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Verify the First Collection

Confirm that the MetaMiner Server is collecting your Fabric and Power BI tenant and that the client shows it.

Before you begin

  • The Power BI environment passed Test Connection, is enabled, and the MetaMiner Server is started. See Quickstart.
  • You can open files in server\logs\ on the MetaMiner host.

Steps

  1. In the MetaMiner Administrator, choose File > Open Log Folder and open server.log in a text editor.

  2. Check that Power BI started. These lines mean collection is blocked:

    Line in server.log Meaning Fix
    PBI module is not enabled in your license The license has no Power BI module Apply a License Key
    Power BI requires MMDB PostgreSQL 16+ The MetaMiner Database runs an older PostgreSQL Choose the MetaMiner Database

  3. Open slc.log. Find the snapshot cycles for your environment. Each line names the display name and the tenant ID:

    server\logs\slc.log (excerpt)
    Pull #1 for Power BI environment POWER BI PRODUCTION/<tenant ID> (<id>) started
Pull #1 for Power BI environment POWER BI PRODUCTION/<tenant ID> (<id>) done

    A new pair appears every 10 minutes. Each one rebuilds the client snapshot from what the collectors have stored so far. 4. Start the MetaMiner Client, connect to the server and load the environment. See Install the Client. 5. In the Power BI Explorer, compare the number of workspaces with the Workspaces page of the Fabric admin portal. 6. Expand a few workspaces you know and check their reports, semantic models and dataflows. 7. After about 30 minutes, open the Entra Users/Groups tab and check that users and groups appear. 8. Check the state of each collector. See Collection Status.

Image of the Power BI Explorer after the first collection, with the workspace tree expanded and the status bar showing the load time

../images/get-started/mmc-first-collection-pbi-explorer.png

What fills in when

The collectors run in parallel and each has its own pace, so the tenant fills in step by step.

Data Appears
Workspace list After the first run of the Workspaces collector, shortly after start
Workspace contents, lineage, data sources, access As workspace scans complete, up to 100 workspaces per scan
Activity events Read hour by hour from 28 days back; recent days appear last
Entra users and groups After the first full directory read
Capacity Metrics Read from 14 days back, if configured
Usage dashboards After activity events are collected and the summary jobs have run

TODO: give typical first-collection durations

Add measured examples, for example for 500 / 5,000 / 50,000 workspaces, including the time until the activity backfill catches up.

Verify

  • slc.log shows a done line for the environment every 10 minutes and no Unable to execute pull line.
  • The Power BI Explorer shows the expected workspaces and their contents.
  • Optional: in Meta Query, SELECT count(*) FROM pbi.workspaces; returns a number close to the workspace count in the Fabric admin portal. See Meta Query.

Troubleshooting

The environment is missing from slc.log

The server starts a Power BI environment only if it is enabled and passed Test Connection when it was saved. An environment saved with Save Anyway is disabled. Fix the failed steps, validate again, and restart the server. See Validate the Connection.

Workspaces appear but their contents stay empty

Workspace scans have not completed, or the scan detail settings are off. Check that "Enhance admin API responses with detailed metadata" and "Enhance admin API responses with DAX and mashup expressions" are enabled for the application's security group. See Tenant Settings and Collection Problems.

Gateways and connections are missing

The tenant setting that lets service principals use Fabric APIs is off for the application's group. See Tenant Settings.

Item definitions are missing for some workspaces

MetaMiner reads Fabric item definitions only in workspaces where the application is Admin, Member or Contributor. See Workspace Access.

The Entra Users/Groups tab is empty

The Graph collectors need Microsoft Graph application permissions with admin consent. See API Permissions.

Next steps