Power BI Connector Setup

Applies to: Power BI Premium Per User (PPU), Power BI Premium Capacity

This guide will walk you through how to set up a Power BI connection in the Datalogz Control Tower using the service principal method for authentication. This Microsoft's recommended method for running an application in an automated way, without user input.

Setup Overview

Below is the order of operations for completing the Power BI connector setup

  1. Create an Azure app registration

  2. Create an Azure security group

  3. Add the Azure app registration to the Azure security group

  4. Add the Azure security group to the Power BI tenant

  5. Create a Power BI connector in the Datalogz Control Tower

Setup Detail

1

Register an Azure app

  1. In the Azure portal search for App registrations

  2. Click New registration

  3. Create a user-facing display name for your application.

  4. Under Who can use this application or access this API? select Accounts in this organizational directory only (Single tenant)

  5. Click Register

    1. Note: The Application (client) ID and the Directory (tenant) ID values in the Overview screen of the registered application will be needed for the Power BI Connector setup in the Datalogz Control Tower.

  6. Under the Manage section of your registered application, select Certificates & secrets

  7. Under Client secret select New client secret

  8. Enter a Description for the client secret

  9. In the Expires leave the default set to Recommended: 180 days (6 months)

    1. Note: You can optionally set the expiry duration to be shorter or longer. Note however that once the client secret expires you'll have to create a new secret and re-authenticate the Datalogz Control Tower Power BI connector configuration.

  10. Click Add

  11. Copy the Value

    1. Note: The generated value will be our Application Secret Value used in the Datalogz Control Tower connector setup. Client secret values cannot be viewed, except for immediately after creation. Be sure to save the secret when created before leaving the page.

2

Create an Azure security group

  1. In the Azure portal search for Groups

  2. Select New group

  3. Under Group type select Security

    1. Note: Security groups are used to give group members access to applications, resources and assign licenses. Group members can be users, devices, service principals, and other groups.

  4. Enter a Group name

    1. Note: The group name will be needed to complete the Power BI tenant admin configuration.

  5. Under Members select No members selected

  6. Search for the name of the registered application, select the check box next to the name and then click Select

3

Add the Azure app registration to the Azure security group

  1. In the Azure portal search for Groups

  2. Select All groups

  3. In the Search box type the name of the security group created in step 2

  4. Select the group name

  5. Under Manage select Members and then select Add members

  6. Search for the name of the registered application created in step 1

  7. Click the checkbox next to the registered application and click Select

  8. You should now see the registered application listed under Direct members

4

Add the Azure security group to the Power BI tenant

  1. From the Power BI admin portal navigate to the Tenant settings section

  2. Under Developer settings

    1. Find Service principals can use Fabric APIs

    2. Select Specific security groups

    3. Enter the Azure security group created above

    4. Click Apply

  3. Under Admin API settings

    1. Find Service principals can access read-only admin APIs

      1. Select Specific security groups

      2. Enter the Azure security group created above

      3. Click Apply

    2. Find Service principals can access admin APIs used for updates

      1. Select Specific security groups

      2. Enter the Azure security group created above

      3. Click Apply

    3. Find Enhance admin APIs responses with detailed metadata

      1. Select Specific security groups

      2. Enter the Azure security group created above

      3. Click Apply

    4. Find Enhance admin APIs responses with DAX and mashup expressions

      1. Select Specific security groups

      2. Enter the Azure security group created above

      3. Click Apply

  4. Note: Power BI tenant configuration changes can take 15 minutes or longer to be applied.

5

Create a Power BI connector in the Datalogz Control Tower

  1. Log in to your Datalogz account

  2. Navigate to your organizations connectors

  3. Select New Connector

  4. Select Power BI

  5. Select Connect using a Service Principal (SP) and click Connect

  6. Enter the following information obtained in the previous steps

    1. Directory (Tenant) ID

    2. Application (Client) ID

    3. Application Secret Value

  7. Click Connect

  8. Enter a Connector Name

  9. Select the snapshot frequency, e.g., Weekly or Daily

  10. Select the kinds of workspaces you'd like to monitor, e.g., Premium, Shared, and/or Personal

  11. Select if you'd like to capture Activity and Capacity metadata as well.

    1. Note: For Capacity monitoring see the additional setup below

  12. Click Next

  13. Click Confirm and Finish

The additional capacity monitoring setup is optional, but highly recommended as it provides a way to monitor your Fabric capacity usage with the registered application created above.

1

Capcity Monitoring

  1. From the Power BI admin portal navigate to the Tenant settings section

  2. Under Integration settings

    1. Find Semantic Model Execute Queries REST API

      1. Select Specific security groups

      2. Enter the Azure security group created above

      3. Click Apply

        1. Note: When enabled, users in the organization can query semantic models by using Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) through Power BI REST APIs.

2

Install the Microsoft Fabric Capacity App

  1. Navigate to the Apps section on the side bar of Power BI.

  2. Search for the Microsoft Fabric Capacity App and add it.

  3. Navigate to the Microsoft Fabric Capacity Metrics workspace that is created with the app.

  4. Go to Manage Access and grant Admin permissions to the Azure security group

  5. Run the app for the first time to start data flowing into the semantic model.

    1. Note: The ID of the dataset/semantic model for the Fabric Capacity Metrics will be needed to complete the setup for Capacity monitoring in the Datalogz Control Tower Power BI connector.

      1. This can be found in the URL when viewing the semantic model in your web browser.

The full documentation for the Microsoft Fabric Capacity App can be found here.

For questions or assistance with this setup, please contact Datalogz support support@datalogz.io

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