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The Microsoft Fabric Trial (Preview) includes access to Fabric product experiences and resources for creating and hosting Fabric elements. Fabric trial (preview) lasts until Fabric General Availability (GA) unless cancelled. After GA, the Fabric Trial (Preview) is converted to the GA version and extended for 60 days.
This document helps you understand and start a Fabric trial (preview).
Important
Microsoft Fabric is currently in PREVIEW. This information pertains to a preliminary product that may be substantially modified prior to release. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.
Existing Power BI Users
If you are already a Power BI user, you can skip toStart Trial Fabric (Preview).
Users who are new to Power BI
For public viewing, Fabric Trial (Preview) requires a Power BI license. navigate tohttps://app.fabric.microsoft.comto sign up for a Power BIbooklicense. Once you get a Power BI license, you can start your Fabric Trial (Preview).
Start Trial Fabric (Preview)
Follow these steps to get started with your Fabric Trial (Preview).
open thefront page of panoand select Account Manager.
In Account Manager, selectStart Test.
(Video) Microsoft Fabric Briefing - after 6 months of use on the private preview.If prompted, agree to the terms and selectStart Test.
When your test capability is ready, you will receive a confirmation message. selectI understandto start working on Fabric.
Open your account manager again. Notice that you now have a header fortest status. Your account manager keeps track of the number of days left on your trial. You also see the countdown in the Fabric menu bar when you're working on a product experiment.
Congratulations! You now have a Fabric (Preview) trial that includes a standalone Power BI trial (if you don't already have a Power BI trial).paylicense) and a Fabric test (preview) capability.
Other ways to start a Microsoft Fabric trial (preview)
If the Power BI admin hasMicrosoft Fabric enabled preview for tenant, you have another option to enable a trial version of Fabric (preview). When trying to create a Fabric element in a workspace that you own (such asmy desktop) and this workspace does not support mesh elements, you are prompted to start a mesh evaluation (preview). If you agree, your Fabric trial (preview) will start and your workspace will be upgraded to a testable workspace.
What is a test capability?
A test capability is a distinct set of capabilities assigned to Microsoft Fabric. Capacity size determines the amount of computing power reserved for users of that capacity. The amount of computing resources is based on theSKU.
With a Fabric Trial (Preview), you get full access to all Fabric experiences and features. You also get up to 1TB OneLake storage. Create fabric elements and collaborate with others on the same fabric testing resource. With a Fabric Trial (Preview), you can:
- create workspaces (folders) for projects that support Fabric features.
- Share and collaborate on Fabric items such as datasets, warehouses, and notebooks with other Fabric users.
- create analytical solutions using these mesh elements.
You don't have access to your ability until you put something in it. To get started with your Fabric trial (preview), add items tomy desktopor create a new workspace. Assign this workspace to your evaluation capacity using the "Evaluation" license mode, and all items in that workspace will be saved and run in that capacity.
For more information about workspaces and licensing mode settings, seeworkspaces.
capacity units
When starting a Fabric Trial (Preview), Microsoft provisions a trial capacity of 64 Capacity Units (CUs). These CUs allow users of their test capacity to consume 64x60 seconds of CU every minute. Every time Fabric test capacity is used, CUs are consumed. The Fabric platform aggregates the consumption of all experiences and applies it to your reserved capacity. Not all resources have the same consumption rate. For example, running a data warehouse can consume more capacity units than creating a Power BI report. When capacity consumption exceeds its size, Microsoft slows down the experience similarly to CPU performance throttling.
There is no limit to the number of workspaces or items you can create within your capacity. The only restriction is the availability of capacity units and the rate at which you consume them.
You own the test capability. As your own Fabric test capacity manager, you have access to a detailed and transparent report on how units of capacity are consumed on the network.Capacity metrics app. For more information on managing your essays, seeManage a Mesh Test Capability.
Complete a fabric test (preview)
You can cancel your review in the account manager. When you cancel your Fabric (Preview) free trial, the trial capacity, with all of its workspaces and content, is removed. In addition, you cannot:
create workspaces that support mesh features.
Share and collaborate on Fabric elements such as machine learning models, warehouses, and notebooks with other Fabric users.
create analytical solutions using these mesh elements.
Also, if you cancel your trial, you may not be able to start another trial.
