Forum Discussion
Cloud connection and Data source credentials
Hi dmkblesser ,
This is something a lot of us are navigating with Databricks and the move away from on-prem gateways.
Here’s the bottom line:
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For anything org-wide or production, always use Shareable Cloud Connections. They’re designed for centralized, secure, and reusable credential management. Setting up at this level means fewer headaches down the road.
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Individual Data Source Credentials are really only for quick testing or personal stuff. They don’t scale and can lead to messy governance if used for shared models.
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For automation: Right now, there’s no REST API to directly bind a semantic model to a Shareable Cloud Connection (unlike gateway binding). You’ll need to assign the connection manually for now but keep an eye on Microsoft’s roadmap, because I bet this will change soon.
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Thankyou, jaineshp, for your response.
Hi dmkblesser,
We appreciate your inquiry submitted through the Microsoft Fabric Community Forum.
Based on my understanding, the confusion appears to stem from overlapping methods of credential management. Specifically, Cloud Connections, particularly Shareable Cloud Connections, are best suited for enterprise usage, whereas Data Source Credentials apply to individual datasets and therefore lack scalability for organization wide implementation.
If both methods are configured simultaneously, Power BI may permit either option to function, but this often results in inconsistent credential governance and increased complexity in automation.
For usage across the entire organization, it is recommended to utilize Shareable Cloud Connections to ensure consistency, reusability, and simplified management of credentials. The use of individual Data Source Credentials should be avoided except in testing or personal use scenarios.
At present, REST APIs do not support the direct binding of semantic models to Shareable Cloud Connections. While APIs such as ‘Update Datasources’ are applicable for gateway based sources, they are not fully compatible with cloud connections.
We hope that the information provided will assist in resolving your query. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Microsoft Fabric Community.
Thank you.