Connecting data to Power BI

[tj200]

Hi,

I am relatively new to Power BI and have a bit of IT knowledge but not very extensive when it comes to SQL server and ODBC connections.

I know I can connect Power BI to an SQL Server through an ODBC connection (I believe this is the best way?). I have all the credentials I need to do this.

What I really want is a one way live connection to the data from the server to Power BI, I don't want Power BI updating data on the SQL server under any circumstances. Can anybody recommend a way of doing this?

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

[Greg_Deckler · Accepted solution]

I would not use ODBC to connect to a Microsoft SQL Server. I would use the SQL Server connector instead and it has an option for Direct Query (Live) connection.

[Greg_Deckler · Accepted solution]

I would not use ODBC to connect to a Microsoft SQL Server. I would use the SQL Server connector instead and it has an option for Direct Query (Live) connection.

[tj200]

Hi Greg,

Thank you for replying. Using the SQL Server connector is it a one way (read only) connection? I really don't want to be able to update the servers data from Power BI. Or is it not possible to only have a one way connection?

Thanks 

[v-yuezhe-msft · Accepted solution]

@tj200,

It is one way connection, in other words, when you change data in Power BI, it will not update source data of SQL Server database. 

Regards,
Lydia