Forum Discussion
Embedded Capacity CPU Usage
What you’re experiencing with sustained high CPU usage for exactly 24 hours after completing PDF exports in Power BI Embedded A SKU capacity aligns with how the export API manages caching and resource allocation. When you export reports to PDF via the Power BI Export API, the service generates a cached export artifact—essentially a snapshot or rendering held in memory or temporary storage to enable the export file to be streamed via the provided URL, which remains valid for 24 hours. This cache or rendering engine resource is not immediately released after the export finishes, as the system keeps it available in case the client retries or re-downloads the file within the URL’s lifetime. Consequently, the CPU remains elevated because these rendering processes or cached data persist until the 24-hour expiration automatically clears them. Unfortunately, there is no documented or supported method to manually invalidate or release this cache earlier, so the resources remain reserved for the entire URL validity period. To minimize long-term CPU impact from large-scale PDF exports, best practices include scheduling exports to avoid peak interactive usage, batching exports where possible to reduce frequency, and considering alternative approaches like pre-generating reports or using incremental exports. Because this caching behavior is inherent to how the export API manages session consistency and download reliability, it requires careful capacity planning and potentially over-provisioning to ensure interactive workloads are not throttled by these ongoing export-related CPU demands.
Hi drussell_sayhii,
Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.
Is the 24-hour CPU usage tied to the cached export stream or rendering engine?
Yes, most likely. The elevated CPU usage you're observing is likely tied to the ScreenshotEngine and internal memory/cache retained until the export URL expires.
Is there a way to manually release or invalidate the export cache once the file has been retrieved?
As of now, no official method exists to manually invalidate or release the export cache. You can raise a feature request through the Power BI Ideas forum to suggest adding this capability.
https://ideas.fabric.microsoft.com/ideas/search-ideas
Are there any best practices for minimizing long-term CPU impact from large-scale PDF exports?
Use Higher SKU or Auto-Scale so your capacity can handle export bursts and release unused resources post-export.
Spread exports across different time windows to avoid spikes
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Vinay Pabbu