Power BI Desktop

Connect Power BI Desktop to Delta Forge through the ODBC driver. Works for both Import and DirectQuery modes.

Syntax

Get Data > More... > Other > ODBC > DeltaForge

Description

## One-time setup 1. Install the Delta Forge ODBC Driver MSI (see `ODBC_INSTALL_WINDOWS`). 2. Open the **64-bit ODBC Data Source Administrator** and create a DSN named `DeltaForge`. Power BI Desktop is 64-bit; the 32-bit administrator does not register a DSN visible to it. 3. Save the password into the OS keychain via the DSN setup GUI's **Save password** toggle so you do not need to type it on every refresh. ## Connect from Power BI Desktop 1. **Get Data** -> **More...** -> **Other** -> **ODBC** -> **Connect**. 2. Pick `DeltaForge` from the **Data source name** dropdown. 3. Under **Credentials**, choose **Database** and enter username + password if you have not stored them in the keychain. 4. Browse the catalog tree in the navigator, select tables, and load. ## Custom SQL The **Advanced options** pane has a **SQL statement** box. A query pasted there bypasses the navigator and pulls a single shaped result set; useful for joining or filtering server-side rather than dragging tables into the model. ## Import vs. DirectQuery | Mode | What it does | When to pick | |---|---|---| | **Import** (default) | Pulls all rows into Power BI's local engine. Fast in interactive use; refresh refetches the full result. | Datasets that fit in memory and are refreshed on a schedule. | | **DirectQuery** | Every visual round-trips to Delta Forge. No local data. | Large datasets, or when fresh-by-the-second is required. | DirectQuery is gated on the driver reporting honest capabilities to Power Query (it does). If a particular operation is not pushable, Power BI falls back to a partial pushdown plus client-side computation. ## Scheduled refresh on Power BI Service The Power BI Service runs refreshes through the **On-premises Data Gateway**. Install the gateway on a Windows host, install the same Delta Forge ODBC Driver MSI on that host, register a matching DSN with the same name, and add a **DeltaForge** data source in the gateway admin UI. The Service then dispatches scheduled refreshes through the gateway, which uses the local DSN. ## Power Query custom connector A dedicated Power Query connector is under development and will eventually replace the generic ODBC route as the recommended path for Power BI users. Until it ships, the generic ODBC route documented above is the supported way to connect.

Examples

# Connection string assembled by Power BI when picking the DSN
DSN=DeltaForge;Uid=alice@example.com;Pwd=hunter2

# Driver-string form (no system DSN)
Driver={DeltaForge ODBC Driver};Server=https://df.example.com;Uid=alice@example.com;Pwd=hunter2;LoginTimeout=60

# Custom SQL (Advanced options) bypasses the navigator
SELECT * FROM analytics.marts.fact_orders WHERE order_date >= DATE '2026-01-01'

Pitfalls

• If the connection times out on cold-start deployments, raise the connect budget in the connection string: `LoginTimeout=60`. Power BI does not surface a way to set this in its UI.
• DirectQuery against a slow query produces a `Visual has exceeded the available resources` error. Cache the heavy join into an Import-mode table and use DirectQuery only for the dimensional drill-down.
• When the gateway service runs as `NETWORK SERVICE`, it cannot read user-profile paths. If your DSN references files on disk, place them under a path the service account can read.

See Also

• ODBC_INSTALL_WINDOWS
• ODBC_CONN_TIMEOUTS
• ODBC_BI_EXCEL
• ODBC_TS_DIAG_CHAIN