What happenes to reports and datasets if my on-prem gateway server crashes and needs to be replaced?

[bdmlc]

We are using the Power BI service with an on-prem data gateway. I was wondering, what would happen if the gateway server suffered a hardware crash where the server had to be rebuilt, specifically, what would happen to content in the Power BI service that was using this gateway like data sources and reports? If the Power BI service could no longer reach the data gateway, what would happen to all of the content linked to that data gateway? Can that content be redirected to a new gateway?

[Conarl_on_BI]

@bdmlc,

If you lose connectivity to your gateway then reports and contents associated to the gateway such as a DataSource, security and dashboards would fail.
Since the Power BI is offered as a cloud services, if you remember or stored your recovery Key while creating your gateway you can migrate your Old gateway to a new machine once you rebuilt it.
Note: The key here to remember the password for the gateway on your old machine.

And to your question "Can that content be redirected to a new gateway? Yes, contents can be redirected to the new gateway.

Thanks,

Conarl_On_BI

[GilbertQ]

Hi @bdmlc

What would happen if your server crashed all your data refreshes would all fail.

There is some good news is that as part of the install it would have asked you to put in a Recovery Key.

All that you would need to do, is if you wanted to install this on another server or re-install, as part of the installation you put in the existing Recovery Key, and it will map it back to your Power BI Service settings.

Just make sure that you know where and how to get the Recovery Key password.

[bdmlc]

So if I don't have the password for the gateway key from the failed machine, I can't just redirect all content to a new gateway with a different key?

[Conarl_on_BI]

You can also create a new gateway on the new machine with a new recovery key and redirect the contents from the old machine. However if you want to use the old gateway then you would need the recovery key for that gateway for you to be able to redirect the contents.

Hopes things explanation helps you understand it better.
Thanks
Conarl_On_BI

[bdmlc]

Thank you for all of the information, I appreciate it. I have just one more question then, can I change the password for the gateway recovery key?

[Conarl_on_BI]

@bdmlc

I have not had a need to ever change the password on my recovery keys. However I believe this can be done as long as you remember the old recovery key passway you should be able to update the password to a new one. But if you don't have the old password then there is not much options on changing it. 

[krshaffer]

There is no "password" on the Recovery Key. GilbertQ orginally called the "Recovery Key" a "Recovery Key Password".  The password and Recovery Key are one in the same.

The Recovery Key allows your newly installed Gateway to takeover the previous Gateway's data sources. If you don't have the Recovery Key you will need to rebuild all the data sources that belonged to the previous gateway. I had to do this on our first upgrade since the original Receovery Key was not recorded. I recorded all of the data sources prior to the upgrade and have added to the list each time a data source is added. (55+ and counting) 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/analysis-services/analysis-services-gateway-install

[Conarl_on_BI]

Hi 

Yes I'm aware of this "The password and Recovery Key are one in the same." My responds and explaination where based on your specific question and scenario. 

I guess you have better understanding on how the recovery Key concept work now.

Thanks,

Conarl_On_BI