Tableau Server (Repository) - Import
Availability-note
AWS
AWS-only features are available at any of the following URLs: us.cloud.talend.com, eu.cloud.talend.com, ap.cloud.talend.com
Bridge Requirements
This bridge:requires Internet access to https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ and/or other tool sites to download drivers into <TDC_HOME>/data/download/MIMB/.
requires the tool to be installed to access its SDK.
Bridge Specifications
| Vendor | Tableau |
| Tool Name | Tableau Server and Cloud |
| Tool Version | 8.x to 2023.x |
| Tool Web Site | https://www.tableau.com/products/server |
| Supported Methodology | [Business Intelligence] Multi-Model, BI Report (Relational Source, Expression Parsing, Report Structure) via REST API |
| Data Profiling |  |
| Incremental Harvesting |  |
| Multi-Model Harvesting | |
| Remote Repository Browsing for Model Selection | |
SPECIFICATIONS
Tool: Tableau / Tableau Server and Cloud version 8.x to 2023.x via REST API
See https://www.tableau.com/products/server
Metadata: [Business Intelligence] Multi-Model, BI Report (Relational Source, Expression Parsing, Report Structure)
Component: TableauServer version 11.2.0
DISCLAIMER
This import bridge requires internet access to download third-party libraries:
- such as https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ to download open source third-party libraries,
- and more sites for other third-party software such as database specific JDBC drivers.
The downloaded third-party libraries are stored into $HOME/data/download/MIMB/
- If HTTPS fails, the import bridge then tries with HTTP.
- If a proxy is used to access internet, you must configure that proxy in the JRE (see the -j option in the Miscellaneous parameter).
- If the import bridge does not have full access to internet, that $HOME/data/download/MIMB/ directory can be copied from another server with internet access where the command $HOME/bin/MIMB.sh (or .bat) -d can be used to download all third-party libraries used by all bridges at once.
By running this import bridge, you hereby acknowledge responsibility for the license terms and any potential security vulnerabilities from these downloaded third-party software libraries.
OVERVIEW
This import bridge imports Business Intelligence (BI) reporting metadata from a Tableau Server.
REQUIREMENTS
This import bridge needs network connectivity to the Tableau server which may require network SSL or proxy setup (see the Server parameter for more details). Therefore, the Tableau server must be accessible with the same setup over a web browser on the machine where the import bridge is running.
The user must have proper permission (see the User parameter for more details).
For Tableau server v.9.2.0 and later the import bridge will use REST API to access metadata.
Its availability is controlled by configuration option 'api.server.enabled'.
For more details see https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/api/rest_api/en-us/REST/rest_api_concepts_auth.htm
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: What level of user privileges is required to successfully import from the Tableau server?
A: Explorer/Interactor role, which can browse and interact with published views.
- Access to both published and unpublished views.
- Identify dependencies between Workbooks and Data Sources.
- Access to download their source XML definition.
In addition, the bridge tries to show the owner names for the objects it imports which requires a higher level of access to the Tableau repository.
LIMITATIONS
Refer to the current general known limitations at MIMB Known Limitations or bundled in Documentation/ReadMe/MIMBKnownLimitations.html
This import bridge does not support login using SAML.
Tableau REST API does not support SSO on Tableau Cloud.
SUPPORT
Provide a troubleshooting package with:
- the debug log (can be set in the UI or in conf/conf.properties with MIR_LOG_LEVEL=6)
- the metadata backup if available (can be set in the Miscellaneous parameter with -backup option, although this common option is not implemented on all bridges for technical reasons).
The troubleshooting purpose a Tableau backup can be automatically generated using the -backup option of the Miscellaneous parameter.
Alternatively, a Tableau server backup (.tsbak) can be manually generated as follows:
1- Open a command prompt as an administrator;
2- Navigate to the directory where the Tableau server has been installed:
'C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Server\[version]\bin' (32-bit)
'C:\Program Files (x86)\Tableau\Tableau Server\[version]\bin' (64-bit)
3- Type the following command:
tabadmin backup tabserv --stop-server -d -t C:\temp\tableau
- 'tabserv' - backup file name;
- 'C:\temp\tableau' - path to the directory to save backup to.
The Tableau server can stay online while making a backup if parameter '--stop-server' is replaced with '--unsafe'.
