Microsoft Power BI Dataflow (File) - Beta - Import
Bridge Requirements
This bridge:requires Internet access to https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ and/or other tool sites to download drivers into <TDC_HOME>/data/download/MIMB/.
Bridge Specifications
| Vendor | Microsoft |
| Tool Name | Azure Power BI |
| Tool Version | 2.x |
| Tool Web Site | https://powerbi.microsoft.com/ |
| Supported Methodology | [Business Intelligence] BI Design (RDBMS Source, OLAP Source, Dimensional Target, Transformation Lineage, Expression Parsing) via JSON File |
| Data Profiling |  |
| Incremental Harvesting | |
| Multi-Model Harvesting | |
| Remote Repository Browsing for Model Selection | |
SPECIFICATIONS
Tool: Microsoft / Azure Power BI version 2.x via JSON File
See https://powerbi.microsoft.com/
Metadata: [Business Intelligence] BI Design (RDBMS Source, OLAP Source, Dimensional Target, Transformation Lineage, Expression Parsing)
Component: MicrosoftPowerBIDataflowFile version 11.2.0
DISCLAIMER
This import bridge requires internet access to download third-party libraries:
- such as https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ to download open source third-party libraries,
- and more sites for other third-party software such as database specific JDBC drivers.
The downloaded third-party libraries are stored into $HOME/data/download/MIMB/
- If HTTPS fails, the import bridge then tries with HTTP.
- If a proxy is used to access internet, you must configure that proxy in the JRE (see the -j option in the Miscellaneous parameter).
- If the import bridge does not have full access to internet, that $HOME/data/download/MIMB/ directory can be copied from another server with internet access where the command $HOME/bin/MIMB.sh (or .bat) -d can be used to download all third-party libraries used by all bridges at once.
By running this import bridge, you hereby acknowledge responsibility for the license terms and any potential security vulnerabilities from these downloaded third-party software libraries.
OVERVIEW
This import bridge imports a Microsoft Power BI Dataflow from a file in JSON format.
REQUIREMENTS
n/a
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
n/a
LIMITATIONS
Refer to the current general known limitations at MIMB Known Limitations or bundled in Documentation/ReadMe/MIMBKnownLimitations.html
Dataflows may contain linked (referenced) tables, which metadata is defined in a source Dataflow.
Such tables do not define their columns, the columns are only defined in the source Dataflow.
The bridge relies on a PowerQuery M language parser to understand the lineage of each Table Query.
Some concepts in the PowerQuery language may not be well supported:
- some functions (data access functions, data manipulation functions)
- complex queries that rely on sub-queries, parameters, or custom/lambda functions
- queries that rely on other scripting languages (Kusto, Python, R)
SUPPORT
Provide a troubleshooting package with:
- the debug log (can be set in the UI or in conf/conf.properties with MIR_LOG_LEVEL=6)
- the metadata backup if available (can be set in the Miscellaneous parameter with -backup option, although this common option is not implemented on all bridges for technical reasons).
Bridge Parameters
| Parameter Name | Description | Type | Values | Default | Scope |
| Dataflow File | Select the Power BI Dataflow file to import in JSON format. You can obtain the Dataflow model JSON file in different ways: Using Power BI Web UI: - connect to Power BI Service using a web browser and such URL: https://app.powerbi.com/ - navigate to a Workspace (Group) you have access to. - select a Dataflow, and choose the contextual menu option "Export .json" to download the Dataflow model as a local file. Using Azure Portal Web UI: - connect to Azure Portal using a web browser and such URL: https://portal.azure.com/ - navigate to Storage Accounts - select your Storage Account - select Containers - select the Container - navigate the file system to find the Workspace folder and Dataflow CDM folder - select and download the model.json file located at the root of the Dataflow folder Using the Azure Storage Explorer desktop application: - download and install the application from https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/storage/storage-explorer/ - start the Azure Storage Explorer desktop application - connect to your Azure Storage Account - navigate the Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS) Gen 2 file system to find the Power BI Workspace folder - each Dataflow corresponds to a CDM folder under the Workspace folder - select the Dataflow folder and download the model.json file located at the root of the Dataflow folder - the folder structure is displayed by Azure Storage Explorer desktop for example as /StorageAccounts/CompanyAccount (ADLSGen2)/Blob Containers/powerbi/WorkspaceFolder/DataflowFolder/model.json Using a ADLS command line client and a direct ADLS URL such as: https://<account>.dfs.core.windows.net/<filesystem>/<path>/model.json |
FILE | *.json | Mandatory | |
| Miscellaneous | INTRODUCTION Specify miscellaneous options starting with a dash and optionally followed by parameters, e.g. -connection.cast MyDatabase1="MICROSOFT SQL SERVER" Some options can be used multiple times if applicable, e.g. -connection.rename NewConnection1=OldConnection1 -connection.rename NewConnection2=OldConnection2; As the list of options can become a long string, it is possible to load it from a file which must be located in ${MODEL_BRIDGE_HOME}\data\MIMB\parameters and have the extension .txt. In such case, all options must be defined within that file as the only value of this parameter, e.g. ETL/Miscellaneous.txt JAVA ENVIRONMENT OPTIONS -java.memory <Java Memory's maximum size> (previously -m) 1G by default on 64bits JRE or as set in conf/conf.properties, e.g. -java.memory 8G -java.memory 8000M -java.parameters <Java Runtime Environment command line options> (previously -j) This option must be the last one in the Miscellaneous parameter as all the text after -java.parameters is passed "as is" to the JRE, e.g. -java.parameters -Dname=value -Xms1G The following option must be set when a proxy is used to access internet (this is critical to access https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ and exceptionally a few other tool sites) in order to download the necessary third-party software libraries. Note: The majority of proxies are concerned with