Microsoft Power BI (File) - 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 | Power BI Desktop |
| Tool Version | 2.x |
| Tool Web Site | https://powerbi.microsoft.com/ |
| Supported Methodology | [Business Intelligence] Data Store (Physical Data Model, OLAP Dimensional Model), BI Design (RDBMS Source, Dimensional Target, Transformation Lineage, Expression Parsing), BI Report (Relational Source, Dimensional Source, Expression Parsing, Report Structure) via PBIX PBIT File |
| Data Profiling |  |
| Incremental Harvesting | |
| Multi-Model Harvesting | |
| Remote Repository Browsing for Model Selection | |
SPECIFICATIONS
Tool: Microsoft / Power BI Desktop version 2.x via PBIX PBIT File
See https://powerbi.microsoft.com/
Metadata: [Business Intelligence] Data Store (Physical Data Model, OLAP Dimensional Model), BI Design (RDBMS Source, Dimensional Target, Transformation Lineage, Expression Parsing), BI Report (Relational Source, Dimensional Source, Expression Parsing, Report Structure)
Component: MicrosoftPowerBIFile 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 Business Intelligence (BI) reporting metadata from Microsoft Desktop Power BI files in the following formats:
- PBIX file format:
The PBIX file format is the Power BI native file format which may contain both metadata and data (in case of import mode instead of direct query). Therefore PBIX files can be very large.
A PBIX file is in fact a package (formatted like XSLX) which contains files and folders such as the Report folder with Content Types, Data Mashup, Data Model, Diagram State, Metadata, Security Bindings, Settings, and Version.
A PBIX file can also be generated from the Power BI service as follows:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/create-reports/service-export-to-pbix
- PBIT file format:
The PBIT file format is the Power BI Template format which contains only metadata and is therefore smaller.
A PBIT file can be generated by opening the PBIX file in Power BI Desktop, then click on File > Export > Power BI Template.
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
- PBIX file format:
The PBIX file format currently has no public SDK or API to allow inspecting the structure of the report, the tables it contains, and detailed lineage to sources.
The PBIX file format usually does not expose the report Tabular Object Model (TOM) metadata definition.
Recent versions do not expose metadata in readable format, and contain mostly binary data.
As a result, the import bridge cannot import some of the report metadata (e.g. calculated tables, columns, measures expressed in DAX language).
- PBIT file format:
The PBIT file format usually contains the report Tabular Object Model (TOM) metadata definition, leading to more complete report lineage.
The PBIT file format may not contain the report Tabular Object Model (TOM) metadata definition when AnalysisServices is used as a source.
Each Table Query in PowerQuery M language is written slightly differently in PBIT format than how they appear in the Power BI Desktop tool.
There is no public API to convert PBIX files into PBIT template format automatically.
- Tabular Object Model (TOM):
When parsing the Tabular Object Model (TOM), the import 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)
The source metadata does not contain sufficient information about connections to allow stitching to AnalysisServices cubes.
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 | ||
| File | Select the Power BI Report file to import in PBIX or PBIT format. | FILE |
|
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