ADF supports dozens of data sources and data sinks, including Azure data stores like ADLS Gen 1/Gen 2 and Cosmos DB, as well as many third-party databases, file systems, object storage systems, SaaS ...

Geared mostly to Azure data services and heavily reliant on a JSON-based, handed-coded approach that only a Microsoft Program Manager could love, ADF was hardly a worthy successor to the SSIS legacy.

We look at storage for unstructured data on-premise, in the cloud and across multiple locations. There are advantages to a hybrid approach, but there can be hidden costs, too.