Gateway / Dataset

[BigBadBob]

Hi,

Please can you help with the below as i am stuck...

Scenario:

• Data sources include a database and an excel workbook
• There is no on premises server and IT is external to the business
• Currently an enterprise gateway (used for scheduled refresh) is setup on a virtual machine (AWS) which has access to the database and the spreadsheet is saved on the virtual machine

Issue:

• Users can not access the VM or excel workbook on the virtual machine making them reliant upon IT whenever changes are required
• I suggested that the virtual machine should be linked to a spreadsheet on sharepoint instead of the file being saved directly on the VM but IT do not think the VM should be linked to sharepoint on the server
• If users want to add any additional excel files they can not

Solution:

Please can you suggest setup solutions for gateways etc for where the business has no on premises server

Thanks all!

[nitishsh91]

Hi @BigBadBob 

You can have all excel files on sharepoint so that you don't have to rely on gateway to refresh reports, it will work directly online and for database you can use on-premises gateway.

[BigBadBob]

Hi. Thank you for the response.

The issue is that the database (postgres) is accessed by the client via a web browser and is hosted offsite (by the external IT provider)

Power BI gateway has been setup on virtual machine by the IT provider as it is not on premises which i thought would be the only solution. Please tell me if you disagree. I could be wrong but i can not see how they could connect to the database on premises when it is offsite and only accessed via a web terminal

Then to include excel it needs to either be added to the gateway somehow and is not accessible by the client

Very confusing!

Thanks again

[nitishsh91 · Accepted solution]

If you can access postgres database from the machine on which on-premise gateway is setup then only it will work and ideally both should be in same network for it to work.

Excel can be hosted online on sharepoint and that will remove dependence on gateway and it can be accessed directly.