Query on authentication

[Vinay96]

Hi Team,

I am using Power BI Desktop and Power Bi Report builder for reporting and the data source is Synapse, for the development I am using the SQL passwrd for authentication, Later when I publish the report to Service I am configuring the Gateway connection with Azure AD SSO. May I know will the SQL passwrds will be overwritten by the gateway connection in the Power Bi Service? Wanted to understand how it works. Please advise.  

[v-zhangti · Accepted solution]

Hi, @Vinay96 

Yes, the SQL passwords will be overwritten by the gateway connection in the Power BI Service when you configure Azure AD SSO. This is because Azure AD SSO enables single sign-on to the data gateway to access cloud data sources that rely on Azure AD based authentication. When you configure Azure AD SSO on the on-premises data gateway for an applicable data source, queries run under the Azure AD identity of the user that interacts with the Power BI report.

This means that you don’t need to store or manage SQL passwords in Power BI, and you can leverage the security and convenience of Azure AD authentication. However, before you can use Azure AD SSO, you need to enable it in the Power BI Admin portal as a tenant-level setting.

For reference:

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) SSO - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Overview of single sign-on for on-premises data gateways - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

Power BI - Connecting to Snowflake with Virtual Network Data Gateway (microsoft.com)

Best Regards,

Community Support Team _Charlotte

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