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prerequisite for VM
Hey YashikaAgrawal,
Good question! Let me clarify the account requirements for Enterprise Gateway:
Windows Service Account Requirements: You'll need a dedicated domain service account to run the gateway service. This doesn't need admin privileges - just make sure it has "Log on as a service" rights configured. Avoid using local accounts; stick with domain accounts for better security and management.
Power BI Registration Account: For registering the gateway in Power BI Service, you need an account with either Pro or PPU licensing. This account handles the gateway registration and ongoing management tasks in the Power BI portal.
Can they be the same account? Absolutely! You can use one domain service account for both purposes - just assign it a Pro license. This approach keeps things simple and reduces the number of accounts you need to manage.
Quick Setup Tip: I usually recommend creating one dedicated service account (like "svc-powerbi-gateway"), giving it the Pro license, and using it for both the Windows service and Power BI registration. Makes troubleshooting easier down the line.
The gateway software itself is free - you're only paying for the Pro license needed for registration and management.
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Best regards,
Jainesh Poojara / Power BI Developer
One more point to add is if you need high availability. Install two gateway. Servers and join them as a cluster so that if one of them goes down the other one will still function. This also serves as a very basic load balancing feature to balance the load if there is high usage. Install an on-premises data gateway | Microsoft Learn