹 Enable BI Connectivity

Expose SQL endpoints
Configure ODBC/JDBC for Power BI/Tableau

🔁 Phase 4: CI/CD & Automation

🔹 Infrastructure as Code

Use ARM templates or Terraform for Synapse/Redshift setup
Script Data Lake provisioning and access policies

🔹 Pipeline Automation

Build ADF pipelines with parameterized datasets
Use Git integration for version control
Deploy via DevOps YAML or PowerShell scripts

🔹 Monitoring & Alerts

Integrate with Azure Monitor or CloudWatch
Set up alerts for pipeline failures, query latency, and storage thresholds

🔐 Phase 5: Security & Compliance

🔹 Access Control

Use RBAC and ACLs for Data Lake
Implement row-level and column-level security in SQL layer

🔹 Data Protection

Encrypt data at rest and in transit
Mask sensitive fields using dynamic data masking

🔹 Audit & Compliance

Enable logging for query access and data modifications
Integrate with compliance tools (e.g., Microsoft Defender, AWS Macie)

📊 Phase 6: Validation & Rollout

🔹 Test Scenarios

Validate SQL queries across raw and curated zones
Perform load testing and concurrency checks

🔹 Stakeholder Training

Provide SQL access guides
Conduct workshops for analysts and data scientists

🔹 Rollout Strategy

Start with a pilot domain (e.g., Sales or Finance)
Gradually onboard other domains

Here's a clean, professional deployment diagram and CI/CD template tailored for deploying a SQL Data Warehouse over a Data Lake in Azure. You can adapt this for AWS or hybrid environments as needed.

🧭 Architecture Diagram: SQL Data Warehouse over Data Lake (Azure)

Code

+----------------------------+       +----------------------------+
|   Source Systems          |       |   External Data Sources    |
| (ERP, CRM, APIs, Files)   |       | (Web, FTP, SaaS, IoT)      |
+------------+--------------+       +------------+---------------+
             |                                   |
             v                                   v
+----------------------------+       +----------------------------+
| Azure Data Factory (ADF)   |<----->|   CI/CD Pipeline (DevOps) |
| - Ingest & Transform       |       |   - YAML / ARM / PowerShell|
+------------+--------------+       +----------------------------+
             |
             v
+----------------------------+
| Azure Data Lake Storage    |
| - Raw Zone (/raw/)         |
| - Curated Zone (/curated/) |
| - Sandbox Zone (/sandbox/) |
+------------+--------------+
             |
             v
+----------------------------+
| Azure Synapse / Fabric     |
| - External Tables (SQL)    |
| - Views / Materialized     |
| - SQL Endpoints for BI     |
+------------+--------------+
             |
             v
+----------------------------+
| BI Tools / Consumers       |
| - Power BI, Tableau        |
| - Analysts, Data Scientists|
+----------------------------+

⚙️ CI/CD Template: Azure DevOps YAML (ADF + Synapse)

yaml

trigger:
  branches:
    include:
      - main

variables:
  environment: 'dev'
  resourceGroup: 'rg-data-lakehouse'
  location: 'westeurope'

stages:
- stage: DeployADF
  jobs:
  - job: DeployADF
    steps:
    - task: AzureResourceManagerTemplateDeployment@3
      inputs:
        deploymentScope: 'Resource Group'
        azureResourceManagerConnection: 'AzureServiceConnection'
        subscriptionId: '$(subscriptionId)'
        action: 'Create Or Update Resource Group'
        resourceGroupName: '$(resourceGroup)'
        location: '$(location)'
        templateLocation: 'Linked artifact'
        csmFile: 'arm/adf-template.json'
        overrideParameters: '-factoryName $(adfName)'

- stage: DeploySynapse
  jobs:
  - job: DeploySQL
    steps:
    - task: SqlAzureDacpacDeployment@1
      inputs:
        azureSubscription: 'AzureServiceConnection'
        ServerName: '$(synapseServer)'
        DatabaseName: '$(synapseDB)'
        SqlUsername: '$(sqlUser)'
        SqlPassword: '$(sqlPassword)'
        DacpacFile: 'sql/synapse.dacpac'

A version for AWS (Redshift Spectrum + S3 + Glue) or a hybrid setup is below....

🌐 Hybrid Lakehouse Architecture: Azure + AWS

🧱 Core Components

Layer	Azure Stack	AWS Stack
Data Lake	Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2	Amazon S3
SQL Warehouse	Azure Synapse / Fabric	Amazon Redshift Spectrum
Metadata Catalog	Azure Purview	AWS Glue Data Catalog
ETL/Orchestration	Azure Data Factory	AWS Glue / Step Functions / Airflow
CI/CD	Azure DevOps / GitHub Actions	AWS CodePipeline / GitHub
BI Tools	Power BI, Tableau	QuickSight, Tableau

🧭 Deployment Plan

🔹 Phase 1: Foundation Setup

Provision S3 buckets and ADLS Gen2 containers with matching folder structures (/raw/, /curated/, /sandbox/)
Set up cross-cloud identity federation (e.g., Azure AD ↔ IAM roles)

🔹 Phase 2: Data Ingestion

Use ADF and Glue to ingest data from sources into respective lakes
Apply schema-on-read using Parquet or Delta formats

🔹 Phase 3: SQL Layer Integration

Create external tables in Synapse and Redshift Spectrum pointing to lake zones
Use shared metadata via Purview ↔ Glue integration (manual or via APIs)

🔹 Phase 4: CI/CD Automation

Use Terraform or Pulumi for cross-cloud provisioning
Automate pipeline deployment via Azure DevOps and AWS CodePipeline
Store SQL scripts and ETL logic in GitHub with environment branching

🔹 Phase 5: BI & Consumption

Expose SQL endpoints from both Synapse and Redshift
Use semantic layers (e.g., AtScale) for unified business logic
Connect Power BI, Tableau, or QuickSight to both endpoints

🔹 Phase 6: Governance & Security

Apply RBAC and IAM policies across clouds
Encrypt data at rest and in transit
Enable audit logging and data classification

🗺️ Architecture Diagram (Hybrid)