Excel Office Online



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If you plan to use any Excel Online features that utilize external data access (such as Power Pivot), note that Office Online Server must reside in the same Active Directory forest as its users as well as any external data sources that you plan to access using Windows-based authentication. This is OpenOffice Calc, which is a spreadsheet program similar to Excel, with a roughly equivalent features. It allows to edit and create excel xls documents. In concrete, XOfficeXls is the app OpenOffice Calc that is run remotely in our servers. It also includes a smart web editor to work with xls documents. OpenOffice Calc main features.

In addition to viewing Power BI reports in the web portal, Power BI Report Server can host Excel workbooks by using Office Online Server (OOS). Your report server becomes a single location to publish and view self-service Microsoft BI content.

Prepare server to run Office Online Server

Perform these procedures on the server that will run Office Online Server. This server must be Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016. Windows Server 2016 requires Office Online Server April 2017 or later.

Install prerequisite software for Office Online Server

  1. Open the Windows PowerShell prompt as an administrator and run this command to install the required roles and services.

    Windows Server 2012 R2:

    Windows Server 2016:

    If prompted, restart the server.

  2. Install the following software:

Install Office Online Server

If you plan to use any Excel Online features that utilize external data access (such as Power Pivot), note that Office Online Server must reside in the same Active Directory forest as its users as well as any external data sources that you plan to access using Windows-based authentication.

  1. Download Office Online Server from the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC). The download is located under those Office products on the VLSC portal. For development purposes, you can download OOS from MSDN subscriber downloads.

  2. Run Setup.exe.

  3. On the Read the Microsoft Software License Terms page, select I accept the terms of this agreement and select Continue.

  4. On the Choose a file location page, select the folder where you want the Office Online Server files to be installed (for example, C:Program FilesMicrosoft Office Web Apps*) and select Install Now. If the folder you specified doesn’t exist, Setup creates it for you.

    We recommend that you install Office Online Server on the system drive.

  5. When Setup finishes installing Office Online Server, select Close.

Install language packs for Office Web Apps Server (optional)

Office Online Server Language Packs let users view web-based Office files in multiple languages.

To install the language packs, follow these steps.

  1. Download the Office Online Server Language Packs from the Microsoft Download Center.
  2. Run wacserverlanguagepack.exe.
  3. In the Office Online Server Language Pack Wizard, on the Read the Microsoft Software License Terms page, select I accept the terms of this agreement and select Continue.
  4. When Setup finishes installing Office Online Server, select Close.

Deploy Office Online Server

Create the Office Online Server farm (HTTPS)

Use the New-OfficeWebAppsFarm command to create a new Office Online Server farm that consists of a single server, as shown in the following example.

Parameters

  • –InternalURL is the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the server that runs Office Online Server, such as https://servername.contoso.com.
  • –ExternalURL is the FQDN that can be accessed on the Internet.
  • –CertificateName is the friendly name of the certificate.
Online

Create the Office Online Server farm (HTTP)

Use the New-OfficeWebAppsFarm command to create a new Office Online Server farm that consists of a single server, as shown in the following example.

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Parameters

  • –InternalURL is the name of the server that runs Office Online Server, such as https://servername.
  • –AllowHttp configures the farm to use HTTP.

Verify that the Office Online Server farm was created successfully

After the farm is created, details about the farm are displayed in the Windows PowerShell prompt. To verify that Office Online Server is installed and configured correctly, use a web browser to access the Office Online Server discovery URL, as shown in the following example. The discovery URL is the InternalUrl parameter you specified when you configured your Office Online Server farm, followed by /hosting/discovery, for example:

If Office Online Server works as expected, you should see a Web Application Open Platform Interface Protocol (WOPI)-discovery XML file in your web browser. The first few lines of that file should resemble the following example:

Configure Excel workbook maximum size

The maximum file size for all files in Power BI Report Server is 100 MB. To stay in sync with that, you need to manually set this in OOS.

