Power BI is Microsoft’s business intelligence platform for visualizing and analyzing data. Connect it to an e6data cluster through the Starburst ODBC driver.
Requirements
- A cluster with gateway connectivity enabled. For a Serverless cluster, enable the gateway connectivity toggle under the cluster’s connection details - see Endpoints and cluster ingress.
- Power BI Desktop.
- The Starburst ODBC driver, installed.
- Your connection credentials:
- Username - used to log in to e6data.
- Password - a personal access token.
- Host - the host of the cluster.
- Database and Catalog (optional) - the database and catalog names.
Connect
- Open Power BI Desktop.
- Go to Home → Get data, search for the Starburst connector, and click Connect.
- Enter the connection details:
- Host - the cluster host.
- Port -
443.
- Catalog (optional) - the catalog name.
- Import / DirectQuery - choose based on your needs. For a custom SQL query, qualify tables as
database.schema.table.
- Click OK. On the next screen, choose LDAP, enter your e6data username and personal access token, and click Connect.
- Select the catalog and tables to visualize, then click Load.
You can now build charts and run SQL queries against e6data in Power BI.
On-premises data gateway
To let the Power BI Service reach e6data for scheduled refresh or live queries, configure Microsoft’s on-premises data gateway.
1. Download and install
- Go to the Microsoft gateway install guide.
- Select Standard mode (recommended for enterprise use), download, and run the installer.
- Sign in with your Power BI (Azure) credentials.
2. Register the gateway
- Choose Register a new gateway (or migrate, restore, or take over an existing one).
- Provide a unique gateway name.
- Set a recovery key - you’ll need it to restore the gateway later.
- In the Power BI Service, go to Settings → Manage connections and gateways.
- Under your gateway, click Add data source and set:
- Connection type - Starburst
- Server name - your cluster host
- Port -
443
- For authentication, enter your e6data username and personal access token.
4. Enable refresh or live query
- Import mode: open the dataset settings, enable Scheduled refresh, and set the frequency and time zone.
- DirectQuery / live connection: keep the gateway always online; Power BI queries in real time.
Install the gateway on a dedicated server or VM (not a workstation), keep it online and updated, and use Power BI’s gateway monitoring to track availability.
Troubleshooting
SSL certificate problem: unable to get local issuer certificate - install the Amazon Root CA certificates:
- Go to the Amazon Trust repository.
- Under Root CAs, download all five certificates using the DER option in the Self-Signed Certificate column.
- Open each certificate and select Install Certificate → Current User → Automatically select the certificate store → Finish.
- Verify under Start → Manage computer certificates → Trusted Root Certification Authorities → Certificates - you should see Amazon Root CA 1, 2, and so on.
- Restart Power BI and reconnect.
Limitations
- Drag-and-drop of
date and datetime types is not supported.
- Joining multiple tables in the Power BI data model is not supported; use a custom SQL query to join.
- Some functions may not be supported in measures and calculated columns.
See also
Last modified on October 1, 2026