Power BI Server is this a preview\beta product?

[Anonymous]

Hi

Is Power BI Report Server officialy released product or is this preview\beta only.

Is there any one on this forum that is using this in their production environment?

Jaco

[Anonymous]

The June/July release is an officially released product and we are indeed using it in production (pretty small scale at the moment but it's expanding rapidly)

[riccardomuti]

As @Anonymous said; the June 2017 release is the current generally-available (GA) release for production use, while the August 2017 Preview is a preview/beta of our work in progress toward our next GA release, targeting Q4 CY 2017.

[vickyd]

Is it ok to use the August Preview in a production environment i.e. upgrade the PBI Server from June release to August release?

We are ok with fact that it's a beta product and may fail or not work correctly but would like to use the latest version as it supports the new Matix visuals and other data sources. Still trying to build excitement around PBI within the company and show what it can do so these new features are crucial. 

[riccardomuti]

The Evaluation/Preview edition license prohibits use in a production environment, but feel free to try and show off the features now, and we're targeting Q4 CY 2017 to release a production-supported version.

[jvandyck]

Is this why I can only enter an evaluation license and not a true license?

[riccardomuti]

Yes, Previews are Evaluation-only, whereas GA releases allow you to enter a product key for production use.

[vickyd]

Any hints on when the next version will be released apart from just CY Q4?

We decided to wait on before releasing Power BI reports (we've been using SSRS for all reports until now) as we kind of expected the next version to be released round about now - I think today is like exactly 4 months since previous release.

Have literally been refreshing the blog multiple times a day to see if PBIRS has been released!

Would be good to know if it's more like end of Q4 or "coming very soon", as that would enable us to decide on our rollout plans. 

[riccardomuti]

It's a feature-driven release rather than a date-driven release, so we don't have a fixed date. We want to have support for large files (now that you can import data into your *.pbix files), scheduled data refresh and DirectQuery for various data sources, and thorough testing. As soon as we have that, we'll release. While we can't predict the precise date, we know we're more than a few days away, so it probably won't be October. At the same time, we don't intend to wait until the end of Q4 if we don't need to. As soon as it's ready, we'll release. Just trying to be as transparent as possible. Hope it helps at least a little!

[vickyd]

Fair enough. Atleast helps us make a decision. 

On data import, would be really helpful if we could filter data before importing. I guess this is a limitation in Power BI itself and makes it extremely difficult to work with when importing from large data sets. 

Also, will this version support parameter passing i.e. will we be able to pass a parameter in the URL and filter a report prior to launching? 

[riccardomuti]

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@vickyd wrote:

Fair enough. Atleast helps us make a decision. 

On data import, would be really helpful if we could filter data before importing. I guess this is a limitation in Power BI itself and makes it extremely difficult to work with when importing from large data sets. 

Also, will this version support parameter passing i.e. will we be able to pass a parameter in the URL and filter a report prior to launching? 

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You can filter data in your Queries in Power BI Desktop. I imagine there might be more to your end-to-end scenario I might be missing?

We plan to add support for URL parameters, but may or may not be able to squeeze it into this release. We'll certainly try!

[vickyd]

"You can filter data in your Queries in Power BI Desktop. I imagine there might be more to your end-to-end scenario I might be missing?"

Does it filter from source though i.e. does it pull only the filtered data from source or pulls everything and then filters? 

[riccardomuti]

Yes, Power BI/Power Query tries to push filters and some other data transformations down into the query it generates (e.g., into the SQL WHERE clause, in the case of a relational database) as much as possible, and filters post-query as a fallback. You can use SQL Profiler to see what it was able to push down into the SQL query. (Alternatively, you can specify your own SQL query and it'll just run that.)

[Anonymous]

"We want to have support for large files (now that you can import data into your *.pbix files), scheduled data refresh and DirectQuery for various data sources"

Will there be DirectQuery support to a SQL Server for PowerBI Reports?

[riccardomuti]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Will there be DirectQuery support to a SQL Server for PowerBI Reports?

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That's our goal, yes.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the information. What is the product version of the current GA product? I have installed what I thought to be the GA version (14.0.600.301). But this version won't let me upload any report.

I get this error "We can't open this Power BI report because it contains an unsupported data source connection or embedded data. This version of Power BI Report Server supports Power BI reports that connect live to SQL Server Analysis Services Or Azure Analasis services"

[riccardomuti]

That is indeed the June 2017 (GA) version. That version supports connections to Analysis Services only. Support for data imported from other data sources is a work in progress in our August 2017 Preview.

[Anonymous]

I get this error message for any report even reports with no data, only a text box.

this is the error in the logs:

2017-09-01 10:00:29.3895|INFO|15|Received request CORP\svc_sit_PowerBI POST http://localhost/powerbi/api/reportproperties| RequestID = s_55a306c7-b6dc-4c9f-8ad5-16bcb3e7ebcd
2017-09-01 10:00:29.3895|WARN|4|PBIX file validation failed. Embedded models are not supported yet.| RequestID = s_55a306c7-b6dc-4c9f-8ad5-16bcb3e7ebcd
2017-09-01 10:00:29.3895|INFO|13|Sending response. Response code CORP\svc_sit_PowerBI 200, Elapsed time 0:00:00.0121011| RequestID = s_55a306c7-b6dc-4c9f-8ad5-16bcb3e7ebcd

[rpatkar]

Power BI reports default to using embedded models when a live connection is not specified. In your case, with just a TextBox in your report and no data, Desktop assumed (incorrectly) that the report has an embedded model and so you are not able to upload. In either case, in the August Preview of Power BI Report Server we have added support for embedded models and after installing that build, you will be able to upload your report with text box.

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/report-server/ (the Preview download link is towards bottom of page).

Hope this helps,

Rohit