How to enable TLS 1.2 for custom power query sdk connector

[jasonyeung87]

Hi,

I have a report which I uploaded to Power BI Service. It queries Freshdesk for data, which provides APIs to fetch data. Because there is pagination in those API's, in order to schedule them for an automatic data refresh, I had to create custom connectors using the Power Query SDK, which grabs the data from all the pages and then consolidates and returns the data to Power BI for visualization. Info on the SDK is at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-query/install-sdk

This was setup a few months ago and it was working fine until a couple of weeks ago. After talking to FreshDesk support, they mentioned that it's mandatory to use TLS 1.2 to connecting to their API's. I suspect it could be the custom connectors as when I use other methods to connect to their API's (e.g. a web browser), I was able to grab their data in JSON format. I was wondering how do I check whether the custom connector is using TLS 1.2? Could it be a setting in the code or server?

[Anonymous]

Hi, @jasonyeung87 

Based on your description, to verify the version of TLS used by a custom connector, you would typically need to either directly inspect the network communication or look at the connector's code (if the connector explicitly specifies a TLS version). However, since Power Query SDK custom connectors usually depend on the system's network settings, the version of TLS used is usually determined by the system's configuration. You can view or modify the current system's TLS version in the registry. Please note, modifying the registry can have significant effects on your system.

Official Documentation: 

Power BI Security - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Transport Layer Security (TLS) registry settings | Microsoft Learn

Best Regards,
Yang
Community Support Team

If there is any post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.
If I misunderstand your needs or you still have problems on it, please feel free to let us know. Thanks a lot!

How to get your questions answered quickly --  How to provide sample data in the Power BI Forum

[jasonyeung87]

Hi @Anonymous 

Thanks for your reply. I tried your suggestion in regards to editing the registry. After doing this and rebooting the machine, I attempted to refresh the report again. But the problem remains the same.

I then did some experimentation to see whether it's related to the Power Query SDK or if it's something else. What I did is I created a test pbix file which only has 1 data source: the URL of the third party API. It contains an HTTP call to this API. I uploaded the pbix file to the server and then tried to refresh the data. I got the following error:

It seems that it can't connect even from Power BI desktop. I then tried accessing the URL via Microsoft Edge. It's able to connect to the API:

The "invalid_credentials" message is from the third party API. I didn't give it credentials, but because it's returning this message rather than a TLS issue, it's connecting successfully.

I was wondering if you know that there is a setting specific to Power BI for TLS? 

Jason

[lbendlin]

TLS1.2 is no longer optional.  Unless you have a really old system this should already be the default everywhere.