Refresh data problems

[shtefanvalery]

Hello, community.

I've installed on-prem PowerBI Report Server. I was a bit confused, that my desktop client (august report server edition) could work only when laptop is in my organisation domain, but it doesn't matters now.

So, the problem is with refreshing data on the server. I've got the report, made on two data sources: ODATA and Sharepoint (2013) list. I saved my report on the server, i've created a schedule, but it doesn't work. So when i click "edit in powerbi" the data on my client is "fresh", but on server - not.

It was easy to solve this problem in the cloud - I've installed gateway and it works still fine, but i can't do that (or don't know how at this moment) with my organization report server.

What can be the problem?

[RT-1]

My BI data has not refreshed or updates since 20-12

[ilan]

You can now schedule data refresh with Oct 2017 release.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/report-server/scheduled-refresh

[pz68lk]

We're using March 2018 release and have a Power BI report out there with scheduled refreshes set to occur.  They all appear to run without errors, except for the fact that the data doesn't match up to the totals I get when refreshed on the client (same report/same file).  Even when I save the currently refreshed client-side copy back to the report server, it will briefly show the correct total on a bar graph during refreshing, but then reverts back to old, out-dated data.  It almost seems that it is defaulting to data cached when the Power BI report was originally pushed to the report server.

It is very odd and strange and I have no explanation.  I've tried viewing it across three browsers (Chrome, IE, Edge) and the results appear to be the same, so it would appear to not be caused by bad browser behavior/caching.

Has anyone observed this or can anyone offer up any ideas in helping troubleshoot?

UPDATE:  Misbehaving time slicer was causing the issue.  That explains why I could briefly see the correct data displayed for a second or so when refreshing browser page only to have it revert to a different data result set.  The slicer was causing unwarranted filtering (even though the slicer appeared to be untouched).  I tested it by deleting the slicer from the report page and then the data took on a state of normalcy.  Sorry for the false positive in terms of data refresh misbehavior!

[FilLob]

Thank you SO MUCH for saving my day. I had exactly the same issue and could not believe how tricky that was!!

Thanks!

FilLob

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@pz68lk wrote:

We're using March 2018 release and have a Power BI report out there with scheduled refreshes set to occur.  They all appear to run without errors, except for the fact that the data doesn't match up to the totals I get when refreshed on the client (same report/same file).  Even when I save the currently refreshed client-side copy back to the report server, it will briefly show the correct total on a bar graph during refreshing, but then reverts back to old, out-dated data.  It almost seems that it is defaulting to data cached when the Power BI report was originally pushed to the report server.

It is very odd and strange and I have no explanation.  I've tried viewing it across three browsers (Chrome, IE, Edge) and the results appear to be the same, so it would appear to not be caused by bad browser behavior/caching.

Has anyone observed this or can anyone offer up any ideas in helping troubleshoot?

UPDATE:  Misbehaving time slicer was causing the issue.  That explains why I could briefly see the correct data displayed for a second or so when refreshing browser page only to have it revert to a different data result set.  The slicer was causing unwarranted filtering (even though the slicer appeared to be untouched).  I tested it by deleting the slicer from the report page and then the data took on a state of normalcy.  Sorry for the false positive in terms of data refresh misbehavior!

---

[pz68lk]

No problem.  Always good to hear when your experience helps another.  

[Jon-Heide]

When you view a PBI report, it loads an instance of the model+data and it's cached for that session on the server. The refresh happens a-sync to that, so there can be a period of time until the old cached model on the server is evicted. The default is 15 minutes. You can confirm this, by trying to view the report 15mins after the refresh OR try another user to force a new session. Closing and reopening the browser might also establish a new session. 

[pz68lk]

Thanks for insight.  Found that a misbehaving time slicer was the culprit in the page.  Once I removed it all was normal.  Slicer was to blame for this one.  Sorry for the false positive in terms of malfunctioning refresh behavior.

[Jon-Heide]

When you view a PBI report, it loads an instance of the model+data and it's cached for that session on the server. The refresh happens a-sync to that, so there can be a period of time until the old cached model on the server is evicted. The default is 15 minutes. You can confirm this, by trying to view the report 15mins after the refresh OR try another user to force a new session. Closing and reopening the browser might also establish a new session. 

[v-qiuyu-msft]

Hi @shtefanvalery,

When you refresh the report in Power BI report server, is there any error throws out? 

Best Regards,
Qiuyun Yu 

[shtefanvalery]

Hi @v-qiuyu-msft, 

No, when i click "refresh" it seems like nothing happens.

[v-qiuyu-msft]

Hi @shtefanvalery,

That refresh button only refreshes the report itself - no refresh of the dataset included in the PBI report. Currently the only option to refresh the imported dataset is to open the report again in PBI Desktop, Refresh the data set here and publish the report again to PBI Report server. You can see comments section in this article: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-report-server-august-2017-preview-now-available/

Best Regards,
Qiuyun Yu 

[shtefanvalery]

So there is no any tricky ways to make it refresh itself automatically on server? What about using SSAS?

[Muki]

Hi!

I'm also having issues with the 'refresh' functionality in Power Bi Server...

My reports are actually based on web data (REST API calls).

It's really a pity that both Powerbi PRO and Powerbi Server account don't offer a solution if you:

1. want to make sure everyone can consume reports without extra powerbi accounts --> which is not possible with PRO

2. want to make sure your reports are refreshed --> which is lacking in SERVER account

I'm not sure whether how you can combine these 2 licences to have fresh reports which everyone wihtin organization can see without a powerbi account?

regards

Muki

[Jon-Heide · Accepted solution]

Correct, with the August preview of PowerBI report server, it does not yet support data refresh as noted here. However, it's planned for an upcoming release.  

https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-report-server-august-2017-preview-now-available/

Until the update you have a couple options (1) open and refresh manually with the desktop and save (2) consider using SSDT to open your report model and upgrade it to Analysis Services which support refresh (3) There are 3rd party tools such as power refresh which can do this as a side process. 

[dataviznz]

Does anyone know if Power Update works with Power BI Report Server?

https://www.power-planner.com/Products/ProdID/10/Power_Update