Forum Discussion
Windows Authentication user name in Power BI Service?
Hi SamTrexler,
1. That username is set up at configuration time and is the same for all users running a report or dashboard that connects to a data feed that needs the gateway, correct? That is, it is not dynamic or user-based, and can't/doesn't pass or respond to the user's login credentials - it only uses the credentials set up for the gateway?
Assume that you are using the enterprise gateway, when you create a data source under the gateway, the specified credential is sent to access data source. The credential can be the same as the user run the report and dashboard or not, as long as the credential has the permission to access the data source. If you publish the .pbix file to service, when you configure data source in gateway, server name and database name need to be the same as defined in .pbix file.
2. That may be okay, but we'll have to figure a way to handle different users' access. For example, we don't want the data feed to expose financial tables if the user shouldn't have access to them. So we may need to provide different data feeds for different groups of users, and find a way to limit which feeds each user can see and try to use based on their role. Ideally, they should have one login that gets them access to all the reports & dashboards allocated to them, and they can't get to a table in a data feed that they shouldn't be abe to see. (And, of course, it should work if they use Excel, Power BI Desktop or Power BI Service or Mobile to connect to the data source.)
In your scenario, I would suggest you configure Row-Level Security to restrict data access for given users. See: Row-level security (RLS) with Power BI (Preview).
Best Regards,
Qiuyun Yu
Hi, v-qiuyu-msft. Thanks, that's what I needed to know.
And thanks for the link concerning RLS. Last I looked it was only available for Analysis Services, which we aren't using (yet). It looks great. We may not be able to use it with an OData feed since that doesn't suport DirectQuery, but maybe there's another connection we can use thatsatisfies our requirements.
And I definitely need to experiment with groups and roles, that looks like it applies very well to what we need to do.
Thanks for the help.
Sam
Hi @Qiuyun_Yu ,
As per the conversation i understood that Power BI service connects to the datasource using the credentials provided in datasource settings for windows authentication and basic authentication, it never uses logged in user credentials to connect to datasource. Let me know if i am wrong here.
If its true the what is the difference between chising basc authentication and windows authentication here? i am talking in perspective of which credentials powerbi uses to connect to datasource.
As per my understanding when i use windows authentication in my connection, application uses logged in user crdentials to connect to datasource but here if powerbi service is using the static credentials provided at design time, do you think its defeting the concept of windows authentication. Can you please share your thoughts on this.