Categories
Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Power BI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Business Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Business Intelligence presentation by Hector Villafuerte at the Power BI Fest – South Florida 2019.

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Cognitive Services provides intelligent algorithms to see, hear, speak, understand and interpret user needs. Azure Machine Learning performs highly specialized tasks such as feature selection, algorithm selection or hyper-parameter optimization. Now with Auto ML in Power BI, business analysts can build ML models to solve business problems that once required high skilled data scientists. Hector will show and demo some original use cases with Cognitive Services, Azure Machine Learning and other new AI features recently available in PowerBI.

Event Date: November 16, 2019 8:00 am – 6:00 pm

Address:
Nova Southeastern University
Main Campus – Davie
3301 College Avenue
Davie, FL 33314

Categories
Power BI

Power BI for the Enterprise

Power BI for the Enterprise presentation by Hector Villafuerte at the Power BI Fest – South Florida 2019.

This talk provides attendees with insights on important aspects of implementing Power BI Service at organizations of all sizes. It empowers business users with the knowledge to establish a symbiotic and productive relationship with IT departments. This partnership makes it possible to effectively run an efficient data driven organization and departments; meanwhile, being compliant with data governance, security and other requirements.

– The presentation covers business and technical aspects on major topics; such as:

  • Data Governance (IT and Business perspectives)
  • Security
  • Version/Source control
  • Deployment
  • Data Pipelines

In a time where data privacy and breaches are a major concern, this session outlines important practices to business and technical users; making it a must see session.

Event Date: November 16, 2019 8:00 am – 6:00 pm

Address:
Nova Southeastern University
Main Campus – Davie
3301 College Avenue
Davie, FL 33314

Categories
AWS Azure C#

Building Scalable Serverless Apps in the cloud using Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure

Building Scalable Serverless Apps in the cloud using Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure presentation by Hector Villafuerte at the South Florida Code Camp 2019

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure are the cloud market leaders. Many organizations use both platforms together for maximum capability and flexibility, and having skills in both areas is becoming more and more essential for developers. In this session Hector covers a broad range of serverless products and services available in the Azure and AWS platform, showing the similarities and differences between Azure and AWS. Hector will demostrate using a live demo how to build, deploy, debug and monitor a serverless app in Azure and AWS cloud platforms. 

Event Date: March 2, 2019 7:30 am – 5:45 pm

ADDRESS:
Nova Southeastern University
Main Campus – Davie
3301 College Avenue
Davie, FL 33314

Categories
No SQL Power BI

PowerBI for Large and Diverse databases 2019

PowerBI for Large and Diverse databases by Hector Villafuerte at the South Florida Code Camp 2019

Today’s enterprise business analytics requires run complex analytic queries against large datasets stored in different sources like Azure SQL Database, Azure Analysis Services, DynamoDB, MongoDB and others. In this session, BI Architect and Microsoft Certified Professional, Hector Villafuerte focuses upon the design, architecture and best practices that allows Power BI to offer the best functionality and performance combination. Throughout the session, we explore live demos of various large and diverse datasets and take advantage of Power BI latest features to achieve high performance and visual capabilities.

Event Date: March 2, 2019 7:30 am – 5:45 pm

ADDRESS:
Nova Southeastern University
Main Campus – Davie
3301 College Avenue
Davie, FL 33314

Categories
Datawarehouse Power BI SSAS

“Power BI for Large Databases with Composite Mode” at South Florida Power BI User Group

Power BI for Large Databases with new Composite Mode presentation by Hector Villafuerte at the South Florida Power BI User Group.

Today’s enterprise business analytics requires run complex analytic queries against large datasets stored in different sources like Azure SQL Database, Azure Analysis Services, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Apache Hive, Apache Spark. In this session, BI Architect and Microsoft Certified Professional, Hector Villafuerte focuses upon the design, architecture and best practices that allows Power BI to offer the best functionality and performance combination. Throughout the session, we explore various large datasets and witness how to implement Power BI and different data technologies to achieve high performance and visual capabilities.

DATE: Thursday – October 4th, 2018
TIME: 6:00 pm

– ADDRESS:
Nova Southeastern University
Main Campus – Davie
3301 College Avenue
Davie, FL 33314

Categories
Datawarehouse Power BI SSAS

My presentation for SQLSATURDAY 755 South Florida Conference

This is the presentation for my session at SQL Saturday, South Florida, June 9 2018

Link to download PPT: Download Presentation

Categories
Alexa AWS Azure C# No SQL

Building Scalable Serverless Apps in the Cloud with .NET: Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure ?

Here are the slides of my presentation at South Florida Code Camp 2018 on February 10th, 2018.

Recently released toolsets for AWS Lambda and Azure Functions are finally making “serverless” application development available to C# developers. Join me to explore the different features and development process of an Alexa Skill with .NET using the most popular serverless cloud technologies in the market: AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, AWS Dynamo DB and Azure CosmosDB. We’ll compare the development experience and features of Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure Cloud Platforms.

