Can I Log into Power BI Data Gateway on a Different VM Using a Customer's Email with a Power BI Lice

[manoj_0911]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently working on a Power BI setup where I need to use a Power BI Data Gateway installed on a ABC Solutions VM. However, I would like to log into the gateway using my customer's XYZ email ID, which has a Power BI license.

My questions are:

1. Is it possible to log into the Power BI Data Gateway with a customer’s email that has a Power BI Pro/Premium license but is different from the domain of the VM where the gateway is installed?

2. What permissions or configurations are needed on the customer’s Power BI account to ensure it can access the gateway installed on our Pointel VM?

3. Are there any network or firewall considerations I should be aware of when using a customer’s account on a separate domain or environment?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[lbendlin]

Gateways VMs do not care about Pro licenses.  " I would like to log into the gateway" - please explain in more detail what you are trying to achieve with that.  The logged-in user for a gateway VM is largely ceremonial and has no technical value.

Gateway VMs need to have direct line of sight to the on-premise data source.  Realistically that means they need to be in the same domain as the data sources.

[manoj_0911]

Thanks a lot for your reply, 
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We are trying to reduce our dependency on the customer's team for managing Power BI infrastructure and have more control ourselves. We have two proposals for the customer, and I would appreciate feedback or advice on which approach might work better or if there's a best practice we're missing.

Additional Information: The database we are connecting to is an AWS RDS SQL Server.

### First Proposal:
1. Request the customer's public IP and configure it in our AWS security group.
2. Ask the customer to install Power BI Desktop on a dedicated VM/machine.
3. Configure Power BI to trust specific SQL Servers by setting an environment variable (`PBI_SQL_TRUSTED_SERVERS`).
4. Download and install Power BI Data Gateway on their side.
5. Modify the `GatewayCore.dll.config` file to trust connections from specified SQL Servers (to resolve SSL certificate issues).
6. Restart the gateway to apply the changes.

### Second Proposal:
1. Install the gateway on our network and associate it with the customer's Power BI admin account.
2. For this, we need the customer's Power BI admin username and password.

We have already created 50 PBIX files and will be sharing them with the customer soon. Given that our database is on AWS RDS SQL Server, which approach is recommended for better long-term control and ease of maintenance? Are there any potential risks or concerns with either proposal?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[lbendlin]

The database we are connecting to is an AWS RDS SQL Server.

Who's AWS - yours or the customer's ?