Forum Discussion
Power BI Report Server without SQL Database
Hi All,
I have a client who wants their Power BI reporting to be on Premises. I am aware that there are two options in terms of licensing (Power BI Premium or SQL Server Enterprise Edition with Software Assurance).
Question 1: If we purchase a Power BI Premium License, do we still need to buy/set up a SQL Server Database?
Question 2: The source of their data is SharePoint lists (also on prem). Can this be connected to with the report server version of Power BI Desktop? If we are connecting to SharePoint lists do we still need a SQL server database if we choose the Premium route?
Question 3: I'm wondering, why purchase premium if you need to purchase SQL anyway, or have I misunderstood the setup?
Thank you
CoW
CaveOfWonders wrote:
Question 1: If we purchase a Power BI Premium License, do we still need to buy/set up a SQL Server Database?
You still need to setup a SQL instance as Power BI Report Server needs one to store all the reports and configurations in. But Power BI Premium comes with a restricted use license of SQL Server. So long as you only use that instance for Power BI Report Server and do not host any other databases on it you are covered by the Power BI Premium licensing. You should confirm this with yourself, but this is what I read a few years ago when going throught the licensing documentation
CaveOfWonders wrote:
Question 2: The source of their data is SharePoint lists (also on prem). Can this be connected to with the report server version of Power BI Desktop? If we are connecting to SharePoint lists do we still need a SQL server database if we choose the Premium route?
As mentioned above Power BI Report Server requires a SQL database for storing the report definitions, schedules, permissions etc.
CaveOfWonders wrote:
Question 3: I'm wondering, why purchase premium if you need to purchase SQL anyway, or have I misunderstood the setup?
As mentioned above you don't need to purchase SQL - you can use an existing instance if you already have one or you can use the limited rights license that is part of the Premium capacity.
1 Reply
CaveOfWonders wrote:
Question 1: If we purchase a Power BI Premium License, do we still need to buy/set up a SQL Server Database?
You still need to setup a SQL instance as Power BI Report Server needs one to store all the reports and configurations in. But Power BI Premium comes with a restricted use license of SQL Server. So long as you only use that instance for Power BI Report Server and do not host any other databases on it you are covered by the Power BI Premium licensing. You should confirm this with yourself, but this is what I read a few years ago when going throught the licensing documentation
CaveOfWonders wrote:
Question 2: The source of their data is SharePoint lists (also on prem). Can this be connected to with the report server version of Power BI Desktop? If we are connecting to SharePoint lists do we still need a SQL server database if we choose the Premium route?
As mentioned above Power BI Report Server requires a SQL database for storing the report definitions, schedules, permissions etc.
CaveOfWonders wrote:
Question 3: I'm wondering, why purchase premium if you need to purchase SQL anyway, or have I misunderstood the setup?
As mentioned above you don't need to purchase SQL - you can use an existing instance if you already have one or you can use the limited rights license that is part of the Premium capacity.