Forum Discussion
connect to SAP BW with Windows authentication (Single Sign-On)
Thanks Sheng! The Dev 17 release mentioned Windows Authentication is supported for SAP BW, but looks like it’s not really functioning.
Hi Ruben,
Did the SAP NW SSO for BW worked for you?
Could you please share the solution, if possible. We are in middle of implementing the NW SNC SSO for SAP BW.
Appreciate your kind response.
Thanks.
Nazeer
Advocate IHi nazeer1232Nazeer,
I did managed to connect to BW using the new June version of PowerBI desktop 64 bit. Since then I have tested August version and I tested both the connection using SAP Netweaver (also called Implementation 1.0) and the new option to connect via SAP .Net connector 3.0 (in Beta still) (also called Implementation 2.0).
The .NET connectivity works better as it is more performant.
Both of them work well in relation to the SSO access to SAP BW, in terms of running within PowerBI desktop (using both Direct Query and Import connection types).
I tested these below scenarios:
1. SSO with Netweaver connection, using Import
2. SSO with Netweaver connection, using DirectQuery
3. SSO with .Net 3.0, using Import
4. SSO with .Net 3.0, using DirectQuery
When I published the 4 scenarios to the online platform I was only able to run scenarios 1 and 2. The .NET only works if you're using PowerBI desktop, and that can be explained by the fact that it's still in a Beta version.
I have also installed the new version of the gateway (August).
The problem I face is if I want to Share my dashboard/report via the online platform, in scenarios 1 or 2, the BW data that is retrieved is not the user I shared the report with, but instead the user that I have used when I created the Gateway DataSource. This obliges us to do double-maintenance in Roles, both in SAP BW and in PowerBI desktop (Row Level Security). This is our main reason why we haven't yet adopted the SAP BW connector.
hope I have helped,
Just let me know if you need some more insight
Rúben
Hi Ruben,
Thank you for reverting back with a detailed response. I really appreciate your kind explanation and findings.
I am proceeding with the below steps for implementation method 1.0 at the moment. Interesting note, what I experienced in past (not using SAP BW, but Sybase IQ) is the fact that the Power BI Desktop connection user should be same as that of DataSource on the Gateway configuration. I used ODBC generic connection to establish rather defining individual users. However, in my current case I require SAP BW end-user with SSO (SNC) enabled to access the Power BI Desktop as power user.
How will it work if I have 20 such power users, will I require to maintain 20 power gateway connections :(
Please suggest if you have found any work-around?
Thanks a lot.
Cheers !
Nazeer
- rubensalvador
Hi Nazeer,
you can only have 1 gateway connection per DataSource installed in 1 server node. Therefore, that connection can only have 1 user defined. Once you publish your report to the online platform and you select the gateway all users will use that gateway.
If you only have power users editting that same report, then you profit on having that report in one unique APP workspace, so all can access and edit that same report. If all of you power users are OK to view all data without any restrictions I would say you won't have an issue, but if you want each of your power users to access different kind of data based on their SAP BW role, then, as I said, this is not possible. Only way is to implement Row Level Security.
regards,
Rúben
Hi Nazeer/Ruben,
I have been following your discussion and it seems you have cracked on using SSO while connecting to Power Bi. I have followed the White paper which tals about the connectivity and I am awaiting my organization SAP team to provide me the details SNC Partner name etc so that I can test the same. but I have few doubts and would request your help.
Where do I install SAPSetupSCL.exe in my Power Bi Desktop machine. Under which Folder?Will it be required for each user who is going to use Single Sign on functionality for SAP BW?
When you talk about option 1 2 3 and 4, Are you talking about connectivity through Application Server(1,2) and Message Server(3,4) if not what is it?
What are the other challenges we may come across?
It will be great if you document the steps and publish it as many organization are looking for this connectivity and no full proof document is available.
Thanks,
Ankku