Forum Discussion
Need clarifying regarding Power BI Service and data refresh in DirectQuery
Super UserHey Anonymous ,
first let me set some terms straight:
- whenever the term refresh is used, I'm thinking of copying data to a different place. This corresponds to the connection mode import.
When we are using the connection modes DirectQuery or Live Connection, data will not be copied to another place. Being precise, we have to consider an exception from the statement that no data will be copied. When using a dashboard data will be cached periodically to provide a great experience.
No matter if we are using import mode or are connecting to on-premises data via direct query / live connection, an on-premises gateway is needed.
When we are using direct query, data is not refreshed in the sense of copying data, instead a query is generated by each visual when a user is interacting with the data. Using direct query / live connection no restrictions to the number of data refreshes will apply.
Often calculations inside datasets that are based on the direct query connection mode will not be as fast as calculations from import mode datasets.
Hopefully, this makes things more clear.
Regards,
Tom
Hi TomMartens ,
Thank you for your reply !
So from the moment a report is published to Power BI service, you have to have an on-premise data gateway to keep your data up-to-date, no matter if you use DirectQuery or Import Mode, is that right?
- TomMartens
Hey Anonymous ,
when the data source is an on-premises data source you need a gateway, exactly.
Regards,
Tom