Article

How to setup a gateway for Power BI

by Gandhali Joshi
Data Analyst and Consultant , Addend Analytics

Before setting up a gateway, let’s understand what a gateway is and how it works. When you create Power BI reports based on on-premises data and publish them online, to refresh your datasets, you will need a way to access your on-premises data sources. This can be achieved with a data gateway.

In most cases, to share the reports you created on Power BI Desktop, you need to publish them to the Power BI service in the cloud, also known as PowerBI.com. Once this happens the mechanics of refreshing your dataset change, which means the cloud, not your machine, needs to have access to your data sources.

A gateway is a piece of software that acts as a bridge between the cloud and your on-premises data sources. With a data gateway, you can not only access your on-premises data sources but also schedule refresh for the datasets published to the Power BI service.

The Power BI Gateway can be installed in two modes

1)     On-premises data gateway:

  • This gateway can be used by multiple users that have access to the server on which you install the gateway.
  • It can be used for both scheduling refresh and live queries in Power BI.
  • You can also use it for PowerApps, Logic Apps, and Microsoft Flow.
  • This gateway is well-suited to complex scenarios with multiple people accessing multiple data sources

2)     On-premises data gateway (personal mode):

  • Only you can use this, and you can use it only for scheduling refresh in Power BI.
  • Allows one user to connect to sources, and can’t be shared with others.
  • An on-premises data gateway (personal mode) can be used only with Power BI.
  • This gateway is well-suited to scenarios where you’re the only person who creates reports, and you don't need to share any data sources with others.
  • The Live Connection connectivity mode, PowerApps, Logic Apps, Microsoft Flow are not supported.

You can install up to one gateway in each mode on the same computer, and you can manage multiple gateways from the same interface on PowerBI.com.

How the gateway works

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About Gandhali Joshi

Gandhali Joshi is a Data Analyst and consultant in Addend Analytics. She is a Data enthusiast, a newbie, into the Technical world, and has spent more than 4 months in the consulting department of Addend Analytics.  

Addend Analytics is a Microsoft Certified Partner which is a young and rapidly growing Data Analytics consultancy. It specializes in the application of Business Intelligence and Data Science tools to solve business challenges some of which includes extracting data from disparate data sources like Databases, SaaS applications, ERP, QuickBooks, IoT devices, spreadsheets, creating on-premises or Cloud Data Warehouses using ETL process, Analyzing Data using Microsoft Power BI, Creating Insightful Reports and embedding Power BI reports into Apps. Addend Analytics has been credited with the successful implementation of Power BI projects for 100+ clients across multiple sectors like Finance, Professional Services, Retail, Sales, Real estate, Inventory, and countries like the US, Europe, Australia, and India. You can explore their services at www.addendanalytics.com 

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