Tableau Server

Question 1

Best practice to edit individual users permissions in Tableau projects?

Answer 1

It is a best practice to use groups and manage users through groups. Setting permissions at the group level in Server projects will make the process much more streamlined in the long run.

Question 2

Permisions for default state across Tableau Server in the absense of allowing permissions?

Answer 2

The default state is to deny permissions.

Question 3

All Tableau Server ships with default project.

Answer 3

Cannot delete this project and the default group is all users, many clients go in and delete this all users group because when you create a new project it will pick up the default settings for the default project.

Question 4

Projects

Answer 4

Projects are the largest group of organization of content on the Tableau Server.

Question 5

Workbooks

Answer 5

Workbooks are what is created for you and can contain multiple dashboards or worksheets.

Question 6

Views

Answer 6

Reports, dashboards and vizualizations that you can interact with and save in specific way.

Question 7

What does multithreading mean to Tableau?

Answer 7

Multithreading means each process (VIZQL, Data Server, Webapp, Extract host on Server) can handle multiple simultaneous requests from the same end user. (Side note: Each VizQL process is no longer limited to 2gb of RAM but is still limited to [or can share] a single core.)Multithreading does not equal faster.Instead each request from an end user is processed on a single core for end user resource request consolidation and caching.

Question 8

Difference between threading and a process?

Answer 8

The essential difference between a thread and a process is the amount of work that each does. Threads are used for small tasks (ex: When you use MS Word, you have a background thread that allows you to print and another thread that accepts user input) and processes are used for heavyweight tasks like actually starting the program.

Question 9

Can I run tableau server in virtual environment (on a VM)?

Answer 9

Absolutely. Virtual environments are fully supported.

Question 10

Can I configure server to use IIS or my instance of Apache as the web server?

Answer 10

No need to. Tableau server includes a web server (along with many other components) in the single installation file. For your info, we use Apache, but there is nothing to configure or change.

Question 11

Do I need to maintain the Apache web server or the Postgres database?

Answer 11

No. Tableau takes care of all maintenance and upgrades for its individual components in the Tableau server maintenance releases you download from our website.

Question 12

Can I install it on Linux?

Answer 12

The general answer is no, Tableau must be installed on a Windows Operating System. However, some customers use programs on their Linux system to create virtual Windows environments.

Question 13

What OS do you recommend?

Answer 13

Windows Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2003 sp1 or higher, and Windows 7. Tableau Server no longer supports Windows XP, Vista, or older windows operating systems.

Question 14

What kind of encryption do you use for password storage (also what kind of data encryption is used when passed over the wire to the client)?

Answer 14

Please see our knowledge base article on Server Encryption Technologies for details. Tableau stores passwords using AES 256-bit encryption, and uses RSA 512-bit encryption for other server processes.

Question 15

What kind of auditing can I do on my server users and reports?

Answer 15

There are about six pre-made audit dashboards found in the Maintenance page on server. These answer most questions you have around View Performance, User Activity, Usage, Storage, etc.If the pre-made maintenance dashboards do not contain what you are looking for, you can connect Tableau Desktop to the Postgres database that stores all server activity. Please see the Admin Guide for more details on Custom Audit Views.

Question 16

Is it possible to have weekly scheduled e-mails where I send out a .png, .pdf, or .csv of the Tableau visual?

Answer 16

Yes, you can use Tabcmd and a third-party tool such as febootimail to schedule when these e-mails get sent out, and what views are sent. Please see our knowledge base article: Using the Tableau Server Command Line Utility. Tableau does not charge extra for this feature.

Question 17

Is there any internet access requirements for the server product?

Answer 17

Internet access for the server product is not required. It is primarily used for Activation of the software and Online Maps. We can provide specific URLs to these web services for adjustments to your firewall. Or, should you choose not to open your firewall, Activation can be done offline and offline maps provide the first 6 levels of zoom. You may also leverage an internal WMS (Web Mapping Service) such as ESRI ArcServer.

Question 18

How do I determine the number of VizQL, Application, Data Server, and Background processes?