Bridge Parameters
| Parameter Name | Description | Type | Values | Default | Scope | ||
| Server | The Tableau Server URL (by default http://localhost:80) or IP address (e.g. 192.168.0.2) If SSL is used, the URL must start by https (and possibly end with a custom port if the SSL default port of 443 is not used). |
STRING | http://localhost:80 | Mandatory | |||
| Site Ids | The Tableau Site is only required when connecting to an online Tableau server with multiple sites installed. The value is case sensitive, and must not contain any space as it is used in the URL to connect to Tableau. Multiple site names can be specified using semicolon ';' as a delimiter. Use character star '*' to import all the sites from the server. If more then one site requested then user must have access rights to pull the list of all the sites from the server as well as the rights to import metadata from each individual site. |
REPOSITORY_SUBSET | |||||
| User Name | The Tableau user name used by this bridge. That user must have proper access rights to read all metadata. It is recommended to try as Administrator first (all bridges are warrantied to be ready only and only extract metadata) and possibly on a subset of the metadata. Once successful, a user with only the necessary access rights can be used. User account must be licensed as 'Interactor' (renamed to 'Explorer' in the latest versions) on the Tableau Server and must have 'View' and 'Download' rights for all of the Workbooks, Data Sources and Projects that he/she is about to import. It is however preferable to use an account that has 'Site Administrator' security role. Alternatively personalAccessTokenName can be used instead of the user name if PAT type of the authentication is required. |
STRING | Mandatory | ||||
| Password | The Tableau user password. Alternatively personalAccessTokenSecret can be used instead of the regular password if PAT type of the authentication is required. |
PASSWORD | Mandatory | ||||
| Repository Objects | The subset of repository objects (workbooks, data sources) to import. For any workbooks selected, any dependent data sources will also be included in the import. The bridge can look up an object by path if entered manually. Character 'forward slash' (/) is used as a path delimiter and 'backward slash' (\) as an escape character if an object name contains character '/' in it's name'. |
REPOSITORY_SUBSET | |||||
| Exclude Repository Objects | The subset of repository objects (workbooks, datasources) to be excluded from the import. For any workbooks selected, any dependent data sources will also be excluded from the import. The bridge can look up an object by path if entered manually. Character 'forward slash' (/) is used as a path delimiter and 'backward slash' (\) as an escape character if an object name contains character '/' in it's name'. |
REPOSITORY_SUBSET | |||||
| Published Data Sources | Controls the import and modeling of Tableau Extract (Hyper) Data Sources: 'Import internal' (default) import the Tableau Extract (hyper) Data Sources within the Tableau Server multi-model. 'Import External (Hyper and Extract)' import the Tableau Extract (hyper) Data Sources as external connections to be resolved (stitching) with the actual model importing from the Tableau Server Extract (hyper) Data Store. |
ENUMERATED |
|
Internal | |||
| Tableau Prep Import | Controls whether to import flows from Tableau Server. For more information see https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/prep_web_auth.htm |
BOOLEAN |
|
False | |||
| Multiple threads | Number of worker threads to harvest metadata asynchronously. - Leave the parameter blank to have the import bridge compute the value, between 1 and 6, based on JVM architecture and number of available CPU cores. - Specify a numeric value greater or equal to 1 to provide the actual number of threads. If the value specified is invalid, a warning will be issued and 1 will be used instead. If you experience out of memory conditions when harvesting metadata asynchronously, experiment with smaller numbers. If your machine has a lot of available memory (e.g. 10 GB or more), you can try larger numbers when harvesting many documents at once. Note that setting the number too high can actually decrease the performance due to resource contention. |
NUMERIC | |||||
