Power BI Snowflake Connection

[117325]

We are trying to configure the Power BI Snowflake connection for reporting purposes. We followed the Microsoft documentation by setting up the SSO, a few questions:

• Are we supposed to utilize a service account for initial Azure AD authentication? 
• Can we utilize Azure Key Vault instead of Azure AD for authentication?

[v-zhangti]

Hi, @117325 

Yes, you can use a service account for initial Azure AD authentication. This is a common practice for connecting to Snowflake from Power BI.

Regarding your second question, while Azure Key Vault can be used to store and manage secrets, it is not a replacement for Azure AD authentication. You will still need to use Azure AD to authenticate to Snowflake. However, you can use Azure Key Vault to securely store the credentials needed to authenticate with Snowflake.

I would recommend following the Microsoft documentation for setting up the Power BI Snowflake connection, as it provides a step-by-step guide for using Azure AD authentication and securely storing credentials using Azure Key Vault. Connect to Snowflake with Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _Charlotte

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[117325]

Thanks a lot for the response, Charlotte. We have already set up a test for Azure AD SSO. However, the password for the service account needs to be reentered for authentication every time it changes. Is there a way to configure the token without reentering the password every single time? Thanks!

[v-zhangti · Accepted solution]

Hi, @117325 

Yes, you can use Azure Key Vault to store the password for the service account securely and retrieve it programmatically during runtime. Here are the high-level steps you can follow:

• 1. Create an Azure Key Vault instance and store the password for the service account as a secret in the Key Vault.
• 2. In your Power BI report, use the Azure Key Vault REST API to retrieve the secret during runtime.
• 3. Use the retrieved password to authenticate with Snowflake.

Bring your own encryption keys for Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _Charlotte

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.