Data gateway - Should I Install and where to install?

[henrytang]

Good day everyone! A rookie question.

My objective is to distribute completed power BI report to users through web interface. 

I have subscribed with Power BI Pro version.

I used Power BI desktop to make the report and the deliverable is just one .pbix file that connecting to SQL Server 2012 for data source. I build the same report with both way of querying SQL server (Import and direct query). And I uploaded both reports to my workspace.

Both report got error when I tried to open it in my workspace:

For the one database connection is using "Import", it can display the dashboard like barchart things. But if I click on the dataset "Refresh" button it said "Something went wrong - Scheduled refresh has been disabled. Please try again later or contact support. If you contact support, please provide these details."
"Data source errorScheduled refresh is disabled because at least one data source is missing credentials. To start the refresh again, go to this dataset's settings page and enter credentials for all data sources. Then reactivate scheduled refresh.
Cluster URIWABI-NORTH-EUROPE-D-PRIMARY-redirect.analysis.windows.net
Activity ID0cb0327e-9259-4980-bcc2-68dc7a1daca7
Request IDac1a381a-5d11-939c-f94f-37e5722ffae2
Time2023-01-05 08:37:13Z"

For the one database connection is using "Direct Query", it cannot display the dashboard (as no data inside). When I first click on the report it already shows a red ribbon at the top of the screen "There is no gateway to access the data source [myDBName]." as well as "Data source unreachable - There is no gateway to access the data source en02live . Verify the gateway connection configuration on the dataset settings page and make sure all required data sources are added to the selected data gateway."

The current infra setup here is :
- SQL Server 2012 (the data source and I use internal IP address to access to it)
- My laptop with SSMS (I use this to query and create a temp table. And this is where the Power BI dashboard load data from)
- My laptop with PowerBIDesktop installed (I use this to develop the report)
- My workspace (that is my login under my 365 account which subscribed as Pro user)

So, questions are:
It seems my next step I need a "data gateway" in place. However I have no idea where should I put that gateway in?
Shall I install the on premise gateway in SQL server?
The gateway setup: it seems allows me to login using my 365 account. But it does not have setup to connect to my SQL server by putting in credential and ip/host name of my data source (i.e., SQL Server). How that data gateway works?
If I need to distribute the report to users, do I need to get extra Pro license for them? We have at most 5 to 6 users only that need to access Power BI report.

Thanks a million for all advices or sharing of link that help me to make this come true.

[ibarrau · Accepted solution]

Hi. You definitely need a gateway. The gateway works like a bridge between Power Bi Service and your on premise data. That bridge needs to be installed in a VM that can connect to the data source. It's not necessary to install it in the same VM that is hosting the database. Actually it's not recommended to install it there unless the VM is dedicated for an analytics purpose. It's recommended to keep it in a VM turned on 24x7 so you can configure any time for schedule refresh. You can also install it in your laptop, but it will require it's turned on at the exact time it runs the refresh.

This might be an old post but it can guide you for your first steps with the gateway: https://blog.ladataweb.com.ar/post/189013278236/powerbigateway-configurar-una-actualización

The gateway will log in with a single account and any user using power bi won't know that all of them are using that account. 

Finally the users must have pro accounts in order to see the created report. The sharing users and the shared users will use pro. The free account it's only for personal use.

I hope that helps,