Need help deciding if Power BI is The right solution

[Yakov]

Need help deciding if Power BI is The right solution

I'm completely new to Power BI

My boss asked me to check it out.

We want to publish reports  to our users with data from our internal sql server databases.

If i understand  correctly, i would need a  gateway server to connect between my Internal network and the cloud.

questions/assumptions:

1. is the free license enough for users who wish to view the reports i publish
2. user who publishes  reports i assume will need pro license
3.   what are the options  for reports i want to automatically refresh (with new updated data from sql DB) say refresh every hour.

Thanks

[v-yuezhe-msft]

@Yakov,

Gateway is required when you set refresh for the dataset in Power BI Service, you can follow the guide in this article to add SQL server data source within gateway.

1. Users don't need Power BI account or license when you share the report by using "Publish to web" feature. But security is an issue in this case. If you share the report via "share dashboard" method, users would need Power BI pro license.

2. When publishing reports from Power BI Desktop to Power BI Service, it doesn't require pro license. Power BI Desktop is a free tool.

3. You would need to use "DirectQuery" mode in Power BI Desktop to connect to SQL Server database, create report in Power BI Desktop, then publish the report to Power BI Service. In DirectQuery mode, datasets are refreshed approximately each hour or when interaction with the data occurs. For more details, please review this article.

Regards,

[Yakov]

thanks

v-yuezhe-msft

About 3.

To refresh Data from internal SQL server ,would i need DirectQuery in addition to gateway? 

[v-yuezhe-msft]

@Yakov,

Yes. 

Regards,
Lydia

[Yakov]

Is Enterprise gateway free?

[v-yuezhe-msft]

@Yakov,

Yes.

Regards,

[Yakov]

1.

I read some of the info you linked to above.

it seems that its possible to publish and share data from internal sql  via power bi desktop and direct query without the gateway.

and also set a schedule to refresh data (upto 8 refreshes daily).  is this correct?

2. about publish to web,

if i publish to web do the users is share with automatically get a link to the published data or do i need to manually send them a link to the webpage?

3. what choices do i have of publishing SQL server reporting services reports? (without Power bi Premium or software assurance).

Thanks

[v-yuezhe-msft]

@Yakov,

Firstly, gateway is required when you set refresh for the dataset that contains on-premises SQL Server data source in Power BI Service. And when you use "Import" mode to connect to SQL Server database, in Power BI Service, you can set schedule refresh to refresh data(upto 8 refreshes daily).

If you directly share the PBIX file to users and don't refresh the data via Power BI Service, gateway is not required. 

Secondly, you can send the link to your users via email or other social tools.

Thirdly, do you want to deploy Power BI reports to SSRS? If so, Power BI Premium is required.

Regards,
Lydia

[Yakov]

Thanks

About 3.

i want to publish SSRS reports with power BI.

[v-yuezhe-msft]

@Yakov,

You are able to pin Reporting Services report items to Power BI dashboard, for detailed requirement, please review the following articles.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/reporting-services/pin-reporting-services-items-to-power-bi-das...
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/reporting-services/install-windows/power-bi-report-server-integ...

Regards,

[Yakov]

First i need to thank your for your help, very appreciated.

somthing i seem to have missed... does all work with power bi need Azure AD?

We use internal Microsoft AD , so what are my options?

[v-yuezhe-msft · Accepted solution]

@Yakov,

You need Azure AD, Power BI can only talk to Azure AD. You can review the following blog about how to get users to use Power BI.

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/azure-active-directory-and-power-bi/

Regards,
Lydia