Question

What are the common causes of "Direct Query" mode failures when publishing to Power BI Service?

"While publishing Power BI reports in Direct Query mode to the Power BI Service, we frequently encounter failures or errors. I’d like to understand the common reasons behind these issues. Are they related to data source configurations, gateway settings, or something else? A detailed explanation would be helpful."

Answer 1

There are several reasons for direct query failure when using the Power BI Service. The domain in which the query error occurs while publishing to Power BI Service can be caused by configuration or connectivity issues. Some of the critical conditions are:

Data Source Configurations: Any data source includes failure of connection; wrong credentials or unsupported data source types will cause failed connections to be established. The data source must support direct queries. The same credentials that are used in Power BI Desktop should also be used in the service to verify.

Gateway Issues: An incorrectly configured or missing gateway is often a problem. Because an enterprise gateway is required for on-premises data sources, not setting up or going offline with a gateway will also contribute to failures. Check the gateway settings, update them, and map your dataset correctly.

Query Performance: Timeouts can occur when the service waits for a response from a slow or inefficient query. Make your queries perform well so that the load on the database can be adequately carried.

Firewall and Network Restrictions: Firewalls or network restrictions will prevent access from the source. Allow the necessary IPs and verify connectivity.

Unsupported Features: The Direct Query functionality may need to be revised for a few features, such as certain DAX functions or calculated columns. Therefore, the model should be simplified, and unsupported operations should be avoided.

Service Account or Limitations: Make sure your account has all the necessary permissions to access the data warehouse and publish reports. Licensing issues may also limit the Power BI Service's capacity for errors.

These areas can be systematically addressed in order to remove Direct Query failures in the publishing process.

Answer 2

The following are some of the key causes of reports published in the DirectQuery mode Power BI Service that fail: configuration of data sources, gateway settings as well as query limitations. The following gives a detailed explanation based on the provided information by Microsoft:

1. Data Source Connectivity and Configuration

In Direct Query mode, the real-time connection is completely tied to the data sources. Thus, if the connection from the Power BI Desktop does not match the Power BI Service configurations, the following will happen: For instance:

In Direct Query mode, the data source must actually support it.

The credentials in Power BI Service have to be updated and authenticated with the datasets.

The data source timeout durations and unsupported SQL may also have caused the queries to fail.

2. Gateway Misconfigured

An on-premises data gateway is properly set up when there are on-premises data sources. Common things are as follows:

The gateway is not installed or is not running.

The dataset was not mapped correctly to the data source within the gateway.

The account used to configure the gateway needs proper permissions to access the data source.

Limitations of Query and Performance

Direct Query imposes limits in order to ensure performance and query execution.

Complexity of queries: If you have questions or DAX measures that are very complex, they may time out.

Data volume: Too much data can lead to excessive delays and can cause failures.

Unsupported features: Some features of Power BI, like calculated tables and certain transformations in Power Query, need to be fixed within DirectQuery mode.

Further, refer to Microsoft's document on Direct Query. The "Learn more about DirectQuery" documentation provides details on best practices for troubleshooting and optimizing DirectQuery implementations in Power BI.