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I am working as PowerBI Analyst. The SQL server and PowerBI are on remote server. Currently it is PowerBI desktop version. I RDP into my remote server and work there. It is an actual server and is inaccessible a lot. There is only one RDP connection.

  1. I am thinking to work on my local machine. What all will I need? I am thinking below are need, please add to list: - client on my local machine that will connect to the SQL server.
    - Power BI installed on my local.
  2. Will local PowerBI be able to refresh data by pulling data from actual server via client on my local?
  3. I tend to save reports and those reports are big, is it advisable to work on my local machine? I tend to save incremental progress in different versions and tend to clean up, only after a report is done. I am worried my machine will run put of space.
  4. Do companies have to pay for multiple RDP? Is that why they have only one?

TIA

nancy
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  • Non-admin RDP connections require RDS (Remote Desktop Services) and client licensing which comes at a hefty price tag. Sounds like your organization tries to save on both, the RDS and personal PowerBI licenses, forcing you to share this limited resources. – Filburt Aug 16 '21 at 15:55

2 Answers2

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Here is my experience

1 If your organization have cloud sql connection (AWS RDS) you can use that host, and schema to connect to database (dev environment).

But in prod environment you have to log in to remote desktop and install power bi desktop, then you have to access prod database from its ip address.

2 your question is not clear.

As my understand you can work locally with host name and publish in to tenant, but you have to install gateway in the server to refresh data.

Otherwise you have access to retrieve data from db and manipulate from power bi.

3 It depends, If you have sensitive data it may happen to expose, its better to work on server. Sometimes its efficient than local, sometimes its very time consuming.

Try to use with stable connection and server with good performance.(most of time servers are hard to work with like power bi software)

4 Yes , they have to pay for RDP, It depends on service provider. Eg: Ram, Processor, HDD, SSD upgrades. In AWS RDS SP calls, query requests etc.

Mr Robot
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  • Question 2- In my original post rephrased- How to I configure the PowerBI desktop on my local to get data from remote SQL server. Sorry, I do not know how to configure or setup gateway. – nancy Aug 16 '21 at 20:24
  • Just you can install powerbi and file/home -> get data -> database then you can give host name and schema to connect data source. Once you publish dashboard to the tenant the gateway comes to picture. After you publish PBI report you have to install gateway (in your case on server). It connect data source and PBI report . Then you can refresh your data. if you buy PBI Pro licence you can refresh your dashboard dataset 8 times a day. It may take about 15-25 minutes to refresh. – Mr Robot Aug 17 '21 at 09:45
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To answer your questions:

I am thinking to work on my local machine. What all will I need? I am thinking below are need, please add to list: - client on my local machine that will connect to the SQL server. - Power BI installed on my local.

  1. Yes you can connect to the remote SQL Server using Power BI only, and just run PBI Desktop on your local PC. This is the typical development process for Power BI. The need the relevant server name/ip address and port number to connect. It should be straight forward if you are on the same network. Otherwise it can be a bit tricky to open up the network to external connections. But if there is some sort of VPN connection that should handle it.

Will local PowerBI be able to refresh data by pulling data from actual server via client on my local?

Yes, it will work in both direct query and import modes, as it would working on the same server. You don't need a gateway, that is only required when deploying to the PBI Service.

I tend to save reports and those reports are big, is it advisable to work on my local machine? I tend to save incremental progress in different versions and tend to clean up, only after a report is done. I am worried my machine will run put of space.

As mentioned, its the normal process to build on your local machine. If space is an issue, use external storage, or use something like OneDrive, where you can save files and only have them in the cloud.

Do companies have to pay for multiple RDP? Is that why they have only one?

By default, most Win Servers can have up to 2 live RDP connections on a box, for more than 2 live users, that it is a separate licensing issue. Typically you do local development connecting to a remote data source. Rather than RDP onto a server you could use a Windows VM that has Power BI on it, then connect to the SQL Server. Normally you should not work on the same server as the SQL Server Instance, 3 items will be completing for resources, SQL Server, Users and Power BI. Each will use up memory or I/O.

Jon
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