Connecting Microsoft Power BI Desktop (BI) to Oracle

Autonomous Database
Pedro Torres, Alex Keh

This step by step tutorial guides how to configure Microsoft Power BI Desktop (BI) connectivity to Oracle
Autonomous Database (ADB).

These instructions use managed or unmanaged Oracle Data Provider for .NET (ODP.NET) for data access
and work for both dedicated and shared infrastructure ADB.

Architecture Diagram

Provision ADB Download credentials file to Power BI System

system

Install Power BI Install ODP.NET on the Configure

Desktop Power BI System ODP.NET

Desktop Power BI Test ODP.NET

is now configured connectivity

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 Prerequisites
This document assumes that an ADB, such as Autonomous Data Warehouse (ADW) or Autonomous
Transaction Processing (ATP), or Autonomous JSON Database (AJD) was provisioned and Power BI Desktop is
installed on a Windows machine (local, in Azure, or OCI).

*Note: Please check here for the Oracle documentation to provision ADW.

Power BI may use managed ODP.NET or unmanaged ODP.NET for its ADB connectivity. This tutorial was
tested with Power BI’s May 2021 version, which requires unmanaged ODP.NET for Oracle database
connectivity. It is possible that Microsoft will update Power BI to use managed ODP.NET in a future version.
This tutorial guides you on using either unmanaged or managed ODP.NET with Power BI.

Installation and Setup Steps

1. Download the corresponding Oracle ADB credentials zip file to the system that has or will have Power BI
Desktop installed. These credential files will be used to connect Power BI Desktop to ADB.

*Note: Also check Downloading Client Credentials (Wallets).

2. Open Power BI Desktop and create a project.

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3. At this point, we are merely determining which ADO.NET provider your Power BI Desktop instance is hard-
coded to use. We will configure the correct provider once we learn this information. Select Database > Oracle
database > Connect to attempt to connect to an Oracle database.

4. If the error indicates it is trying to use Oracle.DataAccess.dll assembly, then set up Power BI Desktop with
unmanaged ODP.NET. If the error says it is trying to use Oracle.ManagedDataAccess.dll, then use managed
ODP.NET.

If you need to use unmanaged ODP.NET, determine if Power BI is either 32-bit or 64-bit. To look up Power BI
Desktop’s bitness, select File > Help > About.

In the above screen shot, we see that 64-bit Power BI Desktop is being used. That means 64-bit unmanaged
ODP.NET must be installed and configured for Power BI to connect to ADB. If 32-bit Power BI Desktop was
being used, then 32-bit unmanaged ODP.NET would be required.

The following instructions cover all scenarios, whether you are using managed or unmanaged ODP.NET or
you are using 32-bit or 64-bit Power BI.

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5. If you require managed ODP.NET or 64-bit unmanaged ODP.NET, download 64-bit ODAC 19.3 from the ODAC
Xcopy section in the middle of this Oracle.com web page. If you require 32-bit unmanaged ODP.NET,
download 32-bit ODAC 19c from the ODAC Xcopy section.

6. Now, we’ll install ODP.NET. Installation instructions are the same for managed ODP.NET, 32-bit unmanaged
ODP.NET, and 64-bit unmanaged ODP.NET. Unzip the download contents to a staging directory (e.g.
c:\xcopy64-install or c:\xcopy32-install).

7. Open a Windows command prompt *in administrator mode*. Navigate to the staging directory, then
execute the next command to install ODP.NET:

install.bat odp.net4 <installation directory> odp64

*Note: Enter the installation location (e.g. c:\odp64 or c:\odp32) for the directory parameter.

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8. Configuration instructions differ between managed ODP.NET and unmanaged ODP.NET. In the same
command prompt with administrator privileges, navigate to the installation subdirectory, <installation
directory>\odp.net\bin\4. Then, execute the following command:
a. To configure unmanaged ODP.NET:

OraProvCfg /action:gac /providerpath:"Oracle.DataAccess.dll"

OraProvCfg /action:config /product:odp /frameworkversion:v4.0.30319 /providerpath:"Oracle.DataAccess.dll"

Note: Please validate that you are using the correct path for Oracle.DataAccess.dll file.

b. To configure managed ODP.NET

OraProvCfg /action:gac /providerpath:"../../managed/common/Oracle.ManagedDataAccess.dll"

OraProvCfg /action:config /product:odpm /frameworkversion:v4.0.30319 /providerpath:"../../managed/common/Oracle.ManagedDataAccess.dll"

9. (For unmanaged ODP.NET only) Edit the Windows environment variables by adding the path value of the 64-
bit Oracle Client directory (e.g. c:\odp64) or 32-bit Oracle Client directory (e.g. c:\odp32) depending on the
version Power BI will use.

