Forum Discussion
Power BI Report Server Licensing
I plan to upgrade from SQL Server Standard 2008 to SQL Server Standard 2016 later this year. If I want to use Power BI Report Server do I have to buy a Power BI Premium license, or can I download and run Power BI Report Server alongside or as a replacement for SSRS based on the licenses I purchase for SQL Server Standard 2016
You have two options.
You can buy Power BI Premium, this allows you to license the same number of cores that you purchase in capacity in the premium license on premises for your Power BI Report Server.
You can purchase SQL Enterprise Edition + Software Assurance. This give you license to install the Power BI Report Server.
Only the Content Creators (those building reports) need to have a Power BI Pro license in both cases.
Alternatively, can I use Power BI Pro Service and publish content for consumers with the understanding each consumer must also have a Power BI Pro License? The Pro license gives you the ability to share content in the Power BI Service. You don't get the Power BI Report Server in this license. You are correct, report creators and end users need Pro licenses.
In this scenario, you would have a normal SSRS report server, and the Power BI Service. They would not communicate, and you couldn't put PBI Reports on the SSRS Server.
I plan to upgrade from SQL Server Standard 2008 to SQL Server Standard 2016 later this year. If I want to use Power BI Report Server do I have to buy a Power BI Premium license, or can I download and run Power BI Report Server alongside or as a replacement for SSRS based on the licenses I purchase for SQL Server Standard 2016
You have two options.
You can buy Power BI Premium, this allows you to license the same number of cores that you purchase in capacity in the premium license on premises for your Power BI Report Server.
You can purchase SQL Enterprise Edition + Software Assurance. This give you license to install the Power BI Report Server.
Only the Content Creators (those building reports) need to have a Power BI Pro license in both cases.
Alternatively, can I use Power BI Pro Service and publish content for consumers with the understanding each consumer must also have a Power BI Pro License? The Pro license gives you the ability to share content in the Power BI Service. You don't get the Power BI Report Server in this license. You are correct, report creators and end users need Pro licenses.
In this scenario, you would have a normal SSRS report server, and the Power BI Service. They would not communicate, and you couldn't put PBI Reports on the SSRS Server.
Having this --> SQL Enterprise Edition + Software Assurance. This give you license to install the Power BI Report Server.
Can I install PBI Report Server on 2 machines inside my company?
2 instances of PBI Report server for diffeferent purposes
ENO- Thank you for the reply. I have something to discuss with my team.
Hi Eno,
Let me make a question about licensing?
It means that to use a PoserBI 100% on premises I need to sign an online service and pay at least U$ 4,995.00 for a P1 node? My client doesn't use cloud and will not use. He is a bank and uses just on premises solutions. I'm watching the project sinking.
Thanks a lot for your attention.
Anonymous The other option is to purchase SQL Server Enterprise Edition + Software Assurance. This would provide you the license to use the Power BI Report Server on premises only.
The online Premium sku at 5k/mo would give you the Power BI Service, and the Power BI Report Server.
If they aren't interested in online, then the only other route is SQL EE + SA
Isn´t SQL EE + SA going to be marginally less at best compared to Premium? I´ve seen numbers of $4 - 7k per core for SQL EE + SA against Premium at $5k (and I´m assuming both are per month).
Hi,
My question is for On Prem Scenario and if we have SQL Server 2016 Enterprise edition with SA do we still need to have Power BI subscription for each users or SQL Server Core license will be enough to use Power BI on Prem?
Hi,
My question is for On Prem Scenario and if we have SQL Server 2016 Enterprise edition with SA do we still need to have Power BI subscription for each users or SQL Server Core license will be enough to use Power BI on Prem?
Muhammadwaleed A Power BI Pro license is only required for individuals who are creating reports, not any of the end consumers.
Thanks a lot for your answer, but I got more questions regarding this subject...
According to the PBI Premium White Paper, it is possible to have a local server (on-premisses) away from the cloud.
page 4/15, 2º paragraph, https://aka.ms/pbipremiumwhitepaper:
...we also included an on-premises server in Power BI Premium—the Power BI Report Server.
Power BI Report Server allows you to keep sensitive data and reports fully behind your firewall, creating a hybrid deployment mixing cloud and on-premises.Is it possible to use Row Level Security (RLS) on this Report Server?
Using only Report Server, is it possible to view reports in a similar way as on PBI Service? (app.powerbi.com)
How do I share reports using only Report Server? (all users must have PRO licenses?)
What versions of SQL Server are compatible with this Report Server and Power BI?
Anonymous
Is it possible to use Row Level Security (RLS) on this Report Server? Yes
Using only Report Server, is it possible to view reports in a similar way as on PBI Service? (app.powerbi.com) Yes, you just don't get some of the Service features like Q&A, Quick Insights, etc. But it is a clean browser experiance.
How do I share reports using only Report Server? (all users must have PRO licenses?) All users are granted access to the report server itself, and log into it and see content that they have permissions to.
What versions of SQL Server are compatible with this Report Server and Power BI? If you are going to migrate to the PBIRS from RS then 2008 or later. Otherwise it since Tabular models are the only viable data source for the Power BI Reports, then it would be whatever version supports those.
More Details here
So, a more "how do I" question.
We installed PowerBI Report Server Evaluation. How do I apply the license to it (We have SQL Server Enterprise with SA)?
Do we need to install SQL Server Enterprise on the same server just for licensing?
Our customer has the active SA of SQL server Enterprise edition with the server+CAL license model. The server+CAL model is not available for the Enterprise editon of SQL server since 2012. We have found in the SQL server 2017 licence guide the information that with the availability of ongoing SA coverage customers licensed under the Server+CAL model can retain access to the latest product enhancements and ,advanced capabilities of Enterprise Edition and that there are no programmatic conversions to core licenses.
Does our customer have the rights to run Power BI report server on a licenced server and does he find the licence keys for Power BI report server in the Volume licencing Service Center in spite of the server+CAL licencing model ?