Using EffectiveUserName with Analysis Services

To allow for live connections to Analysis Services, for connections within an Excel workbook that make use of EffectiveUserName. For OOS to make use of EffectiveUserName, you will need to add the machine account of the OOS server as an administrator for the Analysis Services instance. Management Studio for SQL Server 2016 or later is needed to do this.

Only embedded Analysis Services connections are currently supported within an Excel workbook. The user's account will need to have permission to connect to Analysis Services as the ability to proxy the user is not available.

Run the following PowerShell commands on the OOS Server.

Configure a Power Pivot instance for data models

Installing an Analysis Services Power Pivot mode instance lets you work with Excel workbooks that are using Power Pivot. Make sure that the instance name is POWERPIVOT. Add the machine account of the OOS server as an administrator, for the Analysis Services Power Pivot mode instance. Management Studio for SQL Server 2016 or later is needed to do this.

For OOS to use the Power Pivot mode instance, run the following command.

If you did not already allow external data, from the Analysis Services step above, run the following command.

Firewall considerations

To avoid firewall issues, you may need to open the ports 2382 and 2383. You can also add the msmdsrv.exe, for the Power Pivot instance, as an application firewall wall policy.

Configure Power BI Report Server to use the OOS Server

On the General page of Site settings, enter the OOS discovery url. The OOS discovery url is the InternalUrl, used when deploying the OOS server, followed by /hosting/discovery. For example, https://servername/hosting/discovery, for HTTP. And, https://server.contoso.com/hosting/discovery for HTTPS.

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To get to Site settings, select the gear icon in the upper right and select Site settings.

Only a user with the System Administrator role will see the Office Online Server discovery url setting.

Office

After you enter the discovery url, and select Apply, selecting an Excel workbook, within the web portal, should display the workbook within the web portal.

Limitations and considerations

  • You will have read only capability with workbooks.
  • Scheduled refresh isn't supported for Excel workbooks in Power BI Report Server.

Next steps

Administrator overview
Install Power BI Report Server
Download Report Builder
Download SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT)

More questions? Try asking the Power BI Community

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Summary Learn how Excel Online supports connections with SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS), SQL Server databases, and OLE DB and ODBC data sources.

Retrieving data from a data source requires a user to be authenticated by the data source and then authorized to access the data that is contained therein. In the case of a workbook, Excel Online authenticates to the data source on behalf of the user who is viewing it in order to refresh the data to which the workbook is connected.

Which authentication method Excel Online can use to retrieve data depends on the type of the underlying data source, as outlined in the following table. For data sources that support more than one authentication method, data connections must specify which one to use.

Data sources and authentication methods for Excel Online

Data sourceAuthentication method
Analysis Services
Windows authentication (integrated security)
using Kerberos Constrained Delegation
using Secure Store
using the EffectiveUserName connection string property
SQL Server
One of:
Windows authentication (integrated security)
using Kerberos Constrained Delegation
using Secure Store
SQL Server Authentication
Custom data providers
Varies per data source, typically a user-name and password pair stored in the connection string.

The following data sources are supported in Excel but not in Excel Online:

  • Access databases

  • Web content

  • XML data

  • Microsoft Azure Marketplace

  • Text files

Connecting to external data with Excel Online

Excel Online can connect to various external data sources, including SQL Server, Analysis Services, and custom OLE DB/ODBC data providers. To connect to the data source, Excel Online uses a specific data provider for each data source.

Connecting to a SQL Server data source can be done by using either:

  • Windows authentication

  • SQL Server Authentication

Connecting to an Analysis Services data source is done by using Windows authentication.

Other data sources use a connection string usually consisting of a user name and password.

Data connections for Excel Online workbooks

Excel Online workbooks use one of two kinds of connections:

  • Embedded connections

  • Linked connections

Embedded connections are stored as part of the Excel workbook. Linked connections are stored externally to a workbook in Office Data Connection (ODC) files. To use a linked connection, a workbook must reference an .odc file that is also stored in the same SharePoint Server farm as the workbook. Each data connection consists of:

  • A connection string

  • A query string

  • An authentication method

  • Optionally, some metadata required to retrieve external data

Each kind of connection has its advantages and drawbacks discussed here. Choose the one that best suits your scenario.

