Use the API Server and Sybase ADO.NET Provider in Microsoft Power BI

The CData API Server enables your organization to create Power BI reports based on the current Sybase data (plus data from 200+ other ADO.NET Providers). The API Server is a lightweight Web application that runs on your server and, when paired with the ADO.NET Provider for Sybase, provides secure OData services of Sybase data to authorized users. The OData standard enables real-time access to the live data, and support for OData is integrated into Power BI. This article details how to create data visualizations based on Sybase OData services in Power BI.

Set Up the API Server

Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Sybase OData services:

Deploy

The API Server runs on your own server. On Windows, you can deploy using the stand-alone server or IIS. On a Java servlet container, drop in the API Server WAR file. See the help documentation for more information and how-tos.

The API Server is also easy to deploy on Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Heroku.

Connect to Sybase

After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Sybase, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Sybase by clicking Settings -> Connection and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.

To connect to Sybase, specify the following connection properties:

• Server: Set this to the name or network address of the Sybase database instance.
• Database: Set this to the name of the Sybase database running on the specified Server.

Optionally, you can also secure your connections with TLS/SSL by setting UseSSL to true.

Sybase supports several methods for authentication including Password and Kerberos.

Connect Using Password Authentication

Set the AuthScheme to Password and set the following connection properties to use Sybase authentication.

• User: Set this to the username of the authenticating Sybase user.
• Password: Set this to the username of the authenticating Sybase user.

Connect using LDAP Authentication

To connect with LDAP authentication, configure Sybase server-side to use the LDAP authentication mechanism.

After configuring Sybase for LDAP, you can connect using the same credentials as Password authentication.

Connect Using Kerberos Authentication

To leverage Kerberos authentication, begin by enabling it setting AuthScheme to Kerberos. See the Using Kerberos section in the Help documentation for more information on using Kerberos authentication.

You can find an example connection string below: Server=MyServer;Port=MyPort;User=SampleUser;Password=SamplePassword;Database=MyDB;Kerberos=true;KerberosKDC=MyKDC;KerberosRealm=MYREALM.COM;KerberosSPN=server-name

When you configure the connection, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

You can then choose the Sybase entities you want to allow the API Server access to by clicking Settings -> Resources.

Authorize API Server Users

After determining the OData services you want to produce, authorize users by clicking Settings -> Users. The API Server uses authtoken-based authentication and supports the major authentication schemes. Access can also be restricted based on IP address; by default, only connections to the local machine are allowed. You can authenticate as well as encrypt connections with SSL.

Connect to Sybase

Follow the steps below to connect to Sybase data from Power BI.

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> OData Feed. To start Power BI Desktop from PowerBI.com, click the download button and then click Power BI Desktop.

2. Enter the URL to the OData endpoint of the API Server. For example:

   http://MyServer:8032/api.rsc

3. Enter authentication for the API Server. To configure Basic authentication, select Basic and enter the username and authtoken for a user of the OData API of the API Server.

   The API Server also supports Windows authentication using ASP.NET. See the help documentation for more information.

4. In the Navigator, select tables to load. For example, Products.

   

Create Data Visualizations

After pulling the data into Power BI, you can create data visualizations in the Report view. Follow the steps below to create a pie chart:

1. Select the pie chart icon in the Visualizations pane.
2. Select a dimension in the Fields pane: for example, Id.
3. Select a measure in the ProductName in the Fields pane: for example, ProductName.

You can change sort options by clicking the ellipsis (...) button for the chart. Options to select the sort column and change the sort order are displayed.

You can use both highlighting and filtering to focus on data. Filtering removes unfocused data from visualizations; highlighting dims unfocused data. You can highlight fields by clicking them:

You can apply filters at the page level, at the report level, or to a single visualization by dragging fields onto the Filters pane. To filter on the field's value, select one of the values that are displayed in the Filters pane.

Click Refresh to synchronize your report with any changes to the data.

Upload Sybase Data Reports to Power BI

You can now upload and share reports with other Power BI users in your organization. To upload a dashboard or report, log into PowerBI.com, click Get Data in the main menu and then click Files. Navigate to a Power BI Desktop file or Excel workbook. You can then select the report in the Reports section.

Refresh on Schedule and on Demand

You can configure Power BI to automatically refresh your uploaded report. You can also refresh the dataset on demand in Power BI. Follow the steps below to schedule refreshes through the API Server:

1. Log into Power BI.
2. In the Dataset section, right-click the Sybase Dataset and click Schedule Refresh.
3. If you are hosting the API Server on a public-facing server like Azure, you can connect directly. Otherwise, if you are connecting to a feed on your machine, you will need to expand the Gateway Connection node and select a gateway, for example, the Microsoft Power BI Personal Gateway.
4. In the settings for your dataset, expand the Data Source Credentials node and click Edit Credentials.
5. Expand the Schedule Refresh section, select Yes in the Keep Your Data Up to Date menu, and specify the refresh interval.

You can now share real-time Sybase reports through Power BI.