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NTolani's avatar
NTolani
New Member
8 months ago

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Trying to establish connection from power bi to mongo cosmos azure db. I have below inputs Host: accountname.mongo.cosmos.azure.com Account name: accountname Key: Key We are using power bi gatewa...
deborshi_nag's avatar
deborshi_nag
Super User
7 months ago

Hello NTolani 

 

Power BI Desktop does not support direct connectivity to Azure Cosmos DB (Mongo API) via the on-premises gateway in the same way the Power BI Service does.
 

Why the Gateway Connections Don’t Show in Desktop

  • The gateway is designed for Power BI Service to access on-premises or hybrid data sources.
  • Power BI Desktop cannot consume gateway connections directly; it needs a connector or a direct connection string.

Use the following workarounds -

 

1. Use the Native Azure Cosmos DB Connector

  • Power BI Desktop has a built-in Azure Cosmos DB connector, but it works with the SQL API, not Mongo API.
  • If your Cosmos DB is using the Mongo API, this connector won’t work.

2. Use the MongoDB Connector

  • Power BI Desktop supports MongoDB via the ODBC driver or BI Connector.
  • Steps:
    1. Install a MongoDB BI Connector or ODBC driver on your machine.
    2. Configure the connection string using:
      mongodb://<accountname>.mongo.cosmos.azure.com:10255/?ssl=true&replicaSet=globaldb&authSource=admin
      • Use your account name and key as credentials.
    3. In Power BI Desktop, go to Get Data > ODBC or Get Data > MongoDB (if available).
    4. Authenticate using username = accountname, password = Key.

3. Use an Intermediate Layer

  • If direct Mongo connectivity is problematic, you can:
    • Create an Azure Function or Data Factory pipeline to pull data from Cosmos DB and store it in:
      • Azure SQL Database
      • Azure Data Lake
    • Then connect Power BI Desktop to that source.

Hope this helps - please appreciate by leaving a Kudos or accepting as a Solution to help others! 

trillionaires's avatar
trillionaires
New Member
5 months ago

 

Power BI Desktop cannot use gateway connections directly for Azure Cosmos DB (Mongo API). To connect:

  1. MongoDB Connector / ODBC – Install the Mongo BI Connector or ODBC driver, then connect using your account name as username and key as password.

  2. Intermediate Layer – Pull data via Azure Data Factory or Azure Function into Azure SQL Database or Data Lake, then connect Power BI Desktop to that source.