encrypting (HTTPS) the outside (of the company) traffic and trust the inside traffic that can access proxy over HTTP. In this case, an HTTPS request reaches the proxy over HTTP where the proxy HTTPS-encrypts it. -java.parameters -java.parameters -Dhttp.proxyHost=127.0.0.1 -Dhttp.proxyPort=3128 -Dhttp.proxyUser=user -Dhttp.proxyPassword=pass MODEL IMPORT OPTIONS -model.name <model name> Override the model name, e.g. -model.name "My Model Name" -prescript <script name> This option allows running a script before the bridge execution. The script must be located in the bin directory (or as specified with M_SCRIPT_PATH in conf/conf.properties), and have .bat or .sh extension. The script path must not include any parent directory symbol (..). The script should return exit code 0 to indicate success, or another value to indicate failure. For example: -prescript "script.bat arg1 arg2" -postscript <script name> This option allows running a script after successful execution of the bridge. The script must be located in the bin directory (or as specified with M_SCRIPT_PATH in conf/conf.properties), and have .bat or .sh extension. The script path must not include any parent directory symbol (..). The script should return exit code 0 to indicate success, or another value to indicate failure. For example: -postscript "script.bat arg1 arg2" -cache.clear Clears the cache before the import, and therefore will run a full import without incremental harvesting. If the model was not changed and the -cache.clear parameter is not used (incremental harvesting), then a new version will not be created. If the model was not changed and the -cache.clear parameter is set (full source import instead of incremental), then a new version will be created. -backup <directory> This option allows to save the bridge input metadata for further troubleshooting. The provided <directory> must be empty. The primary use of this option is for data store import bridges, in particular JDBC based database import bridges. Note that this option is not operational on some bridges including: - File based import bridges (as such input files can be used instead) - DI/BI repository import bridges (as the tool's repository native backup can be used instead) - Some API based import bridges (e.g. COM based) for technical reasons. DATA CONNECTION OPTIONS Data Connections are produced by the import bridges typically from ETL/DI and BI tools to refer to the source and target data stores they use. These data connections are then used by metadata management tools to connect them (metadata stitching) to their actual data stores (e.g. databases, file system, etc.) in order to produce the full end to end data flow lineage and impact analysis. The name of each data connection is unique by import model. The data connection names used within DI/BI design tools are used when possible, otherwise connection names are generated to be short but meaningful such as the database / schema name, the file system path, or Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). The following option allows to manipulate connections. These options replaces the legacy options -c, -cd, and -cs. -connection.cast ConnectionName=ConnectionType Casts a generic database connection (e.g. ODBC/JDBC) to a precise database type (e.g. ORACLE) for SQL Parsing, e.g. -connection.cast "My Database"="MICROSOFT SQL SERVER". The list of supported data store connection types includes: ACCESS APACHE CASSANDRA DB2/UDB DENODO GOOGLE BIGQUERY HIVE MYSQL NETEZZA ORACLE POSTGRESQL PRESTO REDSHIFT SALESFORCE SAP HANA SNOWFLAKE MICROSOFT SQL AZURE MICROSOFT SQL SERVER SYBASE SQL SERVER SYBASE AS ENTERPRISE TERADATA VECTORWISE HP VERTICA -connection.rename OldConnection=NewConnection Renames an existing connection to a new name, e.g. -connection.rename OldConnectionName=NewConnectionName Multiple existing database connections can be renamed and merged into one new database connection, e.g. -connection.rename MySchema1=MyDatabase -connection.rename MySchema2=MyDatabase -connection.split oldConnection.Schema1=newConnection Splits a database connection into one or multiple database connections. A single database connection can be split into one connection per schema, e.g. -connection.split MyDatabase All database connections can be split into one connection per schema, e.g. -connection.split * A database connection can be explicitly split creating a new database connection by appending a schema name to a database, e.g. -connection.split MyDatabase.schema1=MySchema1 -connection.map SourcePath=DestinationPath Maps a source path to destination path. This is useful for file system connections when different paths points to the same object (directory or file). On Hadoop, a process can write into a CSV file specified with the HDFS full path, but another process reads from a Hive table implemented (external) by the same file specified using a relative path with default file name and extension, e.g. -connection.map /user1/folder=hdfs://host:8020/users/user1/folder/file.csv On Linux, a given directory (or file) like /data can be referred to by multiple symbolic links like /users/john and /users/paul, e.g. -connection.map /data=/users/John -connection.map /data=/users/paul On Windows, a given directory like C:\data can be referred to by multiple network drives like M: and N:, e.g. -connection.map C:\data=M:\ -connection.map C:\data=N:\ -connection.casesensitive ConnectionName Overrides the default case insensitive matching rules for the object identifiers inside the specified connection, provided the detected type of the data store by itself supports this configuration (e.g. Microsoft SQL Server, MySql etc.), e.g. -connection.casesensitive "My Database" -connection.level AggregationLevel Specifies the aggregation level for the external connections, e.g.-connection.level catalog The list of the supported values: server catalog schema (default) MICROSOFT POWER BI OPTIONS -columns.notpropagated Do not propagate the columns discovered while parsing PowerQuery M script steps back to the source tables/files. -api.user Allow using Power BI Azure service regular (user mode) APIs, as opposed to Admin APIs. Note that detailed lineage metadata is not extracted in such case. -summarizePowerQuerySteps Allow summarizing PowerQuery data transformation steps, for direct source to target lineage relationships. |
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Bridge Mapping
Mapping information is not available