Power BI DirectQuery Error with Simba ODBC – Anyone Seen This or Got It Working?

[sahdevISW]

I'm trying to use DirectQuery mode in Power BI with the Custom ODBC driver to query a Presto backend.

• The native SQL query (SELECT * FROM tiny.customer) runs fine.

• Power BI loads the preview successfully in DirectQuery mode.

• But on clicking Load, it fails with this error:
  
  

  

"DirectQuery error: DirectQuery may not be used with this data source – please consider moving to a supported data source..."

In Import mode, everything works perfectly — schema loads, data appears in visuals, and ODBC logs show no issue.
Even In DirectQuery mode without catalog and query, everything works perfectly.

Any help would be appreciated.

[sahdevISW]

Hi @v-achippa 

I would like to provide more details regarding a scenario we're working on using a Simba-based Custom BI Connector for Presto with Power BI in DirectQuery mode, DirectQuery supports Custom BI Connector.

Setup Details

• ODBC Driver: Simba Presto ODBC driver

• Custom BI Connector: compiled as a .mez file (Simba_presto.mez)

• Data Source: Presto 

Once we give details and clicking OK

 

What We See

• The table preview loads successfully – we can see data in a tabular format 

• Network traffic captured in Fiddler shows that requests and responses are successful, with JSON responses containing valid data

• But on clicking Load, we get this error:

• 

Any Suggestion like how I can resolve this actual issue.

[v-achippa · Accepted solution]

Hi @sahdevISW,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Fabric Community.

Power bi does not support DirectQuery with native sql queries over the ODBC connectors. In this case, the data source like Presto via Simba ODBC does not provide all the DirectQuery push down features expected by power bi.

Even though the preview may work, the final model load fails to load due to power bi’s validation of source capabilities. This is a known limitation for unsupported DirectQuery scenarios.

Since the Presto ODBC connection works in import mode and the query runs fine, please use import mode for now.

If this post helps, then please consider Accepting as solution to help the other members find it more quickly, don't forget to give a "Kudos" – I’d truly appreciate it! 

Thanks and regards,

Anjan Kumar Chippa