Gateway - can it be placed on a different network?

[Anonymous]

Hi!

We have a SAAS app that is being provided by a third party and they are loading data from this app into a Data Warehouse for us (in fact just a standard SQL Server) in a datacentre somewhere in the middle of England.

Clearly to access this database from the Power BI service we need to install a Gateway.

Our software suppier has told us that we should install the Gateway on a machine on our office network and connect from there to the SQL Server, which seems a bit odd to me. I suspect they are trying to avoid having the Gateway on their datacentre.

a) Will this work? If no, can you point me to some MS documentation that makes this clear please? I've searched around, but couldn't find anything. Most seems to assume that the Gateway will be on the same network so the issue doesn't seem to be addressed.

b) If we can't install it in their datacentre can we put it somewhere else? (Azure machine?)

We have zero infrastructure in our office. We are completely Office 365 and only have one machine running our telephone system in the whole building, so doing what they suggest would require us to purchase hardware and then look after it.

Thanks,

Ian W

[nandukrishnavs · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous 

The main purpose of the on-premise gateway is to make a channel between the on-premise data source and the Power BI service.

You can install the gateway in your office machine or in Azure VM. But make sure, From this environment, you are able to connect the data source and Power BI  service. For example, you should be able to successfully ping the data source IP address from the gateway machine.

Refer to this:https://radacad.com/the-power-bi-gateway-all-you-need-to-know

Where to Install the On-Premises Data Gateway
The following are some considerations for where to install the data gateway.

• The machine should always remain powered on, with near full-time uptime.

• The gateway server should reside as close to the data sources as practical to minimize

  network latency.

• An Azure virtual machine can be a good option to install a gateway if on-premises equipment is not available. In this situation, the VM should reside in the same region as the Power BI tenant unless there are other considerations such as proximity to the data

  or minimizing data egress charges.

• The gateway must reside in the same domain as the data source(s), or in another domain which is trusted.

• The gateway server requires strong network connectivity (preferably not wireless), high bandwidth, and consistent internet access. ExpressRoute or Azure Private Link is highly recommended. The Azure Speed Test site can be used to check network latency between a client machine and an Azure region.
• A potential starting point for a gateway server is 8 CPU cores and 16GB RAM, as noted in the Gateway Best Practices. Plan to scale up on CPU and/or RAM if bottlenecks present themselves, and/or scale out to multiple gateways if the volume of traffic becomes heavier than one data gateway can handle.

[v-xicai · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

 nandukrishnavs's suggeation is great, in addition, there are other limitations you may considerate:

• Gateways aren't supported on Server Core installations.
• The user installing the gateway must be the admin of the gateway.
• The gateway can't be installed on a domain controller.
• If you're planning to use Windows authentication, make sure you install the gateway on a computer that's a member of the same Active Directory environment as the data sources.
• Don't install a gateway on a computer, like a laptop, that might be turned off, asleep, or disconnected from the internet. The gateway can't run under any of those circumstances.
• If a gateway uses a wireless network, its performance might suffer.
• You could install other applications on the gateway machine, but this may degrade gateway performance. If you do install other applications on the gateway machine, be sure to monitor the gateway closely to check if there's any resource contention.
• You can install up to two gateways on a single computer: one running in personal mode and the other running in standard mode. You can't have more than one gateway running in the same mode on the same computer.

For reference:

What is an on-premises data gateway?

On-premises data gateway FAQ

Best Regards,

Amy 

Community Support Team _ Amy

If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

[nandukrishnavs · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous 

The main purpose of the on-premise gateway is to make a channel between the on-premise data source and the Power BI service.

You can install the gateway in your office machine or in Azure VM. But make sure, From this environment, you are able to connect the data source and Power BI  service. For example, you should be able to successfully ping the data source IP address from the gateway machine.

Refer to this:https://radacad.com/the-power-bi-gateway-all-you-need-to-know

Where to Install the On-Premises Data Gateway
The following are some considerations for where to install the data gateway.

• The machine should always remain powered on, with near full-time uptime.

• The gateway server should reside as close to the data sources as practical to minimize

  network latency.

• An Azure virtual machine can be a good option to install a gateway if on-premises equipment is not available. In this situation, the VM should reside in the same region as the Power BI tenant unless there are other considerations such as proximity to the data

  or minimizing data egress charges.

• The gateway must reside in the same domain as the data source(s), or in another domain which is trusted.

• The gateway server requires strong network connectivity (preferably not wireless), high bandwidth, and consistent internet access. ExpressRoute or Azure Private Link is highly recommended. The Azure Speed Test site can be used to check network latency between a client machine and an Azure region.
• A potential starting point for a gateway server is 8 CPU cores and 16GB RAM, as noted in the Gateway Best Practices. Plan to scale up on CPU and/or RAM if bottlenecks present themselves, and/or scale out to multiple gateways if the volume of traffic becomes heavier than one data gateway can handle.