Integrations with Azure for Microsoft Power Platform

General Overview of Azure Integrations

Microsoft Azure is a cloud platform offering hundreds of PaaS and IaaS services. By integrating Power Platform with Azure, organizations can create complete digital ecosystems where data flows securely and efficiently between applications and services. The main Azure services used in these integrations include:

• Azure Logic Apps to orchestrate processes and complex workflows.
• Azure Service Bus as a messaging backbone for asynchronous and reliable integrations.
• Azure Event Hubs for large-scale event streaming management.
• Azure Functions for reactive serverless code execution.
• Azure API Management to expose and secure APIs for external systems.
• Azure Data Lake and Synapse Analytics for data processing and analytics.
• Azure Cosmos DB for globally distributed NoSQL data management.
• Azure SQL Database for relational integration with Dataverse.

Azure Logic Apps

Azure Logic Apps is a cloud solution for building complex business integrations and automations using a visual designer and connectors for hundreds of Microsoft and non-Microsoft products. Logic Apps is the foundational technology behind Power Automate, but with a stronger enterprise focus. While Power Automate is designed for individual or team automations, Logic Apps targets enterprise-wide, large-scale integration scenarios.

Logic Apps can:

• Connect to Microsoft Dataverse through a dedicated connector.
• Manage hybrid flows across on-premises and cloud environments.
• Integrate external API, ERP, and CRM systems securely.

For further details, visit the official Logic Apps documentation.

Azure Service Bus

Azure Service Bus is an enterprise-grade messaging system that enables reliable communication between distributed applications. Power Platform, particularly Dataverse, has built-in integration with Service Bus, which is essential for hybrid integration or remote process execution scenarios.

Through Service Bus, it is possible to:

• Send messages from Dataverse to on-premises or cloud systems.
• Manage queues and topics to ensure message delivery and resilience.
• Trigger Dataverse plug-ins for remote custom logic execution.

This approach helps organizations build decoupled architectures, which are fundamental for scalability and long-term maintainability.

Azure Event Hubs

Azure Event Hubs is a high-throughput event ingestion service designed for collecting and processing real-time data streams. In Power Platform, integrating with Event Hubs allows Dataverse and other components to connect to analytics, IoT, and machine learning systems.

Typical Event Hubs use cases include:

• Streaming events from Dataverse to analytical systems.
• Distributing messages to multiple consumers simultaneously.
• Supporting IoT scenarios through Azure IoT Hub or Azure IoT Central.

Azure Functions

Azure Functions is Microsoft’s serverless platform for executing code on demand in response to triggers such as HTTP, timers, Service Bus messages, or Event Hubs events. Within Power Platform, Azure Functions can be used to extend business logic or build custom microservices.

Common usage examples include:

• HTTP-triggered functions called from Power Automate or Power Apps.
• Processing messages from Service Bus or Event Hubs.
• Scheduled jobs for synchronization or background maintenance.

Learn more on Azure Functions.

Azure API Management

Azure API Management (APIM) enables organizations to create, publish, secure, and monitor APIs. Within Power Platform integrations, APIM can securely expose a subset of Dataverse APIs to external applications, providing advanced authentication, caching, and traffic throttling features.

1. Create an API Management instance in Azure.
2. Register an application in Azure Active Directory to obtain OAuth 2.0 credentials.
3. Configure the Dataverse endpoint and define security policies.

This setup allows partners and external systems to interact with Power Platform in a controlled and auditable way.

Azure Data Lake and Synapse Analytics

Azure Data Lake and Synapse Analytics form the ideal combination for managing and analyzing data from Dataverse. Through the built-in “Azure Synapse Link for Dataverse”, data is replicated in near real time to Data Lake, enabling advanced analytics without impacting operational performance.

The integration involves multiple components:

• Azure Synapse Link: synchronizes data from Dataverse to Data Lake.
• Azure Data Factory: orchestrates ETL pipelines toward Azure SQL or Cosmos DB.
• Synapse Studio: allows querying of replicated data using SQL.

This architecture supports business intelligence, data warehousing, and advanced machine learning scenarios.

Azure Cosmos DB and Azure SQL Database

Azure Cosmos DB is a globally distributed, multi-model, low-latency database ideal for global replication, archival, or data consolidation scenarios. Dataverse can integrate with Cosmos DB to create virtual tables or to archive historical data using dedicated AppSource modules.

Azure SQL Database, on the other hand, is the natural extension for integrating Dataverse with a relational engine. Using Data Factory or Synapse Link, data can be replicated in near real time, supporting analytics and reporting with Power BI or external tools.