Connect Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio to Microsoft Power BI – Part 1: IAM Identity Center (IDC)-based domains

This article demonstrates how to connect Microsoft Power BI to Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio using the Amazon Athena ODBC driver with IAM Identity Center (IDC)-based domains, eliminating the need for third-party ODBC-JDBC bridges.

• Athena ODBC driver (v2.2.0+) introduces SageMakerBrowserIdc and SageMakerIam authentication modes for direct SageMaker Unified Studio connections
• Method 1 (DSN-based): Uses Amazon Athena Power BI connector with ODBC DSN, supporting DirectQuery and Import modes with both authentication types
• Method 2 (DSN-less): Uses Power BI ODBC connector with connection strings, supporting Import mode only with SageMakerIam authentication
• Configure ODBC DSN with SageMaker domain ID, project ID, workgroup name, and IDC issuer URL for browser-based authentication
• Deploy on-premises data gateway on EC2 with IAM role for Power BI Service access, using SageMakerIam authentication
• Add gateway IAM role and user identities as project members in SageMaker Unified Studio for data access

This native connection simplifies architecture by removing bridge components, reducing licensing costs, and enabling analysts to use Power BI directly with governed data in SageMaker Unified Studio.