Manage user access to a Fabric Trial (Preview)
Power BI admins can enable and disable testing of paid features for Power BI and Fabric. These settings are at the tenant level and apply to all users or specific security groups. This setting for a tenant applies tobothPower BI and Fabric testing, so Power BI admins should carefully evaluate the impact of making a change to this setting.
Each test user is the capacity manager for their test capacity. Microsoft does not currently support multiple capacity managers per test capacity. Therefore, Power BI admins cannot see metrics for individual resources. We have plans to support this feature in an upcoming admin monitoring feature.
Considerations and limitations
I can't start a test
If you don't see theStart Testbutton in your account manager:
Your Power BI admin may have disabled access and you can't start a Fabric trial (preview). Contact your Power BI administrator to request access. You can also initiate an assessment with your own tenant. For more information, seeSign up for Power BI with a new Microsoft 365 account.
(Video) Microsoft Fabric LakehouseIf you're already a Power BI trial user, you won't seeStart Testin your account manager. You can start a fabric test (preview) by tryingcreate a fabric element. When trying to create a mesh element, you will be prompted to start a mesh test (preview). If you don't see this warning, your Power BI admin might have disabled the Fabric (Preview) feature.
if you see theStart Testbutton in your account manager:
You may not be able to start a trial if your tenant has reached its trial capacity limit. If that's the case, you have the following options:
Ask another test capability user to share their test capability with you.
Contact your Power BI admin to create a CSS request to increase tenant testing capacity limits.
In Workplace Settings I am unable to assign a Workspace to Test Capability
This known bug occurs when the Power BI admin disables tests after starting a test. To add your workspace to testability, open the admin portal by selecting it from the gear icon in the top menu bar. Then selectTest > Capacity Settingsand choose the capacity name. If you don't see your assigned workspace, add it here.
What is the region for my Fabric Test Capability (Preview)?
If you start your trial with Account Manager, your trial capability will be in your tenant's home region. To seeFind your Fabric's home regionfor information on how to find your home region, where your data is stored.
What impact does region have on my Fabric assessment (preview)?
Not all regions are available for the Fabric trial (preview). start withlooking for your home regionand then checkSee if your region supports Fabric Trial (Preview). If your home region does not have Fabric enabled, please do not use Account Manager to start a trial. To start a test in a region other than your home region, follow the steps inOther Ways to Start a Fabric Test (Preview). If you've already started an Account Manager trial, cancel that trial and follow the steps inOther Ways to Start a Fabric Test (Preview)instead of.
Can I move my tenant to another region?
You cannot move your organization's tenant between regions yourself. If you need to change your organization's default data location from your current region to another region, contact support to manage the migration for you. For more information, seemove between regions.
What happens at the end of the Fabric trial (preview)?
If you do not upgrade to a paid Fabric feature at the end of the trial period, non-Power BI Fabric items will be removed per theretention policy after deletion.
How is the Fabric Trial (Preview) different from a Power BI paid standalone trial?
A Power BI pay-per-user trial allows access to the Fabric home page. After you sign up for the Fabric Trial (Preview), you can use the Trial feature to store Fabric workspaces and elements, and to run Fabric experiments. Guide to all the rulesPower BI licensesand what you can do in the Power BI experience remains the same. The main difference is that a Fabric resource is required to access non-Power BI elements and experiences.
Private Links and Private Access
During mesh preview, you cannot create mesh elements in testabilityeyou or your tenant have private links enabledypublic access is disabled. This limitation is a known bug in Fabric Preview.
auto scale
Mesh testability (preview) does not support autoscaling. If you need more computing power, you can purchase Fabric capacity on Azure.
For existing Synapse users
The mesh test (preview) version is different from a proof of concept (POC). A Proof of Concept (POC) is a standard business survey that requires a financial investment and months of work to customize the platform and use the data it feeds. Fabric Trial (Preview) is free for users via public preview and requires no customization. Users can sign up for a free trial and start running product experiences right away, within the limits of available capacity units.
You don't need an Azure subscription to start a Fabric Trial (Preview). If you have an existing Azure subscription, you can purchase Fabric capacity (paid).
For existing Power BI users
You can migrate your existing workspaces to an evaluation capacity using the workspace settings and choosing "Evaluation" as your licensing mode. For information about migrating desktops, seecreate workspaces.
Next steps
- learn aboutlicenses
- fabric reviewterminology