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 To ensure this directory path setting has precedence over existing Oracle Homes, move the setting up to the
highest possible level in the directory order with the “Move Up” button.

10. Navigate to where you downloaded the Oracle ADB credentials on your Windows machine. Unzip the
contents to a directory.

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11. In the Windows environment variables dialog, create the TNS_ADMIN variable. Set its value to the directory
location where you unzipped the ADB wallet contents.

Note: The tnsnames.ora net service names will be used to connect to ADB’s.

12. If you are connecting to one ADB instance, open the SQLNET.ORA configuration file in the wallet directory in
a text editor. You will see the following line:
WALLET_LOCATION = (SOURCE = (METHOD = file) (METHOD_DATA = (DIRECTORY="?/network/admin")))

Set the DIRECTORY value to the ADB wallet directory location on the machine, such as:
WALLET_LOCATION = (SOURCE = (METHOD = file) (METHOD_DATA = (DIRECTORY=
C:\DATA\WALLET\Wallet_ADWBI)))

Save the file and proceed to the next step.

If you are connecting to multiple ADBs from the same machine with a different wallet for each one, add the
parameter MY_WALLET_DIRECTORY to the connect descriptor with each descriptor’s specific wallet location
in TNSNAMES.ORA. For example:
adwptr_high = (description=
(retry_count=20)(retry_delay=3)(address=(protocol=tcps)(port=1522)(host=adb.us-phoenix-
1.oraclecloud.com))(connect_data=(service_name=bk8ui2h_adwptr_high.adwc.oraclecloud.com))(security=(s
sl_server_cert_dn="CN=adwc.uscom-east-1.oraclecloud.com, OU=Oracle BMCS US, O=Oracle Corporation,
L=Redwood City, ST=California, C=US")(MY_WALLET_DIRECTORY=C:\DATA\WALLET\Wallet_ADWPTR)))
adwbi_low = (description= (retry_count=20)(retry_delay=3)(address=(protocol=tcps)(port=1522)(host=adb.us-
phoenix-

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 1.oraclecloud.com))(connect_data=(service_name=bk8uqvi2h_adwbi_low.adb.oraclecloud.com))(security=(ssl
_server_cert_dn="CN=adwc.uscom-east-1.oraclecloud.com, OU=Oracle BMCS US, O=Oracle Corporation,
L=Redwood City, ST=California, C=US")(MY_WALLET_DIRECTORY=C:\DATA\WALLET\Wallet_ADWBI)))

13. Open the TNSNAMES.ORA file in the wallet directory to see which ADB net service names are available to
connect to. Below you see three different ones: adwptr_high, adwptr_low, and adwptr_medium. Your ADB
net service names will likely be named differently.

14. Open Power BI Desktop again and click OK to connect using one of your net service names.

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15. Congratulations! Your Power BI Desktop instance should now be connect to ADB. Open in Navigator the
tables that you need data to create your own Microsoft Power BI Desktop Document (.pbix) and load the
data.

16. Create your own graph or retrieve the data in other Table

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Performance Tuning for Large Data Retrievals
Typically, BI and ETL applications retrieve large data amounts from a source database for further processing.
To speed up Oracle data retrieval via Power BI Desktop, the ODP.NET FetchSize can be increased from its
default 128K value (131,072 bytes) to as large as int.MaxValue. The FetchSize determines the amount of data
ODP.NET fetches into its internal cache upon each database round trip. It’s possible to improve performance
by an order of magnitude by significantly increasing FetchSize when retrieving large result sets.

Unmanaged ODP.NET Instructions

To increase the 32-bit or 64-bit unmanaged ODP.NET’s FetchSize, launch the Windows Registry editor
(regedit.exe) and go to the following Registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Oracle\ODP.NET\4.122.19.1

Add the String Value "FetchSize" and set it to a value larger than the default (131072), such as 4194304 (4
MB).

Restart Power BI Desktop and run your queries with the new setting.

Managed ODP.NET Instructions

To increase managed ODP.NET’s FetchSize, modify the .NET machine.config file. Modifying the
machine.config requires Windows Administrator privileges. This file is generally located in the following
directory: C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Config.

Add an <oracle.manageddataaccess.client> section in the machine.config file for managed ODP.NET. This
section should be placed within the <configuration> section and after the <configSections>
</configSections>. Here’s an example setting the FetchSize to 4 MB:

<configuration>
<configSections>
…
</configSections>

<oracle.manageddataaccess.client>

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 <version number="*">
<settings>
<setting name="FetchSize" value="4194304" />
</settings>
</version>
</oracle.manageddataaccess.client>

</configuration>

Once done, restart Power BI Desktop so that ODP.NET will use the new setting.

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