How does Data Gateway works?

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

I am interested to understand how the Data Gateway works.  I like to know why does the computer need to be turned on when a scheduled report is already uploaded on the server?

I've read the documentation from microsoft but it doesn't help me understand my question and understand how the Data Gateway functionality works.  The data sources are located on public web so why a data gateway is necessary for the report to be refreshed on Power BI Service?

Hope someone could shed some light!

[v-xuding-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Gateway is targeted at on-premise data source. If your data is in the cloud, you don't need it.

For how the gateway works, you could see it as a bridge. The data sources connection credentials are stored in gateway. When configure scheduled refresh, we don't need to connect data sources one by one. It avoids connecting repeatedly. And if others want to refresh reports, we can grant access in gateway rather than give them the credentials directly. It is very secure.

Best Regards,

Xue Ding

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