Microsoft Power BI Report Server (Repository) - Import
Bridge Requirements
This bridge:requires Internet access to https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ and/or other tool sites to download drivers into <TDC_HOME>/data/download/MIMB/.
Bridge Specifications
| Vendor | Microsoft |
| Tool Name | Power BI Report Server |
| Tool Version | 2.x |
| Tool Web Site | https://powerbi.microsoft.com/ |
| Supported Methodology | [Business Intelligence] Multi-Model, Metadata Repository, Data Store (Physical Data Model, OLAP Dimensional Model), BI Design (RDBMS Source, Dimensional Target, Transformation Lineage, Expression Parsing), BI Report (Relational Source, Dimensional Source, Expression Parsing, Report Structure) via Java REST API |
| Data Profiling |  |
| Incremental Harvesting | |
| Multi-Model Harvesting |  |
| Remote Repository Browsing for Model Selection | |
SPECIFICATIONS
Tool: Microsoft / Power BI Report Server version 2.x via Java REST API
See https://powerbi.microsoft.com/
Metadata: [Business Intelligence] Multi-Model, Metadata Repository, Data Store (Physical Data Model, OLAP Dimensional Model), BI Design (RDBMS Source, Dimensional Target, Transformation Lineage, Expression Parsing), BI Report (Relational Source, Dimensional Source, Expression Parsing, Report Structure)
Component: MicrosoftPowerBIReportServer version 11.2.0
DISCLAIMER
This import bridge requires internet access to download third-party libraries:
- such as https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ to download open source third-party libraries,
- and more sites for other third-party software such as database specific JDBC drivers.
The downloaded third-party libraries are stored into $HOME/data/download/MIMB/
- If HTTPS fails, the import bridge then tries with HTTP.
- If a proxy is used to access internet, you must configure that proxy in the JRE (see the -j option in the Miscellaneous parameter).
- If the import bridge does not have full access to internet, that $HOME/data/download/MIMB/ directory can be copied from another server with internet access where the command $HOME/bin/MIMB.sh (or .bat) -d can be used to download all third-party libraries used by all bridges at once.
By running this import bridge, you hereby acknowledge responsibility for the license terms and any potential security vulnerabilities from these downloaded third-party software libraries.
OVERVIEW
This import bridge imports Business Intelligence (BI) reporting metadata from Microsoft Power BI Report Server using its REST API (similar to SSRS).
This import bridge allows cataloging object types:
- Folders
- Power BI reports
- Paginated reports in Report Definition Language (RDL)
- DataSets
- DataSources
REQUIREMENTS
When connecting to a Power BI Report Server in the local network, the import bridge uses Windows authentication.
For Microsoft Windows platform, the domain name can be encoded within the username by prefixing the domain name followed by a back-slash '\' before the username. E.g.
DomainName\UserName
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How can I grant permissions for the import user?
Edit the properties of the root folder, and grant permissions to the user.
For details: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/reporting-services/security/grant-user-access-to-a-report-server?view=sql-server-ver15
LIMITATIONS
Refer to the current general known limitations at https://metaintegration.com/Products/MIMB/Help/#!Documents/mimbknownlimitations.html
This import bridge is based on the Power BI Report Server REST APIs which are very limited compared to:
- the Azure Power BI Admin REST API based import bridge
- the Power BI Desktop file (PBIX and PBIT) import bridge
For example, the Power BI Report Server REST APIs extracts:
- Only the name(s) of data connection(s) used by the report (which is often not enough to connect/stitch to the source data stores).
- Lineage metadata is only available at the model level or connection level, not at the table or column level.
Note that the Power BI Report Server REST APIs allow the download of the PBIX files, but such files can be very large as they may contain data.
See limitations of the Power BI Desktop file (PBIX and PBIT) import bridge.
SUPPORT
Provide a troubleshooting package with:
- the debug log (can be set in the UI or in conf/conf.properties with MIR_LOG_LEVEL=6)
- the metadata backup if available (can be set in the Miscellaneous parameter with -backup option, although this common option is not implemented on all bridges for technical reasons).