Scalable Serverless Apps

Categories
Power BI

.NET App Security (MVC, Web Forms, Web API) with SQL 2016 RLS

In this article, I’ll show the implementation of Row-Level-Security (RLS) with SQL 2016 and any .NET application like Web MVC, Web Forms, Web API, Windows App, etc. In previous articles, I showed you how to implement RLS in SQL 2016 and how client tools like Excel or Power BI can take advantage of this security. Now we’ll focus in .NET applications. Traditionally, we use to implement the security for data by coding the necessary logic using C# or VB.NET in the middle tier application.

Now, SQL 2016 allows the implementation of RLS, the security logic can be implemented right in the database, reducing the security code in the .NET middle tier app and centralizing the security in the source database, so any application or third party tool can connect to the database and reuse the same RLS security.

The following sample shows how to implement RLS in SQL to allow any .NET application with or without Active Directory or using another Security Membership Framework to query a SQL Server 2016 database and use RLS.

In order to do this, the .NET application should set values in the SESSION_CONTEXT after connecting to the database, and then security policies in the database will be able to read the values from SESSION_CONTEXT and filter rows using the Context values.

This article uses the same database I use in other articles.

In Visual Studio, Create Wasp – ASP .NET Project – Check ASP Forms and MVC. You can implement this in any .NET Windows or Web application: Console App, MVC, Web API, etc. For simplicity we’ll use Web Forms, but you might also implement this using Web API and use Angular for your web app.

Select MVC Template, Windows Authentication.

Add new item to the project: ADO.NET Entity Data Model, to the sample database. This will create a reference to Entity Framework. Call the model AdventureWorksModel.

Build the connection to the database.

For this sample, we’ll chose the tables DimCustomer and DimGeography.

You’ll get this model.

Create a Web Form called: TopCustomers.aspx. Add a RadGrid and ScriptManager Control to the Form. Add this code to code behind file TopCustomers.aspx.cs:

I add a Telerik Radgrid (You can add any control you want to display a list of customers) and the script manager.

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Web;

using System.Web.UI;

using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

namespace WebAppWithRLS

{

public partial class TopCustomers : System.Web.UI.Page

{

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

AdventureWorksDW2014Entities db = new AdventureWorksDW2014Entities();

var topCustomers =

from customer in db.DimCustomers

join geography in db.DimGeographies on customer.GeographyKey equals geography.GeographyKey

select new { Name = customer.FirstName + " " + customer.LastName, geography.EnglishCountryRegionName };

RadGrid1.DataSource = topCustomers.ToList().Take(100);

RadGrid1.DataBind();

}

}

Set the TopCustomers.aspx page as “Start Page”

Run the application in Visual Studio.

The page shows records from Australia and Canada. Even though the user gwilliams belongs to the Active Directory group “AW United Kingdom” so it should retrieve customer records from England only.

The user gwilliams is logged to the ASP .NET application, even though the Web App becomes a middle tier application that connects to the database using another middle tier user. In visual studio is the user account executing running visual studio and in IIS is the AppPool configured user.

The way to resolve go around this scenario is to send the context values in our context session before executing the SQL query or command, so SQL 2016 RLS can read this values and apply the corresponding security.

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Web;

using System.Data.Common;

using System.Data.Entity;

using System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.Interception;

namespace WebAppWithRLS.Models

{

 public class SessionContextInterceptor: IDbConnectionInterceptor

 {

  public void Opened(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext interceptionContext)

  {

   // Set SESSION_CONTEXT to current UserId whenever EF opens a connection

   try

   {

    var loginName = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name;

    if (loginName != null)

    {

     DbCommand cmd = connection.CreateCommand();

     cmd.CommandText = "EXEC sp_set_session_context @key=N'LoginName', @value=@LoginName";

     DbParameter param = cmd.CreateParameter();

     param.ParameterName = "@LoginName";

     param.Value = loginName;

     cmd.Parameters.Add(param);

     cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();

    }

   } catch (System.NullReferenceException)

   {

    // If no user is logged in, leave SESSION_CONTEXT null (all rows will be filtered)

   }

  }

  public void Opening(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void BeganTransaction(DbConnection connection, BeginTransactionInterceptionContext interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void BeginningTransaction(DbConnection connection, BeginTransactionInterceptionContext interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void Closed(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void Closing(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void ConnectionStringGetting(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext < string > interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void ConnectionStringGot(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext < string > interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void ConnectionStringSet(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionPropertyInterceptionContext < string > interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void ConnectionStringSetting(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionPropertyInterceptionContext < string > interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void ConnectionTimeoutGetting(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext < int > interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void ConnectionTimeoutGot(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext < int > interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void DataSourceGetting(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext < string > interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void DataSourceGot(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext < string > interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void DatabaseGetting(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext < string > interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void DatabaseGot(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext < string > interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void Disposed(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void Disposing(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void EnlistedTransaction(DbConnection connection, EnlistTransactionInterceptionContext interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void EnlistingTransaction(DbConnection connection, EnlistTransactionInterceptionContext interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void ServerVersionGetting(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext < string > interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void ServerVersionGot(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext < string > interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void StateGetting(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext < System.Data.ConnectionState > interceptionContext)

  {

  }

  public void StateGot(DbConnection connection, DbConnectionInterceptionContext < System.Data.ConnectionState > interceptionContext)

  {

  }

 }

 public class SessionContextConfiguration: DbConfiguration

 {

  public SessionContextConfiguration()

  {

   AddInterceptor(new SessionContextInterceptor());

  }

 }

}

Create the class SessionContextInterceptor.cs and add the following code:

 

The class SessionContextInterceptor as the name suggest will intercept a SQL command from EF model and execute the code in the Opened method. Using sp_set_session_context we set the value of @LoginName variable. This variable will be alive and accessible form SQL Server only for that session.

