PowerBI losing related tables in "Expand" steps

[csette1329]

Has anyone seen this issue? PostgreSQL → Power Query relationships suddenly disappear after tunneling change

I’m investigating a scenario and would like to hear from anyone who has experienced something similar.

Context:

• PostgreSQL database with well-defined foreign keys and table relationships
• Power BI / Power Query connected directly to this PostgreSQL source
• Because the relationships existed in the database, Power Query automatically exposed the Expand option with the related tables/columns (as expected)

The problem:
After the client migrated from a PuTTY SSH tunnel (used for testing) to a Windows VM using PowerShell SSH port forwarding (production), every Power Query step that expanded related tables broke.

Symptoms:

• Power Query throws errors saying the related columns no longer exist
• When checking the database from Power Query, those columns and relationships simply disappear
• Client insists no tables, views, or constraints were modified on PostgreSQL
• Only the connection method changed (PuTTY → PowerShell port forwarding on port 5000 → bastion → RDS)

Anyone has any suspictions?

Thank you.

[v-achippa]

Hi @csette1329,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Fabric Community.

Thank you @MattiaFratello and @dinesh_7780 for the prompt response. 

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided by the user's for the issue worked? or let us know if you need any further assistance.

Thanks and regards,

Anjan Kumar Chippa

[v-achippa]

Hi @csette1329,

We wanted to kindly follow up to check if the solution provided by the user's for the issue worked? or let us know if you need any further assistance.

Thanks and regards,

Anjan Kumar Chippa

[dinesh_7780 · Accepted solution]

Hi @csette1329 ,

The disappearance of relationships in Power Query after switching tunneling methods is usually not about PostgreSQL itself but about how Power BI interprets metadata through the driver/connection. The SSH tunneling change can alter which driver is used, how schemas are exposed, or whether foreign key metadata is surfaced.

Try below workarounds.

1. Explicitly define relationships in Power BI’s Model view instead of relying on automatic detection. This bypasses the Expand dependency.

2. Use views in PostgreSQL that join related tables, so Power BI doesn’t need to infer relationships.

3. If possible, revert to the same driver/tunnel setup used in testing (PuTTY) and compare connection strings side by side.

Note: The database schema is fine, but the metadata exposure through the connector changed when you switched tunneling methods. Double-check driver versions, schema resolution, and user permissions. If automatic relationships don’t reappear, you may need to manually define them in Power BI.

Refer below links.

https://community.fabric.microsoft.com/t5/Desktop/Power-BI-DirectQuery-to-AWS-RDS-PostgreSQL-via-SSH...

If my response as resolved your issue please mark it as solution and give kudos.

[MattiaFratello]

Hi @csette1329, 

the only thing that come up in my mind is privileges.

The user must have REFERENCES privileges on the related tables.

If this helped please feel free to mark it as a solution and give kudos 👍