Forum Discussion
Power BI Desktop With Azure VM SQL DB Data On One Drive Requires Gateway?
Thanks ashishrj. Do you have any idea how Power BI determines that the data source is located in Azure? I'm guessing that the IP range is used. Not sure if it matters, but I used the new portal (portal.azure.com) to create my VM. The URL is formed a little differently since there is no cloud services. If the domain is used, then perhaps Power BI would work as expected when sourcing data from a VM created in the old portal. Just a guess. However, since I am able to refresh data from my VM using a Power Pivot workbook there must be something else going on.
I went through the trouble of creating a VM on the old portal which uses cloud services. Same issue.
PaulBFelix The difference in what "online" means is this. If you are using a VM hosted in the cloud, this is an Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas) and is treated as on-prem. If you are connecting to Azure SQL Database or Azure SQL datawarehouse these are Platform as a service (Paas) offerings and are considered "online". there are only certain situations that are completely dependent on what your datasource is where a gateway is not/is not required for powerpivot, and if you are connecting to a VM in an Iaas setup I would assume that would still require a gateway.
Here is a long list of scenerio's describing when a gateway is needed.
https://support.powerbi.com/knowledgebase/articles/474669-data-refresh-in-power-bi
Thanks Anonymous. Your explanation makes sense, but there are a couple things that don't add up. Please let me know if you happen to know what is going on with these two scenarios.
1. ashishrj post linked below describes this scenario working intermitently.
http://community.powerbi.com/t5/Service/SQL-Server-in-Azure-AM-requires-Gateway/m-p/8119#M3615
2. PowerPivot with an Azure VM SQL Server data source refreshes without the need for a gateway. I have this scenario working today and can verify that the refresh request are hitting the source database with is in an Azure VM running SQL Server.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to reply.
PaulBFelix valid points, both. The only thing I can come up with is that a file on OneDrive behaves as an online source in itself and thus doesn't need the gateway. The reference that the support site had to datasources was updated, and no longer includes the "online" and "offline" datasources. Obviously, there is much confusion around this area (including me). I'm going to try to raise visibility on this by including a couple admins to see if we can get a better answer to the "Online vs. Offline" discussion especially as it relates to the scenerio's found here maybe that will help shed some light on things.
Sandy, MiguelMartinez and not an admin, but GuyInACube cuz he's awesome - could anyone point us to a missed blog or provide some clarfication around this? - Thanks in advance.
Anonymous If this is the case then how come I was able to schedule refresh reports with data source as SQL Server in Azure Vm somewhere in July 2015 without the need to install Personal Gateway and still it refreshes daily without any error.
But now when I tried the same by creating new report, it asks for Personal Gateway. Are things changed?? Any update from Power BI team on the same?
When using Azure SQL Database as the Data Source is a bit different. It will allow for refresh without a gateway if you are a Pro user. All you need to do is enter your credentials.
If you are a Free user, it will want the Personal Gateway present to do a refresh.
In both cases, when i tried it, the file on OneDrive for Business, where it originated from, was not updated.
If you are getting an error saying the gateway was not reachable, it is because you are a Free user.
