PowerBI embedded - sharing

[wojciech]

Hi everyone,

I have got a workspace backed up by A1 embedded capacity. I thought that reports from such a workspace can't be shared in the service but they need to be embedded into a web app. However, I have got free PowerBI users cosuming these reports in PowerBI service or SharePoint online just fine. Am I missing something here? I would like some clarification before I advise my company not to buy P1 but just simply use A sku instead?

Thank you,

WJ

[collinq]

HI @wojciech ,

The A sku is designed for organizations that are embedding into an application.  The A capacity/sku is using Embedded Capacity specifically.  The P sku allows you to do more and embed in more scenaries (like O365).  You also pay hourly for A skus whereas a P sku is a monthly bill.  This means it is possible for an A sku to "ramp up" and cost you way more than a P sku.  Also, you will have to translate the A level of capacity and the P level (a P1 is equal to an A4).  

[wojciech]

Hi @collinq,

Thank you very much for coming back to me.

I do understand a difference between A and P SKU, and the fact that P SKU offers more.

However, I don't understand why I can embed PBI reports from A SKU workspace into SharePoint. On your point around O365 integration, this should not work with A SKU, should it?

Thank you,

WJ 

[collinq]

Hey @wojciech ,

You can embed with either an A or a P sku.  Either one works for embedding.  The big difference is that the A sku is scaleable - perhaps that is what you are encountering - that users are using it and all appears well. BUT, more users hitting that embedded product might be driving up the usage, and therefore the cost, of the A sku?  

Normally, I would advise that you use the P sku since it is an established monthly cost and you won't have a sudden shocking increase one day/week/month.

In thinking through a number of different scenarios in my mind I guess it it theoretical that if you have somebody closing monitoring the A sku and pausing it now and then that might be a cheaper license but you do have to pay to have somebody babysitting it all the time.

[wojciech]

Hi  @collinq ,

This is very useful, thank you.

Can I just clarify the point on A SKU scalability?

If I buy A1 SKU which costs in UK £0.785/h and then run it 24/7 for the whole month, I should end up roughly with a bill of £573. Even if the A1 capacity is overutilized I should not face to pay more than £573, but PBI performance would get throttled instead. Is my thinking correct?

Thanks for your continuous support, much appreciated.

Wojciech

[collinq]

Hey @wojciech ,

You are correct that you will have limited functionality if you just have an A sku.  And, an A1 SKU itself is limiting in that it is only 3 GB memory.  A P1 SKU is the equal to an A4 SKU.  So, you are limited not just in functionality but in power/speed.

I will assume that your hourly pricing is correct and then your monthly fee would be the 573 per month.  HOWEVER, you have to make absolutely sure that you have the scaling/capacity all turned off.  The A sku's are designed for auto-scaling and so as soon as it hits capcity, for so many seconds long, it upgrades to the next level and so on and so on.  So, the huge risk here is that your pricing model gets wiped out if you have a runaway process that takes over all the capacity.

[R1k91]

with A capacity you won't pay more than the hourly cost but you could end up with blocking errors in case you'll over use it. we've a customer that after some years on A2 had to scale up to A3 because the amount of RAM available in A2 was not enough to refresh its datasets.

you can move from one tier to another with a click, this is what "scalability" means.

[wojciech]

Makes perfect sense.

I feel like I'm taking advantage of you here, but could you confirm for me PBI licensing in conjunction with A SKU.

My testing shows that free users can consume content from a workspace backed up by A SKU, however MS documentation suggests that both content creators and consumers must have PRO license?

Thanks a lot,

WJ

[R1k91 · Accepted solution]

My testing shows that free users can consume content from a workspace backed up by A SKU

 true, from PBI perspective that workspace is a premium workspace therefore free users can come in.

MS documentation suggests that both content creators and consumers must have PRO license?

I would say true again AFAIK. accessing power bi portal works for free users but it's not covered by free license.