Answer 18

Tableau Server publishes workbook views for access via a browser. Requests that come in from the client browser first hit the Apache web server and are routed to the first available Application server process (wgserver.exe) which handles browsing and permissions for the Tableau Server web interface. Once a view is opened a request is sent to the VizQL process (vizqlserver.exe) from which queries are sent directly to the data source. If your data source is Tableau Data Server, then a request will be sent to the Tableau Data Server process.We generally recommend using Tableau’s default of 2 VizQL, 2 Application, and 2 Data Server processes for any sized deployment. If you find that your performance lags, you may increase the number of VizQL, Application, or Data Server processes up to the maximum limit of 8.

Question 19

Is it possible to specify a size when publishing a dashboard to fit within our confines on sharepoint, ipad, etc.?

Answer 19

a. Yes, upon publishing your dashboard, simply select to size it using the bottom left hand of your dashboard screen, and selecting to Edit Size -> At Least. At Least allows for the dashboard to expand and fit larger screens, but maintain its your desired layout on smaller screens.

Question 20

Do virtualization snapshots and NT backups work with Tableau Server?

Answer 20

a. When considering disaster recovery options, it is import to understand precisely how virtualization snapshots and file-level backups interact with Tableau data.During the installation of Tableau Server, the licensing service writes license information to the Trusted Storage area of the hard disk. This information will not be captured by file-level backups or virtual machine snapshots and therefore should the virtual machine snapshot or file-level backup ever be used to restore Tableau Server, the corresponding Trusted Storage information will not be re-written to the disk. This means that restoring Tableau Server from a backup “in place” or on the same machine on which it was originally installed, will work fine. Restoring an image of Tableau Server to a new location or different machine, you need to transfer the license to that new machine. b. It is highly recommended that regular Tableau Backups be taken in order to ensure that your environment has recoverability in the event that you are required to bring up Tableau on a new server or restore your existing environment

Question 21

Do I need additional drivers for my data source installed on Tableau Server?

Answer 21

a. Yes, the drivers page on the Tableau Software home page contains links and information for obtaining the proper driver for your data source connection.

Question 22

Can I switch from using Local Authentication to Active Directory?

Answer 22

The most important thing to be aware of while installing Tableau Server is that once you choose your authentication method (‘Use Active Directory’ or ‘Use Local Authentication’), you cannot change it without re-installing Tableau Server.Once set, the only way to alter the authentication method is by following the steps outlined in our knowledge base article “Modifying Tableau Server Authentication Method”:

Question 23

How might I upgrade or duplicate a Tableau Server environment?

Answer 23

There is a knowledge base article available for reference during the upgrade

Question 24

How many test environments can I have?

Answer 24

The End User License Agreement for Tableau Server allows for one production environment and up to two, non-production environments. 1) For instance, if a client purchases an 8 core server, they can have up to two additional non-production core environments. The same goes for named user licenses.2) Tableau does not charge for these non-production test environments, unlike many of our competitors. E.g., Qlikview charges an additional 50% of the server cost for each test environment.

Question 25

We want to demo Tableau Server, but currently – for whatever reason – we cannot demo Tableau Server on our own systems. Does Tableau offer a server for demoing?

Answer 25

Yes, Tableau offers demo.tableausoftware.com. We can set you up with your own company site which is secure and will only be accessible to you. You will gain much of the functionality of Tableau Server in this demo environment. You will be able to put views online, interact with them, and access them as necessary during your trial of Tableau Server.

Question 26

Does Tableau offer collaborative analytics? For instance, I found out Sales in Montana are doing poorly, and I want to default to this view whenever I log into Tableau Server. I also want to share this view with my colleagues, and talk about it on a forum. Can I do this with Tableau?

Answer 26

Yes, Tableau is all about collaborative analytics. You can go to the upper right-hand corner of your server view, select to save a view for future consumption, and even share that view with your co-workers. You can then discuss your analyses and insights in the comments section provided below the view.

Question 27

Can you show me how a Server view looks like on an iPad?

