Self-hosted Background Maps for Power BI

We are able to offer a self-hosted option for Icon Map background maps, which enables use of our background maps and icon library without the need for external internet access.

Contact sales@icon-map.com to discuss options for your organisation.

Installation

On purchasing the Icon Map background pack, you will be provided with a URL to download a ZIP (or 7zip) file containing the resources to deploy. A web server will then be required to serve the content to Icon Map.

Web Server Requirements

The web server must support the following capabilities:

• HTTP Range Requests
• CORS Origin set to * or null

Web Server options include the following:

• Microsoft Azure Blob Storage (cloud)
• Amazon S3 Buckets (cloud)
• Internet Information Services (IIS) (Windows on-premises option) [guide]
• MinIO (Windows or Linux on-premises option) [guide]
• LocalStack (Docker on-premises option)

Internet Information Services (IIS) Configuration

Extract the IconMapLocal folder into your web server. Around 400 GB of disk space is required for all resources. Eg c:\inetpub\wwwroot

Static Content

The "Static Content" IIS feature will need to be enabled to provide support for HTTP Range headers. This can either be enabled using Server Manager -> Add Roles and Features -> Server Roles -> Web Server (IIS) -> Web Server -> Common HTTP Features -> Static Content.

It can also be enabled using the following PowerShell command:

Install-WindowsFeature -Name Web-Static-Content

web.config

Static file and CORS configuration will also likely be required in web.config. Configure web.config as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>
    <staticContent>
    <remove fileExtension=".pmtiles" />
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".pmtiles" mimeType="application/octet-stream" />
      <remove fileExtension=".pbf" />
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".pbf" mimeType="application/x-protobuf" />
      <remove fileExtension=".svg" />
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".svg" mimeType="image/svg+xml" />
      <remove fileExtension=".json" />
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".json" mimeType="application/json" />
    </staticContent>
    <httpProtocol>
      <customHeaders>
        <add name="Access-Control-Allow-Origin" value="*" />
      </customHeaders>
    </httpProtocol>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

A "null" or "*" origin for CORS is required due to Microsoft's sandboxing of custom visuals.

MinIO Configuration

Extract the IconMapLocal folder to a directory accessible on the machine. For this guide, the source files are assumed to be in:

C:\temp\iconmaplocal

MinIO will store its bucket data in:

C:\minio\iconmaplocal

The bucket will be exposed over HTTP at:

http://localhost:9000/iconmaplocal/

Download MinIO

Download:

• MinIO Server (minio.exe)
• MinIO Client (mc.exe)

Place them in:

C:\minio\

Expected structure:

C:\minio
 ├─ minio.exe
 └─ mc.exe

Create the MinIO Data Directory

mkdir C:\minio\iconmaplocal

Start MinIO

$env:MINIO_ROOT_USER="admin"
$env:MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD="ChangeThisPassword123!"

C:\minio\minio.exe server `
  C:\minio\iconmaplocal `
  --address ":9000" `
  --console-address ":9001"

Endpoints:

S3 API:  http://localhost:9000
Console: http://localhost:9001

Configure MinIO Client

C:\minio\mc.exe alias set `
  iconmap `
  http://localhost:9000 `
  admin `
  ChangeThisPassword123!

Verify:

C:\minio\mc.exe alias list

Create Bucket

C:\minio\mc.exe mb iconmap/iconmaplocal

Verify:

C:\minio\mc.exe ls iconmap

Make the Bucket Publicly Readable

C:\minio\mc.exe anonymous set download iconmap/iconmaplocal

Verify:

C:\minio\mc.exe anonymous get iconmap/iconmaplocal

Configure CORS

Create C:\minio\cors.xml:

<CORSConfiguration>
  <CORSRule>
    <AllowedOrigin>*</AllowedOrigin>
    <AllowedMethod>GET</AllowedMethod>
    <AllowedMethod>HEAD</AllowedMethod>
    <AllowedHeader>*</AllowedHeader>

    <ExposeHeader>Accept-Ranges</ExposeHeader>
    <ExposeHeader>Content-Range</ExposeHeader>
    <ExposeHeader>Content-Length</ExposeHeader>
    <ExposeHeader>Content-Type</ExposeHeader>
    <ExposeHeader>ETag</ExposeHeader>
    <ExposeHeader>Last-Modified</ExposeHeader>

    <MaxAgeSeconds>3600</MaxAgeSeconds>
  </CORSRule>
</CORSConfiguration>

Apply:

C:\minio\mc.exe cors set `
  iconmap/iconmaplocal `
  C:\minio\cors.xml

Verify:

C:\minio\mc.exe cors info iconmap/iconmaplocal

Upload the Content

C:\minio\mc.exe cp --recursive --overwrite `
  C:\temp\iconmaplocal\ `
  iconmap/iconmaplocal/

Verify:

C:\minio\mc.exe ls --recursive iconmap/iconmaplocal

Verify a Specific File

C:\minio\mc.exe stat iconmap/iconmaplocal/styles/styles.json

URL:

http://localhost:9000/iconmaplocal/styles/styles.json

Test HTTP Range Requests

curl.exe -i `
  -H "Range: bytes=0-99" `
  http://localhost:9000/iconmaplocal/styles/styles.json

Expected:

HTTP/1.1 206 Partial Content
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Content-Range: bytes 0-99/...

Icon Map Configuration

To use the locally hosted maps, provide Icon Map with the URL where the resources are hosted.

In Icon Map's format pane, under Icon Map Pro > Customization, enter your URL in the "Custom Styles URL" text box. For example:

http://powerbi.internal:9000/iconmaplocal/

You should ensure that you end the URL with a '/' character.

This setting can be set as a default property in your Power BI Report theme file.