Forum Discussion
Issue with Power BI Service Refresh for PostgreSQL (SSL certification GCP postgres sql)
Solution Summary: Connecting Power BI to a DB on Ubuntu VM in GCP
We successfully resolved the connectivity issue to a database hosted on a Ubuntu OS inside a VM on GCP (Google Cloud Platform). Here's a step-by-step breakdown of what worked, both in Power BI Desktop and Power BI Service.
✅ Power BI Desktop Configuration
Open Power BI Desktop
Go to the Home tab > Click Transform Data
In the Power Query Editor, go to:
File > Options and settings > Data source settings
Select your data source and click Edit Permissions
In the Edit Permissions window:
Uncheck the "Encrypt connections" box (if applicable)
Set the Privacy Level to Organizational
Click OK, close the editor, and publish the report to the Power BI Service
✅ Power BI Service Configuration
Go to the relevant Workspace in Power BI Service
Find the Semantic Model (Dataset) you just published
Click the three dots (···) > Settings
Under Data Source Credentials:
Select Authentication Method as OAuth
Enter your DB credentials and Sign in
Scroll to Gateway and Cloud Connection
Enable "Use an On-premises or VNet data gateway"
Under the Gateway section:
Click the dropdown under Action > Choose "Add to gateway"
Create a new data source connection that matches the configuration used in Power BI Desktop
🧩 Final Outcome
Now, you're able to successfully refresh the data in Power BI Service.
This setup solved our issue connecting to a database hosted in an Ubuntu VM on GCP.
Hi Anonymous,
Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community forum.
It looks like your issue is when Power BI Service enforces SSL for PostgreSQL connections, while your database does not support encrypted connections. There can be multiple reasons for that like:
* Power BI Desktop works when "Encrypt connection" is unchecked, as your PostgreSQL server does not have SSL enabled.
* Power BI Service fails because it requires an SSL connection by default.
* When you enabled SSL, you encountered an error, likely due to certificate issues.
Here you can follow these solutions depending on whether you want to enable SSL or allow unencrypted connections:
* Enable SSL in PostgreSQL by updating "postgresql.conf" then update the "pg_hba.conf" to allow SSL connections. After this restart PostgreSQL and ensure the certificates are valid. Now in Power BI Desktop, check "Encrypt connection" and re-publish your report and in Power BI Service, re-enter credentials and test refresh.
* In this option you need to modify the connection string in Power BI Service to explicitly disable SSL. If Power BI Service still enforces SSL, you may need to use an on-premises data gateway to manage the connection.
If I misunderstand your needs or you still have problems on it, please feel free to let us know.
Best Regards,
Hammad.
Community Support Team
If this post helps then please mark it as a solution, so that other members find it more quickly.
Thank you.
HI Anonymous ,
Thanks for your valuable insight, BUT..
we did all the procedure in the postgres as well as pg about the ssl cretificate, After we did this configuration we are getting the error like this.
THIS IS WITH THE ENCRYPTION ENABLEDHi Anonymous,
Thanks for following up with the conversation. Based on your new error message, "The remote certificate is invalid according to the validation procedure," it looks like Power BI is rejecting the SSL certificate from your PostgreSQL server. There can be multiple reasons for this to occur like your Certificate must be trusted and if you are using self-signed certificates, Power BI may not trust them. Also if possible, obtain an SSL certificate from a public Certificate Authority (CA) instead of a self-signed one. This ensures Power BI recognizes the certificate without extra configuration.
Please try these solutions and let us know if the issue persists. If possible, provide details on how the SSL certificate was generated or the exact SSL mode used in your Power BI connection
If I misunderstand your needs or you still have problems on it, please feel free to let us know.
Best Regards,
Hammad.
Community Support TeamIf this post helps then please mark it as a solution, so that other members find it more quickly.
Thank you.
Hi Anonymous,
As we haven’t heard back from you, so just following up to our previous message. I'd like to confirm if you've successfully resolved this issue or if you need further help.
If yes, you are welcome to share your workaround and mark it as a solution so that other users can benefit as well. If you find a reply particularly helpful to you, you can also mark it as a solution.
If you still have any questions or need more support, please feel free to let us know. We are more than happy to continue to help you.
Thank you for your patience and look forward to hearing from you.