Need clarifying regarding Power BI Service and data refresh in DirectQuery

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

I browsed a lot on the web these last days but can't find consistent information, so here I am

I have a Power BI report whose data tables are a mix of

• DirectQuery (SQL Server database)
• Tables created by hand (via Enter data)
• Tables created via Power Query transformations (but whose sources are always the SQL database or the hand-created tables)

The report will be published on the Power BI service so that end users can see it and interact with it

My question is: how is the data refresh happening if end-users have a Power BI Pro licence?

Because I saw a lot of things on the internet:

• Power BI Pro allow only 8 times/day refresh of data
• In DirectQuery mode, datasets are automatically refreshed with each interaction of the users with the report (so does that mean that the 8 times/day refresh constraint does not concern us here?)
• You need on-premise data gateway between your datasource and the report. Is that true? 

The visuals of my report are strictly based on the tables created via Power Query tranformations (so ultimately they are based on the DirectQuery tables).

I'm very confused by all that stuff and need clarity. Thank you for your time and help !

[TomMartens]

Hey @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  

[Anonymous]

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