Schedule Data Refresh

[VictoriaRosas]

I have scheduled a refresh to occur daily, but it wont work when my computer is off. 

I'm a PowerBI pro user, and I have a personal Gateway. 
Me and my team need to update our reports on a daily basis without worrying on having any of our computers on. 

Any suggestions besides saving our files into OneDrive?

Me and my team would truly appreciate your help! 

Thanks!

[Seth_C_Bauer · Accepted solution]

@VictoriaRosas 

Couple Options other than OneDrive:

1) Schedule the refresh for a time when you know your computer should be running. (not ideal, prone to some errors)

2) You can install the gateway on any machine that stays running, as long as it has access to the file you are using to refresh the dataset.

For full details, read through the gateway details here

[Greg_Deckler]

So, you will want to investigate the Enterprise Gateway is my guess. A number of different options, but basically, you need to install the gateway on some computer that runs the service. A good option for this is often something like a VM running in Azure IaaS. If you get fancy, you can even schedule all of your refreshes for, let's say, a 4 hour window and then use powershell scripts to automatically spin up and shut down the VM for say, a 6 hour window. Then, you are only running and paying for the VM for those 6 hours of the day, which makes it incredibly cost effective.

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@Greg_Deckler Side note/question. I thought the Enterprise Gateway still only supports SQL Server, SSAS and SAP currently? So the datasource would need to be one of those I believe, and I think it's still in preview (which should be noted). Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm more asking then telling here.

[Greg_Deckler · Accepted solution]

No, it's still in Preview, and you are correct, that is an important thing to point out. And there are preview-type limitations, such as available data sources, which should also be pointed out. But, it sounded like what @VictoriaRosas was looking for was more along the lines of a single gateway that could handle multiple, different people's data sources and to my knowledge, Enterprise Gateway is the vehicle for that versus Personal Gateway, which is; well, for *personal* use. 🙂

Azure IaaS applies either way. For me personally, I have an Azure IaaS VM that I do some of this stuff with and I also have an old laptop that just sits and runs Personal Gateway all day as well.

[Seth_C_Bauer · Accepted solution]

@VictoriaRosas 

Couple Options other than OneDrive:

1) Schedule the refresh for a time when you know your computer should be running. (not ideal, prone to some errors)

2) You can install the gateway on any machine that stays running, as long as it has access to the file you are using to refresh the dataset.

For full details, read through the gateway details here

[VictoriaRosas]

Thank you so much for your prompt response!

We were actually considering the second option, but we still have a lot of testing to do! 🙂

[VictoriaRosas]

@Greg_Deckler @Seth_C_Bauer we are having issues with the schedule refresh. The data set refreshes 3 hours (on average, sometimes it only takes 30 min other 5 hours) after the time We have set.
Do you know if MS is working on this? We've been looking around for answers, but haven't found a solution! 

Thank you so much in advance!!!!! 🙂 

[Seth_C_Bauer]

@VictoriaRosas That doesn't seem right at all. I would send a frown to support, they may be able to help you figure out what the issue is. 

[VictoriaRosas]

@Seth_C_Bauer thanks for the suggestion! I've done that, and they have submitted a ticket to work on that problem!
in the mean time we will schedule the refresh 3 hours prior our desire refresh time.

regards,