Answer 27

Yes:1) Create a shortcut in your browser with the following:javascript:location.href=”http://ipadpeek.com/?url=”+location.href+escape(“?:embed=y&:mobile=true”);2) This will open the current view in iPadPeek with the necessary embed and mobile tag3) You can now “Tap to Interact”. Note: on an actual iPad, you do not need to include “&:mobile=y” in the URL. This functionality will happen automatically when an iPad connects to a Tableau Server view.4) Mention that we offer a native iPad App for free from the App Store: There is a Gallery you can experiment with and share with colleagues!http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tableau-mobile/id434633927?mt=8

Question 28

Is it possible to have no toolbar on my server view?

Answer 28

a. Yes. To remove the toolbar, add the following exactly as it is shown at the end of your URL: &:toolbar=nob. If you want the toolbar to be on top, simply add the following at the end of your URL: &:toolbar=top

Question 29

Can I specify a filter via the URL? For instance, I want to filter only to my company: Chevron.

Answer 29

Yes, to specify a filter via the URL, simply add the following to the URL exactly as shown and hit enter on the keyboard: &Company=ChevronNotice that there is no colon “:” this time (compared to the previous question)

Question 30

I’m purchasing core. How can the cores be deployed?

Answer 30

You must purchase 8 cores at a minimum, with increments of 4 thereafter. In a single server environment, the number of cores in use on a physical or virtual machine must not exceed the number licensed. In a multi-server environment with primary and worker node(s), the total number of cores among the Primary and all Workers must not exceed the number licensed.Furthermore, cores cannot be split among multiple production instances. I.e., • A customer cannot split their core licenses among an active server and a failover server which is also active.• A customer cannot split the cores in order to have one environment externally facing and one internally.• Note a customer is allowed up-to two non-production environments per the EULA (see question 16)

Question 31

What is the minimum number of named user licenses?

Answer 31

You must purchase a minimum of ten, with the option to purchase more later on.

Question 32

Does Tableau integrate with my company’s LDAP server for authentication?

Answer 32

Tableau integrates with the Windows form of LDAP (Active Directory) or you can create local users for Tableau server. Users can be synced with your corporate LDAP server by using Tableau’s command line interface to import users one at a time or in batch via CSV.Many companies will store and control enterprise security aspects about a user in LDAP, what systems they can access, permissions they have in those systems, data they can access. Tableau cannot access LDAP profiles, but a script could read LDAP profiles and using tab command, interface to Tableau server and make the required changes. For example, users could be given certain permissions/access when added to specific groups.

Question 33

If I am using AD, are my Tableau users always synced with my AD users?

Answer 33

When we import an AD group on Tableau server, this is a one-time import of all users in that group. You can then periodically “sync” with AD using the Tableau Server GUI as an Administrator. You can also automate the sync using tabcmd to sync a particular AD group using the ‘tabcmd syncgroup [AD group name]’. This can be scheduled to run however often you want (Tableau does not schedule this, they would use the Windows Scheduler or whatever scheduling tool they want – this is very common).

Question 34

I want to embed tableau dashboards into my web portal (or Sharepoint or ASP.net page), but I don’t want them to see a tableau login screen. Is that possible? (Single Sign On)

Answer 34

a. Yes. If your portal uses Active Directory for authentication then you simply embed the tableau view using an iFrame (or Page Viewer Web Part in Sharepoint). If Tableau server is configured to also use Active Directory then both systems will authenticate the user independently, resulting in the user never seeing a login screen for you portal or for Tableau.b. If your web portal uses a different method of authentication, we can setup Trusted Authentication between your web portal and Tableau Server. Please see the product manual for Trusted Authentication. In essence, a web developer in your organization will add a piece of code to your web server that pulls the currently logged-in username and passes it to Tableau Server in a POST request. Tableau will check that the users exists in our directory and if so it will return a ticket which your web server will insert into the constructed URL sent back to Tableau to request the view. Tableau then redeems the ticket and the view will load for the user with no login screen. Code samples for Java, Ruby, and PHP can be found in C:\Program Files (x86)\Tableau\Tableau Server\6.1\extras\embedding

Question 35

When I visit a particular view on server, I am presented with a login screen for the database. I don’t want my users to see a database login screen. What should I do?