Bridge Parameters
| Parameter Name | Description | Type | Values | Default | Scope |
| Server URL | Enter the Report Server URL here. | STRING | http://localhost:80/Reports | Mandatory | |
| Login User | The username which the import bridge will use to log in. This user name must have the necessary permissions to access the objects you wish to import. In case of Microsoft Azure Power BI, there are two ways to authenticate against Azure Active Directory: - As a regular user: the login user is usually in the form of an email address. E.g. UserName@DirectoryName.onmicrosoft.com - As a Service Principal: the user name parameter should be left empty, and the Tenant ID must be provided. |
STRING | Mandatory | ||
| Login password | Enter the password associated with the username which the import bridge will use to log in. In case of Microsoft Azure Power BI, there are two ways to authenticate against Azure Active Directory: - As a regular user: the login user is usually in the form of an email address. E.g. UserName@DirectoryName.onmicrosoft.com - As a Service Principal: the password parameter corresponds to the Client Secret. |
PASSWORD | |||
| Miscellaneous | INTRODUCTION Specify miscellaneous options starting with a dash and optionally followed by parameters, e.g. -connection.cast MyDatabase1="MICROSOFT SQL SERVER" Some options can be used multiple times if applicable, e.g. -connection.rename NewConnection1=OldConnection1 -connection.rename NewConnection2=OldConnection2; As the list of options can become a long string, it is possible to load it from a file which must be located in ${MODEL_BRIDGE_HOME}\data\MIMB\parameters and have the extension .txt. In such case, all options must be defined within that file as the only value of this parameter, e.g. ETL/Miscellaneous.txt JAVA ENVIRONMENT OPTIONS -java.memory <Java Memory's maximum size> (previously -m) 1G by default on 64bits JRE or as set in conf/conf.properties, e.g. -java.memory 8G -java.memory 8000M -java.parameters <Java Runtime Environment command line options> (previously -j) This option must be the last one in the Miscellaneous parameter as all the text after -java.parameters is passed "as is" to the JRE, e.g. -java.parameters -Dname=value -Xms1G The following option must be set when a proxy is used to access internet (this is critical to access https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ and exceptionally a few other tool sites) in order to download the necessary third-party software libraries. Note: The majority of proxies are concerned with encrypting (HTTPS) the outside (of the company) traffic and trust the inside traffic that can access proxy over HTTP. In this case, an HTTPS request reaches the proxy over HTTP where the proxy HTTPS-encrypts it. -java.parameters -java.parameters -Dhttp.proxyHost=127.0.0.1 -Dhttp.proxyPort=3128 -Dhttp.proxyUser=user -Dhttp.proxyPassword=pass MODEL IMPORT OPTIONS -model.name <model name> Override the model name, e.g. -model.name "My Model Name" -prescript <script name> This option allows running a script before the bridge execution. The script must be located in the bin directory (or as specified with M_SCRIPT_PATH in conf/conf.properties), and have .bat or .sh extension. The script path must not include any parent directory symbol (..). The script should return exit code 0 to indicate success, or another value to indicate failure. For example: -prescript "script.bat arg1 arg2" -postscript <script name> This option allows running a script after successful execution of the bridge. The script must be located in the bin directory (or as specified with M_SCRIPT_PATH in conf/conf.properties), and have .bat or .sh extension. The script path must not include any parent directory symbol (..). The script should return exit code 0 to indicate success, or another value to indicate failure. For example: -postscript "script.bat arg1 arg2" -cache.clear Clears the cache before the import, and therefore will run a full import without incremental harvesting. If the model was not changed and the -cache.clear parameter is not used (incremental harvesting), then a new version will not be created. If the model was not changed and the -cache.clear parameter is set (full source import instead of incremental), then a new version will be created. -backup <directory> Allows to save the input metadata for further troubleshooting. The provided <directory> must be empty. -restore <directory> Specify the backup <directory> to be restored. DATA CONNECTION OPTIONS Data Connections are produced by the import bridges typically from ETL/DI and BI