Create data connection strings (Power BI Report Builder)
APPLIES TO: 
Power BI Report Builder 
Power BI Desktop
To include data in paginated reports, you must first create a connection string to your data source. This article explains how to create data connection strings and important information related to data source credentials. A data source includes the data source type, connection information, and the type of credentials to use. For more background, see Intro to Report Data in Power BI Report Builder.
Available data sources
For a full list of supported data sources, see Supported data sources for Power BI paginated reports.
Common connection string examples
Connection strings are the text representation of connection properties for a data provider. The following table lists some examples of connections strings for various data connection types.
| Data source | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
| SQL Server named instance | Data Source=<host>\MSSQL15.<InstanceName>; Initial Catalog=AdventureWorks |
Set data source type to Microsoft SQL Server. |
| Azure SQL Database | Data Source=<host>.database.windows.net; Initial Catalog=AdventureWorks; Encrypt=True |
Set data source type to Microsoft Azure SQL Database. |
| Analysis Services tabular model database with Sales perspective | Data Source=<servername>; Initial Catalog=Adventure Works DW; cube='Sales' |
Set data source type to Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services. Specify perspective name in cube= setting. |
| Azure Analysis Services | Data Source=asazure://aspaaseastus2.asazure.windows.net/<server name>; Initial Catalog=AdventureWorks |
Set data source type to Azure Analysis Services. |
| Oracle server | Data Source=<host> |
Set the data source type to Oracle Database. The Oracle client tools must be installed on the Report Builder computer and on the machine hosting Power BI Gateway. For more information, see Oracle Connection Type (Power BI Report Builder). |
| Teradata data source | Database=<database name>; Data Source=<NNN>.<NNN>.<NNN>.<NNN>; Use X Views=False; Restrict to Default Database=True |
Set the data source type to Teradata, similar to the previous example. Only use the default database that is specified in the Database tag, and do not automatically discover data relationships. |
| Power BI semantic model | Data Source=powerbi://api.powerbi.com/v1.0/myorg/<workspacename>; Initial Catalog=<datasetname> |
Set data source type to Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services and under Credentials tab, select "Do not use credentials". |
Expression-based connection strings
Note
Expression-based connection strings are not supported on Power BI service