Resource Usage of Gateway, PBI Service, Capacity

[johnpjustus]

Hi All,

I need some clarification.

I have an dataflow bringing data from On-prem, so I use the gateway.

Now I have developed datamodel and report from the datalflow using PBI desktop and exported back to Power BI service under an workspace and this workspace is added to a CAPACITY.

Now when the dataflow is refreshed the underlying dataset and the report refreshes as well if I am correct.

If I am correct, my understanding is when the dataflow refreshes, the gateway server's resource is used. My question is, at what point the resource of Power BI service (tenant/cloud) or the Capacity is used?

My data is in west coast, gateway server is in westcoast, PBI tenant/ service is in Europe, Capacity is in West coast.

Users are in east coast and west coast.

Can some one please provide the explanation how everything connects when the data flow refreshes and users accessing the reports. Which components are used.

Thanks,

John

[RossEdwards]

Basic and broad brush explanation:

Gateway Server:  Is the secure route between your network and cloud.  Uses server resources to crunch numbers.

Dataflow:  Performs the Power Query logic, will offload work to the gateway where applicable.  If you are using cloud based sources, you may not use a gateway.  If you are merge Cloud and On-Prem sources, you might find it more efficient to have the gateway be used for relevant cloud sources too.

Power BI model:  If its in import mode, it will have its own Power Query logic and processing.  Will need to be refreshed separately to dataflow.  If you have a model in 'Direct Query', it will only use sources that can have folded queries.  Direct query doesn't refresh, it sends queries whenever the user access the report and makes selections.  A composite model contains some import tables and some direct query tables.  "Live Connection" is a report that has no model, it connects live to a model elsewhere.

Capacity:  Microsoft hosted environment which you pay for.  This provides resources for both refreshing and report consumption.  It also has licensing attached to assist in distributing reports to 'free' users in your organisation.