Answer 35

a. If the datasource uses Windows Authentication, then this means the Run-As user of server is not set correctly. They need to open the Tableau server configuration window and change the Server Account to a real domain user or create a Service Account for Tableau to run under (much more common in production scenario). In any case, this user must have permissions to log into any datasources that use Windows Authentication.b. If the datasource uses local authentication, then the publisher of that workbook will have the choice of embedding their set of credentials into the workbook or prompting the end-user to log in. In the Publish Workbook window, click the Authentication button in the lower left to specify per data connection if you want to embed the credentials or prompt the user to login. If you do not see the button, then you need to enable ‘Embedded Credentials’ through the Maintenance page on server.c. See next question for allowing the user to save their db credentials and only be prompted the first time and subsequent visits if the db password changes

Question 36

If I want to actually log in as the end-user to the database because I already have row-level security built into my database, can I do that?

Answer 36

a. If your database is SQL Server, you have the option to Impersonate the end user logging into the database. This is controlled by clicking the Authentication button in the Publish Workbook window. Change the setting from ‘Server Run As account’ to ‘Impersonate via server Run As account’. b. If your database is something other than SQL Server, then you should set the Authentication to ‘Prompt user’ in the screen above. The user will be asked to log into the database one time, but they have the option to save their credentials so that they never need to log into that datasource again. Their credentials will be saved no matter what browser they use from that point forward.

Question 37

I published a workbook that is connected to an Excel file but I see an error on server when I try to view the report. What is wrong?

Answer 37

a. If they do not have Office installed on the server machine, then the necessary driver to connect to Excel files are not on there yet. They can download the ‘Microsoft Access Database Engine 2007’ from the Drivers page on our website.b. If they have Office or the connectivity components installed but they still see an error, it is probably because the Run-As user of server does not have permission to open the Excel file. Try changing the Run-As user to a real domain user.

Question 38

Say my DBA gives me development rights to a QA database, I’ve produced my report in Tableau desktop and embedded my credentials, once it’s on server, how does the DBA change to using a generic set of credentials?

Answer 38

Under database connections, as an administrator, you can edit the username and password, or the database server that the report connects to.

Question 39

Can I turn off comments?

Answer 39

Yes, this is controlled by the permissions for that view. There are specific permissions to ‘View Comments’ and ‘Add Comments’.

Question 40

If Wilson is Denied ability to view a particular workbook but he is Allowed to see one of the worksheets in the workbook, what will he be able to see when he visits the page for that workbook?

Answer 40

a. He will be able to see the workbook but when he clicks on it he will only see the view he was specifically allowed to see.b. This is because permissions are evaluated at the View level, then the Workbook Level, then the Project level. If you are not allowed to see a project, but you can see a workbook in that project, the workbook permissions trump the project permissions (Workbooks trump Projects and Views trump both Workbooks & Projects).

Question 41

If The PC group is Allowed to see the PC project, but Wilson (a member of the PC group) is Denied ability to see the PC project, what will he see when he logs in?

Answer 41

He will not see the PC project (unless he was specifically allowed to see any particular view or workbook in that project).This is because permissions are evaluated at the User level before the Group level. User permissions trump Group permissions.

Question 42

What does ‘Inherited’ mean when looking at permissions?

Answer 42

If a user’s permission is set to “Inherit”, then they are defaulted to their group’s permissions.

Question 43

Are permissions still applied if I embed a view into my web portal?

Answer 43

Yes, when looking at a view embedded into another web portal, you are still logged in to tableau server. Therefore all permissions are still applied.

Question 44

How might I conduct row-level or user-level security at the workbook level?

Answer 44

There are three ways to accomplish row-level security. 1) Data source enforced2) Calculation Based User Filters: Create a Calc using User functions such as ISMEMBEROF() or FULLNAME()3) Set-based user filters: In Desktop: Server > Create User Filter

Question 45

How are permissions set for a workbook view?

