Microsoft Fabric integration
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the Microsoft Fabric connector integration.
Does enabling Scanner API Access affect which permissions are required?
Yes. When Scanner API Access is enabled, Atlan uses only the Power BI Admin Scanner APIs and doesn't require workspace-level permissions. The following admin API settings (configured in the Fabric Admin Portal) are sufficient:
- Service principals can access read-only admin APIs: Enabled for your security group
- Enhance admin APIs responses with detailed metadata: Enabled for your security group
When Scanner API Access is disabled, Atlan also uses non-scanner APIs, which require the crawl identity (service principal or APIM managed identity) to have Viewer access on each workspace in addition to the admin API settings listed.
This applies to both authentication methods (Service Principal and APIM Managed Identity).
How does Scanner API toggle affect catalog coverage and lineage?
The Microsoft Fabric connector can run in two modes based on the Enable Scanner API Access toggle in the crawler workflow.
- Scanner API enabled (toggle on): Uses only the Power BI Admin Scanner APIs. Workspace-level permissions aren't required. This simplifies setup but limits catalog coverage.
- Scanner API disabled (toggle off): Uses both scanner and non-scanner APIs for full catalog coverage. Requires Viewer access on each workspace.
| Asset or lineage capability | Scanner API enabled | Scanner API disabled |
|---|---|---|
| Catalog Workspaces | ✅ Available | ✅ Available |
| Catalog Lakehouses, Warehouses (tables, views, columns) | ✅ Available | ✅ Available |
| Catalog Semantic Models (tables and columns) | ✅ Available | ✅ Available |
| Catalog Reports | ✅ Available | ✅ Available |
| Catalog Dashboards | ✅ Available | ✅ Available |
| Catalog Dataflows (and entity columns) | ✅ Available | ✅ Available |
| Catalog Report Pages | ❌ Not available | ✅ Available |
| Catalog Report Visuals | ❌ Not available | ✅ Available |
| Catalog Pipeline Copy Activities | ❌ Not available | ✅ Available |
| End-to-end lineage (external sources → Semantic Models) | ✅ Available | ✅ Available |
| Lineage: Semantic Model → Report | ✅ Available | ✅ Available |
| Lineage: Semantic Model Table/Column → Report Page or Visual | ❌ Not available | ✅ Available |
| Workspace-level permissions required | ❌ Not required | ✅ Required (Viewer role per workspace) |
For setup instructions specific to each mode, see Set up Microsoft Fabric — Scanner API permissions.
Known limitations of Microsoft Fabric connector
Atlan currently doesn't support the following Microsoft Fabric features and experiences:
Data Engineering & Analytics:
- Notebooks - not cataloged, no lineage visibility
- Data Science (ML models) - not ingested or linked to upstream/downstream
- Real-Time Analytics (KQL) - not supported as source/lineage entities
- Data Activator - not represented in catalog or lineage
Metadata & Governance:
- Visual Metadata - visuals inside Power BI reports (charts, fields, filters) not captured
- File-Level Metadata - file-level (CSV/Parquet) assets in Lakehouse.
- Governance Metadata - RLS/OLS roles from Fabric not yet ingested
Scanning & Usage:
- Incremental Scans - only full/scoped scans supported; no change-aware deltas
- View in source - not supported
- Usage statistics and Popularity - not supported for Fabric assets