HA / Load Balancing and the "Primary" Gateway

[smalltownj0e]

HI Im setting up my first cluster and it is my intention to utilize load ballancing. Im trying to determine what issues i could face if my gateway marked "primary" goes off line or is removed. 

Q1. In this LB scenario what role does the "primary" gateway play in load balancing? Is a primary required in a LB config? I understand its purpose in an HA config but what is its purpose in an LB config?

Q2. What happens if the primary gateway goes off line or if i remove it from the list of gateways all togeather when in LB mode? Will one of the other gateways become primary by default? Do i need to designate one of them as the primary manually or build and add a new primary? Is there a requirment to recover the original primary?

Q3. If im in load balanced mode and the primary GW goes down will my cluster go into read only mode? i read that in the HA config if you lose the primary it goes into read only mode and want to ensure that is not the same thing that happens in load ballance mode.

Thx so much --Joe

[v-yetao1-msft]

Hi @smalltownj0e 

When you create a new gateway and add it to an existing gateway cluster, that one is the main gateway by default.The gateway cloud service always uses the primary gateway in a cluster unless that gateway isn't available. In that case, the service switches to the next available gateway in the cluster.

You may also refer to Solved: Re: Identify primary/secondary in on-premises data... - Microsoft Power BI Community

Best Regards,
Community Support Team _ Ailsa Tao

[smalltownj0e]

@v-yetao1-msft 

Thanks for the response and i have read the previous doc. 

IF my primary goes off line and the server goes away completley. My request will automaticaly go to the next GW in the cluster (load balanced). But when i look at the backup GW it does not say it has become primary. It still shows the original GW as primary and offline. IF i "remove" the original primary GW and it is no longer in the cluster at all, will one of the other GWs show up as primary? Am i required to do anything? Am i required to recover the primary? what happens if i dont do anything with regards to "primary"? My connections are working fine and the request are going to the second server as they should and as you described. SO im trying to understand what im required to do about the missing primary box if anything at all? 

What happens if i never bring a primary back on line or i remove it completly? Again im in a load ballanced config not HA Failover. 

Thanks for your help to understand this. --Joe