Support from Microsoft Power BI

[hereri]

Hi, 

I am not sure if this is the correct forum or platform for this discussion/question, but I have to start somewhere.. 

We have a critial issue in our Power BI solution so I opened a priority support request to Power BI support, and I got an automatic reply saying that a technical resource would contact me within 2 hours. 

This is approx. 48 hours ago. I have called Microsoft support, partner support (we're a double gold partner), tech support etc. 6-7 times to get an update, but everybody is saying the same thing; "we cannot garantuee anything, but a technical person should call you shortly, probably within an hour". 

Do anyone here know how to get in touch with a technical resource related to Power BI? This issue is turning into a real headache for us.

Also, for you guys being partners like we are, is this common from the Microsoft Power BI team? We have to re-evaluate which platform we reccomend to our customers if this is the level of support you get if/when something blows up, regardless of where in the eco-system the root cause is.  

[ankitpatira]

@hereri Do you want to specify your problem here and see if community is able to help you ?

[hereri]

Sure thing.. 

We have our DW connected to an on-premise SSAS Tabular model. We use 1 dataconnection to get data, and we (still) use Analysis Services Connector.

All of a sudden on Tuesday our reports (and connection) started saying "unable to load the model" and then failing. 

1) We have rebooted the SAAS server also hosting the connector

2) The connector claims to be connected (Connected: You're good to go!)

3) The SQL profiler (connected to SAAS) shows no hits from PowerBI when I try to load the data

4) I have installed the Enterprise gateway, new connections from that connector gives me data

There is one possible clue that I have. When I open the Analysis Services Connector, click edit, changes the "Friendly error message" and click "Save" I get the following:

(!) The data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1.

There has been no changes to the connector (config changes) the last week before this problem appeared. 

I am reluctant to uninstall the Power BI Analysis Services Connector right now, as that would only add another factor to the situation.

Thanks ankitpatira 🙂

[cmn]

Hi @hereri.  Are you using the Enterprise Gateway or the old SSAS connector?  I believe the old connector is not longer supported (although I'm not sure if that means it will no longer work or not).  This post mentions it is no longer supported:

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-gateways-april-update.

We upgraded to the Enterprise Gateway a while ago, and from memory it was pretty seamless upgrade.  

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-gateway-enterprise-upgrade-as-connector/

I can understand your reluctance to change anything though. Power BI is very fragile.  I also undestand your frustrations with support.  

[hereri]

Hi @cmn, 

We are using the old connector, which works for several of our customers. You will not see the old connector while trying to create new connections.

I have installed the new connector, and added my user to it. I was under the impression that all connections would then "migrate" to the enterprise connector for my user. If so, it still fails 🙂

[hereri]

Hi @cmn and @ankitpatira ... any of you seen the same problem as I have? I have been struggelig with this since Tuesday and the Power BI team seems to have gone into hibernation.

I would appriciate any community assistance 🙂

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@hereri I'm assuming when you set up the EG that you created a Datasource matching the same datasource, you didn't specify in your description. And were the reports built in Desktop and pushed to the Service, or did you connect directly from the Service?

[hereri]

Hi @Seth_C_Bauer, 

You are correct regarding the EG. The reports were built from the website, not Desktop. 

I also get the same problem directly when I click on the dataset itself (see attachment). 

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@hereri You are correct in your assumption then, everything should have automatically moved over to using the EG datasource once you had configured it. The only unknown or sticking point I see in this scenerio is that you didn't build in the Desktop and instead direct connected... This was broken for a long time, and the only way to use the EG was via publishing from the Desktop. So, if there are transition issues your only option may be to create a support ticket... Or, rebuild the reports using that datasource. 

[hereri]

Hi. @Seth_C_Bauer,

Rebuilding the reports would probably take a week or two so Id rather not 🙂

I did create a priority ticket andI got confirmation via e-mail that an engineer would contact me within 2 hours. This is now approx. 60 hours ago. 😞

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@hereri Yeeeah,.. That is not cool. I can't really add anything additional. If you set up the EG, and can see the datasource and use it when you connect via "Get Data -> Databases -> SSAS", then your existing dataset should have moved over.

I can only throw in the recommendation to always build in the Desktop so you have a copy of your reports... and a future reference to the fact that they started work on the ability to export your report to a PBIX, but I have no idea when that will be available. And I realize that both these tidbits don't help at all in the current situation. I hope they respond soon.

[hereri]

Jeh @Seth_C_Bauer, 

Though, I think Microsoft is going the wrong way here. First of, Power BI is presented as a "self-Service" solution where users are encouraged to create their own reports and alter reports through the web interface. Creating reports through the desktop edition is a good thing as long as it is *only* done on the Desktop. Especially since your modifications done from the app are overwritten if you do changes to your pbix and re-uploads it.

Allowing users to download a report to a pbix seems kind of half-way too. I dont really understand why they do not re-use the knowledge they gained from SharePoint and the flexibility we had / have there. Every report could be like an excel file (pbix vs. xslx). That is how we did alot of BI using SharePoint on-premise and PowerPivot for SharePoint).

You would automatically have versioning per report, you could seperate reports into folders, and you even had a recycle bin. I think we lost all that mature functionality for a few fancy new visuals in Power BI.

But that is a whoole other discussion that is better taken over a beer or two 🙂

Thanks alot for your effort though. Have a nice weekend 🙂