Forum Discussion
Gateway - Data Source best practice
I have a report that takes data from a number of Excel files. These files are all stored within the same shared folder, and the report is published to the service with a scheduled refresh setup.
When creating data sources in the Gateway, are there any advantages / disadvantages / limitations of using a single folder data source, or should multiple file data sources be used?
Likewise, if I have multiple reports in that same folder structure, some of which take data from Excel files, would there be any disadvantages (performance??) in creating a single folder data source, based on the root of that folder structure, that could be used for all of them?
I would use a single source for the top most folder. Performance will be the same but maintenance will be simpler.
7 Replies
- lbendlinSuper User
My vote is strongly in the folder connector corner. In fact, in our company we do not permit any file based connectors.
- PhilWalkerFrequent Visitor
Thanks for the reply.
So, could I ask, if you had a folder structure something like this...
- Reports
- Report 1
- Data Files
- Report 2
- Data Files
- Report 3
- Data Files
- Report......
Would you have a data source for each "Reportn" folder, or a single data source at the top "Reports" level? I'm not sure if there are any performance or other implications of using a single data source, especially if more than one report is being refreshed at the same time.
- lbendlinSuper User
I would use a single source for the top most folder. Performance will be the same but maintenance will be simpler.