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jcapezzuto
Resolver I
Resolver I

Postgres error with Power BI Desktop

I'm receiving the following error when connecting to an AWS Postgres database that requires SSL. I recently upgraded from npgsql 2.3.2 (which was buggy) to 3.0.3 which won't connect at all:

DataSource.Error: TlsClientStream.ClientAlertException: CertificateUnknown: Server certificate was not accepted. Chain status: A certificate chain could not be built to a trusted root authority. . at TlsClientStream.TlsClientStream.ParseCertificateMessage(Byte[] buf, Int32& pos) at TlsClientStream.TlsClientStream.TraverseHandshakeMessages() at TlsClientStream.TlsClientStream.GetInitialHandshakeMessages(Boolean allowApplicationData) at TlsClientStream.TlsClientStream.PerformInitialHandshake(String hostName, X509CertificateCollection clientCertificates, RemoteCertificateValidationCallback remoteCertificateValidationCallback, Boolean checkCertificateRevocation) Details: DataSourceKind=PostgreSQL

I have received this feedback from the npgsql team: 

 

Npgsql 2.x didn’t perform validation on the server’s certificate by default, so self-signed certificates were accepted. The new default is to perform validation, which is probably why your connection is failing. Specify the Trust Server Certificate connection string parameter to get back previous behavior.

 

Is there a way for users to modify the connection strings in Power BI Desktop?  Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

 

3 REPLIES 3
ruanmalan
New Member

I had the same issue and it turned out to be easy to solve if you can get the right information. As a Windows application PowerBI uses the windows certificate store to decide what to trust. If you can get the SSL cert for the PostgreSQL server (or the CA cert used to sign that one) then tell Windows to trust that certificate, PowerBI will trust it too.

 

To get the SSL cert for the PostgreSQL server you might need to speak to the DBA/sysadmin if you don’t have access. In the configuration folder for the PostgreSQL server there is a postgresql.conf file, search it for ssl settings, there is one with the location of the ssl cert. Note NOT the key file which contains the private key, only the cert file which contains the public key. copy it or its content to the machine running PowerBI and import using Run | mmc | Add Plugin... Certificates (Google it)

 

Look at the server name once you imported the cert and connect from PowerBI using the same server name (so the cert matches the connection). That solved the problem for me. If PostgreSQL is configured to insist on a SSL connection you might have to do the same for a ODBC connection too.

PowerBIGuy
Responsive Resident
Responsive Resident

Have you tried using a ODBC connection to your Postgress data source?

Business Intelligence Architect / Consultant

where is the solution to this issue?

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