Difference: Real-time streaming vs. Direct Query

[Penn]

Hi All,

Does real-time streaming belong to push mode, one of the four storage modes?

Import mode

DirectQuery mode

LiveConnect mode

Push mode?

I am a bit confused.

[TomMartens · Accepted solution]

Hey,

this is a good question, there are three kind of data connectivity modes, but most of the time just two of them are considered. Each mode connects to a Power BI dataset, these modes are

1. real-time (push)
2. direct query / live connection
3. import

The above modes are ordered by the duration between the origin of data and its availability for analysis in Power BI. As one might guess by the name, real-time provides the smallest latency between data origin and analytical availability. The data will be pushed into a Power BI dataset, much more about real-time datasets and some subtle but important differences between the 3 kinds of real-time datasets is described in this article: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-real-time-streaming  So, the answer to your question, real-time streaming data is considered push mode.

Whereas data from data sources connected using the import mode, will be imported to a Power BI dataset on a given schedule. Both connectivity modes (real-time / import) have this in common: data will be stored in a Power BI dataset.

Quite often Power BI datasets connected to data sources using the direct query / live connection mode can be considered the oldest datasets as the data has to "loaded" into these data sources, e.g. a data warehouse or a SQL Server Analysis Services data model, but the above ordering helps me a lot to differentiate between these three modes.

Of course, each mode has advantages and disadvantages, import comes with the greatest flexibility and capability regarding data modeling and DAX usage, real-time mode comes with the least flexibility / capability.

From, my point of view, the following is the greatest advantage of a data source that is connected to Power BI dataset using the direct query / live connection mode:

• data is not copied to a Power BI dataset, meaning there is basically no dataset size limit .

Hopefully this adds some additional insights.

Regards,

Tom 

[TomMartens · Accepted solution]

Hey,

this is a good question, there are three kind of data connectivity modes, but most of the time just two of them are considered. Each mode connects to a Power BI dataset, these modes are

1. real-time (push)
2. direct query / live connection
3. import

The above modes are ordered by the duration between the origin of data and its availability for analysis in Power BI. As one might guess by the name, real-time provides the smallest latency between data origin and analytical availability. The data will be pushed into a Power BI dataset, much more about real-time datasets and some subtle but important differences between the 3 kinds of real-time datasets is described in this article: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-real-time-streaming  So, the answer to your question, real-time streaming data is considered push mode.

Whereas data from data sources connected using the import mode, will be imported to a Power BI dataset on a given schedule. Both connectivity modes (real-time / import) have this in common: data will be stored in a Power BI dataset.

Quite often Power BI datasets connected to data sources using the direct query / live connection mode can be considered the oldest datasets as the data has to "loaded" into these data sources, e.g. a data warehouse or a SQL Server Analysis Services data model, but the above ordering helps me a lot to differentiate between these three modes.

Of course, each mode has advantages and disadvantages, import comes with the greatest flexibility and capability regarding data modeling and DAX usage, real-time mode comes with the least flexibility / capability.

From, my point of view, the following is the greatest advantage of a data source that is connected to Power BI dataset using the direct query / live connection mode:

• data is not copied to a Power BI dataset, meaning there is basically no dataset size limit .

Hopefully this adds some additional insights.

Regards,

Tom 

[Penn · Accepted solution]

wow thanks very much Tom, did not expect such a comprehensive and professional answer.

Just want to add on one thing, not all real time streaming methods store data in the dataset. Find more at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-real-time-streaming

[TomMartens]

Hey Penn,

sure, you are right PubNub is not a Power BI dataset, but, as I provided the link to the official msft docs where this is explained I resigned to incorporate this into my answer.

Regards,

Tom