PBI Gateway to Azure Databricks Connection Error: Unable to start OAuth login for this data source?

[rodneyc8063]

G'day folks

My team is looking into using Azure Databricks as a data source and am hitting an error

Background: Our Azure Databricks is on a "Private Link" I believe is the terminology (I need to use a VPN in order to login to it). I can connect to Azure Databricks through PBI Desktop using my Azure Active Directory once logged into VPN.

Next step was to upload a very basic PBI desktop report to the service and try to refresh it there. Since our Azure Databricks is set up with a "Private Link" (not publicly available) I assumed we would need to create a gateway connection (PBI Gateway)

My issue is when I try to create a gateway to connect to our Azure Databricks instance I am hitting a few walls (errors)

When creating the gateway I see the following 3 initial options

1) On Premise
2) Virtual network
3) Cloud

We do have some on premise Oracle databases that we have used a gateway to set up connections to which is working just fine.

Initially I assumed that I would need to configure an "On Premise" Gateway again since our Azure Databricks has a "Private Link" and I see the following login options

1) Username/Password (As per Databricks sounds like this is deprecated as of July 2024)

2) Personal Access Token

3) Azure Active Directory

I chose Azure Active Directory and then I see the following

So when I try to click on "Edit Credentials" I then hit the following error

Unable to start OAuth login for this data source. OAuth login through the data gateway was unsuccessful due to user. Specific error details available below and in the gateway logs

Details: PBI_GW01: Unable to connect to the remote server Please have this information handy if you choose to create a support ticket. Session Id: 9e0c2aab-0972-4c90-8a3c-f88bfd8f3355 RequestId: 8b32568e-791d-4272-bcc1-9b36c4e8ef6a Cluster URI: https://api.powerbi.com Status code: 400 Time: Mon Feb 10 2025 16:04:51 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time)

Few questions

1) Given our Azure Databricks set up being on a private link is it fair to assume firstly we do need a PBI gateway?

2) I was trying to find more information but I cant seem to figure out whether I should use an "On Premise" vs "Cloud" connection?

Although Azure Databricks is on the cloud its technically "private" and not publicly available. 

Any insight would be greatly appreciated

[v-ssriganesh]

Hi @rodneyc8063,

Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community! We understand you're encountering an OAuth login error while trying to connect Azure Databricks (with Private Link) to Power BI Service via a gateway. Let’s go through your queries one by one and troubleshoot the issue.

1) Yes, since your Azure Databricks is configured with Private Link, it is not accessible over the public internet. In this case, a Power BI Gateway is required to enable secure communication between Power BI Service and your Databricks instance. The gateway will act as a bridge to facilitate the data refresh in the Power BI Service.

2) Since your Databricks instance is in Azure but private (not publicly accessible), you should use a Virtual Network Data Gateway rather than an On-Premises Gateway.

• The On-Premises Data Gateway is typically used for databases hosted on local infrastructure. The Cloud option does not apply here because your Databricks instance is private. Use a VNet Gateway that is deployed in the same Azure region as your Databricks instance.
  
  

3) The error message suggests that the gateway is unable to establish a connection. Here are some potential causes and solutions:

• Please ensure that Azure Databricks Private Link is correctly configured to allow traffic from the Power BI Gateway.
• If using an On-Premises Gateway, confirm that the firewall is not blocking traffic.

• If you're using Azure Active Directory (AAD) Authentication, ensure:
• The Power BI Service Principal has the correct RBAC permissions to access Databricks.
• The OAuth token is not being blocked by Conditional Access Policies (CAPs) or MFA requirements.
• The user account has the correct Databricks workspace permissions (Viewer/Editor/Admin).
  
  
• If OAuth isn't working, try setting up authentication using a Personal Access Token (PAT) and check if the connection succeeds.

If this helps, then please Accept it as a solution and dropping a "Kudos" so other members can find it more easily.
Thank you.

[GilbertQ]

Hi @rodneyc8063 

What you need to make this work is you need to install and configure is  VNET gateway. Here are details. What is a virtual network (VNet) data gateway | Microsoft Learn