How to Connect the Power BI Service to HCL Domino: Complete Guide

The CData Power BI Connector for HCL Domino seamlessly integrates with the tools and wizards in Power BI, including the real-time data workflows on PowerBI.com. Follow the steps below to publish reports to PowerBI.com and use the Power BI Gateway to configure automatic refresh.

1. Create a DSN

Installing the Power BI Connector creates a DSN (data source name) called CData Power BI HCL Domino. This the name of the DSN that Power BI uses to request a connection to the data source. Configure the DSN by filling in the required connection properties.

You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create a new DSN or configure (and rename) an existing DSN: From the Start menu, enter "ODBC Data Sources." Ensure that you run the version of the ODBC Administrator that corresponds to the bitness of your Power BI Desktop installation (32-bit or 64-bit).

Connecting to Domino

To connect to Domino data, set the following properties:

• URL: The host name or IP of the server hosting the Domino database. Include the port of the server hosting the Domino database. For example: http://sampleserver:1234/
• DatabaseScope: The name of a scope in the Domino Web UI. The driver exposes forms and views for the schema governed by the specified scope. In the Domino Admin UI, select the Scopes menu in the sidebar. Set this property to the name of an existing scope.

Authenticating with Domino

Domino supports authenticating via login credentials or an Azure Active Directory OAuth application:

Login Credentials

To authenticate with login credentials, set the following properties:

• AuthScheme: Set this to "OAuthPassword"
• User: The username of the authenticating Domino user
• Password: The password associated with the authenticating Domino user

The driver uses the login credentials to automatically perform an OAuth token exchange.

AzureAD

This authentication method uses Azure Active Directory as an IdP to obtain a JWT token. You need to create a custom OAuth application in Azure Active Directory and configure it as an IdP. To do so, follow the instructions in the Help documentation. Then set the following properties:

• AuthScheme: Set this to "AzureAD"
• InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
• OAuthClientId: The Client ID obtained when setting up the custom OAuth application.
• OAuthClientSecret: The Client secret obtained when setting up the custom OAuth application.
• CallbackURL: The redirect URI defined when you registered your app. For example: https://localhost:33333
• AzureTenant: The Microsoft Online tenant being used to access data. Supply either a value in the form companyname.microsoft.com or the tenant ID.

  The tenant ID is the same as the directory ID shown in the Azure Portal's Azure Active Directory > Properties page.

2. Get HCL Domino Data

With the data source configured, follow the steps below to load data from HCL Domino tables into a dataset.

Select Views to Load

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> CData HCL Domino.
2. Select CData Power BI HCL Domino in the Data Source Name menu and select the Import data connectivity mode.
3. Expand the CData Power BI HCL Domino folder, expand an associated schema folder, and select tables.

Shaping Data

Use the Query Editor if you need more control over the query and query results before you load the data. Power BI detects the column behavior from the HCL Domino metadata retrieved by the CData connector. In the Query Editor, you can perform actions like filtering, summarizing, and sorting on columns.

To open the Query Editor, click Edit in the Navigator window. Right-click a row to filter the rows. Right-click a column header to perform actions like the following:

• Change column data types
• Remove a column
• Group by columns

Power BI records your query modifications in the Applied Steps section, adjusting the underlying data retrieval query that is executed to the remote HCL Domino data.

Load Data

When you click Load, the connector executes the underlying query to HCL Domino.

3. Create Data Visualizations

After loading HCL Domino data into Power BI, you can create data visualizations in the Report view by dragging fields from the Fields pane onto the canvas. Follow the steps below to create a pie chart:

1. Select the pie chart icon in the Visualizations pane.
2. Select a dimension in the Fields pane: for example, Name.
3. Select a measure in the Fields pane: for example, Address.

You can change sort options by clicking the ellipsis (...) button for the chart. Options to select the sort column and change the sort order are displayed.

You can use both highlighting and filtering to focus on data. Filtering removes unfocused data from visualizations; highlighting dims unfocused data. You can highlight fields by clicking them:

You can apply filters at the page level, at the report level, or to a single visualization by dragging fields onto the Filters pane. To filter on the field value, select one of the values that are displayed in the Filters pane.

Click Refresh to synchronize your report with any changes to the data.

4. Configure Data Refresh on PowerBI.com

Follow the steps below to configure automatic data refresh through the Power BI Gateway. The gateway enables the Power BI cloud service to connect to the DSN on your machine.

