Skip to main content
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Join us for an expert-led overview of the tools and concepts you'll need to become a Certified Power BI Data Analyst and pass exam PL-300. Register now.

Reply
Anonymous
Not applicable

Incremental Refresh for Dataflow calling Source API Multiple TImes

We have Dataflows that utilize API Sources that we would like to incrementally refresh. These are working as expected since the source filters the data to the latest snapshot data which has a Data Through Date that allows us to detect the period we want to refresh. We are using incremental to support reporting on current and prior period data.

 

The issue we are seeing is that each time the incremental refresh runs, Power BI makes multiple calls to the source API.  While this doesn't present a problem for most of our sources, we have a couple that provide larger result sets and are memory intensive.  Making multiple calls to the source (5-8x within 30 seconds of the refresh starting) uses too much memory and ultimately brings down that API.  

 

When we run full refreshes, the Power BI Service only calls the source once.  

 

A couple of things to note:

  1. The Dataflow has one Entity (The API Source)
  2. There are multiple transformation steps (e.g. taking the JSON Doc, converting it to a table, applying data types, etc.)

 

Any idea why the Source API would be called so many times in rapid succession?

1 REPLY 1
lbendlin
Super User
Super User

When you say Incremental Refresh are you referring to the Power BI version (including RangeStart and RangeEnd datetime filters for the data source, and Power BI's partition management), or something that you have created manually in your query?

Helpful resources

Announcements
Join our Fabric User Panel

Join our Fabric User Panel

This is your chance to engage directly with the engineering team behind Fabric and Power BI. Share your experiences and shape the future.

June 2025 Power BI Update Carousel

Power BI Monthly Update - June 2025

Check out the June 2025 Power BI update to learn about new features.

June 2025 community update carousel

Fabric Community Update - June 2025

Find out what's new and trending in the Fabric community.