Dual-write vs. virtual tables in Dataverse
First, you should be aware that the Dual-write and virtual tables (or virtual entities) allow Dataverse to access external data sources and write back to the original data source.
Both Dual-write and virtual tables offer useful data integration functionality.
What's Dual-write in Dataverse?
Dual-write is an out-of-box infrastructure that provides near-real-time interaction between Dataverse and Finance and Operations apps.
- Dual-write provides tightly coupled, bidirectional integration between Finance and Operations apps and Dataverse.
- Any data change in Finance and Operations apps causes writes to Dataverse, and any data change in Dataverse causes writes to Finance and Operations apps.
When to use Dual-write in Dataverse?
Dual-write should be used when you are working with Dynamics 365 apps and need near real-time integration. Dual-write will duplicate the data in both directions (to and from Dataverse).
Find more information at configure Dual-write.
What's a Virtual table in Dataverse?
Virtual tables (also known as virtual entities) enable the integration of data residing in external systems by seamlessly representing that data as tables in Microsoft Dataverse, without replication of data and often without custom coding.
- Virtual tables replace previous client-side and server-side approaches to integrating external data, which required customized code and suffered from numerous limitations, including imperfect integration, data duplication, or extensive commitment of development resources.
- In addition, for administrators and system customizers, the use of virtual tables greatly simplifies administration and configuration.
When to use Virtual Tabe in Dataverse?
Virtual tables should be used when you are connecting to data sources outside of Dynamics 365. There may be built-in connectors for these data sources, or you may have to use a custom connector.
Find more information at virtual tables.