Exploring Gateway Options – Cloud VM vs VNet Gateway Experiences?

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

We’re currently running the Self-Hosted Data Gateway on-prem and are now exploring options to modernize our setup. The two paths we’re considering are:

1. Hosting the Self-Hosted Gateway on a cloud VM (Azure) – essentially “lifting and shifting” what we already have.

2. Moving to the VNet Data Gateway – leveraging Microsoft’s managed service.

We’d love to hear from those who’ve tried either (or both):

• Performance & reliability: Any noticeable differences compared to on-prem?

• Setup & management: How much overhead is there with managing the VM gateway vs. the managed VNet gateway?

• Security & networking: Did one approach make governance or compliance easier to handle?

• Costs & trade-offs: Did running a VM gateway end up being more/less cost-effective than going fully managed with VNet?

• Migration experience: If you’ve moved from self-hosted → VNet, how smooth was the transition?

We’re trying to weigh whether it’s better to “lift and shift” first (to the cloud VM) or jump straight to VNet Gateway for long-term sustainability.

Any lessons learned, best practices, or recommendations would be really valuable. Thanks!

[v-agajavelly]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Thanks to both super users @FBergamaschi  and @GilbertQ for sharing their insights one highlighting the extra costs/limitations but simple setup with VNet Gateway, and the other pointing out the ease of management when sticking with a VM gateway.

@Anonymous do these experiences align with what you were hoping to learn? Have you had a chance to test out either the VM approach or the VNet Gateway yet? Would be great to hear how you’re leaning based on your requirements.

Regards,
Akhil.

[GilbertQ]

Hi @Anonymous 

I would further like to add that there are additional costs when using V Net Gateway as some limitations. Also when using a VNET gateway I would recommend what @FBergamaschi  said above and that it is very simple to install and configure the gateway and continue business as usual. What is a virtual network (VNet) data gateway | Microsoft Learn

[FBergamaschi]

I remember that setting up the VNet Data Gateway was a pain when I did it many years ago. So in terms of simplicity, management, settings etc I would recommend option 1

But of course somebody expert might say the VNet Gateway is easy to set up and manage, let's see.

My 2 cents

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Francesco Bergamaschi

MBA, M.Eng, M.Econ, Professor of BI