multiple gateways on one server

[kwschere]

Is it possible to configure more than one on-premise data gateway on the same Windows server?

[Seth_C_Bauer · Accepted solution]

@kwschere No, you would need to deploy a new gateway on a different server.

[gyangupta]

I am also looking for this either we should have multiple installation or some how we should able to configure multiple subscription.

[przemek_pbi]

@stianbakke Any progress on that case? Have you found a viable bypass?

Regards,

Przemek

[stianbakke]

What if there is a hosting environment where multiple customers with multiple PowerBI subscriptions are sharing the same server?

[shill1000]

I'm not sure that scenario makes sense. There can only be 2 situations that apply as you've tried to show:

1) A truly shared environment with one server servicing all customers from one environment. By definition (security model aside) you have one server servicing multiple customers who are all able to see all data. In that scenario you only have one server so only need one gateway. Even if you have multiple databases on that one server, one gateway can interrogate all of them.

2) A single environment hosting multiple VM's. Each customer uses the same core 'tin' but each has their own virtual server on that box. In that case, each customer has their own server so each server would have a gateway, regardless of how many data sources were on that server. Having a gateway in each VM is not an issue because each runs its own services.

The only scenario that complicates option 2 is if there is a need to have a gateway pulling data from each VM. Then the host server itself would probably have to have a gateway installed, and that is pointed to each VM as a distinct data source. Getting that to work depends on how you firewall each VM, not how many VM's you have on the box.

I find it hard to believe that scenario exists unless each customer is going to the hosting service and asking them to provide their reporting. I can’t see multiple distinct customers being happy about a hosting organisation having full access to all their combined data, but it’s feasible. Most hosts only provide environment and support without any free access to customer data, not least because of potential conflicts between customers.

[bernardfb]

Good afternoon @shill1000

Today I have an environment where I host a cloud ERP, where I have something very similar to scenario 1.

I have one server that needs to share several gateways, where each gateway will be from a different client.

Clients do not have access to this server, every configuration is performed by my team.

But we need to create 5 or gateway services on the same server. Each service will log in with a separate domain account and connect to a different database. We have all policies for this to work accurately.

The big problem is that we can not create more than one gateway service on the same server.

Do you have any idea how to solve this?

[v-ljerr-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @kwschere,

As the on-premise gateway runs as a windows service called "PBIEgwService" on the server where it is installed, I don't think it is possible  to configure more than one on-premise data gateway on the same Windows server in this scenario.

Regards

[jeffwinchell]

We have this need too because we have two email domains (our old company name and our new one and we are still in the transitioning phase where we need to use both domains).

[Baskar]

@kwschere  No we can't do .

My question is y u r trying to install multiple gateway in single mechine ? 

One gateway is enough to connect all the source know ?

[kwschere]

This is purely for administrative reasons.  At the present time, we are purely in a discovery mode for how to use Power BI and the On-Premise Data Gateway.  From what I've been able to determine, the only person that is able to create/modify/delete data sources on the gateway is one who has been given administrator priveleges on the gateway.  We are hoping to decentralize the administration of the data sources - with business units managing their own data sources.  Thus we don't want people from different departments having the ability to touch another department's data sources.  The only way I can see to provide this setup is to create multiple gateways.  I was hoping to be able to do this without creating a glut of gateway servers. 

[bernardfb]

Good afternoon @shill1000

Today I have an environment where I host a cloud ERP, where I have something very similar to scenario 1.

I have a server that needs to share several gateways, where each gateway will be from a different client.

Clients do not have access to this server, every configuration is performed by my team.

But we need to create 5 or gateway services on the same server. Each service will log in with a separate domain account and connect to a different database.

We have all policies for this to work accurately.

The big problem is that we can not create more than one gateway service on the same server.

Do you have any idea how to solve this?

[shill1000]

I'm not an infrastructure specialist and without knowing how your environment is set up I'm not going to venture a guess as to a specific solution. All I'd point out is that a gateway offers access to a data source on the same network as the gateway to anyone with access (and crdentials) to the gateway. If the gateway can comunicate with the data and the user can communicate with the gateway (and thus the data) then the gateway should work for you. If the gateway cannot see the data, then it needs to be set up on the network where the data resides, but the gateway itself must also still be available to the report creator. If your data is on separate domains, unless you have a method of bridging those domains so the gateway and user can see the data, then I don't think it will work. Likewise, the number of sources on one network isn't that big an issue for the gateway as long as you don't go daft with the number (not sure I can imagine an environment where a gateway has to access more than 5-10 sources on one network).

[smt_JamesB]

I have the same problem needing multiple gateways

Scenario:

We are a SaaS application provider. We want clients to use Power BI to connect into the apps database we host and do data analysis from their Office 365 org's Power BI Pro account.

We want to empower our clients to make better use of cloud apps like Office 365/Power BI instead of investing in their own BI tools. With having only one data gateway installed and allocated to 1 Office 365 org, we will end up having a data gateway farm of 100+ bare bones Win2016 servers, each with a different data gateway installed. Luckily we have SPLA licenses and can do this but the admin of it all is a nightmare.

The latest release of Power BI Pro is still not yet ready for SaaS providers to compliment our offerings without fattening our back ends. Something for the road map!

[stianbakke]

This is the exact scenario that I was aiming at. Realizing that hosting and cloud solutions are becoming increasingly attractive for smaller companies, we need to be able to provide a world class reporting solution in PowerBI to these customers. They might have ERP one place, CRM somewhere else just to mention two typical systems. If the ERP hosting provider wants to provide data to their customer without uploading it somewhere, a gateway is the solution. But, in order to manage it, we need to be able to run gateway as a multi-tenant type component which can serve multiple customer with data to their respective PowerBI subscriptions.

[shill1000]

Based on your comments I'd suggest what you have to consider is a data warehouse type solution. It's not ideal having to build somethign like that, ubt if you have multiple data sets, rather than building multiple gateways, it makes more sense to consdoidate the data for reporting pruposes and have one platform that controls access via RLS. Wouls also make standardising your reporting easier.

[stianbakke]

I don't think you understand the problem. It is impossible to have 100 different customers working for different companies with separate PowerBI subscriptions that is not to share anything but a hosting provider. For the hosting provider today's solution is to install 100 different Windows Servers and install gateway for each of these customers separately, because only one PowerBI account can be logged in at any one gateway.

Hope this clarifies the issue.

[GJ]

similar issue here. I've a dozen companies each with their own tenants, but the data is on a single server. I would have less of an issue if I could share workspaces across tenants in Power BI Service but that's another thread.

short of moving to Azure SQL I don't see a solution. Creating a dozen VM instances to install the Gateway is not viable.

[Anonymous]

@stianbakke, have you found a solution for that?

[stianbakke]

---

@Anonymous unfortunately no viable solution. Saw a thread exploring using docker containers, but as there are no way to configure the gateway inside the container it looks like a dead end also. I guess you need to virtualize, which is just as bad.

[shill1000]

You don't have to use a new server for every single gateway, you don't even need to use a server. Depending on volume of data etc. you can install a gateway on any server, desktop or laptop, as long as it is always on. If each department has servers for their day to day use and some of these are under utilised, consider whether installing the gateway on these would impact perfromance of the server or the gateway. If you can stick a desktop in situ without risking it being turned off etc. and the data volume isn't too great for it to handle, it may be a cheap and simplem soluiton or at least a stop gap.

[Seth_C_Bauer · Accepted solution]

@kwschere No, you would need to deploy a new gateway on a different server.