Customers with businesses of all sizes are using Amazon Aurora to store their data reliably, cost-effectively, and securely. Most often these customers are interested in how they can connect and query this data using Microsoft Power BI Desktop from their on-premises computers and network. The desktop application is typically running on their local Windows laptop and physical and logical connectivity to Amazon Aurora are the biggest perceived barriers to entry.
This article is tailored towards IT decision-makers and Architects looking to quickly understand the options that exist when connecting Microsoft Power BI Desktop to an Amazon Aurora data source. You will learn to set up Power BI Aurora integration.
Table of Contents
Understanding Microsoft Power BI Suite
Microsoft’s Power BI is a business analytics service. Its goal is to give dynamic visualizations and business intelligence capabilities through an easy-to-use interface that allows end-users to construct their own reports and dashboards. You may use it to extract data from a variety of cloud and on-premises systems and construct dashboards that track the metrics you care about the most or dig down into individual indicators. Companies using Microsoft Power BI for Business Intelligence include Apple, Exxon Mobil, Walmart, and Toyota Motor North America.
Most users who work on business intelligence projects utilize Power BI Desktop to build reports, which they then share with other team members using either Power BI Report Server or the Power BI service.
With Power BI, you can connect to many data sources and combine them (often called modeling) into a data model. This data model allows you to build collections of visuals that you can share as reports with other people inside your organization. To view the full list of supported data sources, see Microsoft Power BI-supported AWS data sources.
Understanding Amazon Aurora RDS
The Amazon Aurora database engine is a MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud. It offers scalable capacity at a low cost while automating time-consuming administrative tasks such as hardware provisioning, database setup, patching, and backups.
Amazon Aurora’s throughput is 5X that of standard MySQL and 3X that of standard PostgreSQL on the same hardware which makes it an excellent choice for many enterprise applications, SaaS applications, Web and Mobile Games, as well as other applications that demand a database with high throughput, massive storage scalability, and high availability. Autodesk, Dow Jones, Netflix, Pokemon, Samsung, and others are among the company’s notable clients.
Prerequisites
To get the most out of this post, you need:
- An Amazon Aurora cluster.
- Power BI Desktop.
Methods to Set Up Microsoft Power BI Aurora Integration
Users can set up Power BI Aurora Integration by implementing one of the following methods:
Method 1: Using Hevo Data for Power BI Aurora RDS Integration
Hevo helps you directly transfer data from Amazon Aurora and various other sources to Data Warehouses, or a destination of your choice and visualize it using Business Intelligence tools such as Microsoft Power BI, in a completely hassle-free & automated manner. Hevo is fully managed and completely automates the process of not only loading data from your desired source but also enriching the data and transforming it into an analysis-ready form without having to write a single line of code. Its fault-tolerant architecture ensures that the data is handled in a secure, consistent manner with zero data loss.
Hevo takes care of all your data preprocessing needs and lets you focus on key business activities and draw a much powerful insight on how to generate more leads, retain customers, and take your business to new heights of profitability. It provides a consistent & reliable solution to manage data in real-time and always have analysis-ready data in your desired destination.
Hevo focuses on three simple steps to get you started:
- Connect: Connect Hevo with Aurora and various other data sources by simply logging in with your credentials.
- Integrate: Consolidate your data from several sources using Hevo’s Managed Data Warehouse and automatically transform it into an analysis-ready form.
- Visualize: Connect Hevo with your desired BI tool such as Microsoft Power BI and easily visualize your data to gain better insights.
Check out what makes Hevo amazing:
- Real-Time Data Transfer: Hevo with its strong Integration with 100+ sources, allows you to transfer data quickly & efficiently. This ensures efficient utilization of bandwidth on both ends.
- Data Transformation: It provides a simple interface to perfect, modify, and enrich the data you want to transfer.
- Secure: Hevo has a fault-tolerant architecture that ensures that the data is handled in a secure, consistent manner with zero data loss.
- Tremendous Connector Availability: Hevo houses a large variety of connectors and lets you bring in data from numerous Marketing & SaaS applications, databases, etc. such as Aurora, Airflow, HubSpot, Marketo, MongoDB, Oracle, Salesforce, Redshift, etc. in an integrated and analysis-ready form.
- Simplicity: Using Hevo is easy and intuitive, ensuring that your data is exported in just a few clicks.
- Completely Managed Platform: Hevo is fully managed. You need not invest time and effort to maintain or monitor the infrastructure involved in executing codes.
- Live Support: The Hevo team is available round the clock to extend exceptional support to its customers through chat, email, and support calls.
Method 2: Using the Native Power BI MySQL Connector for Power BI Aurora Integration
Power BI can connect to an Aurora data source over a public internet connection. An Amazon Aurora cluster typically consists of a cluster of DB instances that are connected to a virtual database storage volume. The connection to the cluster is handled by a specific DB instance (the primary instance).
Step 1: Finding the connection information for an Amazon Aurora DB Cluster
The endpoint, port, and a valid database user are all included in the connection information for your Aurora DB instance. The following example shows a cluster endpoint for an Azure DB cluster:
mydb.123456789012.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com
The port number in this example is 3306. Your connection string needs to specify the following values based on this information:
For the host or hostname or DNS name, enter mydb.123456789012.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com.
In the port text bar , enter 3306.
For the user, enter admin.
To find the connection information for a DB cluster, you can use the AWS Management Console
- Sign in to the AWS Management Console and launch the Amazon RDS console by following the link below: https://console.aws.amazon.com/rds/.
- Select Databases from the left-hand pane to see a list of the DB instances available to you.
- Select the name of your RDS Aurora database cluster to reveal its details.
- Copy the endpoint on the Connectivity & security tab. Also, note the port number. You will require to specify both the endpoint and the port number to successfully connect to the DB instance.
Step 2: Connect to Aurora Database from Power BI
To connect to the database, follow the steps below:
- In the connector drop-down menu, choose MySQL database.
- Provide the server and database names in the MySQL database dialog.
- Choose the Database authentication type and fill in the User name and Password boxes with your MySQL credentials.
- Choose the level to which you want to apply your credentials to.
- Select OK once you’re done. You’ll be able to see the dialog box like the one below.
Select OK to connect to the database.
- In Navigator, select the data you require, then either load or transform it.
Conclusion
In this blog post, you implemented a Power BI Aurora integration workflow that extracts data from the QuickBooks and loads it into the Power BI Library for last-mile analysis. There are certain limitations associated with the manual method. If those limitations are not a concern to your analysis, then the manual method is the best option but if it is, then you should consider using automated Data Integration platforms like Hevo.
Hevo helps you directly transfer data from a source of your choice such as Amazon Aurora to a Data Warehouse/desired destination and visualize it using Business Intelligence tools such as Microsoft Power BI in a fully automated and secure manner without having to write the code. It will make your life easier and make data migration hassle-free. It is User-Friendly, Reliable, and Secure. Pricing details for Hevo can be found here. Give Hevo a try by signing up for the 14-day free trial today.