Import Amazon S3 Data into the Power BI Service for Visualizations

Power BI transforms your company's data into rich visuals for you to collect and organize so you can focus on what matters to you. When paired with CData Connect Cloud, you get access to Amazon S3 data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to Amazon S3 in CData Connect Cloud, publish a dataset from Power BI Desktop to the Power BI Service and then create reports on Amazon S3 data in the Power BI service.

Configure Amazon S3 Connectivity for Power BI Service

Connectivity to Amazon S3 from Power BI Service is made possible through CData Connect Cloud. To work with Amazon S3 data from Power BI Service, we start by creating and configuring a Amazon S3 connection.

(Optional) Add a New Connect Cloud User

As needed, create Users to connect to Amazon S3 through Connect Cloud.

1. Navigate to the Users page and click Invite Users
2. Enter the new user's email address and click Send to invite the user
3. You can review and edit users from the Users page

Connect to Amazon S3 from Connect Cloud

CData Connect Cloud uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
2. Select "Amazon S3" from the Add Connection panel
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Amazon S3.

   To authorize Amazon S3 requests, provide the credentials for an administrator account or for an IAM user with custom permissions. Set AccessKey to the access key Id. Set SecretKey to the secret access key.

   Note: You can connect as the AWS account administrator, but it is recommended to use IAM user credentials to access AWS services.

   For information on obtaining the credentials and other authentication methods, refer to the Getting Started section of the Help documentation.

4. Click Create & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Amazon S3 Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to Amazon S3 data from the Power BI service.

Publish a Dataset from Power BI Desktop

Once you connect to Amazon S3 in Connect Cloud, you can create a dataset in Power BI desktop and publish the dataset to the Power BI service.

1. Open Power BI Desktop and click Get Data -> Online Services -> CData Connect Cloud and click "Connect"
2. Click "Sign in" and authenticate with your CData Connect Cloud account
3. After signing in, click "Connect"
4. Select tables in the Navigator dialog
5. Click Load to establish the connection to your Amazon S3 data from Power BI

6. Define any relationships between the selected entities on the Relationships tab.
7. Click Publish (from the Home menu) and select a Workspace.

Build Reports and Dashboards on Amazon S3 Data in the Power BI Service

Now that you have published a dataset to the Power BI service, you can create new reports and dashboards based on the published data:

1. Log in to PowerBI.com.
2. Click Workspaces and select a workspace.
3. Click Create and select Report.
4. Select the published dataset for the report.
5. Choose fields and visualizations to add to your report.

Live Access to Amazon S3 Data from Cloud Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live Amazon S3 data from the Power BI service. You can create more data sources and new visualizations, build reports, and more — all without replicating Amazon S3 data.

To get live data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect Cloud.