Implementing Tableau Server in an

Enterprise Environment
Andrew Beers and Jeff Solomon
Tableau Software
All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

From workgroup
In the beginning: a product for workgroups:
Collaboration aid for teams working with data
Easy publish + share workflow
Ease of deployment
Something a business user can maintain

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

to enterprise
Enterprise-class features added:
Integration and automation
Scalability
Managing data
Scheduling
Analysis / monitoring

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Related talks
Understanding and Improving Server Performance (Thu 9:45am)
Making Any Data Fast: Tips, Tricks & Extracts (Wed 3:15pm)
Extracts: Fast Data to Go (Thu 11:00am)

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Tableau Server Primer

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Tableau Server Primer

Publish a Tableau Workbook

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Tableau Server Primer

to a Tableau Server instance for Sharing.

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Tableau Server Primer

Web-based interaction with Tableau views.

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Tableau Server Primer

Collaborate through discussions, tags, and customizations.

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Tableau Server Primer

Control access and interactive capabilities

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Integration and Automation

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Authentication
Local authentication
Easiest manage users, passwords, groups in Server
No integration
We can automate management of this somewhat
Active Directory
Simple configuration
Browser auto-login

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Multiple domain support

Large organizations may have multiple AD domains:

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Multi-domain support

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Multi-domain support

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Multi-domain support

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Embedding into other applications

Easy to place a Tableau view into other web applications
SharePoint web part
Easy HTML code to embed elsewhere:
<iframe src=http://server/views/Analysis/MyDashboard?:embed=y
width=400 height=600>
</iframe>

Embedding flexibility:
AD or non-AD-based authentication
Dynamic filtering of embedded view
Linking to other web applications

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Automation
New command-line tool: tabcmd.exe
Allows scripting of common administrative tasks:
- User/group management
- Publishing workbooks
- Retrieving information from the server

Applications:
- Bulk loading users or modifying groups
- Moving workbooks between servers
- Nightly image delivery

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Demo
Creating new users
Adding users to a group
Publishing a workbook
Getting a view as an image

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Demo: tabcmd
Deliver the downloaded image by email:

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Takeaways
Active Directory integration
- Easy configuration, best experience across enterprise
- Easy multiple domain for large organizations with two-way trusts
- Auto-login, embedding a snap

- Automation with tabcmd

- User maintenance
- Reporting?

- Embedding and linking

- Simple iframe-based embedded for your web applications
- Control the view via filtering, link to other apps

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Security
All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Permissions

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Demo
Defaults for permissions

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

SSL

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Takeaways
Use permissions to craft who can do / see what
- Secure sensitive underlying data from prying eyes
- Prevent workbook downloads for those who dont need it

Use projects to segment workbooks & set defaults

- One set of permissions / project is easiest to manage
- SSL supported if you are really concerned with privacy
- Even without SSL, passwords always encrypted

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Scalability
All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Server 4.x: Single-machine Architecture

Tableau Server 4.x was composed of a set of services on a single
machine
Tableau Server
Data
Sources
HTTP Server

Tableau
Professio
nal

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Web
Web
VizQL
App
App
Server

Web
Web
Web
App
App
App

Search
Repository

Server 5.0: Distributed architecture

From this in version 4

Web Browser

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Tableau Server

To this in version 5
Web Browser

Tableau Server

Easy configuration

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Easy configuration

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Easy configuration

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Takeaways
Server 5.0 can scale to multiple machines
- Easy to add and remove machines to the cluster
- Out-of-the box
For more information:
Understanding and Improving Server Performance
(Thu 9:45am)

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Managing data
All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Sharing data models

Tableau Server can act as a data source repository for desktop
users
Admin: publish data sources
Users: download data sources and build then publish
workbooks with them
Any changes to the data source is reflected automatically in
dependent workbooks if the user so chooses
Demo

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Managing credentials
Remember passwords for each user, self-service
Author publishes passwords keeps DB passwords secret from
users put provides access via Tableau views
Credentials are stored and transmitted encrypted
See Settings section on Server Maintenance page

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Managing connections
Updating published credentials in bulk (plus other properties of
data sources)

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Extracts review
Why publish with extracts?
Can be faster
Can take load off database servers
However
Data is no longer live
Can be expensive to update

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Extract storage engines

By default, extract storage is off (4.x behavior)
Less memory & faster than Tableau 4.x extracts
Built-in vs. external
Built-in is completely black box for users
External can be dedicated hardware Web Browser
1. PostgresSQL
2. MySQL
3. Microsoft SQL Server
Refreshable

Tableau Server

Published
extract
files are
expanded

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

into a shared

Configuring extract storage engines

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Scheduled updates to extracts

Admin-defined schedules
Centralized scheduling
Admin knows when it is best to load DB servers
Old data available during extracts when done, immediately
available
Downloaded workbooks have refreshed data
Demo

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Analysis and Monitoring

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Built-in monitoring
Analysis views from the Maintenance page
Demo

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

DIY monitoring
You can build your own analysis views
Nominally at:
DB type:
PostgresSQL
Host:
localhost:8060
Database: workgroup
Username: tableau
Password: set with tabadmin dbpass <password>
Only permission to access relations starting with _
Demo

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Summary takeaways
Integration, automation, security

Active Directory for cross-enterprise authentication

tabcmd tool for user management automation
Embed views into other web applications
Permissions on projects for defaults
Use SSL for heightened security

Scalable to multiple servers

Managing data
Publish data sources to establish common data models
External extract storage for performance
Schedule refreshes of extracted data

Build you own monitoring views

All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.

Thanks!
All rights reserved. 2009 Tableau Software Inc.