Skip to content

Microsoft Power BI

DataKitchen provides an agent that lets you monitor Microsoft Power BI dataset refreshes.

Power BI overview

Power BI lets you connect to unrelated sources of data, visualize what's important, and share analytic outcomes. This workflow includes routine dataset refreshes to ensure the data in your Power BI reports and dashboards is up-to-date. During a refresh, Power BI must query the underlying data sources, load the source data into datasets, and update any visualizations in your reports or dashboards.

In Observability, your Power BI environment is represented by batch pipelines with distinct runs, where a run represents a single data refresh. Both a data refresh and a batch pipeline run include changes in status, relative timings, and tasks. Observability also allows you to monitor the reports that Power BI generates during a dataset refresh through the dataset component write operation.

Deploy

Prerequisites

  • If you prefer to use a service principal or OAuth2 method of authentication, a client secret is required. For a walkthrough, see Create an Azure Service Principal.
  • Docker with Docker Compose. If not installed, see Get Docker .
  • An API key for this agent — see step 5 below to create one.
  • Enterprise Access to the agent's private Docker repository. Login with the provided credentials using docker login or through the Docker Compose application.

Steps

  1. Log into Observability and select a project.
  2. Select Integrations from the menu, then click View Available Agents.
  3. Select the tool from the list.
  4. Under Step 1: Prerequisites, verify any requirements for the tool have been completed.
  5. In the New API Key section, create an API key for this agent.
    1. Enter a name, expiration, and description.
    2. Configure the key to send events, manage entities, and transmit heartbeat.
    3. Click Create Key and Continue.

  6. Under Step 2: Configuration, fill in any remaining variables as needed.

    • Required values are noted by an asterisk.
    • Some values are pre-populated with project-specific configuration details.

  7. Click Continue.

  8. Under Step 3: Deploy, enter the agent's Image Tag (format: vx.x.x).
  9. Select Docker as the Deployment Location.
  10. Click Download Script.
  11. Save the file anywhere it can be accessed by Docker.

  12. Open a terminal and run the deployment script:

    chmod +x deploy-agent-power_bi.sh
./deploy-agent-power_bi.sh

Prerequisites

  • If you prefer to use a service principal or OAuth2 method of authentication, a client secret is required. For a walkthrough, see Create an Azure Service Principal.
  • A Kubernetes cluster with kubectl access.
  • An API key for this agent — see step 5 below to create one.
  • Enterprise Access to the agent's private Docker repository. Login with the provided credentials using docker login.

Steps

  1. Log into Observability and select a project.
  2. Select Integrations from the menu, then click View Available Agents.
  3. Select the tool from the list.
  4. Under Step 1: Prerequisites, verify any requirements for the tool have been completed.
  5. In the New API Key section, create an API key for this agent.
    1. Enter a name, expiration, and description.
    2. Configure the key to send events, manage entities, and transmit heartbeat.
    3. Click Create Key and Continue.

  6. Under Step 2: Configuration, fill in any remaining variables as needed.

    • Required values are noted by an asterisk.
    • Some values are pre-populated with project-specific configuration details.

  7. Click Continue.

  8. Under Step 3: Deploy, enter the agent's Image Tag (format: vx.x.x).
  9. Select Kubernetes as the Deployment Location.
  10. Click Download Script.
  11. Copy the script to a machine with access to the Kubernetes cluster.

  12. Open a terminal and run the deployment script:

    chmod +x deploy-agent-power_bi.sh
./deploy-agent-power_bi.sh

Follows the steps in Microsoft's Deploy a container instance in Azure , with notes specific to Observability agents.

Prerequisites

  • If you prefer to use a service principal or OAuth2 method of authentication, a client secret is required. For a walkthrough, see Create an Azure Service Principal.
  • An API key for this agent. Create and manage keys from the API Keys page. Configure the key to send events, manage entities, and transmit heartbeat.
  • Enterprise Access to the agent's private Docker repository.

Steps

  1. Sign into your Azure portal and create a container instance.
    1. On the Azure portal homepage, select Create a resource.
    2. Select Containers.
    3. Under Container Instances, click Create.

  2. On the Create container instance page, under the Basics tab, fill in the following:

    • Resource group: Use an existing resource group or create a new one.
    • Container name: Enter a name for the container (e.g., observabilityagent).
    • Image source: Select Other registry.
    • Image: Enter the full name of the agent's Docker image (e.g., datakitchen/dataops-observability-agents:v2.0.0).
    • Image type: Select Private and enter the provided Docker credentials. Enterprise
    • Update the OS type and Size if needed. Leave all other values as default.

  3. Click Next: Networking.

  4. Under the Networking tab, select Public, Private, or None for the networking type, depending on your organization's needs.
  5. Click Next: Advanced.

  6. Under the Advanced tab, fill in the following:

    • Restart Policy: Set to On failure.
    • Environment variables: Enter all agent configuration variables. Set Mark as secure to Yes for any API or token values.
    • Leave all other settings as default.

  7. Click Review + create, then click Create.

After deploying, navigate to Resource groups > {your resource group} > {your container name}. A Running status indicates the agent is sending events to Observability.

Tip

To test the status of your container, copy the FQDN from the container overview and open it in your browser. Then check Containers > Logs for the HTTP GET request, confirming the system is active.

Configuration variables

Variable Required? Description Value
AGENT_KEY Yes Assigns the identifier of the agent. Appears in the UI on the Integrations page. production-project-agent
DK_API_URL Yes The base API URL for the Observability instance. Enterprise: https://api.datakitchen.io
Docker/minikube: http://<minikube_ip>:8082/api
Docker/localhost: http://host.docker.internal:8082/api
K8s/minikube: http://observability-ui.datakitchen.svc.cluster.local:8082/api
DK_API_KEY Yes An API key for the Observability project. A key unique to this agent is recommended. Provides authorization for events and agent heartbeat.

Agent-specific variables

Variable Required? Description Value
AGENT_TYPE Yes Identifier for the agent. Retain the default value. power_bi
TENANT_ID Yes The ID of your Microsoft tenant that hosts your Power BI instance. Found in your Power BI Azure app registration Overview.
CLIENT_ID Yes The Application (client) ID associated to your Power BI Azure app registration .
CLIENT_SECRET Yes, if authenticating with service principal The client secret Value created during the setup of the service principal.
USERNAME Yes, if authenticating with OAuth2 A username to access Power BI.
PASSWORD Yes, if authenticating with OAuth2 A password to access Power BI.
GROUPS Optional A list of specific Power BI groups (workspaces) to monitor. Format: a comma-separated list of group names. If not defined, the agent observes all Power BI groups. '["group 1", "group 2"]'
PERIOD Optional Cadence at which the agent polls for dataset refresh activity, in seconds. Default: 5.0
DATASETS_FETCHING_PERIOD Optional Cadence at which the agent polls for new datasets, in seconds. Default: 15.0