Setting up a load balancer to distribute traffic evenly across multiple Tableau Server instances Configuring a load balancer is essential in the setup of an external gateway for Tableau Server. It ensures efficient distribution of network traffic and improves the overall performance and reliability of the server by managing the load across multiple instances. Option B is incorrect because bypassing SSL would compromise security, which is not advisable for a secure external gateway setup. Option C is incorrect as direct database access from the gateway is generally not a recommended practice due to security concerns. Option D is incorrect because while implementing firewall rules is important for security, it is not specifically a critical step in configuring an external gateway for Tableau Server.