Automatic refresh Azure table storage

[sandeep540]

I have a to build 5-6 Reports from 4 datasets in Power BI, one solution is to load the datasets from csv files and create it

I was thinking of using Azure Table Storage with 4 tables, keep all the data and then build the Report in Power BI.

Here is my question, Since Azure Table Storage is a NoSQL database, how will be the performance? will it give me good performance for say 100000 records (entity) in Power BI?

How is the refresh? should I need a Enterprise Connector for refresh from Azure table storage?

[v-yuezhe-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @sandeep540,

Firstly, we are not able to directly import data from Azure Table Storage to Power BI Service. However, you can connect to Azure Table Storage from Power BI Desktop, create reports in Power BI Desktop, then publish the Power BI Desktop file(PBIX file) which contains dataset and reports to Power BI Service.

Secondly, it is not a large dataset when the Azure Table Storage contains 100000 record, you should not get performance issues when loading data to Power BI Desktop.  However, please note that even though there is no restriction on how large a PBIX file can be locally. The size of PBIX file published to Power BI Service is limited to 1GB. And in the case that your pbix file is less than 1GB, but the data model grows beyond 1 GB, you will get a message when refreshing the dataset. For more details, please review this blog.

Thirdly, there is no need to install Gateway because both the Power BI service and the data source (Azure Table Storage) are in the cloud. Power BI automatically refresh data hourly, and you can configure different schedule refresh settings and manually refresh. Reference: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-refresh-data/ .


Thanks,
Lydia Zhang

[mackar]

Hi Lydia

How can I get automatic refresh to work? Right now I have to reftesh the data in Power BI Desktop first and publish it again to get the updates in Power BI Service.

[sandeep540]

thanks @v-yuezhe-msft, this answers everything