For many organizations, the data sources for Power BI datasets or reports are located in on-premises environments. The On-premises data gateway provides a means to securely connect to these sources to support scheduled data refreshes or, in the case of DirectQuery and Analysis Services Live connections, only return the results of queries requested by users in the Power BI service. As a critical component of many Power BI solutions and potentially other solutions utilizing Microsoft cloud services, such as Azure Analysis Services, MS Flow, and PowerApps, a sound understanding of the On-premises data gateway is essential.

This chapter reviews the architecture and behavior of the On-premises data gateway in the context of Power BI. End-to-end guidance and best practices are provided across the primary stages of deployment, from planning to installation, and setup to management and monitoring.

In this chapter, we will review the following topics:

On-premises data gateway planning
Gateway clusters and architectures
Configuration of the On-premises data gateway
Dashboard tile cache refresh
Managing gateway clusters
Monitoring gateway usage
Live connections to Analysis Services models
Single sign-on DirectQuery