Answer 45

E.g., Say John is allowed to download the data at the user level, but his group has been set to deny. Tableau first checks “Has the user [John] been specifically denied the capability?” No, he has not been denied at the user level, so we move to the second box, “Has the user been specifically assigned a role that allows the capability?” Yes. Therefore John can download the data, even though his group is not allowed to do so. Say Martha is set to inherit for downloading the data at the user level, but her group has been set to deny. Tableau first checks, “Has the user [Martha] been specifically denied the capability?” No, her user level has not been denied, so we move to the second box, “Has the user been specifically assigned a role that allows the capability?” No, she’s set to Inherit from the group level. Therefore, we move to the group level. “Is the user part of a group that has been specifically denied the capability?” Yes, therefore, she’s denied the capability to download the data.In conclusion, Tableau first checks at the user level for permissions. If it’s inherited, then Tableau goes to the group level. A user’s permissions will trump/override their group’s permissions.

Question 46

When should I use extracts with Tableau Server?

Answer 46

Extracts are locally stored data sets created by Tableau Server from your data sources. Using extracts in published workbooks can dramatically improve response times for end users. It is highly recommended that extracts be used whenever possible. The section labeled “Use Extracts” on the Tableau Server Scalability Tests knowledge base article lists several benefits of using extracts (listed below):• Extracts allow you to filter the amount of data users have access to. When users don’t need all the detail in your database, this can significantly speed performance. For example, your database may have transactions recorded at the hour and minute, but if your Tableau users are concerned with transactions at the daily or weekly level, you can roll up the data to that level and eliminate unneeded detail.• You can take advantage of join culling and other query optimizations within Tableau extracts.• Users don’t have to wait for your database to return queries and your database isn’t taxed by every Tableau Server request. Tableau users interact with the extracted data only. This can be an issue if your database is heavily used or otherwise slow.• If by taking load off your main database you begin to overtax your extract database, you can configure Tableau Server to use a local extract engine on a separate machine.

Question 47

Where are extracts stored on the server?

Answer 47

It doesn’t really matter where the extracts are stored on the server because you would never need to connect to them with tableau desktop. We use the Tableau Data Server to allow desktop users to connect to extracts stored on server.If the concern is not having enough storage space, you can tell them that extracts are stored on the same drive that server is installed on (so they can install server on a drive other than C if space is a concern). They also have the option to move the extract repository to another machine using the server config control. For you info, extracts are stored in [Drive]:\ProgramData\Tableau\Tableau Server\data\tabsvc\dataengine. However there is really no need to know this exact location. If you don’t see the Program Data folder it is because it is usually hidden.

Question 48

The data in our database updates at irregular times. Can I somehow tie my extract refreshes to my database ETL process?

Answer 48

You can trigger a specific schedule to refresh using the tabcmd command line utility. We can set up a schedule on tableau server called ‘ETL’ (choose any interval, it won’t matter) and check the box to ‘disable’ it. Disabling it will tell tableau server to not run it on the interval specified within the schedule. We can still trigger this schedule to refresh whenever we want to using tabcmd. They can write a script that looks for a particular event on the database (such as the database update competing) and use that event to trigger a tableau batch file to refresh all extracts in the ‘ETL’ schedule.

Question 49

I don’t see the Scheduling button in the Publish Workbook window. What should I do?

Answer 49

This means that Scheduling had not been enabled on server yet. A System Admin on server must go to the Maintenance page and enable both ‘Embedded Credentials’ and ‘Scheduling’. After that is done, go back to desktop and choose Server->Log off before trying to publish again. Then next time to try to publish you will see the button.

Question 50

How do I determine which of my machines is the primary and secondary?

Answer 50

Tableau randomly chooses to make one or the other the primary or secondary, therefore, it is critical that you have equal computing power between your two server boxes.

Question 51

How long does it take for Tableau to switch to the backup if the primary machine fails?

Answer 51

It takes just a matter of minutes. The system will have to check to make sure the server has failed, and if multiple checks indicate that the server has failed, then Tableau switches over to the backup machine.

Question 52

Can content admins add users on their own?

Answer 52

Currently, no. This may change in future versions of Tableau.

