Forum Discussion
How To Connect Power BI to Read-only Replica of Azure SQL Database directly?
Hi KylanJin ,
I was able to find a similar request to this in the forums: https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Desktop/PowerBI-Connect-to-ReadOnly-Replica-of-Azure-SQL-Database/m-p/4049608#M1285854
The solution in this post links several articles with methods to connect to your Read-only Replica of Azure SQL Database.If this helped, please mark it as the solution so others can benefit too. And if you found it useful, kudos are always appreciated.
Thanks,Samson
Will connecting to the read-only replica affect primary database performance?
No, connecting to a read-only replica does not impact the primary database’s performance because read-only replicas handle only read workloads, offloading queries from the primary.
Is the server name of the read-only replica different from the primary?
Usually, yes. The read-only replica often has a different server or listener name configured for routing read-only connections. In Azure SQL, you connect to the primary server’s read-only listener endpoint or a specific read-only replica endpoint.
You can refer to the following official Microsoft documentation,
Super UserHi KylanJin ,
Use the readable secondary’s server name directly from geo-replication:
Go to Azure Portal > SQL Server > Replicated Databases.
Copy the secondary replica's server name, e.g.,
your-db-secondary.database.windows.net
In Power BI Desktop:
Go to Home > Get Data > Azure SQL Database.
Enter:
Server: your-db-secondary.database.windows.net
Database: <your-database-name>
Click OK and provide credentials.
Avoid any server or listener address that points to the primary (e.g., your-db.database.windows.net or failover listener).
To ensure Power BI connects only to the read-only replica, connect directly to the secondary replica’s server name.
Thank you for your reply.
If I connect to the read-only replica directly, will the performance of the primary database be effected? is there a official document talk about it?
Is the server name of the read-only replica different with primary database?
- BhavinVyas3003
Will connecting to the read-only replica affect primary database performance?
No, connecting to a read-only replica does not impact the primary database’s performance because read-only replicas handle only read workloads, offloading queries from the primary.
Is the server name of the read-only replica different from the primary?
Usually, yes. The read-only replica often has a different server or listener name configured for routing read-only connections. In Azure SQL, you connect to the primary server’s read-only listener endpoint or a specific read-only replica endpoint.
You can refer to the following official Microsoft documentation,