Change Data source of semantic model in Power BI Service

[Anonymous]

Hi,

after having some issues within a workspace in regard to a lakehouse being created by a now-gone-user, I setup a new workspace and synced sources from that former workspace.

Just today I discovered that my semantic models which were synced successfully, still pointed to the lakehouses of the former workspace (of course).

I wanted to keep the semantic models and just change the "Data source settings" to the new underlying lakehouse. This is somewhat already described here too: https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Desktop/Change-the-data-source-of-the-Power-BI-data-models...

But I did not succeed with the option using Tabular Editor as described here Change Data source In Power BI Service 

1. Thus, I recreated the semantic models with a different name
2. downloaded the report files with a live connection,
3. opened them in Power BI Desktop
4. navigated to "File > Options and Settings > Data source settings" and
5. chose my newly created semantic model
6. Published the report back into my workspace

My issue with the approach using the Tabular Editor (despite me not knowing my way aroung that tool yet) is that after selecting a semantic model, I don't see any data source settings present:

The same goes when I view the "Settings" of my semantic model in Power BI service:

The issues I have with the approach I took are:

• takes some time to redo work I would rather not do (recreate the semantic models)
• feels cumbersome (why can I change the Data source setting only in Power BI Desktop, not in Power BI service)

Do I miss something here?

[Nick_W-1234]

Not sure if this is still an issue, but there is a way to repoint the connection to the new lakehouse/warehouse by using Tabular Editor - Go to Shared Expressions -> DatabaseQuery and paste the new Lakehouse connection string into the editor.

Easiest way to get the new connection string is to create a new semantic model that is connected to the target Lakehouse, open Tabular Editor and copy it.

Hope this helps!

[tobymage]

Thank you for this! I wouldn't have guessed that Shared Expressions holds the connection string. I updated the connection string from the SQL endpoint in the Tabular Editor. Worked like a charm. I spent half a day trying to figure it out, and your post did it in 10 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I am using Direct Lake. No, the semantic models I use, i created separate to the automatically created default model. 

Thanks for pointing out the ability to use the Rest API - I'll definately have a look at the API, as this seems to be useful for other situations as well!

[Tutu_in_YYC · Accepted solution]

Sounds like your are using Direct Lake? Im still new to this, so im seeking to learn from your experience.

As far as i know, when you create a lakehouse, a semantic model is created automatically which is native to the lakehouse. Maybe thats why you cant repoint it a different lakehouse? But it kinda make sense to have that possibility though. Could be in the roadmap, as direct lake is still kinda new.

When it comes to repointing a report to a different semantic model, you can call a Rest API to rebind the report to a different semantic model. That will make things easier and you dont have toreopen the pbix.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/power-bi/reports/rebind-report-in-group