Setting up Snowflake ODBC Connector for PowerBI

Using Snowflake's version of the ODB connector rather than PowerBI's inbuilt version allows you to reduce authentication prompts when refreshing data by caching the MFA token. Note this is a workaround due to the limitations of the native Microsoft PowerBI <-> Snowflake connector in handling MFA requests. 

Steps to Set Up

You will need to:

• Download and install Snowflake ODBC driver for your operating system
• Configure an ODBC DSN connection using these steps
• Your connection credentials will be:
  • User: Your customer login user name (e.g. POWER_BI$UK_GROUP_ARBOR)
  • Server: https://arbor-education.snowflakecomputing.com/
  • Warehouse: POWER_BI_GENERAL
  • Authenticator: username_password_mfa

• In PowerBI, use the ODBC connection and DSN you have configured to get data. Please note this method only supports Import and not DirectQuery access. 

Once you have installed the ODBC connector you can continue to use PowerBI as normal.