Outside Connection to a Mendix PostgreSQL

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I'm kind of new to all this Mendix development but I have a question about something that came up in my work... So I have connected external databases to Mendix using the External Database Connector, doing all kinds of queries and even executing Stored Procedures, this seems to be working well, but, and this might be a dumb question.. but, would it be possible to connect from the exterior to see a Mendix PostgreSQL Database currently hosted on the Mendix Cloud Dedicated Cloud? What I want to do is connect Power BI to directly read Mendix Application data tables, is this even possible? Also I know about ODATA but I rather connect directly to the Mendix DB using the built-in PostgreSQL connector in Power BI Desktop. Thank you in advace for this clarification, hope someone has though about this before.
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2 answers
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Direct database access is not supported as a standard feature.

In Mendix Cloud (including Dedicated), the PostgreSQL application database is part of the platform’s internal infrastructure. It is not exposed via hostname/port/user for external tools like Power BI to connect directly using the PostgreSQL connector. This is mainly due to security, isolation, and platform manageability considerations.


Recommended approach 1: Publish OData (best practice).

Expose your data using Published OData services in Mendix and connect Power BI to those endpoints. This keeps everything within Mendix security (user roles and access rules) and is easier to maintain when your domain model changes. For large datasets, make sure to design your services carefully to avoid performance issues.


Recommended approach 2: Use a separate reporting database (enterprise pattern).

Replicate Mendix data into a separate reporting database or data lake and connect Power BI to that environment instead. This can be implemented using scheduled events for incremental export (REST/CSV/ETL) or by building a data pipeline that writes to an intermediate analytical layer. This is the most scalable and enterprise-ready solution.


If this resolves the issue, please close the topic.


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Juan Jose,

If your app is hosted in the Mendix Cloud, you cannot connect directly to the Postgres database. This is to prevent changes being made to the database that compromise the operations of your Mendix app.


Hope that helps,

Mike

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