Question about restarting gateway cluster services following a power BI service error

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Question about restarting gateway cluster services following a power BI service error

Lyn Lyn 80

Hello guys

I have a question regarding an issue with scheduled data refreshes in Power BI.

Currently, the scheduled dataset refresh in the Power BI Service is failing because the Enterprise Gateway is reported as offline.

I would like to know how we can remotely restart the gateway cluster services so that the scheduled refresh can resume successfully.

Is there a recommended approach or best practice for remotely managing and restarting services in a gateway cluster environment?

Thank you in advance

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Answer 1

Hello @Lyn Lyn

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

Thank you for your patience, and taking the time to elaborate on your concerns.

When the Power BI Enterprise Gateway shows as offline, the recommended way to bring it back online is to restart the gateway service on each server in the cluster. Here’s the structured approach:

Step by Step to resolution.

Identify Gateway Cluster Servers

In Power BI Service → Manage Gateways

  Note all servers listed under your cluster.
  
  **Remote Access**
  
     Ensure you have admin rights on those servers.
     
        Use RDP, PowerShell Remoting, or enterprise tools (System Center, Azure Automation).
        
           Confirm firewall rules allow remote service management.
           
           **Restart Gateway Service**
           
              On each host:
              
                    Open `services.msc`
                    
                          Locate **On-premises data gateway service** (`PBIEgwService`)
                          
                                Right‑click → Restart
                                
                                   Verify status is **Running**.
                                   
                                   **Automate with PowerShell**
                                   
                                      From your admin workstation:
                                      
                                      powershell
                                      
                                      ```yaml
                                      Restart-Service -ComputerName <GatewayServer> -Name PBIEgwService
                                      ```
                                      
                                         Replace `<GatewayServer>` with the actual host name.
                                         
                                            For multiple nodes, loop through a list of servers.
                                            
                                            **Verify in Power BI Service**
                                            
                                               Go back to *Manage Gateways*.
                                               
                                                  Ensure cluster status shows **Online**.
                                                  
                                                     Retry scheduled refresh.

Best Practices

Restart all nodes in the cluster for consistency.

Use automation (PowerShell, Azure Automation runbooks) for repeatability.

Document which accounts have restart rights - apply least privilege.
If gateways frequently drop offline, check for:

Windows Updates or reboots

Proxy/firewall changes
Expired credentials in data sources. I hope this helps to better understand the diagnostic options available and the risks involved. If this information was helpful, please click Accept Answer. Thank you for choosing Microsoft Q&A.