Tableau Blueprint Help

As part of defining your organization's Analytics Strategy, the cross-functional project team established the guiding principles for upgrades with the Tableau Upgrade Planning and Process Checklist The initial decisions about upgrade frequency, version selection, and version compatibility define when and how upgrades are performed. When these areas are addressed early, administrators can better manage users' expectations, rather than having to react to business demands for new features and functionality. In addition, the communications, education, and support plans should be created by the project team in preparation of the software upgrade process outlined in this topic.

Version Compatibility

Tableau Server, Tableau Cloud, Tableau Desktop, and Tableau Prep Builder are updated regularly. Releases may introduce new features that can have architectural changes to the platform. Due to these changes, upgrades require comprehensive testing in your test environment to mitigate post-upgrade issues. For each upgrade, you should evaluate version compatibility by reviewing the links below:

• Version Compatibility Between Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server
• Workbook Version Compatibility
• Version Compatibility with Tableau Prep
• Version Compatibility with Tableau Cloud

Communicating the Upgrade

To notify users of the pending upgrade, Tableau Server administrators should use Tableau Server a sign in message and/or a welcome banner message to help communicate the downtime window. The sign in message is found in Server Settings > General as shown below:

The welcome banner is found in Server Settings > Customization as shown below:

Because Tableau Cloud is a fully-hosted solution, Tableau maintains it. The maintenance window for Tableau Cloud is communicated in advance through a pop-up message after sign in, as shown below:

Software Upgrade Process

For Tableau Server, the software upgrade process will be performed by the Systems Administrator and Tableau Server Administrator roles, who will upgrade the server environments beginning with the test environment. Once validated in the test environment, they will schedule the production environment upgrade and, if applicable, the disaster recovery environment upgrade. The Resource Monitoring Tool master server and agents should also be upgraded too, if deployed.

The Desktop Administrator and Mobile Administrator roles will be responsible for packaging and updating Tableau Desktop, Tableau Prep Builder, and Tableau Mobile, which apply to both Tableau Server and Tableau Cloud deployments. Review and upgrade other applications based on your installations, such as tabcmd, Tableau Bridge for Tableau Cloud, and the Content Migration Tool.

For every upgrade, you should evaluate the following areas:

• Understand how Tableau is used: how an upgrade may affect existing use cases and enable new use cases.

• Assess the current deployment using monitoring and measurement data: topology, content, users.

• Compare with future state: sources of data, configuration changes, capacity vs. planned user onboarding schedule.

• Inventory existing software versions: client machines, drivers, mobile devices.

• Identify programmatic dependencies:  embedded analytics, API-related, multi-instance deployments, client software versions and compatibility.

• Schedule a retrospective to understand what worked and what didn’t, including identifying opportunities for improvement.

 

Before you upgrade Tableau Server (Windows| Linux), you should review and complete the Upgrade Process Checklist below. It is included in the Tableau Blueprint Planner, so that it can be customized for your requirements. Tableau Cloud customers should complete the first two tasks in Research the Upgrade, then skip to the tasks labeled Perform the Client Upgrades. Additional input from the Enterprise Architect, Database Administrator, Security Administrator, and Network Administrator roles may be needed if changes are required in their corresponding area of expertise.

 

Note: Specific tasks related to pre-TSM to TSM version upgrades are designated with an asterisk in the tables below.

Research the Upgrade	Yes	No	N/A
Review Release Notes: Tableau Server | Tableau Cloud
What's New and Changed in Tableau Server | What's New in Tableau Cloud
Upgrade from Tableau Server 2018.1 or earlier to TSMLinux | Windows | Tableau Community Forum Post
Comparing Functionality of tabadmin to TSM*
Validate sufficient capacity to support workload
Install on existing hardware
Migrate to New Hardware
Desktop and Server Compatibility

 

Prepare for the Server Upgrade	Yes	No	N/A
Review and validate documented settings in Tableau Server Architecture & Configuration Design Document
Customizations
SMTP configuration
SSL configuration and certificates
SAML configuration, certificates, and IdP metadata files
Kerberos configuration
OpenID configuration
Addition node(s) configuration
Quantify projects, workbooks, views, data sources
Quantify users and groups
Download setup files for the new Tableau Server version
Back up Tableau Server data
Check your product maintenance status

 

Test the Server Upgrade	Yes	No	N/A
Prepare a test environment
Upgrade the test environment
Confirm Tableau Server functionality
Server processes
User access
Publishing workbooks and data sources
View published workbooks
Subscriptions and extract refreshes
Permissions
Command-line utilities and APIs
Performance and user acceptance testing
Performance Resources
Test Workbook Performance
Test new features
Communicate the planned upgrade window

 

Note: Specific tasks related to pre-TSM to TSM version upgrades are designated with an asterisk in the tables below.

Perform the Server Upgrade	Yes	No	N/A
Communicate the pending upgrade
Disable subscriptions and scheduling
Create a pre-upgrade backup of Tableau Server data. Reference Back up Tableau Server data for assistance.
Uninstall existing pre-TSM version of Tableau Server and save tsbak file to another location*
Upgrade Tableau Server
Install initial node
Install other nodes in cluster
Run the upgrade script to complete the installation
Login to TSM and start Tableau Server
Restore gathered files*
Validate the upgrade
Verify status of Tableau Server processes
Verify Tableau Server settings
Enable subscriptions and scheduling
Modify Tableau Server processes (if needed)
Review User access
Verify publishing workbooks and data sources
View published workbooks
Review Permissions
Verify Command-line utilities and APIs
Login to Tableau Server
Verify count of projects, workbooks, views, data sources
Verify count of users and groups
Verify database connectivity
Execute backup script
Upgrade Resource Monitoring Tool master server and agents
Communicate the successful upgrade

 

Perform the Client Upgrades	Yes	No	N/A
Communicate the client software to be upgraded (Tableau Desktop, Tableau Prep Builder, tabcmd, Content Migration Tool, Tableau Mobile, Tableau Bridge)
Upgrade Tableau Desktop and Tableau Prep Builder
Upgrade tabcmd
Upgrade Content Migration Tool
Upgrade Tableau Mobile (auto update, publish to MDM)
Upgrade Tableau Bridge (for Tableau Cloud)