Very slow load time (Evaluate, Waiting for server)

[shaherbano]

Hi 
I have just started facing this problem recently. i need to pull about 7.5M rows (15 columns, 8 are date/numeric). My Dataset is likely to grow to 14.5/15M rows by the year end. 

I get my data from a SQL view with a simple select *. But pulling into PBI is very slow: following steps take after 1st time load take:

1. Evaluating: 15 mins

2. Waiting for "server name": 12 mins

3. loading rows: 12 mins

However, when loading same dataset with 15 columns (reducing text columns) 1st time takes like 2 hours. Other team member pulls about 24M rows with similar columns but her load time is fairly quick. I am a pro user.

Also i have set up a gateway on my personal machine, which works fine for smaller datasets (upto 2.5M rows datasets havent had troubles). but I got this error description with my 7M rows (35MB file report)

Thanks

[v-qiuyu-msft]

Hi @shaherbano, 

Please refer to this document to optimize your data model: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/power-bi-reports-performance

From your description, it looks like the personal gateway runs on a different machine from the SQL database server. Please contact your network admin check if there is any network issue when the error occurs. You can take a look at this document: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/power-bi-reports-performance#gateway-best-practices

Best Regards,
Qiuyun Yu 

[shaherbano]

Thank you for the response. I will go through both. Personal gateway on my machine as currently due to limitations i cant install on the Server. but when i refresh my desktop file, why do 7.3 Million rows take 1 hour ?

These times are refreshing PBI desktop file: 

1. Evaluating: 15 mins

2. Waiting for "server name": 12 mins

3. loading rows: 12 mins

My dataset will reach max of 15M rows, with about 15 columns out of which 8 are numeric/date. How many rows or file size can PBI handle ? I do most calcs in DAX to avoid importing extra columns. 

Thank you for your help and for this amazing product.  

[v-qiuyu-msft]

Hi @shaherbano, 

You can check query performance of pbix file in Power BI desktop by SQL profiler. 

To see which visual takes a lot of time to render, you can turn on Performance Analyzer, then click on Refresh button. 

Best Regards,
Qiuyun Yu