I recently created this simple Power BI desktop file that allows you to try out dynamic security with the new security relationship feature as described in this blog post. Some of these limitations differ slightly depending on the exact source you use. I see myself eventually . If tables or columns are removed from the underlying source, it might result in query failure upon refresh. Allowing multi-selection in filters can cause performance issues. You also might be able to view traces and diagnostic information that the underlying data sources emit. The ability to add custom columns in a direct query depends on the ability for the query to fold. Again, this approach commonly leads to poor performance. DirectQuery is feasible only when the underlying data source can provide interactive query results in less than five seconds for a typical aggregate query, and can handle the generated query load. When defining a relationship between columns of this type, Power BI will generate a source query with a join involving a cast. DirectQuery-enabled sources are primarily sources that can deliver good interactive query performance. In particular, don't use the default contains filter if you need an exact match. The Power Query Editor makes it easy to pre-aggregate data during import. You can then schedule data refresh, for example reimport the data every day. Design distributed tables: For Azure Synapse Analytics (formerly SQL Data Warehouse) sources, which leverage Massively Parallel Processing (MPP) architecture, consider configuring large fact-type tables as hash distributed, and dimension-type tables to replicate across all the compute nodes. I have a similar problem. It is also possible to show an Apply button on slicers and filters. Consider also indexed views that can pre-aggregate fact table data at a higher grain. When you create a report that uses a DirectQuery connection, follow this guidance: Consider using query reduction options: Power BI provides report options to send fewer queries, and to disable certain interactions that cause a poor experience if the resulting queries take a long time to run. The number of users that share the report and dashboard. I doubt it was caused by Desktop versionMaybe you could check the whole M query in Advanced Editor to find out if there are steps that are not supported in DQ mode. You can use multiple data sources in a DirectQuery model by using composite models. Creating the entire "payload" field as a column with type JSON is not the most efficient way to get just the "action" field, but this example is just to show the flexibility of read_json. Ensure required data transformations are materialized: For SQL Server relational database sources (and other relational database sources), computed columns can be added to tables. When delivering reports on volatile data sources, be sure to educate report users on the use of the Refresh button. To do so, in Power BI Desktop go to File > Options and settings > Options, and in the Preview features section, select the DirectQuery for Power BI datasets and Analysis Services checkbox to enable this preview feature. It's free to sign up and bid on jobs. When you connect to a data source like SQL Server and import data in Power BI Desktop, the following results occur: When you initially Get Data, each set of tables you select defines a query that returns a set of data. Making the switch to DirectQuery from Import mode: Click Edit Queries to open the Power Query Editor. When you store a scalar value in a variable, the behavior is intuitive and common to many other languages. It will hold only their metadata. You should use DirectQuery only for sources that can provide interactive query performance. Press Ctrl + C on your keyboard. Add indexes: Define appropriate indexeson tables or viewsto support the efficient retrieval of data for the expected report visual filtering and grouping. Find out more about the online and in person events happening in March! You can set the maximum number of connections DirectQuery opens for each underlying data source, which controls the number of queries concurrently sent to each data source. Limitations and implications of using DirectQuery. Materialize a date table: A common modeling requirement involves adding a date table to support time-based filtering. In particular, it's not possible to use a query with common table expressions, nor one that invokes stored procedures. This approach causes two queries to be sent to the underlying source: This approach generally works well if there are hundreds or thousands of categories, as in this example. Please mark my reply as solution. Different environments (such as Power BI, Power BI Premium, or Power BI Report Server) each can impose different throughput constraints. DirectQuery in Power BI offers the greatest benefits in the following scenarios: You can refresh models with imported data at most once per hour, more frequently with Power BI Pro or Power BI Premium subscriptions. Why now? The way to do this is: Open a new Power BI Desktop Application. I set up Dynamic Row Level Security for a report that uses a table from DataVerse as my security table (with email addresses). Keep measures simple: At least initially, it's recommended to limit measures to simple aggregates. If that query is complex, it might result in performance issues on every query sent. Power Query Editor defines the exact subselect queries. Avoid relationships on calculated columns. Specifically, the guidance is designed to help you determine whether DirectQuery is the appropriate