Publish a report with impala on on premise report server

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I want ask If I can connect from power bi desktop to impala in direct query mode then publish the report on the power bi report server on premise.

I already built the report on the desktop in direct query mode using the native connector not the odbc. but I can not publish the report. I read that this feature is only available on power bi service cloud.

[burakkaragoz · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

You are absolutely correct. You have hit one of the distinct differences between the Power BI Service (Cloud) and Power BI Report Server (On-Premise).

While Power BI Desktop allows you to author DirectQuery reports against Impala, Power BI Report Server has a much stricter whitelist of supported data sources for DirectQuery.

The Reality: Currently, Power BI Report Server supports Cloudera Impala primarily for Import Mode (Scheduled Refresh). It does not natively support Impala for DirectQuery. The DirectQuery capability on Report Server is typically reserved for major data sources like SQL Server, Oracle, Teradata, and SAP HANA.

Your Options:

1. Switch to Import Mode: This is the most reliable path for On-Premise hosting. You can switch your storage mode to Import and configure a Scheduled Refresh plan on the Report Server to keep the data updated.

2. Migrate to Cloud: If DirectQuery (live data) is a hard requirement, you would need to publish this report to the Power BI Service (app.powerbi.com) and use an On-Premises Data Gateway to bridge the connection to your Impala cluster.

I know this isn't the answer you were hoping for, but it confirms why the publish action is blocking you.

Here is the official list of supported data sources for Report Server:

• Power BI Report Server data sources

Hope this saves you from further troubleshooting!

---

If my response resolved your query, kindly mark it as the Accepted Solution to assist others. Additionally, I would be grateful for a 'Kudos' if you found my response helpful.
This response was assisted by AI for translation and formatting purposes.

[Anonymous]

Hi @Anonymous,

Just following up to see if the Response provided by community members were helpful in addressing the issue. if the issue still persists Feel free to reach out if you need any further clarification or assistance.

Best regards,
Prasanna Kumar

[Anonymous]

Hi @Anonymous,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Forum Community, and special thanks to @123abc and @burakkaragoz  for prompt and helpful responses.

Just following up to see if the Response provided by community members were helpful in addressing the issue. if the issue still persists Feel free to reach out if you need any further clarification or assistance.

Best regards,
Prasanna Kumar

[123abc · Accepted solution]

hi,

It’s a common question, and you’re right to double-check before investing more time. Power BI Desktop can connect to Impala using the native DirectQuery connector, but Power BI Report Server (PBIRS) does not support every connector that the cloud service supports. Unfortunately, the Impala DirectQuery connector is one of those features that works in Power BI Service (cloud) but is not supported on Power BI Report Server.

Because of this limitation, a report built with the native Impala DirectQuery connector cannot be published to PBIRS, even if it works perfectly in Desktop. PBIRS has a stricter list of supported data sources, and Impala DirectQuery simply isn’t on that list yet.

If you must keep everything on-premises, your main fallback options are: using an ODBC connection in Import mode, moving the data into a supported on-prem gateway source (like SQL Server), or shifting to the Power BI Service cloud, which fully supports the Impala DirectQuery connector. It depends on your architecture and how real-time your data needs to be. Let me know if you want help evaluating the best option.

I hope this helps!
If you found this answer helpful:

Mark it as the solution to help others find it faster.
Give it a kudo to show your appreciation!
Thank you for being an awesome community member!

[burakkaragoz · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

You are absolutely correct. You have hit one of the distinct differences between the Power BI Service (Cloud) and Power BI Report Server (On-Premise).

While Power BI Desktop allows you to author DirectQuery reports against Impala, Power BI Report Server has a much stricter whitelist of supported data sources for DirectQuery.

The Reality: Currently, Power BI Report Server supports Cloudera Impala primarily for Import Mode (Scheduled Refresh). It does not natively support Impala for DirectQuery. The DirectQuery capability on Report Server is typically reserved for major data sources like SQL Server, Oracle, Teradata, and SAP HANA.

Your Options:

1. Switch to Import Mode: This is the most reliable path for On-Premise hosting. You can switch your storage mode to Import and configure a Scheduled Refresh plan on the Report Server to keep the data updated.

2. Migrate to Cloud: If DirectQuery (live data) is a hard requirement, you would need to publish this report to the Power BI Service (app.powerbi.com) and use an On-Premises Data Gateway to bridge the connection to your Impala cluster.

I know this isn't the answer you were hoping for, but it confirms why the publish action is blocking you.

Here is the official list of supported data sources for Report Server:

• Power BI Report Server data sources

Hope this saves you from further troubleshooting!

---

If my response resolved your query, kindly mark it as the Accepted Solution to assist others. Additionally, I would be grateful for a 'Kudos' if you found my response helpful.
This response was assisted by AI for translation and formatting purposes.