Limitations on Power BI with SQL Server Express?

Hi Anonymous,

You are ok to connect to SQL Server 2014 Express edition from Power BI Desktop using the DirectQuery option. The limitation exists in SQL Server 2014 Express itself and the DirectQuery mode in Power BI.

For SQL Server 2014 Express, it has the following limitations. And Agent Service is not available in Express edition.
   • 1 physical processor
   • 1 GB of RAM
   •10 GB database size per database

Besides, there are currently a few limitations (such as the following points) to using DirectQuery in Power BI Desktop, these limitations will also exist when you connect to other editions of SQL Server 2014 by using “DirectQuery” option.

   •All tables must come from a single database
   •Relationship filtering is limited to a single direction, rather than both directions
   •By default, limitations are placed on DAX expressions allowed in measures

For more details about limitations of DirectQuery, please review this article: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/powerbi-desktop-use-directquery/ .

Thanks,
Lydia Zhang