| Miscellaneous | INTRODUCTION Specify miscellaneous options starting with a dash and optionally followed by parameters, e.g. -connection.cast MyDatabase1="MICROSOFT SQL SERVER" Some options can be used multiple times if applicable, e.g. -connection.rename NewConnection1=OldConnection1 -connection.rename NewConnection2=OldConnection2; As the list of options can become a long string, it is possible to load it from a file which must be located in ${MODEL_BRIDGE_HOME}\data\MIMB\parameters and have the extension .txt. In such case, all options must be defined within that file as the only value of this parameter, e.g. ETL/Miscellaneous.txt JAVA ENVIRONMENT OPTIONS -java.memory <Java Memory's maximum size> (previously -m) 1G by default on 64bits JRE or as set in conf/conf.properties, e.g. -java.memory 8G -java.memory 8000M -java.parameters <Java Runtime Environment command line options> (previously -j) This option must be the last one in the Miscellaneous parameter as all the text after -java.parameters is passed "as is" to the JRE, e.g. -java.parameters -Dname=value -Xms1G The following option must be set when a proxy is used to access internet (this is critical to access https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ and exceptionally a few other tool sites) in order to download the necessary third-party software libraries. Note: The majority of proxies are concerned with encrypting (HTTPS) the outside (of the company) traffic and trust the inside traffic that can access proxy over HTTP. In this case, an HTTPS request reaches the proxy over HTTP where the proxy HTTPS-encrypts it. -java.parameters -java.parameters -Dhttp.proxyHost=127.0.0.1 -Dhttp.proxyPort=3128 -Dhttp.proxyUser=user -Dhttp.proxyPassword=pass MODEL IMPORT OPTIONS -model.name <model name> Override the model name, e.g. -model.name "My Model Name" -prescript <script name> This option allows running a script before the bridge execution. The script must be located in the bin directory (or as specified with M_SCRIPT_PATH in conf/conf.properties), and have .bat or .sh extension. The script path must not include any parent directory symbol (..). The script should return exit code 0 to indicate success, or another value to indicate failure. For example: -prescript "script.bat arg1 arg2" -postscript <script name> This option allows running a script after successful execution of the bridge. The script must be located in the bin directory (or as specified with M_SCRIPT_PATH in conf/conf.properties), and have .bat or .sh extension. The script path must not include any parent directory symbol (..). The script should return exit code 0 to indicate success, or another value to indicate failure. For example: -postscript "script.bat arg1 arg2" -cache.clear Clears the cache before the import, and therefore will run a full import without incremental harvesting. If the model was not changed and the -cache.clear parameter is not used (incremental harvesting), then a new version will not be created. If the model was not changed and the -cache.clear parameter is set (full source import instead of incremental), then a new version will be created. -backup <directory> This option allows to save the bridge input metadata for further troubleshooting. The provided <directory> must be empty. The primary use of this option is for data store import bridges, in particular JDBC based database import bridges. Note that this option is not operational on some bridges including: - File based import bridges (as such input files can be used instead) - DI/BI repository import bridges (as the tool's repository native backup can be used instead) - Some API based import bridges (e.g. COM based) for technical reasons. DATA CONNECTION OPTIONS Data Connections are produced by the import bridges typically from ETL/DI and BI tools to refer to the source and target data stores they use. These data connections are then used by metadata management tools to connect them (metadata stitching) to their actual data stores (e.g. databases, file system, etc.) in order to produce the full end to end data flow lineage and impact analysis. The name of each data connection is unique by import model. The data connection names used within DI/BI design tools are used when possible, otherwise connection names are generated to be short but meaningful such as the database / schema name, the file system path, or Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). The following option allows to manipulate connections. These options replaces the legacy options -c, -cd, and -cs. -connection.cast ConnectionName=ConnectionType Casts a generic database connection (e.g. ODBC/JDBC) to a precise database type (e.g. ORACLE) for SQL Parsing, e.g. -connection.cast "My Database"="MICROSOFT SQL SERVER". The list of supported data store connection types includes: ACCESS APACHE CASSANDRA DB2/UDB DENODO