Microsoft Power BI

With DataCamp Data Connector 2.0, it's easy to analyze your data in Microsoft Power BI. All you need to do is set up a connection using the PowerBI Athena Connector and configure it using the credentials you can retrieve in the Groups tab.

This guide assumes you are using Power BI Desktop on Windows

Complete these two steps to view your learning data in Power BI.

1. Set up an ODBC Data Source

2. Set up the Power BI Athena Connector

Set up an ODBC Data Source

First, you must install the necessary drivers and configure a Data Source in Windows.

Step 1: Download and install the ODBC driver

Go to https://docs.aws.amazon.com/athena/latest/ug/connect-with-odbc.html and download & install the v1 driver for your operating system. (Remember which version (32 or 64 bit) you chose!)

Step 2: Configure your ODBC Data Source

Make sure you have collected your credentials as described in Your credentials.

1. Open the ODBC Data Sources application on your Windows machine (choose the version that aligns with the driver you installed, either 32 or 64 bit)

2. Select the Drivers tab and verify there is a Simba Athena ODBC Driver entry in the list; if there isn't, you haven't installed the driver properly

3. Select the System DNS tab

4. Click the Add button

5. Select Simba Athena ODBC driver as Data Source

6. The Simba Athena ODBC Driver DNS Setup dialog will now open. Enter the following data on the Simba Setup dialog:

   1. Data Source Name: Free to choose (e.g., DataCamp Data Connector) Choose an easy name here; you'll need this to set up your connection in Power BI

   2. Description: optional; you can leave it blank

   3. AWS Region: the AWS Region from your credentials

   4. Catalog: AwsDataCatalog

   5. Schema: default

   6. Workgroup: primary

   7. Metadata Retrieval Method: Auto

   8. S3 Output location: s3://{bucketname}/tmp-powerbi → replace {bucketname} with the S3 Bucket Name from your credentials

   9. Encryption Options: NOT_SET

   10. Endpoint Override: empty

   11. Streaming Endpoint Override: empty

7. Click Authentication Options (don't close the dialog yet!)

   1. Authentication Type: IAM Credentials

   2. Username: the AWS Access Key ID from your credentials

   3. Password: the AWS Secret Access Key from your credentials

   4. Click the OK button

8. Click Test

9. If everything is configured correctly, this should result in a "SUCCESS" message.

10. Click OK

The list of items under the System DSN tab should now contain your newly created Data Source.

You can close the ODBC application now and start Power BI.

🎉 Your Data Source is successfully set up! Let's move on to the next part.

Set up the Power BI Athena Connector

Make sure you restart Power BI if you had it running before you set up your Data Source.

In Power BI Desktop, click the Get Data button on the Home ribbon.

The dialog shows you all available Data Sources. Use the search field to find the Amazon Athena option and click the Connect button.

If you do not see an Amazon Athena option, then you are likely using an outdated version of PowerBI. Please update your PowerBI before proceeding.

In the Amazon Athena dialog that appears, enter the name of the ODBC connection you created before. (Our example uses "DataCamp Data Connector")

Choose which Connectivity mode you want to use:

• Import loads the data into your local instance of Power BI, meaning you'll have a snapshot of the data locally. This is the best performing option.

• DirectQuery will query the live service, meaning you'll have the most up-to-date data daily without needing to import it again. This is the slower option.

Click the OK button.

Power BI will now ask you how to Authenticate:

Choose the Use Data Source Configuration tab on the left and then click Connect.

After a few moments, the Navigator panel will show your catalog, databases, and tables. Open the AwsDataCatalog node, wait for the data to load, and then open the data_connector node. This will show you all the tables available in our Data Connector.

Want to know what data all the tables contain? Learn more by exploring our Data Model.

Choose the tables you wish to use and click the Load button.

This will take some time to complete, but after it is finished, you will have all the data from the Data Connector right at your fingertips in Power BI.

Resources

This is a list of official resources related to Power BI and Athena.

• Official Microsoft Power BI site
• Using the Amazon Athena Power BI connector
• Connecting to Amazon Athena with ODBC
• Troubleshooting AWS Athena Connections