Power BI Data Source credentials

[ericjo]

I'm creating a report using SharePoint. I have a question about setting data source credentials in the Power BI Portal.

1. I see five authentication methods: Anonymous, Basic, OAuth2, Service Principal, and Workspace ID. What do they mean?
2. I'd like to know the meaning of four privacy level settings: None, Private, Organizational, and Public.

I've tried searching for information, but I can't find any relevant data, so I'm asking.
Thank you.

[V-yubandi-msft]

Hi @ericjo ,

I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided by @grazitti_sapna @grazitti_sapna . Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. 
 

Thank you and continue using Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.

[alish_b]

Hey @ericjo ,

I did some digging and you were right the documentation for authentication types were all over the place.
For your first question, here are a few docs you can refer to (some are from Power Query or Power Apps docs but the concept is mostly similar in the platform)

• This should cover Anonymous, Basic, OAuth2: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/custom-connectors/connection-parameters
• Service principal is basically a robot user that is used in automating things. I have used them to just authenticate to workspaces and automatically deploy reports in a CICD framework. This should be a good read about it: https://medium.com/@kinsun_67689/creating-an-azure-app-or-service-principal-to-call-power-bi-rest-ap...
• This is for the workspace identity: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric/security/workspace-identity
  
  Well for privacy level, there was luckily a comprehensive doc:
  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-query/privacy-levels
  
  Hope it helps!
  
  
  

[grazitti_sapna · Accepted solution]

Hi @ericjo,

Refer below table, hope this helps to understand:-

Privacy Level	Description	Use Case
None	No data isolation. Power BI can freely combine this source with others.	Use for trusted, internal sources when you don’t need strict boundaries.
Private	Data is highly restricted — cannot be combined with other sources.	Use for confidential data like HR or finance databases.
Organizational	Data is within your company’s domain — can be combined with other organizational sources.	Use for SharePoint, internal SQL, etc.
Public	Data is freely shareable — can be combined with anything.	Use for open data sources, like public APIs or websites.

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[ericjo]

Thank you for your information, but since it only answers one of two questions,
I can't accept it as the solution. Is there a separate answer for question 1?

[grazitti_sapna]

Hi @ericjo,

Refer below table for Question no. 1

Method	Description	Common Use	Notes
Anonymous	No credentials required	Public APIs / files	Not for SharePoint
Basic	Username password (Like we have credentials for SQL Database)	Legacy systems	Rarely used for M365
OAuth2	Login with Microsoft 365	SharePoint Online / OneDrive	Recommended
Service Principal	Azure Active Directory app	Automation	Requires setup
Workspace Identity	Managed identity for Fabric workspace	Fabric to Fabric	New in Fabric