Best Practice for Configuring Dataflow Connections in Power BI Service?

[Pandangus]

Hello,

   We have a number of semantic models that reads data from PBI dataflows. Each semantic model only reads data from dataflows, the dataflows import data from an on-prem database server via a gateway server. We have an AD service account setup for this connection to the database so that it is not tied to one particular user.

   Once a semantic model has been published to the service the connection to dataflow has to be configured. The default seems to be to ‘Use an On-premises or VNet data gateway’ which, given that the dataflows are not ‘on prem’ but in the service, seems unnecessary. The other options are ‘Personal Cloud Connection’ or ‘Create a connection’ however there is a warning that these are not supported by Dataflows.

   My question is what is the best practice here? I see no reason to use a gateway server but I do not want a cloud connection tied to my personal user.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Kindest regards,

Angus

[v-yohua-msft]

Hi, @Pandangus 

Thanks for the reply from Ibendlin, please allow me to provide another insight:

Ensure that the on-premises data gateway is installed and configured correctly. This involves setting up a gateway with the necessary permissions and ensuring that it can communicate with the on-premises database server. For detailed steps, see the documentation on installing and configuring the gateway:

On-premises data gateway - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

When configuring the data source in the gateway, continue to authenticate with the AD service account. This keeps the connection independent of the individual user account.

For dataflows, you shouldn't have issues with the connection to your on-premises database server after you've made sure that the gateway is in place and the data source is properly configured with the service account.
To get more insights and make sure you're following all the recommended practices, you can check the following link:

On-premises data gateway - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

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Best Regards

Yongkang Hua

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[lbendlin]

Correct, you don't need a gateway to access a dataflow as a source from a semantic model.  UNLESS you chose to merge the dataflow with an on-prem data source. Hopefully you have not done that.

so - just leave it alone and ignore the alarmist text.