Power BI can connect to many different types of data sources, which is one of the reasons it’s so flexible. As Power BI developers, we usually group these sources into a few broad categories based on where the data lives.
First, there are file-based sources. This includes Excel files, CSVs, text files, XML, JSON, and PDFs. These are commonly used when data comes from spreadsheets, exports, or shared folders.
Next are database sources. Power BI connects easily to relational databases like SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle, as well as cloud data warehouses such as Azure SQL Database, Snowflake, and Amazon Redshift. These are typically used when working with structured, high-volume data.
Power BI also supports cloud and online services. You can connect to platforms like Azure Data Lake, SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Analytics, Salesforce, Dynamics 365, and other SaaS applications. This is very useful when data is spread across different business tools.
Another important category is big data and analytics platforms. Power BI can connect to tools like Azure Synapse, Databricks, Hadoop, and Spark, which are designed to handle very large datasets.
Finally, there are APIs and web sources. Power BI can pull data from REST APIs, web pages, and custom data feeds. This is helpful when data isn’t stored in traditional databases but is available through web services.
In simple terms, Power BI developers can connect to almost any place where data exists, making it easier to bring everything together into a single, meaningful dashboard.
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