Gateways for Azure SQL Database VM deployed from Power BI Desktop

[desertislesql]

If my datasource is an Azure SQL Server VM, and I have used Power BI Desktop to create and deploy a model to Power BI Service, when I want to refresh my data, do I need to install the new gateway to refresh my data? It doesn't make sense to me that I would since the data is stored in the cloud and not locally, but I wanted to confirm.

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@desertislesql Nope, you are right. There is a chart on this page you can use for quick reference as well.

[desertislesql]

Thank you. I am glad to have that confirmed in writing so the next person looking to use  Azure SQL Server as an IAAS source will know that no gateway is required. Appreciated the quick response.

[Seth_C_Bauer · Accepted solution]

@desertislesql Grr. I was just going to post an edit to validate that... IAAS is considered "on-premises" So you would need a gateway. Sorry if I mis-understood the initial question. There is a slight wording difference in names. (PAAS = Azure SQL DB), (IAAS = SQL DB on Azure)

IAAS = Need a Gateway

PAAS = Do not need a Gateway

[gjohnston]

We just migrated to a VM in Azure running SQL 2014, which I believe is IAAS and therefore we need a gateway.  Do you know of any documentation on what type of gateway and where it should be installed?

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@gjohnston You probably want to install the on-premises data gateway - documentation here. While it should work on any machine in your domain, you would want to install it on the machine that you will be accessing data the most from. In that respect, you won't be making extra calls between machines for certain connection types.