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Version: current [25.x]

Creating Reports by Connecting to Dremio with the Dremio Software Connector

Follow the steps on this page if you meet these two conditions:

1. Creating a Connection to Dremio Software​

  1. In Power BI Desktop, click Get data. The pins in this image show two locations for this option.

  1. In the Get Data dialog, search for "Dremio"; then, select Dremio Software.

  2. Click Connect.

  3. Follow these steps:

    a. In the Server field, specify the hostname or IP address of the coordinator node of your Dremio cluster. If you are using a port number other than the default of 31010, specify the port number, too, using this format: hostname:port_number.

    note

    If you are using TLS for connections to your Dremio cluster, ensure that you specify a hostname that matches one of the following fields in the certificate associated with the hostname and client port that Power BI connects to:

    • Subject - Common Name (CN)
    • Subject Alternative Names (SAN)

    b. In the Encryption field, follow one of these steps if connections to your Dremio cluster must be encrypted:

    • Select Enabled if connections to your Dremio cluster must be encrypted and you are using a certificate that is based on a root CA that is installed in the truststore on your Power BI Service Capacity.
    • Select Disabled if connections to your Dremio cluster must not be encrypted.
    • Select Enabled-PEM if connections to your Dremio cluster must be encrypted and you are using a certificate that is based on a root CA that is not installed in the truststore on your Power BI Service Capacity.

    c. (Optional) In the Engine field, specify the name of the engine on which to run queries that use this connection. If you do not specify an engine, one is selected automatically according to engine routing rules set up for the cluster.

    d. (Optional) In the Tag field, specify a tag that you can use together with rules for routing queries. See Workload Management for more information.

    e. (Optional) In the Queue field, specify the name of a queue that you want to route queries to while this connection is open. See Workload Management for more information.

    f. (Optional) In the Native Query field, specify a SQL query as the data input source.

    note
    • The February 2024 release for Power BI contains the native query option.
    • After you specify a new native query, Power BI Desktop prevents the first execution and states the query is not authorized. When this issue occurs, click Retry to navigate to the authorization menu. Power BI Desktop reminds you of the potential risks of using a native query, which is an assertion by Power BI Desktop that is unrelated to Dremio. Click Run to authorize and execute the query. The results are then presented in Power BI Desktop.

    g. Under Data Connectivity mode, select either Import or DirectQuery.

    • Import: The selected tables and columns are imported into Power BI Desktop. As you create or interact with a visualization, Power BI Desktop uses the imported data.

    • DirectQuery: No data is imported or copied into Power BI Desktop. As you create or interact with a visualization, Power BI Desktop queries the underlying data source, so you’re always viewing current data.

      note

      Using DirectQuery might prevent the use of aggregation reflections for accelerating queries on columns that use the FLOAT datatype. DirectQuery translates FLOAT columns to DECIMAL columns when loading tables into Power BI. Then, in queries on the transformed columns, Power BI casts the DECIMAL to DOUBLE, which prevents such queries from matching aggregation reflections that use FLOAT for those columns.

  4. Sign in to your Dremio cluster by using one of these options:

    • If you want to use the username and password for a Microsoft account, select Microsoft Account in the sidebar. If you are already signed into a Microsoft account, the username for it appears in the dialog. If that is the account you want to use, click Connect. Otherwise, click Sign in, specify your username and password, and then click Connect.

      note

      You can use Microsoft authentication only if an administrator for your Dremio cluster has configured your Dremio cluster for authentication with Microsoft Entra ID. Have an administrator refer to Supported Methods of Authenticating from Power BI Desktop to Dremio.

    • If you want to use a local username and password, select Username/Password in the sidebar, specify your credentials, and then click Connect.

The Navigator window is opened, listing the datasets in your project.

2. Publishing Reports​

After you create a report that uses data in Dremio, you can publish the report to Power BI Service.

  1. Launch Power BI Desktop.
  2. Sign into Power BI Service, if you are not already signed in. To sign in, select File in the top-left corner of the screen and then select Sign in at the bottom-left corner of the menu that appears.
  3. Navigate to Files > Publish > Publish to Power BI.
  4. Select the destination. You may pick from a list of available workspaces to choose the desired one on which to publish. Select the workspace, and then click the Select button to publish.

If Power BI Service connects to Dremio through Power BI Gateway, follow these additional steps:

note

You must connect to your Dremio cluster through a gateway if the cluster is behind a firewall.

  1. Log into Power BI Service.
  2. Select Workspaces > Name of workspace.
  3. In the list, find your dataset for your report in the list, click the ellipsis button, and select Settings.
  4. In the settings for the dataset, expand Gateway connection.
  5. Recreate your data source by following these steps:
    1. Select the Maps to field.
    2. Select Manually add to gateway.
    3. In the New data source dialog, create a data source that matches the one that you previously used for your dataset. However, give the new data source a different name.
    4. In the Authentication method field, select OAuth2. Then, follow these steps:
      1. Click Edit credentials.
      2. Keep the authentication method OAuth2 selected.
      3. Keep the privacy level Private selected.
      4. Click Sign In. Follow the sign-in process until you return to this location.
    5. Click Create.
    6. Return to the settings for your dataset.
  6. Under Gateway connection, verify that the new data source is selected in the Maps to field.

Result​

Your reported is published and ready for other Power BI users to view it.