Tableau Server Independent Gateway
This topic provides an overview of Tableau Server Independent Gateway.
Independent Gateway is a reverse proxy server and load balancer based on Apache HTTPD. It uses the same Apache HTTPD version as the Tableau Server Gateway process internal to Tableau Server cluster, but it is suitable for deployment in a network DMZ. Because Independent Gateway is a part of Tableau Server, it is managed by TSM and does not need separate configuration.
Its configuration has full knowledge of the topology of externally accessible Tableau Server components and is updated when the cluster topology changes. After a simple Independent Gateway installation process, configuration choices are made centrally using Tableau Services Manager (TSM) configuration items.
With this feature, Tableau Server can now be configured in two ways:
- Install Tableau Server in a self-contained installation. Any reverse proxy needs to be installed and managed separately.
- Install Tableau Server and install Independent Gateway as a reverse proxy that is managed by Tableau Server (version 2022.1 and later).
Why use Independent Gateway?
Using Independent Gateway has the following benefits over installing a separate reverse proxy:
- Fully supported: The Independent Gateway is part of a Tableau Server installation and is fully supported by Tableau.
- Tableau Server aware: When you use a separate reverse proxy, it needs to be updated when the topology of Tableau Server changes. Independent Gateway is fully aware of all externally-callable Tableau Server components and is updated when these change.
Managing Independent Gateway
Licence Management
To use Independent Gateway, you must have Advanced Management capabilities in Tableau Server. There is no licensing done on the Independent Gateway node. For more information, see About Tableau Advanced Management on Tableau Server. If you don’t have an Advanced Management key activated or if the licence has expired, you will see the following behaviour:
- If you try to configure Tableau Server with Independent Gateway, it will fail.
- If you are already using Independent Gateway and the Advanced Management licence expires, the server will fail on restart.
Backup and Restore
There is no impact to backup or restore with Independent Gateway. A backup or restore of Tableau Server will not include any information or configuration for Independent Gateway. If you use the backup to create a new installation of Tableau, you will need to separately install, configure and enable Independent Gateway for the new Tableau Server installation.
High Availability Considerations
You can install multiple instances of Independent Gateway to provide robust high availability in your reverse proxy. You might also want to increase the number of Independent Gateway nodes if you have large numbers of client sessions accessing Tableau.
Topology
When you configure Tableau Server with Independent Gateway, you no longer need to set up and configure a separate reverse proxy. Independent Gateway will appear on the TSM status page as an external service.
Note: The status page and the status output on the CLI will only show a single instance of Independent Gateway, even if you have installed multiple Independent Gateway nodes.