Refresh of pbix and at app.powerbi.com

[Orstenpowers]

Dear all,

I am lost and stuck.

I have several pbix files of which some are uploaded to app.powerbi.com.

Up to now my workflow is as follows:

First I need to manually update my pbix files by pushing “Refresh”.

Afterwards I switch to app.powerbi.com and again manually upload the pbix files that I had refreshed before.

I read a lot and understood there is way to automate this at least a bit.

However, many questions remain.

1. Is it possible to refresh the pbix files automatically? Or do I always need to open & update it manually?
2. How do I implement the update at app.powerbi.com? Does it have access to the pbix files and can update it?
3. Do these regular refreshs/ updates only work when the PC is online or is there any way that it also works in case of absence, vacation, illness etc.?

My main problem is that I am a f…. stupid PBI user, but when it comes to – let’s say – technical aspects, I am lost.

Hopefully someone out of this great community can help me…

[audreygerred · Accepted solution]

First, you are a CURIOUS Power BI user, definitely not stupid!

1. Yes, in Power BI Service you can schedule a refresh. If all of your data sources are cloud sources, you will not need a gateway - if they are on-prem, you will need a gateway

2. Yes, when you publish to service service knows where the data sources are and refreshes the data (if clod sources you generally don't need a gateway, if you used on-prem you will need a gateway)

3. It will automatically work so long as the sources are in the cloud or if you are using a standard gateway that is on a VM and always running (if you need a gateway and you used a personal gateway, your computer will need to be on and and personal gateway will need to be on in order to refresh in service, so I would suggest an standard gateway if you do need a gateway)

Power BI Gateway | Microsoft Power BI

Guidance for deploying a data gateway for the Power BI service - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

[Orstenpowers]

Hi @audreygerred and thanks for your prompt reply!

What does "cloud sources" mean? Also files that are stored in Dropbox, Onedrive, Sharepoint?

As I want to have a solution that will work in case of absence, I do need a standard gateway, correct?

Best regards

OrstenPowers

[audreygerred]

Cloud sources are generally sources that are not on-prem (i.e. Azure Synapse, OneDrive, SharePoint, etc.). For example, if you are connecting to an Excel file and use the Excel connector, this is on-prem, on your computer. When I want to connect to an Excel file, I save it to SharePoint and use the web connector. 

[Orstenpowers]

Hi @audreygerred ,

Thank you!
As I learned this morning from our local IT, we will not store the relevant files in Cloud, but on our local servers only.

As far as I understand, for these on-prem files we will need a standard gateway that is on a VM and always running.

For the moment, thank you!