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SQL Azure connector with Azure AD Auth

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Neil Palmer on 12 Oct 2015 18:02:41

Update the SQL Azure connector to use Azure AD Auth. This will allow row level security in the database to be used with PowerBI.

It would be great to have PowerBI pass through user credentials to the database so that data can be kept secure.

Administrator on 10 Jan 2018 02:01:06

This feature has shipped in the January 2018 update for Power BI Desktop. Please refer to the official announcement for more details: https://powerbi.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/power-bi-desktop-january-2018-feature-summary/#AADauth

Comments (63)
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Mike Wolf on 05 Jul 2020 22:39:21

RE: SQL Azure connector with Azure AD Auth

Any updates on support for Azure AD with Power BI?

I don't understand the issue, this is a connection string change, surely this is something that can be easily accommodated.

How can Microsoft's Power Business Intelligence solution not work with Microsoft's Best in Class data and authentication management solution, this is a big issue to me as I can't allow connections to my data any other way.

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Mike Wolf on 05 Jul 2020 22:39:21

RE: SQL Azure connector with Azure AD Auth

Is there some work-around (i.e. using ODBC connections) that I don't know about that other community users have used? I would appreciate any feedback.

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sadf sdf on 05 Jul 2020 22:38:43

RE: SQL Azure connector with Azure AD Auth

Have asked Miguel (the product owner for this area) to take a look.
Thanks

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Murray Foxcroft on 05 Jul 2020 22:38:34

RE: SQL Azure connector with Azure AD Auth

As stated in a previous comment, having to use SQL authentication means we need to roll our own row and table level security.

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Peter Phipps on 05 Jul 2020 22:38:26

RE: SQL Azure connector with Azure AD Auth

yeah. Spent quite a lot of time setting up Azure AD including an Azure AD group so users could use Windows authentication to the database from SQL Management Studio only to find that when they use Power BI Desktop they have to use SQL Authentication

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Rudy Cortembert on 05 Jul 2020 22:38:23

RE: SQL Azure connector with Azure AD Auth

Excel Power Query has the same limitation...

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Rudy Cortembert on 05 Jul 2020 22:38:14

RE: SQL Azure connector with Azure AD Auth

Idea created in Oct-2015, almost 200 votes and not implemented yet?!?
It's a MUST HAVE!

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Nonkel Dirk on 05 Jul 2020 22:34:23

RE: SQL Azure connector with Azure AD Auth

It is possible to connect to Azure SQL DB using AAD though ODBC 13.1 . But this requires a gateway for data refresh.
So yes, please update Power Bi Azure SQL DB and DWH connectivity to support AD Universal Authentication, like other tools (e.g. SSMS) do.

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Power BI User on 05 Jul 2020 22:28:07

RE: SQL Azure connector with Azure AD Auth

Hard to connect and configure azure to use AD Auth

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Melissa Coates on 05 Jul 2020 22:26:51

RE: SQL Azure connector with Azure AD Auth

We would like to utilize Power BI to connect to Azure SQL DB via AAD, in DirectQuery mode, with RLS implemented in the SQL DB for implementing row-level security. Objectives here are (a) manage RLS in the source so it's reusable & consistent across numerous datasets & reports rather than contained in one single Power BI file, (b) utilize DirectQuery because dataset is larger than the 1GB limit for importing/refreshing in Power BI, and (c) utilize Azure Active Directory for authentication so users don't have to keep track of a separate ID/PW.