How to Create Troubleshoot and Resolve PowerBI Gateway Issues

How to Create Troubleshoot and Resolve PowerBI Gateway Issues

The Power BI gateway is a Windows based application which allows you to connect to your on-premises data-source. Typically, you would need to install the application on an always-on server machine in the same network where your data-sources reside which you would need to connect. Power BI has become popular in the BI world and a lot of users use the gateway app. During the process of using the gateways, Users have faced issues either installing or trying to connect to a data-source. In this post, I am going to talk about how to create troubleshoot and resolve PowerBI gateway issues.

Installation best practices for Power BI Gateway

• Do not install the Power BI Gateway (Enterprise or Personal) on a domain controller.
• The Windows user account should have the “Logon as a Service” permission. Ensure your Group Policy allows this.
• If the “Operation is timed out” ensure you have enough system resources to install the gateway.
• Do-not try to install more than one gateways on the same physical or virtual machine. Side-by-Side installation of Data Management Gateway or SSAS-Connector is not supported. You need to un-install all gateways prior to the new gateway installation.
• Ensure network connectivity or proxy settings before installation the Power BI gateway.
• Ensure you are installing the latest version of Power BI gateway.
• Enterprise gateway does-not support “imported data“. If you have imported data into a file or excel, try using the personal gateway.

Always Use Event Logs>Applications and Services Logs>Power BI Enterprise Gateway Service for debugging.

How to do a clean install of Power BI Gateway

Sometimes, the older version of the gateway might preserve the configuration files which needs to be removed. Here are the simple steps to remove them:

Step 1: Go-to command prompt and issue the following command:

net stop PBIEgwService

Step 2: Uninstall the Enterprise or Personal gateway from “Programs and Features”

Step 3: Delete the installation directory folder

c:Program FilesPower BI Enterprise Gateway

c:Program FilesPower BI Personal Gateway

How to Troubleshoot Datasource Issues

• Ensure that the Data-source that you are trying to connect is supported.
• Ensure that the authentication type for the data-source is valid.
• Verify the Database name and the credentials are valid.
• If none of the above mentioned steps work, validate connectivity to the data-source from the Server/Virtual Machine which is hosting the gateway.
• The Data-source and the underlying data-set needs to match. Try using the Source IP address instead of using the host-name to troubleshoot.
• Ensure the “EffectiveUserName” is valid and have full permissions to the data-source.

Check if Firewall or Proxy Settings are Valid

Run the following Power-Shell script:

Test-NetConnection -ComputerName powerbicomp.servicebus.windows.net -Port 9350

Result should be true, else check the connection settings.

ComputerName           : powerbicomp.servicebus.windows.net
RemoteAddress          : 70.37.104.321
RemotePort             : 5672
InterfaceAlias         : vEthernet (Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet - Virtual Switch)
SourceAddress          : 10.120.60.108
PingSucceeded          : False
PingReplyDetails (RTT) : 0 ms
TcpTestSucceeded       : True

Visit the Official Site for More resources:

• Troubleshooting Power BI Gateway – Personal
• Data refresh in Power BI
• Troubleshooting the Power BI Gateway – Enterprise