Question 53

If I import a group from Active Directory, can it go to a specific site?

Answer 53

Yes.

Question 54

Can I add quotas to sites? E.g., I want a site to have only 7 users and 50 workbooks maximum?

Answer 54

No, you cannot specify quotas at this time.

Question 55

Can we use external storage for your data engine such as a SAN?

Answer 55

Data engine storage is integrated and managed by Tableau Server for performance reasons. The location of this storage is not configurable – it is installed in a specific directory on the same drive as the server software. The extract storage should not be a concern as the data will be compressed conservatively at a ratio of 5:1. Also, in version 7 the data extract file will be shared across workbooks, further minimizing the space required. There is also a report in Tableau Server to monitor the space used by extracts. We do give you the ability to designate one of the worker nodes in a distributed environment as the ‘Extract Host’. This worker node may contain faster drives for optimal performance. RAID 6 (block-level striping with double distributed parity) is recommended for high-availability environments. Over the years, Solid State Drives (SSDs) have continued to become more reliable. We recommend an enterprise SSD such as the Intel 710 series drives (eMLC/SLC for longer durability).

Question 56

We use IIS, WebLogic as our standard web server but Tableau uses Apache. Can we route traffic through IIS to your web server on a port other than 80?

Answer 56

Apache is part of our deployment and cannot be replaced however we do support embedding of Tableau Server in other web applications. You may choose to embed the Tableau server URL in another portal or site that is using IIS. However, you may not need to. The Tableau web server is completely self-contained, installed and managed by Tableau Server. As such, it is supported along with the Tableau Server software. If you experience any issues or have any questions regarding the web server, Tableau Support will assist you.Apache is the most widely used and trusted web server on the market. Source Netcraft via Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_server)

Question 57

What technologies are used on the client side of Tableau Server?

Answer 57

The client is pure HTML and javascript to support a variety of browsers. No Flash, no Silverlight.We use AJAX/HTML4We use HTML5 touch events in mobile. But typically this is browser supported rather than standard support (i.e., you can have a non html5 browser that supports touch and we’re OK as long as they’ve implemented it in the de facto way or used webkit.)Regarding client network traffic: All communication goes over port 80 (or 443 when using SSL). Technologies such as fiddler which monitor network traffic or tealeaf which records every action taken by a user in the browser can be used to analyze client-side interactions and traffic.

Question 58

Your standard guidelines cover up to 100 users but we will have far more than that. What do you recommend we deploy?

Answer 58

We have a performance guideline whitepaper with our performance benchmarks that will assist in sizing your environment. We typically look at the following factors impacting server sizing. • Number of concurrent users• Data volumes• Percentage of live connections vs. extract engine• Average report/viz complexity, low, medium or highSome of these questions you may not be able to answer upfront, so you may choose to deploy in a virtualized environment where you can easily add capacity as you add users. We also provide standard reports to monitor usage and performance of the server. You may have casual use at first and the need for more hardware as user adoption accelerates. General RAM guidelines are 4 GB RAM per Processor Core. A 16 core machine should have 64GB RAM.

Question 59

I published a data source to data server, and now I want to change a calculation. How might I reflect these changes in Data Server?

Answer 59

In desktop, simply right-click on the data source and select “Create Local Copy”. Once you’ve made your changes, simply right click on the data source, and republish it up to the server. Be sure to use the same name as before, so as to replace your data source.

Question 60

I blended multiple data sources in my workbook. Can I publish the blended data sources to Tableau Data Server?

Answer 60

You cannot publish them as you would publish a traditional data source. This is because data blending defines the blends at the workbook level, and the workbook level cannot be published up to Tableau Data Server. Therefore, instead of publishing your data source to Tableau Data Server, you would need to publish a .twb to Tableau Server, and connect to that instead. Now you can leverage your defined blends.

Question 61

I have data source in SQL server with multiple tables, and I now want to use that data source with Vertica. How might I change the connection to use Vertica?

Answer 61

We cannot change the data connection source. You would create a new data source to Vertica with your tables and joins, and use “Replace Data Source” in your reports to leverage the Vertica connection instead of SQL server.