GOOGLE BIGQUERY HIVE MYSQL NETEZZA ORACLE POSTGRESQL PRESTO REDSHIFT SALESFORCE SAP HANA SNOWFLAKE MICROSOFT SQL AZURE MICROSOFT SQL SERVER SYBASE SQL SERVER SYBASE AS ENTERPRISE TERADATA VECTORWISE HP VERTICA -connection.rename OldConnection=NewConnection Renames an existing connection to a new name, e.g. -connection.rename OldConnectionName=NewConnectionName Multiple existing database connections can be renamed and merged into one new database connection, e.g. -connection.rename MySchema1=MyDatabase -connection.rename MySchema2=MyDatabase -connection.split oldConnection.Schema1=newConnection Splits a database connection into one or multiple database connections. A single database connection can be split into one connection per schema, e.g. -connection.split MyDatabase All database connections can be split into one connection per schema, e.g. -connection.split * A database connection can be explicitly split creating a new database connection by appending a schema name to a database, e.g. -connection.split MyDatabase.schema1=MySchema1 -connection.map SourcePath=DestinationPath Maps a source path to destination path. This is useful for file system connections when different paths points to the same object (directory or file). On Hadoop, a process can write into a CSV file specified with the HDFS full path, but another process reads from a Hive table implemented (external) by the same file specified using a relative path with default file name and extension, e.g. -connection.map /user1/folder=hdfs://host:8020/users/user1/folder/file.csv On Linux, a given directory (or file) like /data can be referred to by multiple symbolic links like /users/john and /users/paul, e.g. -connection.map /data=/users/John -connection.map /data=/users/paul On Windows, a given directory like C:\data can be referred to by multiple network drives like M: and N:, e.g. -connection.map C:\data=M:\ -connection.map C:\data=N:\ -connection.casesensitive ConnectionName Overrides the default case insensitive matching rules for the object identifiers inside the specified connection, provided the detected type of the data store by itself supports this configuration (e.g. Microsoft SQL Server, MySql etc.), e.g. -connection.casesensitive "My Database" -connection.level AggregationLevel Specifies the aggregation level for the external connections, e.g.-connection.level catalog The list of the supported values: server catalog schema (default) TABLEAU OPTIONS -dataSource.all (previously -a) Import all data source fields. For inventory purposes allows to import all the data source fields, even those that are not e.g. in the worksheets. It will also import unpublished worksheets. -dataSource.embed Allows to embed connectivity information from the published data source directly into the workbooks. -previewImage (previously -pi) Import the Preview Image for each Tableau object (Worksheet or Dashboard) as a custom attribute Preview storing the PNG image in base64. |
STRING |
Bridge Mapping
| Meta Integration Repository (MIR) Metamodel (based on the OMG CWM standard) |
"Tableau Server (Repository) and Cloud" Metamodel Tableau (Connection) |
Mapping Comments |
| Attribute | Field | |
| Name | Name | |
| Position | Position | |
| Class | Table | |
| Name | Name | |
| DataSet | Stored Procedure Parameters, Stored Procedure Results | |
| Name | Name | |
| DatabaseSchema | Schema | |
| Name | Name | |
| FileDirectory | Directory | |
| Name | Name | |
| FlatTextFile | File | |
| Name | Name | |
| StoreModel | Connection | |
| Name | Name | |
| StoreType | Store Type | |
| SystemType | System Type | |
| StoredProcedure | Stored Procedure | |
| Name | Name | |
| PhysicalName | Physical Name |
| Meta Integration Repository (MIR) Metamodel (based on the OMG CWM standard) |
"Tableau Server (Repository) and Cloud" Metamodel Tableau (Datasource) |
Mapping Comments |
| Attribute | Field | |
| Name | Name | |
| Position | Position | |
| Stereotype | Stereotype | |
| Class | Table | |
| Name | Name | |
| PhysicalName | Physical Name | |
| Condition | Condition, Data Source Filter | |
| Name | Name | |
| ConnectionClassifier | Proxy Table | |
| Name | Name | |
| NativeType | Type | |
| ConnectionFeature | Proxy Field | |
| ExternalId | External Id | |
| Name | Name | |
| ConnectionNamespace | Project, External Data Source, Directory | |
| Name | Name | |
| NativeId | GUID | |
| ConnectionPackage | Namespace | |
| Name | Name | |
| DataAttribute | Calculation Measure, Group, Pivot Field, Set, Bin, Temporary Field, Dimension, Parameter Dimension, Hierarchy Field, Union Field, Calculation Dimension, Measure, Parameter Measure, Data Field | |
