gateway can solved firewall error?

[Mornagli]

Hi all, I want to get data from server that protected with firewall, i can get data from BI desktop, but in BI service - i get status code 400, the error come from firewall, i tried to add range of IP's to the firewall allowslist but with no success.

Is there another option that i wil lbe able to refresh from the Service too? maybe install on the data source Gateway?

Thank you.

[nitishsh91]

Hi @Mornagli 

Please install enterprise gateway on a server which has got connectivity to this server and then you will be able to refresh your reporting by creating datasource on gateway.

[Mornagli]

Hi @nitishsh91  thank you, form my understaning we have our server that store the data , and from PBI i send requests to the server, so i didnt understand excatly what did you mean with the

"enterprise gateway on a server which has got connectivity to" , is it another server that i need to use or can i instal this gateway on the server the store our data?

Thank you.

[nitishsh91]

For connecting to any on-premises datasource which is protected by firewall, we use enterprise gateway which creates a channel between on-premises data source and powerbi and helps in auto refresh of reports.

This link will help you in better understanding:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/data-integration/gateway/service-gateway-onprem

[Mornagli]

Thak you @nitishsh91 , and if i get my data with an ODATA connector, in the service im not required for gateway but the refresh in the service is unstable (sometimes takes too long, return timeout after two hours, and sometimes take couple of minutes and succeed), if i will install gateway in my data source will it make the connection better? and if so, do i work in the MPBI Desktop as i worked before the gateway or i will be needed to get the data in a different way ?

Thnak you.

[nitishsh91 · Accepted solution]

Yes on-premises gateway will mak it more stable and may help you in speed up processing too.

You can install your enterprise gateway on the same server as the datasource but keep a note on the ports that are required to be opened on the server to make the gateway work as it needs to communicate outside. If your report is already published in a workspace you don't have to do anything, just create a gateway and register it then you will see an option to ocnnect your datasource to gateway and just add it there.

You can find more details here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/data-integration/gateway/service-gateway-communication

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/service-gateway-onprem-indepth

[Mornagli]

Again thank you very much @nitishsh91  for your reply!

And if my source is an server that communicate with other platofrms not just PBI, if i will install the gateway in the data source, how can i prevent the other platforms to communicate with my data source with the gateway to prevent errors ?

[nitishsh91]

Sorry I didn't understand your question, can you explain it in detail?

After installing the gateway you will have to create a datasource on gateway which enable it to connect with that particular datasource like particular SQL database with authentication details so that ways its in a controlled way and also you can restrict access to specific people t use it if you want.

[Mornagli]

@nitishsh91 From my understanding i will:

- Download enterprise-gateway on my machine data source.

- and then in my local computer i will work normally with getting the data (from ODATA).

- Publish it to the Service.

- In the source settings i will add my source to my gateway (from the PBI service).

Is it correct work system or i didnt understood correctly? What are the risks if i will install the enterprise gateway on the same maschine that my data source on it? 

In addition, if i will download BI Desktop on my data source maschine, is it reccomended or not?

My biggest problem now is that the refresh (mainlly the first) in the service take too much time (small files, refresh takes sometimes 4 hours).

Thank you!

[nitishsh91]

You need to review your machine specs where you have to install the gateway, also its not required for gateway to be installed on same server as your data source, it just needs to have connectivity with your data source and other ports as mentioned in the link that I shared above.

Risk is this only if your gateway consumes too much memory then it might impact other systems hosted on same machine so its advisble to have on a separate server. You don't need to download PowerBI desktop on your datasource as you just need to create your report and then you just publish it to Service and source can be added there directly on gateway.

[Mornagli]

@nitishsh91 So i downloaded Enterprise GW on the same machine as my source ( i have no other option), from refresh that takes 4-5 hours - now the refresh in service is 7 minutes! (too good to be true)

But i just install the GW, with no specific ports and other advanced settings, im just want to be sure that in the future the GW will not casue any errors to my source, but from 5 hours to 7 minutes is Amazing!

"gateway consumes too much memory then it might impact other systems" - Do you mean RAM or CPU while refreshing ?

Thank you! 

[nitishsh91]

That sounds great.

On-premises gateway only consumes a lot of memory when you are freshing too many reports at the same time and doing a lot of aggregationg in reports otherwise it should be fine, though MS recommends below:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/guidance/gateway-onprem-sizing#:~:text=We%20recommend%20th....

[Mornagli]

I will look into our machine and our resources.

@nitishsh91 Thank you for all your help!!!