Do certified connectors always require a gateway?

[BasilR]

We are developing a custom connector that will make use of Azure Data Lake Gen 2.

As a custom connector, a gateway is required to perfrom refreshes in the service. My question is whether certifying the connector would allow refreshes in the service without using a gateway. Some Microsoft connectors to cloud services work this way, others such as the SQL Server connector still require a gateway even if the server in in Azure.

There are other posts related to this - I did not find anything that explicitly answered this question.

Can anybody give me a definitive answer?

[BasilR]

This is the reply I received from the Power BI team:

To clarify – a gateway is requiring during development, but would become optional after certification. The Power BI service environment essentially hosts a “cloud gateway” that runs similar to the on-prem gateway. After certification, we will deploy your connector to this environment so that it is available to all Power BI customers.

[BasilR]

@collinq ,

Thanks for your reply.

The Power BI connector for Azure SQL Database does not require a gateway to refresh in the service. Niether does the Azure Data Lake Gen 2 connector and a number of others.

However if you connect to a SQL Server database even if that SQL Server is running on a VM in Azure you have to use a gateway to refresh in the Power BI service.

You are right that a certified connector and a gateway are not necessarily related (see my example above). My question is quite specific - is it possible create a certified connector (not from Microsoft) that does not require a gateway for refreshes in the service. And if so under what conditions and restrictions.

The objective is to provide a service to several thousand customers without having the cost overhead and complexity of running gateways.

Regards

B

[collinq · Accepted solution]

Hi @BasilR ,

Yes, you can mke a connector that does not need the gateway.  The circumstance for this is if the data source is on the cloud.

I would appreciate Kudos if my response was helpful. I would also appreciate it if you would Mark this As a Solution if it solved the problem. Thanks!

[collinq]

Hi @BasilR ,

I am not sure that I agree with you that you have to have a gateway, for SQL Azure.  The purpose of a gateway is only used to inside your network.  To quote Microsoft "Power BI Gateway is a software that is required to access data situated in an on-premises network. Gateway act as a gatekeeper for the on-premises data source. If anyone needs to access on-premises data from a cloud or web-based app, the request goes through the gateway. "

Therefore, I don't think that the two things are related.  A connector is just the way to get to the data source.

A certified connector is Microsoft giving the developer a certification for a public product.

Therefore, a certified connector and a gateway are not necessarily related.  Only if the certified connector is being used to access data inside a network from the Service will that specific user have to install a gateway.

I would appreciate Kudos if my response was helpful. I would also appreciate it if you would Mark this As a Solution if it solved the problem. Thanks!