tools to refer to the source and target data stores they use. These data connections are then used by metadata management tools to connect them (metadata stitching) to their actual data stores (e.g. databases, file system, etc.) in order to produce the full end to end data flow lineage and impact analysis. The name of each data connection is unique by import model. The data connection names used within DI/BI design tools are used when possible, otherwise connection names are generated to be short but meaningful such as the database / schema name, the file system path, or Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). The following option allows to manipulate connections. These options replaces the legacy options -c, -cd, and -cs. -connection.cast ConnectionName=ConnectionType Casts a generic database connection (e.g. ODBC/JDBC) to a precise database type (e.g. ORACLE) for SQL Parsing, e.g. -connection.cast "My Database"="MICROSOFT SQL SERVER". The list of supported data store connection types includes: ACCESS APACHE CASSANDRA DB2/UDB DENODO GOOGLE BIGQUERY HIVE MYSQL NETEZZA ORACLE POSTGRESQL PRESTO REDSHIFT SALESFORCE SAP HANA SNOWFLAKE MICROSOFT SQL AZURE MICROSOFT SQL SERVER SYBASE SQL SERVER SYBASE AS ENTERPRISE TERADATA VECTORWISE HP VERTICA -connection.rename OldConnection=NewConnection Renames an existing connection to a new name, e.g. -connection.rename OldConnectionName=NewConnectionName Multiple existing database connections can be renamed and merged into one new database connection, e.g. -connection.rename MySchema1=MyDatabase -connection.rename MySchema2=MyDatabase -connection.split oldConnection.Schema1=newConnection Splits a database connection into one or multiple database connections. A single database connection can be split into one connection per schema, e.g. -connection.split MyDatabase All database connections can be split into one connection per schema, e.g. -connection.split * A database connection can be explicitly split creating a new database connection by appending a schema name to a database, e.g. -connection.split MyDatabase.schema1=MySchema1 -connection.map SourcePath=DestinationPath Maps a source path to destination path. This is useful for file system connections when different paths points to the same object (directory or file). On Hadoop, a process can write into a CSV file specified with the HDFS full path, but another process reads from a Hive table implemented (external) by the same file specified using a relative path with default file name and extension, e.g. -connection.map /user1/folder=hdfs://host:8020/users/user1/folder/file.csv On Linux, a given directory (or file) like /data can be referred to by multiple symbolic links like /users/john and /users/paul, e.g. -connection.map /data=/users/John -connection.map /data=/users/paul On Windows, a given directory like C:\data can be referred to by multiple network drives like M: and N:, e.g. -connection.map C:\data=M:\ -connection.map C:\data=N:\ -connection.casesensitive ConnectionName... Overrides the default case insensitive matching rules for the object identifiers inside the specified connection, provided the detected type of the data store by itself supports this configuration (e.g. Microsoft SQL Server, MySql etc.), e.g. -connection.casesensitive "My Database" -connection.caseinsensitive ConnectionName... Overrides the default case sensitive matching rules for the object identifiers inside the specified connection, provided the detected type of the data store by itself supports this configuration (e.g. Microsoft SQL Server, MySql etc.), e.g. -connection.caseinsensitive "My Database" -connection.level AggregationLevel Specifies the aggregation level for the external connections, e.g.-connection.level catalog The list of the supported values: server catalog schema (default) MICROSOFT POWER BI OPTIONS -columns.notpropagated Do not propagate the columns discovered while parsing PowerQuery M script steps back to the source tables/files. -api.user Allow using Power BI Azure service regular (user mode) APIs, as opposed to Admin APIs. Note that detailed lineage metadata is not extracted in such case. -summarizePowerQuerySteps Allow summarizing PowerQuery data transformation steps, for direct source to target lineage relationships. -scanResult <file path> Allow specifying a file path to import metadata from, instead of retrieving metadata using Rest APIs. This file is expected to be in json format, according to the PowerBI GetScanResult Admin Rest API specification. |
STRING |
Bridge Mapping
Mapping information is not available