“Artifact is missing connection details” (Google BigQuery connector suddenly unbound)

[jimmydave]

Hi all,

I’m running into a recurring issue with semantic models (3 models in total) that all use a shared BigQuery connector in Power BI Service. These models have been refreshing daily on schedule for about 6 weeks without issue, until recently.

- Thursday last week - Refresh failed 1 out of 3 models - I re-bound the connection, and that model has since refreshed successfully every day.

- Today - Refresh failed 2 out of 3 models. I re-bound the connection and after that the refresh succeeded.

The full error detail from last week and today is:

“This semantic model was disconnected from data sources when it was edited by a user who wasn’t authorized to use the data connections. Review the user’s changes carefully before you reconnect. Learn more.”

“We are unable to access some data source because the artifact is missing connection details. Please contact the artifact owner to bind the data source to a data connection or use default connection settings for the unbound data source. Show details.”

What I have checked so far

• Confirmed that the BigQuery connector credentials / JSON is still valid.
• Verified that the workspace / dataset access hasn’t changed.
• Verified I am the only user of the connection and own the semantic model settings.
• No reports have been republished during this period.
• Confirmed there were no known changes (intentional or otherwise) to the semantic models or their credentials around the time of failure.

When I re-bind the data connection manually, the refresh succeeds immediately.

This is happening randomly.

Any thoughts?

[v-tsaipranay]

Hi @jimmydave ,

Could you please let us know if the issue has been resolved? I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided by @tayloramy . If you still require support, please let us know, we are happy to assist you.

Thank you.

[v-tsaipranay]

Hi @jimmydave ,

We haven’t received an update from you in some time. Could you please let us know if the issue has been resolved?
If you still require support, please let us know, we are happy to assist you.

Thank you.

[v-tsaipranay]

Hi @jimmydave ,

I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided by @tayloramy . If you still require support, please let us know, we are happy to assist you.

Thank you.

[jimmydave]

Thanks @tayloramy for your reply.

1. Each connection is a Cloud connection.

2. Already done. I am the only user and owner of the connection.

3. Connection is the same BigQuery Connector (BigQuery via JSON).
4. I have created an additional connection to see if this has any impact.

As mentioned this has been happening randomly, so will continue to monitor.

[tayloramy]

Hi @jimmydave, 

Intermittent issues are always the worst to troubleshoot. 

Are you using deployment pipelines or version control that could be unintentioanlly changing the connection? You mentioned this just started, so likely not, bit figured I'd ask. 

Do you happen to have an on prem data gateway at all? This is a cloud connection so a gateway should not be required, however I have had luck in binding cloud connections to a gateway to correct some odd behaviour in the past. 

The error This semantic model was disconnected from data sources when it was edited by a user who wasn’t authorized to use the data connections usually means that someone touched something, I've never seen it mean anything else in my enviornment, Is there a chance that someone was looking at the semantic model in the web view and flipped to edit mode, didn't change anything, and flipped back to view mode? I think the service might see this as a change if that user did not ahve permissions on the connection. 

Are you at all able to make a temporary workspace that only you have access to and see if you can re-create this issue? If you can re-create it in a workspace that only you have access to, then this is very likely a product bug that should be reported, but I'm not quite sure if we're ready to scream bug and pretend we've solved this yet. 

If you found this helpful, consider giving some Kudos. If I answered your question or solved your problem, mark this post as the solution.

[jimmydave]

Hi @tayloramy ,
Thanks agian for the detail. I've been monioring for the past week and it happened again today (randomly) to 1 out of my 3 models.

In terrms of the somebody touching something - I am the owner of the workspace and only minimal users have access to the workspace directly (however the APP has many users). 

I will create an additional workspace and see if I can re-create the issue. 

Thanks again for your support.

[tayloramy]

Let us know if you're able to recreate it. 

I have a feeling this is a user training issue and someone is touching something, but if you can replicate it in a workspace that no one else has access to then that throws that idea out the window. 

[jimmydave]

Can I just confirm the 2 places it could be changed are:
A) Semantic Model settings

B) Semantic Model web view

Noting I am the semantic model owner for the settings and refresh, so I don't believe any other users can modifiy the settings unless they "Take Over" the settings.

In terms of the web view - is there a way to view an audit log to identify who might be attempting to edit the model? I highly doubt this would be the case, but an audit report / history would be useful.

[tayloramy · Accepted solution]

Hi @jimmydave, you can use the admin APIs GetActivityEvents or search the global audit logs in Purview. 

If you found this helpful, consider giving some Kudos. If I answered your question or solved your problem, please mark this as the solution. 

[v-tsaipranay]

Hi @jimmydave ,

Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community forum.  

Could you please let us know if the issue has been resolved? I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided by @tayloramy . If you still require support, please let us know, we are happy to assist you.

Thank you.

[tayloramy]

Hi @jimmydave,

Here's some steps I would take to troubleshoot this:

1. Bind each semantic model to an explicit Cloud Connection (don’t use “Default connection”). See Connect to cloud data sources.
2. Harden the connection’s permissions: make yourself/your SPN Owner, give others User or remove them. Same doc as above.
3. Keep all models on the same BigQuery connector/auth type: BigQuery, BigQuery (Microsoft Entra ID).
4. Rebind now and consider one dedicated connection per model to isolate settings. Same cloud-connections doc.

Also check if someone without permissions edited the artifact at all, if someone with permissions to edit the artifact but without permissions on the connection changes something, the connection will be unbound. 

If you found this helpful, consider giving some Kudos. If I answered your question or solved your problem, mark this post as the solution.