Now, let’s implement the RLS in SQL. We create the predicate function which reads the context values using SESSION_CONTEXT(N’LoginName’).

USE [AdventureWorksDW2014]

GO

CREATE FUNCTION RLS.GeographyAccessPredicate(@GeographyKey AS INT)

RETURNS TABLE

WITH SCHEMABINDING

AS

RETURN SELECT 1 AS AccessResult

FROM dbo.DimGeography G

INNER JOIN dbo.DimActiveDirectoryUser U

ON G.GeographyKey = @GeographyKey AND

(

(

U.LoginName = CAST(SESSION_CONTEXT(N'LoginName') AS nvarchar(150))

OR

U.LoginName = REPLACE(SUSER_NAME(), 'DOMAIN\', '')

)

AND

G.EnglishCountryRegionName = REPLACE(U.GroupName,'AW ','')

)

GO

CREATE SECURITY POLICY RLS.AWSecurityPolicy

ADD FILTER PREDICATE RLS.GeographyAccessPredicate(GeographyKey) ON dbo.DimCustomer

 

 

After that we run he program and now we can see only customers from United Kingdom, so the records are filtered by using the user name gwilliams.

In this article, I showed how RLS can be implemented regardless of the type of authentication (Database Custom Membership, Windows, Forms, OWIN, etc.) in our .NET application and type of .NET application: Console App, Window App, Web API, ASP .NET MVC/Web Forms, etc.

Categories
Power BI SSAS

My presentation for SQLSATURDAY 678 Orlando event

http://www.sqlsaturday.com/678/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=66680

 

Categories
SSAS

SSAS 2016 Tabular On Premise with Row-Level Security and Active Directory

SSAS 2016 Tabular On Premise with Row-Level Security and Active Directory

This is a series of articles related to RLS (Row Level Security), started with http://hectorv.com/bringing-security-where-data-lives

We are going to implement RLS (Row-Level Security) in SSAS (SQL Server Analysis Services) Tabular mode.

In our use case: Adventure Works Internet Sales, the goal is to restrict access to all customer data to specific users. The user GHowell, is a sales agent based on United States. This user should only be able to retrieve customers from United States when query the SSAS database using Excel, Power BI desktop or any other BI tool.

To implement RLS, let’s download a Tabular Project sample “Adventure Works Internet Sales Tabular Sample Solution”, then we’ll add RLS to this project.

Go to:

https://msftdbprodsamples.codeplex.com/releases/view/125550

Download Adventure Works Internet Sales Tabular Sample Solution from the link as shown below.

Open the project in Visual Studio and deploy it in your SSAS instance. We should apply RSL security to the Customer table. The customer table information from customers from different countries and “Adventure Works” has sales agents in different countries that should only have access to the corresponding customer information.

Notice the relationship between the Customer and Geography tables. The Row Level Security is disabled. Our plan is to apply RLS to the Geography table and the RLS will apply automatically to the Customer table, since there is a relationship between these two tables.

We are going to create a Role which have the security rules and membership.

  1. We create the Role: “Internet Sales United Kingdom”
  2. The Role screen show two tabs: Rows Filters and Members. In the Row Filter tab, we can see the list of tables. We select the Geography table and add the DAX filter.

=Geography[Country Region Code] = “GB”

Now, we add the membership in the Members tab. We add the active directory group that contains the “United Kingdom” sales agents.

Let’s test it!

In order to do our security test, we’ll use Excel as a BI client tool. In Excel go to Data – From Other Sources and select “From Analysis Services”.

Then, you have to enter your SSAS instance. After this a data connection in your Excel file is created.

You can create a Pivot table like the one shown below. It will show all users since probably your user is an administrator will access to all information.

Now, In order to test a specific user, we need to change the connection. In Excel, go to Data, Connections and select the SSAS connection that you created before. Go to the definition tab as shown below.

You are going to add an Effective user name to the connection string to simulate a query executed as another user. This will be allow only if you have administrator rights in the SSAS instance.

Try adding this at the end of the Connection String:

;EffectiveUserName=DOMAIN\GWilliams;

GWilliams is an active directory user that belongs to the “Internet Sales United Kingdom” AD group.

Click OK and you’ll see the data filtered only United Kingdom information as expected.

If you profile SSAS, you’ll be able to see that the Effective User name is sent with the query, then SSAS can check the AD membership and apply the corresponding Filter Rules defined in the SSAS Roles. Notice that Excel generate MDX queries instead of DAX queries.

 

In this article we learn how to implement RLS in SSAS tabular mode, and how to test it. In a following article, I’ll show you how to use this Tabular RLS security from Power BI with live connection.

 

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