Practical question: PPU vs Fabric

[fmorgon]

Hey all,

I'm designing a scenario for implemeting MS Fabric and this doubt came to my mind.

In my hypothetical scenario, I have:

1. A Workspace with F2 capacity, which contains Dataflows storing data in a Lakehouse.

2. A Power BI Report & Semantic Model published in a different PPU (Premium Per User) workspace.

3. The Report connects to the Warehouse endpoint and refreshes once per day

My doubts:

1. Does the Semantic Model Refresh Consume Resources from F2? Or it doesn't impact the F2 at all?

2. What Happens if F2 is on Interactive Pause?

3. Is All Computation Done on PPU?

I've read this topic (Solved: Practical capacity of combined F2 and PPU - Microsoft Fabric Community) but couldn't understand if updating the Semantic Model on the PPU workspace does impact the F2 capacity.

Thank you so much in advance!

[nilendraFabric · Accepted solution]

Hello @fmorgon 

Great question and genuine doubts. 

the semantic model refresh in a PPU workspace does not consume resources from the F2 capacity. PPU workspaces operate on shared capacity provided by the PPU license, independent of any dedicated Fabric capacities like F2

When an F2 capacity is paused, all items within that capacity (e.g., Lakehouses, Dataflows, Warehouses) become inaccessible for interactive operations. This includes SQL queries or any direct access to data stored in the Lakehouse or Warehouse associated with the F2 capacity. However, since your Power BI report and semantic model are in a PPU workspace and not directly dependent on the operational state of F2, their refreshes will continue to function as long as they do not require active access to paused resources in the F2 capacity

Yes, all computations related to Power BI reports and semantic models hosted in a PPU workspace are performed within the PPU’s shared capacity. This includes data refreshes, DAX calculations, and rendering of reports. The PPU license provides its own compute

In summary:
• The semantic model refresh in a PPU workspace does not impact or use F2 resources.
• If F2 is paused, any dependencies (like data retrieval from a Warehouse endpoint) will fail.
• All computations for Power BI items in a PPU workspace are handled by PPU’s shared capacity.

if this helps please accept the answer and give kudos

[fmorgon]

Hey, @nilendraFabric !

Thank you so much for your answer.

Best,

Felipe