Error Communicating with Analysis Services - Failed to create the MSOLAP command.

Question

Hello,I am receiving the below error when trying to utilize the 'Create Paginated report (Preview)' from Powerbi Service.&nbsp;We currently have pro licenses and no fabric premium SKU. I have created paginated reports that are attached to our azure sql server perfectly fine but when it comes to the report server i am receiving this error, with the attached error logs below.&nbsp;Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.&nbsp;Could not connect to the data source.There was an error communicating with Analysis Services. Failed to create the MSOLAP command.Timestamp: 2025-03-04T17:28:50.532ZRoot activity ID: c908369f-a604-ff13-e30d-48e2abbac786Session ID: 00000ff8b717489eb26642bbe8a027a4Tenant ID: 00989d4d-a4a1-4563-8aab-6420833ac74bCluster:&nbsp;https://wabi-us-east2-b-primary-redirect.analysis.windows.net/Report ID: nullCapacity ID: undefinedReportViewerVersion: 2025.2.4.1758EDIT: 03/04/2025-Whenever i try and publish a report, my connection string is not active. This is what i can see- does anyone know if the inactive connection string is because of how our ENTRA login is set up to not allow windows connections?&nbsp;&nbsp;

ucmaotwg · Answer

Thank you Carson, We have tested a few things based off of what you provided and have ruled out a few issues.&nbsp;&nbsp;Based on what you said, we have set up a new connection string, based off of OAuth2.0 credentials and verified that it can connect, pull, and publish semantic models that can be connected to by users through powerbi.The semantic model connects to an Azure SQL Server with Azure Active Directory - Universal with MFA authentication utilizing our EntraID.&nbsp;&nbsp;When testing reports with this connection string, we return results within PowerBI Service, and powerbi desktop, so the OAuth connection to both is correct.When we tested the creation of a paginated report, we're still getting the MSOLAP error even with the federated OAUTH2.0 connection through the connection string, and semantic model.&nbsp;my question is now- Is it possible that the analysis engine behind paginated reports is reading my on-premises active directory account credentials instead of the EntraID credentials?You also mentioned this earlier-&nbsp;The root cause of this is that the semantic model you are using is stored in Power BI Service and you can only access this semantic model by logging in through your Power BI Service account and not through your windows account (this is by design).&nbsp;We have never utilized service accounts, only regular login accounts. I have also tested trying to connect to the semantic model through powerbi desktop&nbsp; and i'm getting an error as well in that instance- mimicing the steps you took above&nbsp;I assume these two issues are both connected- do you have any insight into how the connection to a semantic model works for powerbi desktop? Could it have anything to do with my local AD connections not being linked to my Entra ID?&nbsp;&nbsp;

anonymous · Answer

Hi,ucmaoTWG .I am glad to help you.
It looks like you had an error configuring your cloud gateway connection and the system says it can't access your AS data source
Connection string issue:
The connection string for the data source may be incomplete or misconfigured, such as incorrect server address, database name or port number.You mentioned that your team has restricted windows authentication methods. I think this could potentially cause the issue.
If the ENTRA configuration does not allow Windows authentication and the data source (e.g. Analysis Services) requires Windows authentication, this can cause the connection to fail.Can you please check that you have correctly configured the service body or user permissions when using Azure AD OAuth authentication.I hope the following links are helpful.URL:
Connection string properties (Analysis Services) | Microsoft LearnAuthentication methodologies supported by Analysis Services | Microsoft LearnI hope my suggestions give you good ideas, if you have any more questions, please clarify in a follow-up reply.Best Regards,Carson Jian,If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

ucmaotwg · Answer

Thank you for your response- I do have a few follow up questions I hope you can clarity as we research this on our side as well.

1) The connection string is automatically generated when publishing the paginated report from the powerbi report builder utilizing the 'Add Power BI semantic model connection..." as the datasource. Furthermore, it also fails when utilizing the web-based create a paginated report (preview) option as well. Is it possible that both of these are failing to auto generate the correct connection string?

2) We do not have a dedicated analysis server in our azure tenant. We are currently utilizing the 'built in' shared analysis server that powerbi utilizes. We would still need to have the correct authentification methodology set up for this correct?

Thank you for your assistance- this has been the most support i've received on this issue so far.

anonymous · Answer

Hi,ucmaoTWG .Thank you for your reply.In fact, I don't think you need to set up a gateway connection for your paged reports anymore (at this point, both the data source and the paged reports are in the Power BI Service in the cloud, and there is no need for a gateway to act as a bridge, the system will automatically retrieve and update the paged reports)The gateway is only needed if the data source and the report are not in the same location (whether it's a local enterprise gateway or a cloud gateway)After my testing, I used pbix reports in Power BI Service (AS model in the cloud) as the data source after creating paged reports. The final paging report published to Power BI Service does not require a gateway connection (the system doesn't even give a button to set it up)As you can see I can't change the data source credentials for this paging report and configure the gateway link. (The data source is semantic model i.e. AS model in the cloud)

For other paging reports made with local data sources you need to configure a gateway to complete the refresh. (The data source is a local SQL Server database.)

Below is my test:
Publish pbix to Power BI Service and use the semantic model (In Power BI Service)create the rdl file in Power BI Report Builder.

&nbsp;

Can not edit the RDL report.

I hope my suggestions give you good ideas, if you have any more questions, please clarify in a follow-up reply.
Best Regards,
Carson Jian,
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

ucmaotwg · Answer

Thank you for your follow up- it's good to know that I am seeing the same thing as you are.&nbsp;Could you assist in checking your connection string for me? I believe at this point the error has to do with the connection but cannot pinpoint where the permissions need to change.&nbsp;This is the connection string that is created when I publish the report from report builder to the service. As you can see, the connection is offline. There isn't an option to change the authentification method to windows auth either.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I believe that this is the root cause of these issues but i have no ability to modify the connection to accept windows auth as the cause. Would you know how to modify this so that I am able to bring this connection string online?&nbsp;

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Error Communicating with Analysis Services - Failed to create the MSOLAP command.

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