Power BI Desktop in one location and On-premises data gateway in another

[eamonnj1982]

Hi All,

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to use Power BI Desktop in one location and On-premises data gateway in another?

For reasons outside my control, it is not possble for me to connect directly into my database through my own computer so what I would like to do is to create dashboards and reports on Power BI Desktop using an old version of the database (structure the same) publish the reports to Power BI service and then run the reports on data synced from the server using the on premesise gateway.

Does that sound possible?

Many thanks

Eamonn

[Eric_Zhang · Accepted solution]

@eamonnj1982

Not sure why you have such a question. Gateway is indepent of the PBI desktop and can be installed on any server that can access to your database server. Actually it is recommended to install the gateway on a dedicated server which is always on. Check more by clicking On-premises data gateway.

Regarding developing report on your own PC and DB(structure the same), I don't find a way to change the connection string in PBI Service. So you may have to connect to the real DB when developing. Alternatively, you can develop on the local DB and then copy the pbix to another server that can access the real DB, change the server in advanced editor and then publish it to Service.

[eamonnj1982]

Thanks Eric,

I've gone around in circles on this one looking for another solution and I think you're right.