Microsoft Dataverse: Architecture, Storage, and Capacity

Microsoft Dataverse Overview

Microsoft Dataverse is the central data platform that underpins applications such as Power Apps, Dynamics 365, and Power Automate. It is a secure and scalable cloud-based relational database that allows organizations to store, manage, and share business data within an integrated Microsoft ecosystem. Its architecture is designed to support both low-code scenarios, enabling business users to build solutions without code, and enterprise implementations requiring high levels of extensibility and governance.

Dataverse manages not only structured data but also relationships, metadata, and business rules. Each entity (now called a “table”) represents a business object such as “Contacts” or “Opportunities.” These tables can include various column types, N:1, 1:N, and N:N relationships, along with granular security rules.

The platform provides a common data model with a set of standard tables covering typical business scenarios, but it can be extended with custom tables and columns. It integrates fully with Azure Active Directory for identity management and Microsoft 365 for collaboration and authentication.

Architecture and Core Components

The architecture of Dataverse is based on a distributed cloud infrastructure hosted in Microsoft data centers, organized by regions and geographies. Each Power Platform environment has an associated Dataverse instance that stores data, metadata, and application artifacts such as forms, views, dashboards, and business process flows.

Key architectural components include:

• Database Storage: for relational data and metadata.
• File Storage: for attachments, images, and documents linked to records.
• Log Storage: for auditing, system logs, and diagnostics.

Each Dataverse environment is isolated and can be configured as Production, Sandbox, or Developer. Resources are distributed across multiple scale groups — sets of backend resources that ensure performance and load balancing. Data is replicated to guarantee high availability and disaster recovery.

Communication between Dataverse and other Power Platform components occurs through official APIs and standard connectors. Model-driven and canvas apps rely on Dataverse as the data layer, while Power BI, Power Automate, and Power Pages connect to it for analytics, automation, and web integration.

Storage and Capacity

Each Power Platform tenant receives a storage capacity divided into three main categories:

• Database storage – for relational data and metadata.
• File storage – for files attached to records or images.
• Log storage – for audit data, telemetry, and tracking information.

The available capacity depends on the number of Power Apps or Dynamics 365 licenses purchased. Usage can be monitored, and additional capacity add-ons can be acquired when necessary.

Microsoft recommends optimization strategies such as offloading large attachments to Azure Blob Storage or integrating with Azure Synapse Analytics for analytical data. Proper capacity management is essential in enterprise projects to prevent bottlenecks and ensure optimal performance.

Scale Groups and Performance

Scale groups are Dataverse’s internal mechanism for distributing capacity and requests across different processing nodes. Each environment is assigned to a specific scale group, often based on region or environment type (production, sandbox, trial). This allows Microsoft to dynamically balance loads, ensuring high availability and consistent response times.

In large-scale scenarios involving hundreds of thousands of users or millions of records, distribution across multiple scale groups enhances performance and resilience. Administrators can monitor environment health and performance through the Power Platform Admin Center.

Extensibility and Integrations

Dataverse provides multiple extensibility options to adapt to specific business requirements:

• Web Resources – HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images to extend the UI.
• Power Apps Component Framework (PCF) – TypeScript-based custom controls integrated into native rendering.
• Plug-ins and Workflow Activities – server-side logic developed in .NET.
• Web API – REST endpoints for external interactions and integrations.

These capabilities enable developers to build custom solutions while maintaining Microsoft Cloud governance and security. All components can be packaged into managed or unmanaged solutions for full application lifecycle management (ALM).

For more details, see the Microsoft Dataverse Web API documentation.