Azure Analysis Services with Power BI Architecture

Question

Hello,

We have around 50 power bi reports connected Live to On-Premise Analysis Services, and we are migrating to Azure Analysis Services.

When it was on premise it didn't matter if it was Live or import because we are were not charged by hour or throughput or data movement

But after migration I am confused which connection method I should select in order to achieve highest performance with least costs.

As far as I know, I can connect azure analysis service to DB by 2 methods: (Import or Live Connection)

and I can connect power bi to azure analysis service by 2 methods: (Import or Live connection)

 

Important Note that data is refreshed daily ( Not Real time data)

 

So I have some questions:

 

1. Analysis Services pricing is by hour, so If I am refreshing the model daily from DB, and let's say it takes 1 hour to process all the cubes, will I be charged 1 hour or 1 hour + all querying time that come from dashboard viewers when they access dashboard is live connection mode?

 

2. Is there an option to connect Azure Analysis service to the DB by import, and storing the data in the cube itself, and connecting power bi dashboards to this cube in live connection mode? ,, and how is the pricing calculated in this method?

 

3. Also since all the current dashboard that we have is live connection, is there any automatic way to make them import mode to the cube? I searched but couldn't find.

 

4. What is the best architecture for the semantic layer between Azure analysis service and power bi, knowing that power bi Premium capactiy is not an option in my company?

 

Thanks

 

 

Answer 1

1. Regarding billing, if you refresh the model daily and it takes 1 hour to process all cubes, you will be charged for 1 hour of Azure Analysis Services usage. Queries generated by dashboard users in real-time connection mode are not billed separately.
2. Yes, it is possible to connect Azure Analysis Services to the database by importing and storing the data in the cube. You can then connect Power BI dashboards to this cube in real-time connection mode. In this method, pricing is based on Azure Analysis Services usage and depends on the chosen service tier (for example, pricing based on compute cores).
3. Unfortunately, there is no automatic way to convert existing dashboards to import-to-cube mode. You will need to reconfigure the connections in Power BI to use import mode.
4. The best architecture for the semantic layer depends on your specific business needs. However, you can consider using tabular models in Azure Analysis Services to create