Data Storage and Connection for Power BI Service

[pennyhoho117]

Our company planning to use Power BI Serivice for reporting,and we have Pro License.

Due to sensitive data consideration, can you advice the data connection way  which can keep data transmits securely?

and would you pls let me know how Power BI service store the report Data?

Meanwhile, our internal DB is Redshift DB and Postgrel SQL DB,  do we need to set up a on-premises data gateway? and what is the purpose of the  on-premises data gateway?

Thanks.

[v-nmadadi-msft]

Hi @pennyhoho117 ,

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided by the super user for the issue worked. If our response addressed, please mark it as Accept as solution and click Yes if you found it helpful.

Thanks ands regards

[v-nmadadi-msft]

Hi @pennyhoho117,

I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. If the responses has addressed your query, please accept it as a solution and give a 'Kudos' so other members can easily find it.
Thank you.

[v-nmadadi-msft]

Hi @pennyhoho117 

May I ask if you have resolved this issue? If so, please mark the helpful reply and accept it as the solution. This will be helpful for other community members who have similar problems to solve it faster.

Thank you.

[Poojara_D12 · Accepted solution]

Hi @pennyhoho117 

Key Points for Secure Power BI Setup:

1. Secure Data Transmission: Power BI uses TLS encryption for data in transit and encryption at rest for stored data. Use Row-Level Security (RLS) for sensitive data access.

2. Data Storage in Power BI:

   • Import Mode: Data is stored in Power BI Service (encrypted in Azure).
   • DirectQuery Mode: Data is queried live, not stored in Power BI.
   • Live Connection: Connects directly to models without storing data.

3. On-Premises Data Gateway:

   • Required if Redshift or PostgreSQL are in a private network or on-premises.
   • Acts as a secure bridge between Power BI Service and your databases.
   • Supports encrypted connections for scheduled refreshes or real-time queries.

4. Recommendations:

   • Use DirectQuery for Redshift/PostgreSQL to avoid storing data in Power BI.
   • Set up an on-premises data gateway for secure, private database connections.

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Poojara
Data Analyst | MSBI Developer | Power BI Consultant
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[pennyhoho117]

if i use directQuery mode, can set Refresh schedule? as i know, Power BI Report Server does not support refresh schedule for directQuery mode, so Power BI service support refresh schedule when report with DirectQuery Mode?

[v-nmadadi-msft]

Hi @pennyhoho117  ,
Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community forum.

These resources are helpful to learn more about on prem gateway
Power BI implementation planning: Data gateways - Power BI | Microsoft Learn
On-premises data gateway - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Tutorial: Connect to on-premises data in SQL Server - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

you will require a gateway if you want to connect to on-premises data, gateway acts as a bridge to provide quick and secure data transfer between on-premises data (data that isn't in the cloud) and several Microsoft cloud services.

Did I answer your question? Mark my post as a solution, this will help others!

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Thanks and Regards

[v-nmadadi-msft]

Hi @pennyhoho117  ,
Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community forum.

Please check out this link and scroll down to the “Semantic models in DirectQuery mode”

Data refresh in Power BI - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

You wont be requiring refresh schedule as in DirectQuery Power BI doesn’t import data from source instead semantic model returns results from the underlying data source whenever a report or dashboard queries the semantic model.

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If my response(s) assisted you in any way, don't forget to give "Kudos"

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[NandanHegde]

On prem Data gateway acts as a bridge between the Power BI cloud service and any source that is hosted in On Prem or within a VNet.

So in case if your databases are within a VNet, you would need a gateway.