Question about licenses - What do we need to acquire

[jcaroe]

Good morning. I am a developer for an IT company that works in healthcare. We're working on a project that shares Power BI Dashboards (reports) to doctors and nurses with date from their hospitals. Currently, we have installed a virtual machine (OS: Windows Server) with Power BI Report Server + SQL Server + Power BI Desktop, this machine is then accessible via VPN by the hospitals that want to view our reports. This machine is completely offline and all comunications is through internal VPNs (intranets).

Our Power BI Report Server was working on evaluation edition, but now it has expired. We are trying to be compliant using the correct licenses but we're having trouble understanding what licenses we need.

• for Power BI Report Server, we thought we could use our SQL Server Core Edition product key, but it doesnt work: seems we may need an additional tier (Software Assurance) to be able to use it for Power BI Report Server. So for now we're trying to understand if/how to upgrade to the "Software Assurance" tier.

• for Power BI itself, we are having trouble understanding if we need a power bi PRO/Premium license or not. We do not share reports in the cloud, we just upload them in this machine via Power BI Desktop and users that connect via vpn to our Report Server login page can see them. Also, do know that we have created a Custom Login page for Power BI Report Server, thanks to this github project. I am thinking we might NOT need a pro license with such use of Power BI, but i'd like confermation on this.
  
  What's the best course of action here?

[v-jianpeng-msft · Accepted solution]

Thank you lbendlin

Hi, @jcaroe 

 As you described, if you are having a SQL Server Core Edition license, you will need to upgrade to SQL Server Enterprise Edition with SA.

You also mentioned that you don't plan to use the services of the Power BI service.
For Power BI report server, in addition to SQL Server Enterprise Edition with sa, you can also get a product key for Power BI report server when you purchase Fabric F64 and above capacities.

For more information on how to get and upgrade SQL Server Enterprise Edition with SA, see the following:

License info:

Microsoft Product Terms

How:

Getting Software Assurance | Microsoft Licensing Resources

Upgrade License:

Supported version and edition upgrades (SQL Server 2022) - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn

In addition, you can purchase Fabric F64 and above capacities to obtain a product key:

Microsoft Fabric - Pricing | Microsoft Azure

In the following case, you have the same question:

Solved: Power BI Report Server Licensing - Can we get a do... - Microsoft Fabric Community

These are the two ways to get a Power BI Report Server product key. 

Best Regards

Jianpeng Li

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[v-jianpeng-msft]

Hi, @jcaroe 

I wish you all the best. Previously we have provided a solution to help you solve the problem. Since we haven't heard back from you yet, I'd like to confirm if you've successfully resolved this issue or if you need further help?
If yes, you are welcome to share your workaround and mark it as a solution so that other users can benefit as well. If you find a reply particularly helpful to you, you can also mark it as a solution.
If you still have any questions or need more support, please feel free to let us know. We are more than happy to continue to help you.
Thank you for your patience and look forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards

Jianpeng Li

[v-jianpeng-msft · Accepted solution]

Thank you lbendlin

Hi, @jcaroe 

 As you described, if you are having a SQL Server Core Edition license, you will need to upgrade to SQL Server Enterprise Edition with SA.

You also mentioned that you don't plan to use the services of the Power BI service.
For Power BI report server, in addition to SQL Server Enterprise Edition with sa, you can also get a product key for Power BI report server when you purchase Fabric F64 and above capacities.

For more information on how to get and upgrade SQL Server Enterprise Edition with SA, see the following:

License info:

Microsoft Product Terms

How:

Getting Software Assurance | Microsoft Licensing Resources

Upgrade License:

Supported version and edition upgrades (SQL Server 2022) - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn

In addition, you can purchase Fabric F64 and above capacities to obtain a product key:

Microsoft Fabric - Pricing | Microsoft Azure

In the following case, you have the same question:

Solved: Power BI Report Server Licensing - Can we get a do... - Microsoft Fabric Community

These are the two ways to get a Power BI Report Server product key. 

Best Regards

Jianpeng Li

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[lbendlin]

Yes, Software Assurance seems to be your next step.

If you have VPNs involved then your current setup is probably all you can do.  Note that everybody looking at reports through a Power BI Desktop doesn't even require a Report Server,  but it brings up (lots of) questions about the way you seem to share credentials.

Pro licenses only come into play when you use Premium or Fabric capacities which you don't seem to do in your setup.

[d_gosbell · Accepted solution]

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@lbendlin wrote:

Pro licenses only come into play when you use Premium or Fabric capacities which you don't seem to do in your setup.

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This is not correct. Pro licenses are required for anyone who publishes a report from Power BI Desktop to any environment where it can be shared. So this is applicable for both the Power BI service and Power BI Report Server.

See the second paragraph here What is Power BI Report Server? - Power BI | Microsoft Learn