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Anonymous
Not applicable

Power BI data storage In desktop App and Service

Hi,

I want to know about Power BI Desktop data Storage. Suppose I get data from Excel Data source for Reporting , after importing data in Power BI desktop where the data get stored locally?

Also if I publish the report on power bi service then where the connection as well as data get store?

I referred the following link in which its stated that Power bi Desktop store Locally but where? and Power Bi service stores data in Microsoft Azure(Is it Secure?)

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Power-BI-Data-Store-location/td-p/34715

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
v-yulgu-msft
Employee
Employee

Hi @Anonymous ,

 

Power BI desktop

Power BI Desktop uses xVelocity technology and loads data into memory. It uses a local instance of SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS).

For details, please see:

Connect to Power BI Desktop Model from Excel and SSMS

What makes up a Power BI desktop pbix file

 

Further more, how data is stored is determined by the method of data connection. DirectQuery/Live Connection is a direct connection to data source. Data will NOT be stored in Power BI model. Power BI will be a visualization layer, then query the data from data source every time. Power BI will only store metadata of tables (table names, column names, relationships…) but not the data. For Import mode, data is scratched from data source, being stored on Power BI side.

Reference: DirectQuery, Live Connection or Import Data?

 

Power BI Service

The Power BI service is built on Azure. Power BI uses Azure Active Directory (AAD) to store and manage user identities, and manages the storage of data and metadata using Azure BLOB and Azure SQL Database, respectively.

Reference: Power BI Security

 

Best regards,

Yuliana Gu

Community Support Team _ Yuliana Gu
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

View solution in original post

4 REPLIES 4
v-yulgu-msft
Employee
Employee

Hi @Anonymous ,

 

Power BI desktop

Power BI Desktop uses xVelocity technology and loads data into memory. It uses a local instance of SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS).

For details, please see:

Connect to Power BI Desktop Model from Excel and SSMS

What makes up a Power BI desktop pbix file

 

Further more, how data is stored is determined by the method of data connection. DirectQuery/Live Connection is a direct connection to data source. Data will NOT be stored in Power BI model. Power BI will be a visualization layer, then query the data from data source every time. Power BI will only store metadata of tables (table names, column names, relationships…) but not the data. For Import mode, data is scratched from data source, being stored on Power BI side.

Reference: DirectQuery, Live Connection or Import Data?

 

Power BI Service

The Power BI service is built on Azure. Power BI uses Azure Active Directory (AAD) to store and manage user identities, and manages the storage of data and metadata using Azure BLOB and Azure SQL Database, respectively.

Reference: Power BI Security

 

Best regards,

Yuliana Gu

Community Support Team _ Yuliana Gu
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.
Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi,

I want to know about Power BI Desktop data Storage. Suppose I get data from Excel Data source for Reporting , after importing data in Power BI desktop where the data get stored locally?

Also if I publish the report on power bi service then where the connection as well as data get store?

I referred the following link in which its stated that Power bi Desktop store Locally but where? and Power Bi service stores data in Microsoft Azure(Is it Secure?)

https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Power-BI-Data-Store-location/td-p/34715

Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi, 

If i understand correctly the data itself will be stored within the pbix file, where ever you decided to save that file. It wil allways remember the path to the Excel document you linked it to to refresh the data. 

 

About azure Here is more information about the security of power bi And here is more information about microsoft trust center. basically explaining how they manage their security. I believe it is up to you to decide if it is secure enough. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

I believe it is inside the PBIX file. Just as your link stated.

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