Chapter 11: Refreshing Content

So far, we have spent quite a bit of time in the Power BI service working with reports, dashboards, apps, and security. Throughout this book, we have learned how to create data models and reports and then publish and share our work using the Power BI service. However, it is the nature of data to change over time. New data gets added or existing rows are deleted or changed. Hence, once our work is in the Power BI service, how do we keep our work up to date with new data without having to manually refresh the data on the desktop and republish it? Luckily, the Power BI service contains even more functionality that allows us to keep our data refreshed.

In this chapter, we will cover how to install and configure data gateways, which can keep our data up to date. Then, we will learn how to configure our datasets to use these gateways.

The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

• Installing and using data gateways
• Refreshing datasets...

Technical requirements

You will need the following to complete this chapter:

• An internet connection.
• An Office 365 account or Power BI trial.
• If you have skipped any of the previous chapters, you can download LearnPowerBI.pbix from GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Learn-Power-BI-second-edition.
• Check out the following video to see the Code in Action: https://bit.ly/3mXfB52

Installing and using data gateways

The on-premises data gateway, or simply data gateway, is a piece of software that's installed on an on-premises computer that provides a secure connection between local, on-premises data, and a variety of services that reside in Microsoft's Azure cloud, including the Power BI service. Once installed, the Power BI service can use this gateway to refresh datasets that have been published to the Power BI service, as shown in the following diagram:

Figure 11.1 – Data gateway

There are two ways the gateway can operate, as follows:

• Standard
• Personal

The reason to install a gateway in one mode versus the other comes down to the scenario in which you plan to use the gateway. You will want to use the standard mode if the following applies:

• You want other users within the organization to use a single, centralized gateway.
• You need DirectQuery, as well as import mode datasets.
• You wish...

Refreshing datasets

Now that a gateway has been installed and configured, it is time to enable our dataset so that it can automatically refresh. This means that if we add or replace the data to/in our file or database, the Power BI service can automatically refresh that data within the published dataset so that the associated dashboards and reports are kept up to date.

Scheduling a refresh

To schedule a refresh for a dataset, do the following:

1. Log into the Power BI service.
2. Navigate to your workspace using the Navigation pane.
3. Under the Datasets heading, hover over your dataset and then click the three vertical dots to see a fly-out menu, similar to the one shown in the following screenshot:

Figure 11.21 – Accessing the Schedule refresh option for a dataset

4. Choose Schedule refresh from the menu to display the dataset's settings page, as shown in the following screenshot:

Figure 11.22 –...

Summary

This chapter was all about how to configure Power BI to keep datasets that are published to the Power BI service up to date automatically. We learned how to download, install, and configure the on-premises data gateway in both standard (enterprise) and personal modes. We also learned how to manage gateways within the Power BI service, as well as configure data sources for use in gateways. Finally, we learned how to schedule the datasets for automatic refresh by the Power BI service.

You have now learned all of the basic skills that you will need when working with Power BI, which has opened the door to an entirely new and exciting world. In the next chapter, we dive deeper into the world of deploying, governing, and adopting Power BI.

Questions

As an activity, try to answer the following questions on your own:

• What is the purpose of the on-premises data gateway?
• In what two modes can the data gateway be installed?
• What must you do to ensure that the data gateway starts after rebooting the computer that the gateway is installed on?
• What feature allows for redundancy and load balancing when you're refreshing data?
• What two methods can be used to add a data source to a data gateway?
• How many times can a dataset be refreshed per day?

Further reading

You can check out the following links for additional information regarding this chapter's topics:

• Installing an on-premises data gateway: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/data-integration/gateway/service-gateway-install
• What is an on-premises data gateway?: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-gateway-onprem
• On-premises data gateway in-depth: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-gateway-onprem-indepth
• On-premises data gateway architecture: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/data-integration/gateway/service-gateway-onprem-indepth
• Using personal gateways in Power BI: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-gateway-personal-mode
• Troubleshooting gateways – Power BI: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/service-gateway-onprem-tshoot
• Getting started with data connectors: https://github.com/Microsoft/DataConnectors
• Data refresh in Power BI: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi...