Pivotal Greenplum Database

Applies to: Tableau Desktop, Tableau Prep, Tableau Server

This article describes how to connect Tableau to a Pivotal Greenplum Database and set up the data source.

Before you begin

Before you begin, gather this connection information:

  • Name of the server that hosts the database you want to connect to
  • Database name
  • Username and password
  • (Optional) Initial SQL statement to run every time Tableau connects

Driver required

This connector requires a driver to talk to the database. If the driver is not installed on your computer, Tableau displays a message in the connection dialog box with a link to the Driver Download(Link opens in a new window) page where you can find driver links and installation instructions.

Make the connection and set up the data source

  1. Start Tableau and under Connect, select Pivotal Greenplum Database. For a complete list of data connections, select More under To a Server. Then do the following:

    1. Enter the name of the server that hosts the database and the name of the database you want to connect to.
    2. Enter the username and password.
    3. (Optional) Select Initial SQL to specify a SQL command to run at the beginning of every connection, such as when you open the workbook, refresh an extract, sign in to Tableau Server or publish to Tableau Server. For more information, see Run Initial SQL.
    4. Select Sign In.

      5. If Tableau can't make the connection, verify that your credentials are correct. If you still can't connect, your computer is having trouble locating the server. Contact your network administrator or database administrator for more assistance.

  2. On the data source page, do the following:

    1. (Optional) Select the default data source name at the top of the page, and then enter a unique data source name for use in Tableau. For example, use a data source naming convention that helps other users of the data source figure out which data source to connect to.

    2. Select and drag a table to the canvas, and then select the sheet tab to start your analysis.

      Use custom SQL to connect to a specific query rather than the entire data source. For more information, see Connect to a Custom SQL Query.

Support for spatial columns

Starting with Tableau version 2019.2, you can connect to spatial columns. For more information, see Connect to Spatial Data in a Database.

For Pivotal Greenplum Databases with spatial columns, we recommend that you use the PostgreSQL driver that is installed on Windows by default with Tableau Desktop. (Tableau already uses the PostgreSQL driver on macOS.) To use the PostgreSQL driver, you must uninstall the Pivotal Greenplum Database driver on your Windows computer, if it's installed.

Sign in on a Mac

If you use Tableau Desktop on a Mac, when you enter the server name to connect, use a fully qualified domain name, such as mydb.test.ourdomain.lan, instead of a relative domain name, such as mydb or mydb.test.

Alternatively, you can add the domain to the list of Search Domains for the Mac computer so that when you connect, you need to provide only the server name. To update the list of Search Domains, go to System Preferences > Network > Advanced, and then open the DNS tab.

 

See also

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