Power BI Gateway Connection Request

A Power BI gateway is management software that runs on an Azure virtual machine (VM) and is used for controlling access on the Power BI platform to various data sources. Power BI gateways connections enable departments/teams to publish reports and to refresh data in reports they create.

The IT Analytics team is implementing Power BI gateway connections as part of an enterprise-wide solution that will allow departments and other IT teams to use this software as a service. The main benefit of this solution is that individual departments/teams will not need to invest in setting up a reporting infrastructure.

If your department/team is interested in having a Power BI gateway connection set up, please follow the instructions below:

1. Request a Service Account(s)

   1. Submit a request for a service account for each data source your department/team will need to create Power BI reports.

      1. To submit a request for a service account in the Data Warehouse (DWHOUSE), please use the following link: https://usfpro1.forest.usf.edu/pls/ax_dwhouse/f?p=1057:502. All requests for DWHOUSE accounts go through an approval process. The approvals needed will depend upon the Data Access Level (DAL) security you request. To learn more, please read Understanding DAL Security.

      2. To submit a request for a service account in one of the other business systems (e.g., Banner [PROD], FAST [FASTPRO], GEMS [GEMSPRO], etc.), please send an email to IT-Security@usf.edu requesting a service account be created for each data source needed.

      3. Please specify that the password for the requested service account is set to not expire.

      4. List the tables/views that the service account needs to access (as read-only) on the data source in the request.

2. Request a Power BI Gateway Connection

   1. Once your service account(s) have been created for your data sources and you have received the service account name and password for all requested data sources, please send a request to the IT Analytics team to set up a Power BI gateway connection. To do this, either send an email to IT-Analytics@usf.edu or submit a HELP ticket to the Service Team “Analytics” in Jira and include the following information:

      1. Service account (this information is needed for each data source)

         1. Database server: <host name/IP> (e.g. tahitiT0.forest.usf.edu/131.247.220.101)

         2. Database: <database name> (e.g. DWHOUSE, PROD, GEMSPRO, FASTPRO)

         3. Data source type: <type> (e.g. Oracle, SQL Server)

         4. Port number: <port> (e.g. 1433..)

         5. Service account name: <service account created in step 1>

      2. NetIDs for those who will become your Power BI gateway administrators: <netid 1>, <netid 2>

   2. After your request has been received, it will be prioritized along with other requests. You will be contacted by an IT Analytics Team representative to set up a meeting to configure your new gateway connection.

3. Setup Your Power BI Gateway Connection

   1. You will need the password for each data source available during your meeting with the IT Analytics Team representative to set up your Power BI gateway connection. 

   2. Once your Power BI gateway connection has been set up, a couple of people in your department/team will be added as gateway connection administrators. These gateway connection administrators will have the ability to add members from your department/team as report developers.

4. On-going Maintenance: Note that if the password for the service account expires, it is the responsibility of the individual departments to have it fixed and get back to us.

Additional PBI Gateway information:

https://usfjira.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/IKB/pages/20719927316