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gkc9's avatar
gkc9
Frequent Visitor
2 months ago
Solved

Report server on virtual machine - upgrade version

We are currently planning to upgrade our on-premises Power BI Report Server environment running on a Virtual Machine (VM). However, we are encountering intermittent failures during the upgrade process, which is blocking our deployment.

Since this is a production environment hosting more than 1000 reports, we cannot proceed with the upgrade until we ensure absolute stability and identify the root cause of these issues.

Problem Details & Symptoms:

  1. Intermittent Upgrade Failures: The upgrade process behaves inconsistently; it succeeds in some trial environments but fails randomly in others.
  2. Initial SSL Certificate Warnings: In the early stages of the upgrade attempt, the installer threw errors regarding the SSL certificate validation.
  3. Analysis Services Connectivity Issues: Upon examining the Power BI Report Server log files (PBIRS\LogFiles), we detected frequent connection timeout and authentication errors pointing to the underlying Analysis Services (SSAS) instance during/after the upgrade sequence.

Due to the scale of our deployment (1000+ reports) and the corporate criticality of this server, we urgently request your technical assistance to review our environment and log files.

Environment Details:

  • Hosting Environment: Windows Server Virtual Machine (VM)
  • Current PBIRS Version: Jan 26
  • Target PBIRS Version: May 26
  • Database Backend: SQL Server / SSAS

Also , I could not find Microsoft’s official support ticket website. Could you please help any of these above?

Thanks.

microsoft powerbi
Report Server
  • trivedisunita's avatar
    trivedisunita
    2 months ago

    Hi gkc9 

    The issue likely stems from a combination of SSL certificate validation and SSAS connectivity (Kerberos/SPN or network latency). I recommend validating TLS/certificates, testing SSAS connectivity from the PBIRS VM, and reviewing PBIRS logs for authentication/timeouts.
    For production environments, Microsoft recommends a side-by-side migration approach instead of in-place due to stability risks.
    1. Build a new VM with May 2026 PBIRS
    2. Restore ReportServer databases
    3. Reconfigure URLs, certificates, SSAS connections
    4. Validate reports
    5. Switch DNS/traffic
     This eliminates risk of upgrade corruption.
     
    You can raise a support ticket via Microsoft 365 Admin Center -> Support if logs indicate persistent failures.
    also you can raise an official support ticket through this- https://learn.microsoft.com/power-bi/support/ 
     
    If this reply helped you please mark it as a solution.
     
    Thank you 
    sunita
     

3 Replies

  • trivedisunita's avatar
    trivedisunita
    Continued Contributor
    2 months ago

    Hi gkc9 

    The issue likely stems from a combination of SSL certificate validation and SSAS connectivity (Kerberos/SPN or network latency). I recommend validating TLS/certificates, testing SSAS connectivity from the PBIRS VM, and reviewing PBIRS logs for authentication/timeouts.
    For production environments, Microsoft recommends a side-by-side migration approach instead of in-place due to stability risks.
    1. Build a new VM with May 2026 PBIRS
    2. Restore ReportServer databases
    3. Reconfigure URLs, certificates, SSAS connections
    4. Validate reports
    5. Switch DNS/traffic
     This eliminates risk of upgrade corruption.
     
    You can raise a support ticket via Microsoft 365 Admin Center -> Support if logs indicate persistent failures.
    also you can raise an official support ticket through this- https://learn.microsoft.com/power-bi/support/ 
     
    If this reply helped you please mark it as a solution.
     
    Thank you 
    sunita
     
  • v-kpoloju-msft's avatar
    v-kpoloju-msft
    Community Support
    1 month ago

    Hi gkc9, 

    Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum. Also, thanks to trivedisunita,  for those inputs on this thread.

    Has your issue been resolved? If the response provided by the community member trivedisunita,  addressed your query, could you please confirm? It helps us ensure that the solutions provided are effective and beneficial for everyone.

    Hope this helps clarify things and let me know what you find after giving these steps a try happy to help you investigate this further.

    Thank you for using the Microsoft Community Forum.

    • v-kpoloju-msft's avatar
      v-kpoloju-msft
      Community Support
      1 month ago

      Hi gkc9, 

      Just wanted to follow up. If the shared guidance worked for you, that’s wonderful hopefully it also helps others looking for similar answers. If there’s anything else you'd like to explore or clarify, don’t hesitate to reach out.

      Thank you.