mode for your model, and to improve the performance of your reports based on DirectQuery models. This situation also applies when you connect to the following sources, except there's no option to import the data: Power BI datasets, for example connecting to a Power BI dataset that's already published to the service, to author a new report over it. Performance issues or query failures can arise if the cardinality is large because of the one-million row limit. If the measures operate in a satisfactory manner, you can define more complex measures, but pay attention to performance. By default, datasets refresh every hour, but you can configure refresh between weekly and every 15 minutes as part of dataset settings. Then, if the measures are sufficiently responsive, you can experiment with more complex measures, but paying attention to the performance for each. Open SQL Server Profiler and examine the trace. You can control refresh frequency depending on how frequently the data changes and the importance of seeing the latest data. Data sources like SQL Server optimize away the references to the other columns. For example, you can add a row to the Product table to represent an unknown product, and then assign it an out-of-range key, like -1. To use the direct query feature, first, download the latest version of PBD. SQL Server Profiler displays all events from the current session. You can't use these statements in subqueries. The table below lists the upper limits of the active connections per data source for each Power BI environment. Every user sees the same data, unless row-level security is defined as part of the report. Remember that closing Power BI Desktop deletes the trace file. If you can identify a single sluggish visual on a page in Power BI Desktop, you can use Performance Analyzer to determine what queries Power BI Desktop sends to the underlying source. A DirectQuery model can be optimized in many ways, as described in the following bulleted list. Those queries might result in indexes not being used. A filter can only touch a table once. 1) Sales Must be Refreshed in Near real time so "Direct Query" 2) Sales Aggregate is once per week so "Import" (performance also required) 3) Both Date and Customer has relationship with both Sales and SalesAggregate tables so "Dual" because to support performance for DirectQuery (Sales) and Import (SalesAggregate) You have a project management You can preview a representation of the actual SQL query statement for a Power Query applied step, by selecting the View Native Query option. You can use your current Windows credentials or database credentials. Power BI doesn't natively support a uniqueidentifier datatype. Data sources like SQL Server optimize away the references to the other columns. This article helps you diagnose performance issues with Power BI DirectQuery data models you develop in Power BI Desktop or the Power BI service. There's some caching of results. One reason Power BI uses this pattern is so you can define a Power Query query to use a specific query statement. The source is a multidimensional source containing measures, such as SAP BW. The DirectQuery table is correctly folded (check bothValue.Metadata and the native query). . Update any necessary statistics in the source. Open Power BI file. Using variables in DAX makes the code much easier to write and read. Power BI uses the query as provided, without any attempt to rewrite it. Avoid use of bi-directional relationship filtering: Use of bi-directional relationship filtering can lead to query statements that don't perform well. It describes DirectQuery use cases, limitations, and guidance. Dataset settings Remember that you need gateway for any datasource which is located on-premises and Imported. A Composite model can integrate more than one DirectQuery source, and it can also include aggregations. You should start any diagnosis of performance issues in Power BI Desktop, rather than in the Power BI service or Power BI Report Server. The following columns are also of interest: To capture a trace to help diagnose a potential performance issue: Open a single Power BI Desktop session, to avoid the confusion of multiple workspace folders. The relationship columns contain product SKU (Stock-Keeping Unit) values. Unless the underlying data source uses SSO, a DirectQuery report always uses the same fixed credentials to connect to the source once it's published to the Power BI service. The time it takes to refresh the visual depends on the performance of the underlying data source. It can also involve data architects, and data warehouse and ETL developers. Switch off interaction between visuals: Cross-highlighting and cross-filtering interactions require queries be submitted to the underlying source. Did I answer your question ? The to column on relationships is commonly the primary key on the to table. However, the first query will return all categories from the underlying source, and then the top N are determined based on the returned results. Since many PostgreSQL are having similar issues, I would like to have an update from Microsoft what support Power BI offers for using DirectQuery with PostgreSQL databases. The examples in the paper are for SQL Server Analysis Services, but the fundamental points also apply to Power BI. Performance issues often depend on the performance level of the underlying data source. Now I added a custom column and want to see the result in the data view. There's a fixed limit of 1 million rows that can return in any single query to the underlying source.