Forum Discussion
Power BI Report Server Data and SQL Server
niyati_61 wrote:
Question, how and where am I supposed to store every week's data for different visuals? Can I store it in Excel (Where every week I add new rows in the table instead of overwriting the past data), or do I store all this data in a database such as SQL?
You can store it where ever you like. If it's small you can just add new rows in Excel every week. But Excel is not a very effecient storage format. My preference would be to put it in a SQL database. But as Ibendlin has mentioned you should not put anything in the ReportServer database you should create your own separate one
niyati_61 wrote:
--What kind of data get saved in the SQL Server? How do I access that?
All of the data needed by report server gets stored in that database, but you should never access the database directly. Instead you can use the REST API if you need to access that data Develop with the REST APIs for Power BI Report Server - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
niyati_61 wrote:
--Based on Question 1 - Can I use this SQL Server as a database where I store all my week's data for all my Power BI Visuals? How would that work exactly?
If you have licensed SQL Server Enterprise with Sofware Assurance to get your PBIRS license then you are free to put any other databases you like on that server
Hello d_gosbell and lbendlin ,
Thanks for your response!
A follow-up question, you mentioned - 'if you have licensed SQL Server Enterprise with Sofware Assurance to get your PBIRS license then you are free to put any other databases you like on that server'.
So, do you mean on my current SQL Server (With which PBIRS is linked) - in that same SQL Server itself, I can create another database, then create a table, and store data within the table (Which would resolve my storing data issue?).
Also, lbendlin , can you please explain what this below means?
'Power BI has no memory. You must store your data in a SQL Server database, but a different one than what comes with the RS install.'
What do you mean Power BI has no memory? Where is it's relevant backend data stored then?
As d_gosbell mentioned, in this same SQL Server (the one linked with PBIRS) - I can create another database within it right?
Thank you!
niyati_61 wrote:
So, do you mean on my current SQL Server (With which PBIRS is linked) - in that same SQL Server itself, I can create another database, then create a table, and store data within the table (Which would resolve my storing data issue?).
Yes, this is correct.
Power BI is a reporting tool. It takes someone else's data and visualizes it. Power BI is not a primary data store , any data it has can be erased and overwritten with no easy mechanism to get it back.
