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WunWun's avatar
WunWun
Frequent Visitor
4 years ago
Solved

On-Premise Gateway - Web Data Sources Credentialing Issue

Hello everyone! I am managing my organizations Power BI Gateway and have run into a snag that is manageable now, but will not be soon.

 

Our customers prefer to use Excel files as the primary data sources for the report published the Power BI Service and consumed by their audience. We have encouraged them to use database sources, such as Oracle, but it continues to fall on deaf ears. These Excel files are then stored in a SharePoint folder. There are mulitple files and multiple SharePoints needing to be accessed. I've setup the gateway data source type as 'Web' and entered in the URL for the Excel file. The URL is obtained by opening the file from the SharePoint, selecting 'File', 'Info' and 'Copy Path', and removing the '?web=1' from the end of the URL. 

 

My issue comes to credentialing. I've selected 'OAuth2' for 'Authentication Method' and use my company credentials to sign in as I am authorized for each SharePoint so that Gateway can pickup the data for the scheduled refreshes. The problem comes in when I need to change my password per security policy. When my password changes, all of the data sources lose their connection in the gateway because the credentials now fail. As of now, we are just short of 30 web sources; although it is a pain, it is not insurmountable to go through each one and update the credentials. This will not be the case for much longer as Power BI is growing in popularity rather quickly in my company and more customers would like to use the scheduled refresh feature.

 

Any suggestions on what I can do?

  • Hi WunWun ,

     

    As aj1973  said, you can try connecting the files on SharePoint without the gateway.

    As an addition,Power BI connects to your file on OneDrive about every hour automatically. So you don't have to worry about schedule refresh.

     

    Best Regards

    Community Support Team _ chenwu zhu

     

    Please consider Accept post which is helpful for you as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

     

5 Replies

  • aj1973's avatar
    aj1973
    Community Champion

    Hi WunWun 

    With data stored in Sharepoint online you don't need Gateway connection. How did you build your reports? online or using Power bi Desktop? Using desktop to connect to sharepoint is sometimes tricky whether it is a file or folder. Check Youtube, there is plenty of videos.

    • WunWun's avatar
      WunWun
      Frequent Visitor

      Everything was built on Power BI Desktop.

       

      If you do not need a gateway for SharePoint data sources, how can you schedule a data refresh?

      • v-chenwuz-msft's avatar
        v-chenwuz-msft
        Community Support

        Hi WunWun ,

         

        As aj1973  said, you can try connecting the files on SharePoint without the gateway.

        As an addition,Power BI connects to your file on OneDrive about every hour automatically. So you don't have to worry about schedule refresh.

         

        Best Regards

        Community Support Team _ chenwu zhu

         

        Please consider Accept post which is helpful for you as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.