What are the best practices for Tableau-Power BI-Qlik to OBIEE ODBC DSNs?

Modified on Wed, 26 Jun 2019 at 03:00 PM

BI Connector recommends the following approach when it comes to OBIEE ODBC DSNs for Tableau, Power BI and Qlik visualization.


Tableau Server - Power BI On Premise Gateway - Qlik Server to OBIEE 


To be created by:  Administrator

Using: BI Connector Server Edition

Where: On the same machine as Tableau Server or Power BI On Premise Gateway or Qlik Server


1.  Create System DSNs.  Users DSNs will not work.  

2.  For each OBIEE environment, create two System DSNs:  one for Subject Area and another for Reports.  For example if you are configuring OBIEE Production environment, the two system DSNs could be (1) OBIEE-Prod-SA (2) OBIEE-Prod-Report

3.  If you have multiple OBIEE environments, follow #2 for each OBIEE environment.  


After creating the DSN names, administrators must share the DSN names to the developers/users who plan to connect from Tableau-Power BI-Qlik Desktop clients to OBIEE using BI Connector Desktop Edition.


Tableau Desktop - Power BI Desktop - Qlik Desktop to OBIEE


To be created by: Developers/users

Using: BI Connector Desktop Edition

Where: On the same machine as Tableau Desktop or Power BI Desktop or Qlik Desktop


1.  Create User or System DSNs.  System DSN is preferred, but not essential.

2.   The DSN names must match the DSN names created by administrators.  This is mandatory for publishing and auto-refresh of the published workbooks in the server.  For example if the user connects to OBIEE Prod Reports, the DSN name must be OBIEE-Prod-Report which is the DSN name that was created by the administrator in the server.  

3.   Create individual DSNs that match the DSNs created in the server to connect to the corresponding OBIEE environments.