Connecting to Data in Power BI: Denodo


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Denodo is the University’s enterprise data virtualization tool, serving as the primary point of access to most university data sources including the University Data Warehouse. This guide will cover how to prepare your machine for connecting to Denodo data sources.

Getting started

Mac users

Mac users will access Power BI Desktop via the Reporting Tools Desktop, a virtualized Windows desktop environment. See the guide for using the virtual desktop environment for more information. System administrators will ensure that the appropriate components are installed on the virtualized desktop, so you may proceed to the next section.

For Windows users

A Denodo driver is required to connect your machine to Denodo in Power BI Desktop. 

NOTE: Administrator rights are required in order to install the Denodo driver. If you do not have administrator rights on your machine, you may use the Make Me Admin tool to temporarily grant yourself administrator rights to complete the installation. If you do not have access to the Make Me Admin tool, contact your local IT representative for assistance installing the driver.

  1. Visit the Denodo Drivers page on the Denodo community website, find the Windows driver for the current version of Denodo, identified below, and click Download.
    • Denodo-vdp-odbcdriver-8.0-update-20240306-win
  2. Register an account with Denodo using your University email address.
    • If prompted, select a location to save the downloaded file.
    • If you are not prompted, it will default to your usual downloads folder.
  3. When the download has completed, locate the .zip file, right click on the file, and select Extract All… If desired, select a specific folder location using the Browse… button, then click Extract.
  4. Before proceeding, if you will be using the Make Me Admin tool, open it and grant yourself administrator rights at this time. Navigate to the extracted folder and browse to the msi folder. Double click on the DenodoODBC_x64.msi file to open the installer.
    • If you receive a warning message, click on More info.

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    • Then click Run anyway.

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  5. Follow the prompts in the installer to complete the installation process.

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Connecting in Power BI desktop

See other help articles for more detailed information on Learning to use Power BI.

NOTE: A connection to the Global Protect VPN will be required to connect to Denodo.

  1. In Power BI Desktop, select Get data.
  2. When the Get Data window opens, find the Denodo connector, either by browsing the Database category or searching for Denodo using the search field.
  3. Select the Denodo connector on the right side, and click Connect.
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  4. In the Denodo Connector window, enter the following connection string exactly:
    • server=denodo-vdp.it-prod-bi.aws.umd.edu;database=connectdb;port=9996
    • For the Data Connectivity mode, it is highly recommended to use the Import mode. This will perform an extract of the data from the Denodo datasource and load it into the report’s semantic model. In most cases, report performance using the DirectQuery mode will suffer significantly.
  5. Click OK.
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  6. In the Denodo authentication window, select the Basic authentication method from the left side panel, and enter your UMD directory id and passphrase. Select Connect.
  7. After a successful authentication, the Navigator window will appear. Click on the arrow to the left of the connectdb to expand a list of data sources available to you in Denodo. This list will update dynamically for each user based on access in Denodo.
  8. Click on the arrow to the left of the specific data source of interest to see a list of available tables.
    • The data in the tables can be previewed on the right side of the screen by clicking on the table name.
  9. Check the box for the table(s) on which you intend to build your report. Multiple tables may be selected to import at once by checking multiple boxes.
  10. When all desired tables have been selected, click Load.
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  11. Denodo will perform an extract of the selected tables. When the extract is complete, the selected tables will be available in the Data Pane. Click on the arrow to the left of the table name to see the columns it contains.
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You have now successfully added a Denodo data source to your Power BI report semantic model. For further information on how to transform these data and/or use them to build visualizations, please refer to the lesson on Working with Data in Power BI.

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