Power BI deployment best practices

[nmck86]

I have a couple of questions about Power BI implementations that I am hoping you guys can assist with.

I cannot connect to their database from an outside computer becuase they do not open their db server to the public. Because of this, we are remoting into their windows server, and doing development there. The auto refresh client is also running on the server.

I'm sure this is not best practice. What is the best practice? Do companies normally have a vpn set up for computers outside of their network to connect to their database?

The auto refresh client is set up on the client's server. Every time the server is rebooted, the client needs to be opened, and started again. Is there a best practice to make sure the client auto starts on a reboot?

[Anonymous]

The standard method to achieve what you are trying to do is to make use of an "On Premise Data Gateway".  This can be any server inside your network.  You load and configure this peice of software such that you provide a secure bridge to transport the data from your network into your Online Data Model. You can find it in the download area of your Power BI

So you will continue to develop exactly as you have presently and the database itself doesn't need any external exposure as the requests will be coming from the internal server, which runs the mashup engine.

[nmck86]

Thanks @Anonymous! To confirm, I will be able to develop repoeta for this orgnaization leveraging the pn premise gateway? I currently assist pther organizations with their builds and to eliminate thisbadded layer of difficultly it will be eliminated by the on prem solution? Thanks again for the help.

[Anonymous]

The gateway is designed purely for report refreshing once they are in the Power BI Service such that the Office 365 cloud can have a method of getting inside the companies network in a secure fashion.

For development, you'll need to work from a computer with inside access to those sources.  I commonly use RDP's whenever i need access not provided by my local network.