What causes Fabric Pipeline Error 3208?

Transient network interruption or DNS resolution failure between Fabric and the Databricks workspace endpoint. The Databricks workspace URL or linked service configuration is incorrect or has changed. A firewall rule, NSG, or private endpoint configuration is blocking outbound requests from Fabric to Databricks. The Databricks REST API endpoint is temporarily unavailable or experiencing an outage

How do I fix Fabric Pipeline Error 3208?

Step 1: Verify the Databricks workspace URL configured in the Fabric linked service is correct and accessible — attempt to reach the URL from a browser or curl to confirm availability.. Step 2: Check network security group (NSG) rules, firewall policies, and any private endpoint configurations to ensure outbound traffic from Fabric's data factory runtime to Databricks is permitted.. Step 3: Test the linked service connection within Fabric Data Factory using the built-in 'Test Connection' feature to identify whether the connection itself is broken.. Step 4: Review the Azure Service Health dashboard for any active incidents affecting Azure Databricks or Microsoft Fabric in your region.. Step 5: If using a self-hosted integration runtime or VNet-injected setup, verify the runtime is online and has network line-of-sight to the Databricks workspace.

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Power BI Refresh Error:
Fabric Pipeline Error 3208

What does this error mean?

The Fabric pipeline encountered a network-level error while attempting to send a request to Databricks. This indicates a connectivity or communication failure between Fabric Data Factory and the Databricks endpoint.

Common causes

1Transient network interruption or DNS resolution failure between Fabric and the Databricks workspace endpoint
2The Databricks workspace URL or linked service configuration is incorrect or has changed
3A firewall rule, NSG, or private endpoint configuration is blocking outbound requests from Fabric to Databricks
4The Databricks REST API endpoint is temporarily unavailable or experiencing an outage

How to fix it

1Step 1: Verify the Databricks workspace URL configured in the Fabric linked service is correct and accessible — attempt to reach the URL from a browser or curl to confirm availability.
2Step 2: Check network security group (NSG) rules, firewall policies, and any private endpoint configurations to ensure outbound traffic from Fabric's data factory runtime to Databricks is permitted.
3Step 3: Test the linked service connection within Fabric Data Factory using the built-in 'Test Connection' feature to identify whether the connection itself is broken.
4Step 4: Review the Azure Service Health dashboard for any active incidents affecting Azure Databricks or Microsoft Fabric in your region.
5Step 5: If using a self-hosted integration runtime or VNet-injected setup, verify the runtime is online and has network line-of-sight to the Databricks workspace.

Frequently asked questions

Could this error be caused by an expired Databricks access token?

Error 3208 is specifically a request transmission failure, meaning the request could not be sent at all. An expired token would typically result in an authentication error after the request is received. If your token is expired, check for Error 3201 or similar authentication codes instead.

How do I tell if this is a transient network blip or a persistent configuration problem?

Enable retry logic on the Databricks activity. If retries succeed, it was transient. If all retries fail consistently, the issue is likely a configuration or infrastructure problem — check firewall rules, the linked service URL, and Azure Service Health.