How to use Power BI gateway

Anonymous · ‎10-06-2021

I want to use Power BI gateway to connect to an on premise SQL server, which is located on another computer. I want to access this database in Power BI desktop on my local machine.

I have installed the gateway on the on premise machine, set up the gateway and the data source on app.powerbi.com. How do I now access this SQL server database via Power BI?

nandukrishnavs · ‎10-06-2021

@Anonymous

To access the On-premise database from the PowerBI desktop, you don't need the Power BI gateway. As long as you are able to successfully ping the server address from your local machine, you should be able to connect the database from the Power BI desktop.

Sometimes, you have to add server hostname and IP address to your host file. (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts)

If you are unable to access it, then please share the error message.

Regards,
Nandu Krishna

Anonymous · ‎10-06-2021

Could you explain what needs to be done to ping server address from local machine? Will it not be an issue that my local computer IP address can change?

Also, if I want to publish this report online, I will probably need gateway right?

nandukrishnavs · ‎10-06-2021

@Anonymous

To ping, the server IP, open the command prompt and execute the below command

ping <server address>

You can use server address/IP address

If you want to schedule the report or if your connection is DirectQuery, then definitely you need a Power BI gateway.

Regards,
Nandu Krishna

Anonymous · ‎10-06-2021

I can ping the IP address and the SQL server address, but can not connect in Power BI.

Details: "Microsoft SQL: A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)"