Selecting a Gateway Mode

You need to select a gateway mode when you install the gateway:

• Gateway (personal mode): Use the gateway in personal mode if you only need to publish to PowerBI.com and refresh reports. The gateway runs under your Windows user account.
• (Recommended) Gateway (Standard mode - formerly Enterprise): Use the gateway in standard mode if you are using other Azure services that require a gateway. You also need the default gateway if multiple users need to access the gateway.
  You need a system DSN to connect through the default gateway. (System DSNs can be accessed system-wide, while user DSNs can only be used by a specific user account.) You can use the CData Power BI Domino system DSN configured as the last step of the connector installation.

Configuring the Gateway (Personal Mode)

Publishing through the gateway in personal mode simply requires an installed gateway with access to custom connectors.

1. Run the CData Power BI Connector installer. If you have not already done so, download the Power BI Gateway.
2. Select the on-premises data gateway (personal mode) option.
3. Sign into the gateway.
4. Name the gateway and specify a recovery key.
5. In the Connectors section of the gateway settings, enable the custom data connectors option. You can also specify an alternate path to the custom data connector .pqx files here.
   Note: The CData Power BI Connectors install the .pqx files to the default folder, Your User Home\Documents\Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors.

Configuring the Gateway (Standard Mode)

Publishing through the gateway requires an installed gateway with access to customer connectors and a configured connection to the DSN for HCL Domino from PowerBI.com

1. Set Up the Gateway

Follow the steps below to configure the gateway on your machine:

1. Run the CData Power BI Connector installer. If you have not already done so, download the Power BI Gateway.
2. Select the on-premises data gateway (recommended) option.
3. Sign into the gateway.
4. Name the gateway and specify a recovery key.

5. In the Connectors step, choose a folder where the gateway will look for the CData Power BI Connector. This article uses C:\Users\PBIEgwService\Documents\Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors\. Copy the .pqx files for the CData Connector (found in C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Power BI Desktop\Custom Connectors\) to the folder you configured.

   NOTE: The account configured for the service (NT SERVICE\PBIEgwService) needs to be able to access the folder chosen for the gateway. If needed, you can change the service account in the Service Settings section of the gateway installer.

6. Confirm that the entry CData.PowerBI.Domino is displayed in the list in the Connectors section.

2. Connect to HCL Domino Data from PowerBI.com

1. Add a data source to the gateway: Log into PowerBI.com and from the Settings menu, select Manage Gateways and select your gateway.
2. Select the option to "Allow user's custom data connectors to refresh through this gateway cluster."
3. Click Apply to save your changes.
4. Click the option to add a data source to the gateway.
5. In the Data Source Settings section, enter a name for the data source and in the Data Source Type menu select CData Power BI Connector for HCL Domino.
6. In the Data Source Name box that is displayed, enter the system DSN: CData Power BI Domino.

5. Publish to PowerBI.com

You can now publish refreshable reports and their underlying datasets. Follow the steps below to publish and complete the data refresh configuration for a dataset.

1. In Power BI Desktop, click Publish on the Home ribbon to publish the report.
2. On PowerBI.com, select the workspace where you uploaded the report.
3. In the Datasets section, click the options menu for the HCL Domino dataset you created, then click Settings.
4. In the Gateway Connection section, enable the option to use a gateway and select your gateway. You may need to manually add the data source to the gateway:
   1. Expand the Gateway under the Actions column
   2. Click the link to "Manually add to gateway"
   3. In the "New connection" form, set the Connection name, set Data Source Name to the same data source name as above (e.g. "CData PBI HCL Domino"), and set Authentication Method to "Anonymous"
   4. Set Privacy Level as needed and click "Create"
5. If you are using the gateway in personal mode, expand the Data Source Credentials node and click Edit Credentials -> Sign In. (This step is not necessary if you are using the default gateway.)

6. Refresh a Dataset

Refresh the dataset to provide the current data to your reports.

• To refresh manually, open the dataset options menu from your workspace -> Datasets and click Refresh Now.
• To schedule refreshes, open the dataset options menu from your workspace -> Datasets and click Schedule Refresh. Enable the option to keep your data up to date. Specify the refresh frequency in the menus.
• In Report view, click Refresh to sync the report with the dataset as you work.