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Server Properties

Configuration keys for Power BI collection and the usage dashboards: name, default, effect, and when a change takes effect.

Change only what you need

Most settings have a field in the MetaMiner Administrator (MMA); use it where one exists. Change the other keys only when this page or Infolytik Support tells you to, and write down every change so you can revert it.

Where settings live

File Location Read when Used for
config.json, properties block server\config\config.json MMS: at start and whenever the file changes. Web Apps: within about 5 seconds of a change. MMA settings, web app switches, web.apps.pbiusage.* dashboard keys
MetaMinerServer.properties server\MetaMinerServer.properties Once, at service start pbi.* collection keys
webapps.json server\config\webapps.json Web Apps, every few seconds User-population scope (written by the MMA)
  • The installer ships MetaMinerServer.properties.customize as a commented template and never overwrites your own MetaMinerServer.properties. Copy the template to MetaMinerServer.properties before you add keys.
  • A key in MetaMinerServer.properties overrides the same key passed on the service command line.
  • Keys in MetaMinerServer.properties always need a restart of the MetaMiner Server.
  • Power BI environment settings (credentials, endpoint set, Capacity Metrics) are edited in the MMA environment dialog, not here. See Environment Fields.
server\MetaMinerServer.properties (example)
# Collect trial capacities from the Fabric Capacity Metrics app
pbi.fcm.trial.capacities.enabled=true
server\config\config.json (excerpt)
{
  "properties": {
    "web.apps.pbiusage.cost.pro": "14",
    "web.apps.pbiusage.portal.base": "https://app.powerbigov.us"
  }
}

Web app switches (config.json)

Key Default Effect MMA field
web.pbiusage.enabled true Serves the Power BI usage dashboards at /web/pbiusage/ WebApps > Power BI Usage (/web/pbiusage)
web.monitor.enabled false Serves the Monitor app at /web/monitor/ WebApps > Pulse (/web/monitor)
web.metaquery.enabled false Turns on Meta Query on the web MetaQuery > Enable the web console (/web/metaquery)

Switches apply on the next request; no restart. More Meta Query keys: Meta Query on the Web.

Power BI usage dashboards

Set in the properties block of config.json; the Web Apps service applies them within seconds.

Key Default Effect
web.apps.pbiusage.max.range.days 92 Longest date range a dashboard request may cover
web.apps.pbiusage.portal.base https://app.powerbi.com Base address for Open in the Power BI portal links
web.apps.pbiusage.export.max.rows 50000 Maximum rows in a detail CSV download; longer lists are cut with a marker row
web.apps.pbiusage.silver.stale.hours 6 Hours after which activity and refresh summaries count as stale
web.apps.pbiusage.lw.stale.hours 26 Hours after which the licence snapshot counts as stale
web.apps.pbiusage.content.stale.days 90 Days without change after which content counts as Never Updated
web.apps.pbiusage.poweruser.days 3 Active days needed to count as a power user
web.apps.pbiusage.refresh.slowest.min.samples 3 Completed refreshes needed to appear in Slowest Semantic Models
web.apps.pbiusage.cost.pro 10 USD per Pro seat per month (cost basis display)
web.apps.pbiusage.cost.ppu 20 USD per Premium Per User seat per month (cost basis display)
web.apps.pbiusage.cost.cu.hour 0.18 USD per capacity unit hour (refresh waste estimate)
web.apps.pbiusage.cost.refresh.cufactor 2.0 CU per refresh hour (refresh waste estimate)
web.apps.pbiusage.cost.storage.gbmonth 0.023 USD per GB-month (stale model storage estimate)
web.apps.pbiusage.cost.stalemodel.gb 0.5 Assumed GB per archivable model
web.apps.pbiusage.chargeback.monthly.budget 50000 Monthly budget in USD for Chargeback by Capacity
web.apps.pbiusage.fcm.enable true false turns the Capacity Metrics page off
web.apps.pbiusage.fcm.stale.hours 3 Hours after which capacity data counts as stale
web.apps.pbiusage.fcm.max.hours 2160 Longest period in hours (90 days) a Capacity Metrics request may cover
web.apps.slowquery.threshold.ms 5000 Dashboard queries slower than this are written to webapps.queries.log

Seat prices in the licence snapshot

The Monthly License Waste dollar figure is computed by the licence-waste job with its own costPro and costPpu parameters in server\silver-jobs\pbi-license-waste\job.json. Keep them equal to web.apps.pbiusage.cost.pro and .cost.ppu. See Users and Licenses.

The user-population scope is set on the MMA WebApps page; see Scope and Sign-In.

Power BI collection (MetaMinerServer.properties)

All keys below need a restart of the MetaMiner Server.

Key Default Effect
pbi.env.pull.period 10 (minutes) How often the MMS rebuilds the Power BI view the MMC shows from the database
pbi.api.broker.enabled true false stops every Power BI, Fabric and Graph collector. The MMC keeps showing the stored data. Use only on Support advice.
pbi.<envId>.<COLLECTOR>.processor.enabled true false turns off one collector for one environment. <envId> is the numeric ID of the environment in config.json; <COLLECTOR> is a name from Collection Processors, for example pbi.1700000000000.FCM.processor.enabled=false.
pbi.api.timeout.on.activity.limit.reached 20 (minutes) Wait after Microsoft throttles a collector (HTTP 429) without saying how long to wait
pbi.fcm.trial.capacities.enabled false Also collect trial capacities (SKU starting with FT) from the Capacity Metrics app
pbi.fabric.item.definitions.interval.minutes 180 How often Fabric item definitions are checked for changes
pbi.fabric.item.definitions.parallel.slots 8 Item definitions downloaded in parallel (all types except semantic models)
pbi.fabric.item.definitions.parallel.slots.semantic_model 5 Semantic model definitions downloaded in parallel
pbi.fabric.item.definitions.max.slot.age.minutes 120 Time after which an unfinished definition download is abandoned and retried later
pbi.interactive.login.enabled true Offers interactive Microsoft sign-in in the MMC for delegated features
pbi.activity.events.retention.period 104 (weeks) How long activity events are kept
pbi.fcm.retention.period 26 (weeks) How long Capacity Metrics detail is kept
pbi.deleted.data.retention.days 180 How long removed items stay in the archive before they are purged
pbi.orphan.cleanup.retention.days 180 How long rows of removed environments are kept
pbi.ws.scan.dump.budget.gb 4 Disk budget for diagnostic copies of unreadable scan results (mm-pbi-dumps in the Java temp folder)
http.read.timeout 340 (seconds) Read timeout for Microsoft API calls
pbi.okhttp.http2.enabled true false makes Microsoft API calls use HTTP/1.1 only, for proxies or inspection devices that do not handle HTTP/2
number.of.leased.buffers 50 (200 with a heap over 31 GB, 300 over 63 GB) Download buffers of 10 MB each, held outside the Java heap. Change only on Support advice.
silver.jobs.enable true false stops the rollup jobs that feed the usage dashboards
metrics.pg.enabled true Samples MetaMiner Server metrics for the Monitor app

Collector intervals

Only the item definition interval is configurable. The other collector intervals are fixed; see Collection Processors.