connection with ftp

[karolis_devyzis]

Hello,

I know that Power BI should connect to FTP, but I tried several URLs (ftp://ftp.mirror.nl/ ftp://ftp.2600.com) and it does not work. I get the message "Details: "Web.Contents failed to get contents from 'ftp://ftp.mirror.nl/' (0): "

I am using a web source to get data. Should I use something else or are there other specifics?

[v-yuezhe-msft]

Hi @karolis_devyzis,

I get same error message when connecting to the above ftp URLs using Web entry  in Power BI Desktop.

Since Power BI Desktop cannot directly work with FTP sources, you can use FTP commands or third-party tools to bring files down to local folder, then connect to the folder by using the Get Data ->Folder option in Power BI Desktop.



Thanks,
Lydia Zhang

[SimenJ]

I have succeeded in using FTP as a  source. I have a .txt file being refreshed several times a day from a third party and I just connect using the csv/txt connector and then input the URL of the file as location (ftp://<server>/<folder>/<filename.txt>).

Only problem is that the data gateway does not support refreshing from a ftp.

So the workaround was to dump ftp as a direct source in Power BI. Instead, I have used MS Flow to copy the file to a folder on a fileshare whenever there is a new file coming in to the FTP location. Then I can use the .txt file in that folder in my model and set up scheduled refresh of my model from the folder location.

[SQLMonger]

In doing research for a project I came across your post, and later a solution that may work for you as well.

The trick is to use Microsoft Flow to copy any new files from the FTP/SFTP server to a OneDrive for Business folder where Power Query can iterate over the contents and load them all to your model.

Here are some links that should prove useful:

https://us.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/galleries/public/templates/5caa8fc029b511e6b7009f7c26ddd4e2/ftp-...

https://us.flow.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/shared_sftp/sftp/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4dCLtQ53pA 

Cheers,

@SQLMonger