How to connect with some external database in Power BI Service

[VictorRayanF]

I have the Power Bi Pro plan, and I still don't see the option "Get Data" in the workspace section in order to connect for example with external SQL Server database. Is it still possible? I've seen that this option is no longer available but if I have a large database how can I access and process the data in the cloud with Power BI?

Another important question is how I can use Power Query in the Power BI Service, is it available as well?

[GilbertQ · Accepted solution]

Hi @VictorRayanF 

You can only use data flows to get data from an external database in the Power BI Service. If your database is using Azure SQL then you can connect directly.

If your external database is anything other than Azure SQL you will need to install and configure an On-Premise Gateway.

[VictorRayanF]

Great! Now it's clear for me! But how can I do that? Is there some tutorial to connect some external SQL Server (without the need of azure). And about the other question. Is it possible to edit the models such as its relationships between tables in Power BI Service after connected to the database.