/d42-power-bi

Introduction

In order to facilitate an easy method to extract data from Device42 and provide insightful visuals and metrics Device42 makes available a pre-built Power BI Dashboard file that contains visualizations and reports for multiple use cases that include transformation, security, inventory, and others.

Prerequisites for Usage

In order to use the dashboard the following must be available.

  1. Ability to connect to the Device42 Main Appliance (HTTPS port 443)
  2. Access to a Device42 User with “Super User” enabled (Allows access to DOQL for all data)
  3. Device42 Main Appliance must be on version 17 or greater
  4. The Power BI Desktop Client installed
  5. Device42 ODBC Driver installed with a User DSN configured

This file will use data and tables supporting multiple use cases of Device42 which may mean not all installations will have this data in use or the required modules available.

The Power BI file will still be entirely functional though visualizations that do not have qualifying data will be blank.

For all visualizations and functions to be available make sure to configure or enable the following in Device42.

  1. Enable Global Cloud Recommendation Engine Settings, this can be performed by navigating to Tools > Settings > Global Settings. Then Edit the Global Settings and Scroll to the bottom to find Global Cloud Recommendation Settings. At a minimum this must be enabled for AWS, but you can enable it for all CSP’s. It is also recommended to use the 95th Percentile as the RU Recommendation Metric. All other options and regions can be set by preference.

  2. Many of the visuals and functions will also use **Device Tags **and Business Applications as slicers, it is possible to modify the dashboards to use other values, but it is recommended to apply relevant business tags or create Business Applications with your devices.

The Device42 Modules Currently Used:

  • Software License Management
  • Application Dependency Mapping
  • Resource utilization
  • Storage Discovery

Though the above are not required, more functionality will be available with them.

Install the Device42 ODBC Driver

In order to connect Power BI to Device42 we will be using ODBC. The Device42 ODBC driver will be required to allow this ability.

Download the Device42 ODBC Driver here.

Run the ODBC Driver install after it has been downloaded, steps to install found here.

Configure the ODBC User DSN

  1. To create / pre-define a DSN (Data Source Name), open the Windows ODBC Data Source Administrator via the Windows Start Menu.
    Windows 10: click Start -> Windows Administrative Tools -> ODBC Data Sources (64-bit); [note there is also a 32-bit version, which you can ignore].
    Windows 7: Click Start -> All Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Data Sources (ODBC): \

  2. Click the Add button to begin adding a new datasource. In the “Create New Data Source” window that is displayed, choose the “Device42 ODBC Driver” and click “Finish”: \

  3. On the “Device42 ODBC Driver DSN Configuration” screen that is displayed, enter values as explained below: \

    1. DSN Name: The name to identify this DSN.
    2. Server Host: The host name of the Device42 server.
    3. Port: The port number that the Device42 server is servicing requests on. The default value is the standard SSL port of 443. If you leave this field blank, it will also default to 443.
    4. Username: The username you use to login to Device42.
    5. Password: The password you use to login to Device42.

  4. Click the “Test” button to try connecting using the information you specified. You will receive a message if the connection could or could not be made. If the connection could not be made, verify that the information you entered is correct.

  5. Click the “Save” button to save the changes you made to the DSN. Your changes will only be saved if the information entered results in a successful connection. If the connection could not be made, verify that the information you entered is correct.

Setup of the Device42 ODBC DSN is complete. You should now be able to utilize the pre-configured DSN throughout PowerBI.

Using the Device42 Data Insights Power BI

Now that the prerequisites have been performed. The Power BI file can be downloaded and loaded for use.

  1. Download the Power BI .pbix file
  2. Open the file Device42_Data_Insights.pbix
    1. This file will open pre-loaded with data from a demo environment of Device42
  3. In order to load your Device42 data update the Data Source Settings by performing the following
    1. In the right side pane for Fields right click any table and** **select Edit query
    2. This will then open the** Power BI Query Editor**, click on Data Source Settings from the Home menu
    3. Select the currently listed DSN, then click Change Source, and select the **_Data Source name (DSN) _**drop down to the DSN configured in the previous steps above. Once done, click Ok, then click Close
    4. Finally, click on Close & Apply in the Home menu
  4. Power BI will then start to refresh and load the data into the dashboard. For all prompts to follow click “Run” or “Ok”
    1. There will be multiple prompts about running a Native Database Query this is normal and Run can be performed
  5. After some time the data and connection model will be updated with your data and all visualizations will reflect your Device42 data.