Power BI Report Server - Data source connections

[niyati_61]

Hi @d_gosbell , Regarding PBI Report Server Data Source Connections,

FYI - I have Power BI Desktop for Report Server (PBIRSD) installed on both PCs. I can save reports from both to the report server, and then edit the report back from there too. 

Local PC - My office laptop I use. I usually work on my Power BI Reports here,

Report Server PC - PBI Report Server is installed on a Test Server we're using.

For the Oracle data source connection,

-Installed Oracle Client (ODAC) on the Report Server PC.

-Connected the ports from the Report Server PC to the Oracle Development Server to access data.

-Then I connected to the data table in PBIRSD in the report server pc itself. So now for this data I need to work on this pc.

1) Question, could this be done on my local PC itself? Like connected the ports from my local PC to the Oracle Server. But could not go with this option for security reasons, and that for the data to be connected and schedule refreshed it always has to be in the domain (and if you work from home, you need your vpn turned on to access the data - so that would disrupt the schedule refresh).

-Also for Files connection,

Created a shared folder on the Report Server PC itself (So I can put Excel Files here, and then get a network drive path) - which helps me to schedule refresh data on report server web portal.

2) I checked with IT if the shared folder could be created in my own PC itself instead of the report server PC, but it wasn't an option allowed for security reasons, and that it is better for the data folder to be in the domain and a common place if another user needs to access it. But, could it this shared folder have been created on my own local PC?

Q) Is that how it usually works? For data source connection, and for schedule refreshing on the report server web portal, do data source connections have to be done on the report server pc itself, and not on my own local user pc?

I also assumed the oracle server is better to be connected here (RS PC), in case any configuration needs to be done on the report server software installed on this pc.

As it is sort of inconvienient to work in the Report Server PC rather than my own.  For reasons such as - multiple other users also work on it, and that PC is a bit slow. To work on my Power BI Report, I now need to work on my local PC and the report server PC, so it is bit hard to do.

Thanks in advance! Always appreciate your assistance.

[d_gosbell · Accepted solution]

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@niyati_61 wrote:

1) Question, could this be done on my local PC itself? Like connected the ports from my local PC to the Oracle Server. But could not go with this option for security reasons, and that for the data to be connected and schedule refreshed it always has to be in the domain (and if you work from home, you need your vpn turned on to access the data - so that would disrupt the schedule refresh).

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Typically you would do this on your local PC first, installing the Oracle drivers there and getting the report working. Once that is done you would then also install the drivers on report server so that you could do a scheduled refresh. Using a VPN only affects the connection between your laptop and the work network, it should not have any affect on the Report Server computer so scheduled refresh should be unaffected.

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@niyati_61 wrote:

2) I checked with IT if the shared folder could be created in my own PC itself instead of the report server PC, but it wasn't an option allowed for security reasons, and that it is better for the data folder to be in the domain and a common place if another user needs to access it. But, could it this shared folder have been created on my own local PC?

while technically you could create a shared folder on your PC it is general a very bad idea. If your machine is not connected to the VPN or you need to reboot or you are travelling between home and the office, then that share would be offline and any scheduled refresh would fail. It is much better to have shared folder run on centralized servers that are owned and managed by IT.

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@niyati_61 wrote:

Is that how it usually works? For data source connection, and for schedule refreshing on the report server web portal, do data source connections have to be done on the report server pc itself, and not on my own local user pc?

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No, normally no users do anything on the Report Server. They generally do not have access to logon to the Report Server and they definitely do not run resource intensive applications like Power BI Desktop. Generally all report building is done on local PCs and then the final reports are uploaded to Report Server