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This guide applies to the Superblocks Hybrid deployment on Azure Container Apps. It does not apply to customers on Superblocks Cloud.

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Overview

This guide describes how to connect the Superblocks data plane running on Azure Container Apps (ACA) to a Microsoft Fabric SQL Database using the ACA’s system-assigned managed identity and Microsoft Entra authentication.

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Authentication flow

  1. The Superblocks data plane container app has a system-assigned managed identity enabled.
  2. When a query runs, the container obtains an Entra access token from Azure’s managed identity endpoint.
  3. The token is supplied to the Microsoft SQL Server connector via the connection string (no SQL username or password).
  4. Microsoft Fabric validates the token and authorizes the request based on workspace and database permissions granted to the identity.

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Prerequisites

  • An Azure Container App running the Superblocks data plane.
  • Owner or Contributor on the resource group containing the container app.
  • A Microsoft Fabric SQL Database in a workspace you can administer.
  • A Fabric / Power BI tenant administrator available if service principal access is not yet enabled at the tenant level.

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Setup

1

Set managed identity variables on the container app

If not previously configured, add the following environment variable to the container app:
NameValue
SB_EXECUTION_ENV_INCLUSION_LISTIDENTITY_ENDPOINT,IDENTITY_HEADER
2

Enable system-assigned managed identity on the container app

  1. In the Azure portal, open your Container App.
  2. Go to Security → Identity.
  3. Open the System assigned tab.
  4. Set Status to On and click Save.
  5. Redeploy the container app revision if prompted.
This automatically creates an Entra identity tied to the container app’s lifecycle.Azure Container App Identity page with System assigned tab selected and Status toggled On
3

Confirm Fabric tenant settings

A Fabric / Power BI tenant administrator must enable service principal access before managed identities can use the Fabric APIs. Fabric gates this behind a Microsoft Entra security group: only identities that are members of an allowed group can use the APIs. Follow Microsoft’s Enable service principal authentication for admin APIs guide for the authoritative reference; the steps below summarize what is required for this setup.
Microsoft Fabric treats managed identities the same as service principals for API and database access.
  1. Create (or reuse) a Microsoft Entra security group In the Azure portal, go to Microsoft Entra ID → Groups → New group. Set Group type to Security, give it a name (for example, superblocks-fabric-access), and create it.
  2. Add the managed identity to the security group Open the security group → Members → Add members and add the container app’s system-assigned identity. You can search by the container app’s name — the identity’s display name matches the container app’s resource name.
  3. Enable the tenant setting in the Fabric admin portal Sign in to the Fabric admin portal as a Fabric admin, go to Tenant settings, and enable Service principals can use Fabric APIs:
    • Set the toggle to Enabled.
    • Select Specific security groups.
    • Add the security group from the previous sub-step.
    • Click Apply.
4

Grant Fabric SQL Database permissions

In the Fabric workspace that contains your SQL Database:
  1. Click Manage access → Add people or group.
  2. Add the ACA’s system-assigned identity (search by the container app’s name).
  3. Grant at minimum Viewer permissions for reading data, or Contributor for reading / writing data. More on roles and permissions here.
This allows the identity to reach the Fabric SQL Database endpoint.Adding the Superblocks managed identity as a Contributor in Fabric workspace Manage access
5

Create the identity as a database user

Connect to the Fabric SQL Database from VS Code, Azure Data Studio, or another SQL client as yourself (an admin), then run:
USE <YOUR_DATABASE_NAME>;
CREATE USER [<YOUR_CONTAINER_APP_NAME>] FROM EXTERNAL PROVIDER;
ALTER ROLE db_datareader ADD MEMBER [<YOUR_CONTAINER_APP_NAME>];
ALTER ROLE db_datawriter ADD MEMBER [<YOUR_CONTAINER_APP_NAME>];
Replace <YOUR_CONTAINER_APP_NAME> with the name of the container app whose system-assigned identity you enabled in the first step. The system-assigned identity’s display name matches the container app’s resource name.CREATE USER ... FROM EXTERNAL PROVIDER maps the Entra identity to a database user so token-based logins are allowed. Adjust the roles to your least-privilege needs.
6

Create the integration in Superblocks

Create a Microsoft SQL Server integration in Superblocks using a connection string that targets the SQL Database endpoint (not the SQL analytics endpoint):
Data Source=<YOUR_SERVER_ID>.database.fabric.microsoft.com,1433;
Initial Catalog=<YOUR_DATABASE_NAME>;
Connect Timeout=30;
Authentication=Active Directory Integrated;
Encrypt=True;
TrustServerCertificate=False;
Because we are using a system-assigned identity (only one identity per container app), no Client Id is needed in the connection string. The MSSQL connector picks up the system-assigned identity automatically from the container app’s MSI environment.
You can find connection string details like <YOUR_SERVER_ID> and <YOUR_DATABASE_NAME> under the Fabric SQL Database item’s Settings → Connection strings.