Power BI connects to eMondrian with a live connection, the same way it connects to Analysis Services. Your cubes appear as a Power BI semantic model — measures, dimensions and hierarchies, ready for visuals. Nothing is imported: every visual sends a DAX query, eMondrian evaluates it against the model and queries your database.
Power BI needs the DAX module. It’s included in the Community download and unlocked by a license key — a free 30-day evaluation key is available.
Connect (Power BI Desktop)
- Activate a key on
http://localhostif you haven’t yet — see Evaluation key. - Get data → Analysis Services.
- Server:
http://localhost/xmla(orhttp://<server-address>/xmla— see Access from another machine). - Database: the catalog name, e.g.
OnTime(optional — you can pick it in the next step). - Select Connect live and click OK.
- Pick the cube, e.g. OnTime (attributes).
The Data pane now shows the model. Build visuals as usual — for example a bar chart of On-Time Rate by Airline, or a line chart of Flights by Time with drill-down from Year to Month.
See the DAX Power BI sends
- Optimize → Performance analyzer → Start recording.
- Refresh a visual.
- Expand the visual and click Copy query.
This is the DAX eMondrian receives. The matching SQL is in mondrian-sql.log (Logs).
What works
The DAX module targets the queries Power BI generates for common visuals — tables, matrices, charts, cards, slicers, filters and hierarchy drill-down. Coverage is growing but not complete, so test your own reports — see DAX support for details and known issues.
Limitations
Not supported by Microsoft
Power BI connects through its Analysis Services connector. Microsoft officially supports only a few third-party semantic models, and eMondrian is not one of them. In practice it works, and we test new Power BI releases — but Microsoft support won’t help with this setup. eMondrian Enterprise includes support for it.
- Live connection only. Measures come from the eMondrian schema. You can add report-level measures in Power BI, but model changes belong in the schema.
- License required for metadata too. Power BI reads the field list through the DAX module. Without a valid key, Power BI can’t even show the fields; Excel keeps working.
- Power BI Service. Publishing reports to the Power BI Service and refreshing them through an on-premises data gateway is not yet documented.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| Connection error, or no fields | Is a key activated on http://localhost and not expired? If Excel works and Power BI doesn’t, check the key first. |
No .lic files found | No key activated — see [[licensing/evaluation |
License has expired | Activate a new key, then docker compose restart eMondrian. |
| A visual fails | Copy its DAX from Performance analyzer and open an issue. |
More: Troubleshooting.