Managing Azure On-Premises Data Gateways

When organizations become aware of the On-premises Data Gateway application, there can be an explosion in the number of gateways that are connected to the tenant. Some people will invariably install a ‘temporary’ gateway on their local computer while they investigate/develop a new PowerBI report, PowerApp or Azure Automation process. All of these ‘temporary’ gateway instances can create problems when the systems that use them are moved into production and remain connected to the ‘temporary’ gateways.

In a previous post, I wrote about how to install and use an On-premises Data Gateway to connect on-site data with Azure-based apps (PowerBI, PowerApps, etc). Now we’re going to look at how to curtail the sprawl of gateways that may be occurring and how to remove any existing gateways that are deemed to be unnecessary.

Limiting The Creation Of New Gateways

The ability to connect new data gateways to an organization’s Azure tenant can be controlled through the Power Platform Admin Center (https://admin.powerplatform.microsoft.com). Once logged in with a Tenant Admin account:

1. Click on the Data Gateways link from the menu on the left.
2. Verify that the Tenant Administration toggle (top right) is set to ON.
3. Click the Manage Gateway Installers button.
4. The toggle button to Restrict users in your organization from installing gateways will appear.
5. User accounts can now be added to the list of people who are allowed to install (register) new gateways in the organization’s Azure tenant.

Removing Existing Data Gateways

Now that the creation of new gateways has been controlled, it’s time to look at removing any gateways that are deemed to be unnecessary.

A list of the on-prem data gateways, that are connected to the Azure tenant, can be displayed by clicking on the Data Gateways menu (with the Tenant Administration toggle set to ON). Note: the list will change based on the Region selected. Clicking on the Details button will display the name of the computer(s) that the gateway is installed on. The Users button will show a list of the accounts that can access the gateway, along with their permissions.

To remove a gateway from the tenant:

1. Click on the Users button beside the gateway and grant Admin permission to your account.
2. Login to PowerBI (or another Power Platform application) using the account that was granted Admin permissions.
3. From the Settings menu select Manage Gateways.
4. Select the gateway to be removed and click on the […] button to the right of the gateway’s name.
5. Click on Remove from the pop-up menu.
6. The last (optional) step is to uninstall the On-prem Data Gateway application from the computer that was hosting it.