Comparison of data connections for Excel Online

Connection typeEmbedded connectionsODC files
Advantages
All connection information is stored in the workbook.
Embedded connections require little administrative overhead to support.
Embedded connections are easy to create.
Linked connections can be centrally stored, managed, audited, shared and access to them can be controlled by using a SharePoint document library.
Workbook authors can use existing connections without having to create queries and connection strings.
If the data connection details for a data source change, an administrator only need update one ODC file. With that change, all workbooks that refer to the ODC file will use the updated connection information when the next refresh occurs. (An example of this scenario is when the database server is moved or the database name is changed.)
Drawbacks
If the data connection details for a data source change, all workbooks with embedded connections to that data source will have to be republished with updated connection information.
Embedded data connections are more difficult to audit by SharePoint administrators.
Linked connections may require the help of a SharePoint administrator to share, manage and secure.
Linked connections are saved in clear text and may contain database passwords. Extra care must be taken to help secure these files.
Requires server-to-server authentication between Office Online Server and SharePoint Server. This adds configuration and administration overhead.

Choose a linked data connection, by using an ODC file, for scenarios in which you must have a data connection to an enterprise-scale data source such as SQL Server or Analysis Services. Linked data connections are most useful in scenarios in which they will be shared across many users and in which administrator control of the connection is important.

Choose an embedded connection for scenarios where you need a data connection that will not be widely used.

ODC files can be centralized in a data connection library. Doing so has several advantages:

  • Administrators can restrict write access to a data connection library to trusted data connection authors to ensure that only well tested and secure data connections are used by workbook authors.

  • Administrators have a single location to manage data connections for a large group of users.

  • Administrators can easily approve, audit, revert and manage data connection files by using document library versioning and workflow features.

  • Data connection libraries can be reused across other Office applications such as Visio and Visio Services.

  • Workbook authors only have a single location to find workbook data connections, reducing confusion and user training.

Windows authentication

Windows authentication requires that Excel Online present to the data source a set of Windows credentials. This kind of credential is common on Windows networks and is the same credential used to log on to computers on a Windows domain. Windows credentials are considered the most secure and manageable means of controlling access to SQL Server databases. However, one obstacle to using Windows authentication with Excel Online is the Windows double hop security measure, wherein a user's credentials cannot be passed across more than one computer in a Windows network. Given that Excel Online used with SharePoint Server is a multi-tiered system, special authentication methods are required for Excel Online to retrieve data on behalf of the end-user.

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The authentication method to choose depends on various factors as outlined in the following table. Choose the one that best suits your scenario.

Comparison of authentication methods

Authentication methodKerberos delegationSecure StoreEffective User Name
Description
Using Kerberos constrained delegation, the workbook viewer's Windows credentials are sent to the data source directly.
Using the Secure Store Service, the viewer's Windows credentials are mapped to another set of credentials specified in a Secure Store target application.
Using the EffectiveUserName Global Setting, the user's domain user name is passed to Analysis Services data sources.
Data connection credentials
The Windows credentials of the workbook viewer.
The credentials specified in the Secure Store target application.
The credentials of the Office Online Server process identity.
Advantages
The Kerberos protocol is an industry standard in credentials management.
Kerberos ties into the existing Active Directory infrastructure.
Kerberos delegation permits auditing of individual accesses to a data source.
Given that the workbook viewer's identity is known, workbook creators can embed personalized database queries into workbooks.
The Secure Store Service is part of SharePoint Server and is easier to configure than Kerberos.
Mappings are flexible: a user can be mapped either 1-to-1 or many-to-1.
Non-Windows credentials can be used to connect to data sources that do not accept Windows credentials.
Mappings created for Excel Online can be re-used by other business intelligence applications such as Visio Services.
Per-user data security without the need to configure Kerberos delegation.
Minimal configuration and administrative overhead.
Drawbacks
Additional administrative effort required to configure SharePoint Server and Excel Online.
Establishing and managing mapping tables requires some administrative overhead.
Secure Store permits limited auditing. In the many-to-1 scenario, individual incoming users are mapped into the same credentials through a target application, effectively blending them into one user.
Only works with Analysis Services data sources.
For the authentication operation to succeed …
Kerberos delegation must be set up on the Office Online Server.
The Secure Store Service must be provisioned and configured on the SharePoint Server farm. It must also contain appropriate mapping information for a particular incoming user. Additionally the mapping information may need to be updated periodically to reflect password changes on the mapped account.
The EffectiveUserName option must be enabled in Office Online Server.
The user must be a member of the appropriate Analysis Services role.

Kerberos delegation

Choose Kerberos delegation for secure and fast authentication to enterprise-scale relational data sources that support Windows authentication. If you plan to configure Kerberos constrained delegation, the following requirements are specific to using Kerberos constrained delegation with Excel Online in Office Online Server:

  • The Claims to Windows Token Service must be running on each server in the Office Online Server farm and set to run as Local System.

  • Each server in the Office Online Server farm must be allowed to delegate to each back-end data source as shown in the Active Directory Domain Services delegation list.

  • The c2wtshost.exe.config file (located at Program FilesWindows Identity Foundationv3.5) must be updated and the comment tags removed from NT AUTHORITYNetwork Service allowedCallers list:

Secure Store

Choose Secure Store for authentication to enterprise-scale relational data sources that may or may not support Windows Authentication. Secure Store is also useful in scenarios in which you want to control user credential mappings.

For information about using Secure Store with Excel Online, see:

SQL Server Authentication

SQL Server Authentication requires that Excel Online present a SQL Server user name and password to a SQL Server data source to authenticate. Excel Online passes the connection string to the data source. The connection string must contain the user name and password.

If the user name and password are stored in a Secure Store target application (recommended for best security), then Excel Online will impersonate the Office Online Server network service account and when the connection is made, the SQL credentials are set as properties of the connection.

Authentication against OLEDB/ODBC data sources

Authentication to third party data sources typically requires that Excel Online present a user name and password to a data source.

If the user name and password are stored in the workbook or in the ODC file, then Excel Online impersonates a Windows identity dependent on which option has been selected for Excel Services authentication settings, either in the workbook or in the ODC file.

If the user name and password are stored in a Secure Store target application (recommended for best security), then Excel Online impersonates the Office Online Server network service account and when the connection is made, the SQL credentials are set as properties of the connection.

Data refresh in Excel Online

Excel Online supports refreshing workbooks connected to one or more of the following data sources:

  • SQL Server

  • SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS)

Note

If the data source that you plan to connect to is not in the list above, you can add support for it by creating a Custom Data Provider. This technology enables you to wrap your existing data sources into one that Excel Online can consume.

Excel Online Worksheet

External data refresh is the result of the following set of steps through Excel Online.

  1. Creating a workbook: A workbook author uploads a data-connected workbook to SharePoint Server.

  2. Triggering Refresh: The workbook viewer triggers refresh on a data-connected workbook.

  3. Data Connections: Excel Online retrieves data connection information for each external data source in the workbook.

  4. Trusted Data Providers: Excel Online checks to see if there is a trusted data provider it can use to retrieve data.

  5. Authentication: Excel Online authenticates into the data source and retrieves the requested data on behalf of the workbook viewer.

  6. Workbook Refresh: Excel Online updates the workbook based on the data source data and returns it to the viewer.

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Refresh can be triggered in one of following ways from within the browser:

  • The end-user opens the workbook (if the workbook is configured to refresh on open).

  • The end-user clicks on the refresh button on an already open workbook.

If there are no previously cached versions of this workbook, any of these actions will trigger a refresh and update the workbook.

See also