| Description | Comment | |
| Name | Name | |
| NativeId | Native Id | |
| PhysicalName | Physical Name | |
| Position | Position | |
| DataSet | Stored Procedure Parameters, Hierarchy, Temporary Table, Parameters, Query, Dimension Table, Fact Table, Pivot, Union, Stored Procedure Results | |
| Name | Name | |
| PhysicalName | Physical Name | |
| DatabaseSchema | Extract | |
| Name | Name | |
| DesignPackage | Data Source, Data Source Joins, Session | |
| Name | Name | |
| PhysicalName | Physical Name | |
| FlatTextFile | File | |
| Name | Name | |
| Join | Join | |
| PhysicalName | Name | |
| Type | Type | |
| StoreConnection | Connection | |
| Comment | Comment | |
| Connection | Connection | |
| Name | Name | |
| SystemType | System Type | |
| StoreModel | Tableau Data Source | |
| Author | Owner | |
| Comment | URL | |
| Description | Description | |
| Name | Name | |
| StoredProcedure | Stored Procedure | |
| Name | Name | |
| PhysicalName | Physical Name |
| Meta Integration Repository (MIR) Metamodel (based on the OMG CWM standard) |
"Tableau Server (Repository) and Cloud" Metamodel Tableau (TableauDirectory) |
Mapping Comments |
| DiRuntimeContent | Flow | |
| Author | Owner | |
| Description | Description | |
| LastModificationTime | Modified | |
| Name | Name | |
| DirectoryStructureModel | Tableau Server | |
| Name | Name | |
| SystemType | System Type | |
| Folder | Site, Project | |
| Author | Owner | |
| Description | Description | |
| LastModificationTime | Modified | |
| Name | Name | |
| NativeId | GUID | |
| StoreContent | Data Source, Data Source With Extract, Connection, Internal Store, Workbook | |
| Author | Owner | |
| Description | Description | |
| LastModificationTime | Modified | |
| Name | Name | |
| NativeId | URL |
| Meta Integration Repository (MIR) Metamodel (based on the OMG CWM standard) |
"Tableau Server (Repository) and Cloud" Metamodel Tableau (Tableau Browse) |
Mapping Comments |
| DirectoryStructureModel | Tableau Server | |
| ImportDate | Import Date | |
| Name | Name | |
| Folder | Site, Project, Publisher | |
| Name | Name | |
| NativeId | Native Id | |
| StoreContent | Data Source, Data Source With Extract, Workbook, Flow | |
| Name | Name | |
| NativeId | Native Id |
| Meta Integration Repository (MIR) Metamodel (based on the OMG CWM standard) |
"Tableau Server (Repository) and Cloud" Metamodel Tableau (Workbook) |
Mapping Comments |
| Attribute | Field | |
| Name | Name | |
| Position | Position | |
| Stereotype | Stereotype | |
| Class | Table | |
| Name | Name | |
| PhysicalName | Physical Name | |
| Condition | Condition, Data Source Filter | |
| Name | Name | |
| ConnectionClassifier | Proxy Table | |
| Name | Name | |
| NativeType | Type | |
| ConnectionFeature | Proxy Field | |
| ExternalId | External Id | |
| Name | Name | |
| ConnectionNamespace | Project, External Data Source, Directory | |
| Name | Name | |
| NativeId | GUID | |
| ConnectionPackage | Namespace | |
| Name | Name | |
| DataAttribute | Calculation Measure, Group, Pivot Field, Set, Bin, Temporary Field, Dimension, Parameter Dimension, Hierarchy Field, Union Field, Calculation Dimension, Measure, Parameter Measure, Data Field | |
| Description | Comment | |
| Name | Name | |
| NativeId | Native Id | |
| PhysicalName | Physical Name | |
| Position | Position | |
| DataSet | Stored Procedure Parameters, Hierarchy, Temporary Table, Parameters, Query, Dimension Table, Fact Table, Pivot, Union, Stored Procedure Results | |
| Name | Name | |
| PhysicalName | Physical Name | |
| DatabaseSchema | Extract | |
| Name | Name | |
| DesignPackage | Data Source, Data Source Joins, Published Data Source, Session | |
| Name | Name | |
| PhysicalName | Physical Name | |
| Filter | Filter, Shared Filter | |
| FlatTextFile | File | |
| Name | Name | |
| Join | Relationship, Join | |
| PhysicalName | Name | |
| Type | Type | |
| ReportField | Column, Mark, Page, Row | |
| Comment | Aggregation | |
| Name | Name | |
| ReportPage | Unpublished Worksheet, Worksheet, Dashboard, Story | |
| Comment | URL | |
| Name | Name | |
| PhysicalName | Physical Name | |
| StoreConnection | Connection | |
| Comment | Comment | |
| Connection | Connection | |
| Name | Name | |
| SystemType | System Type | |
| StoreModel | Tableau Data Source, Workbook | |
| Author | Owner | |
| Comment | URL | |
| Description | Description | |
| ModificationTime | Modified | |
| Name | Name | |
| StoreType | Store Type | |
| StoredProcedure | Stored Procedure | |
| Name | Name | |
| PhysicalName | Physical Name |