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jjblanco
Frequent Visitor

How to best support refresh of model and on-premises data at the same time?

Hi.

 

I am uncertain about how to best go about what I imagine is a very typical scenario = I want to create a data set which updates from on-premises SQL Server, and at the same time I would like to be able to update the model (for instance, having added dimensions/measures to the initial set) without having to re-create all reports & dashboards.

 

So, I thought the solution was to get/load the dataset from a pbix file on OneDrive: that way, when I wanted to update the model I simply overwrote the file in OneDrive (having modified the pbix with PowerBI Desktop and having refreshed the data in it as well), then refreshed from PowerBI.com, and the model would extend with the new fields and update new data as well, without having to change/re-do reports. In fact, I have been doing up to now and it works fine.

 

BUT, since I really want the data to refresh automatically via the Personal Gateway, I went ahead and installed said Gateway and linked it to my PowerBI.com account. Now when I go through the same process of loading a new dataset from OneDrive, the refresh settings are only related to the Gateway... which means I can only refresh data through the gateway, BUT I can't refresh my model anymore as I can't say "do a one-time refresh from OneDrive to upload new model details, possibly also new query details"! -> all refresh is now understood as being through the Gateway only!

 

Am I looking at this wrongly? How do you set things up to be able to update/refresh both model and data when the data sits on-premises and you want the Gateway for that?

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Juan

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

It's me again Smiley Happy

 

Just confirming that the above 2 options work just as "well"... meaning that they both seem to eventually work, but if you enlarge your model with new fields/tables/etc, you need to give the service "a bit of time" (have no idea how much, but it's definitively hours and not minutes) to somehow fully refresh the dataset for you. Before that happens, you immediately see the new parts of your model, but if you use them in visualizations those do not work. Btw I've confirmed it's not a UI issue, as I've tested from different machines that had no possible caching of PowerBI.com and the update issues is the same... hence it's a backend refresh/update deal.

 

Anyhow, this works (if you don't need to work with the new stuff in your model immediately, and that may actually be something that Microsoft fixes in the future).

 

Cheers!

 

Juan

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2 REPLIES 2
jjblanco
Frequent Visitor

After a bit more research, I reply to myself: it seems to me like the solution is to replace your dataset file using one of 2 different alternatives:

 

1. By uploading a "new" file with the same name, and opting to actually replace it (as explained in https://support.powerbi.com/knowledgebase/articles/655108).

 

2. By republishing from the desktop app (as explained in https://support.powerbi.com/knowledgebase/articles/461278-publish-from-power-bi-desktop).

 

Theoretically, I understand both are functionally equivalent... though I'm experiencing some errors (possibly synching/timing issues) when updating my model with new fields and using option 1 (the new fields appear and I can add them to the visualizations... but the visualizations fail). I will try to confirm if it's a timing issue and will also experiment with 2 to compare.

 

Cheers!

 

Juan

It's me again Smiley Happy

 

Just confirming that the above 2 options work just as "well"... meaning that they both seem to eventually work, but if you enlarge your model with new fields/tables/etc, you need to give the service "a bit of time" (have no idea how much, but it's definitively hours and not minutes) to somehow fully refresh the dataset for you. Before that happens, you immediately see the new parts of your model, but if you use them in visualizations those do not work. Btw I've confirmed it's not a UI issue, as I've tested from different machines that had no possible caching of PowerBI.com and the update issues is the same... hence it's a backend refresh/update deal.

 

Anyhow, this works (if you don't need to work with the new stuff in your model immediately, and that may actually be something that Microsoft fixes in the future).

 

Cheers!

 

Juan

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