tsm Command Line Reference

The topics in this section include reference content for Tableau Services Manager (TSM) command line interface (CLI) to support Tableau Server.

TSM is used to manage installation and configuration of Tableau Server. To learn more about TSM, see Tableau Services Manager Overview.

You can automate the installation and configuration tasks supported by the TSM CLI using the TSM API. To learn more about the prerelease (Alpha) TSM API, see Tableau Services Manager API.

Looking for tsm commands for Tableau Server on Windows? See tsm Commands(Link opens in a new window).

Using the tsm CLI

You can run tsm commands on the initial node (the node where TSM is installed), or on any additional node in the cluster.

To run tsm commands, you need to open a command prompt.

Open a command prompt with an account that is a member of the tsmadmin group on a node in the cluster.
Run the command you want. If you are running the command from a node other than the initial node, include the -s option to specify the URL of the initial node by name (not IP address), and include the TSM port, 8850.
To see the version of TSM and Tableau Server from the initial node:
tsm version
To see the version of TSM and Tableau Server from an additional node:
tsm version -s https://<inital_node_name>:8850
For example:
tsm version -s https://myTableauHost:8850

Authenticating with tsm CLI

Beginning in the 2019.2 release of Tableau Server, running tsm commands will not require you to enter a password if the following are true:

The account you are running commands with is a member of the TSM-authorised group, by default, the tsmadmin group. The Tableau unprivileged user (by default, the tableau user) and root account may also run TSM commands.
You are running commands locally on the Tableau Server that is running the Tableau Server Administration Controller service. By default, the Tableau Server Administration Controller service is installed and configured on the initial node in a distributed deployment.

Logging into tsm CLI locally

If you are running tsm commands on the local computer with user account that is a member of a TSM-authorised group, then you will not need to specify a password. In this case, just run the command, for example:

tsm version

Logging into tsm CLI remotely

If you are running TSM commands from a node in a cluster where the Tableau Server Administration Controller service is not running, then you must authenticate a session with the Tableau Server Administration Controller service on the remote computer before you can run commands. For example, run the following command:

tsm login -s <server_name> -u <account_name>

Where <server_name> is the name of the node where the Tableau Server Administration Controller service is running and <account_name> is an account that is a member of a TSM-authorised group.

After running this command, you will be prompted for a password. After the account has been authenticated, you can run TSM commands.

As a security best practice, do not expose the TSM port (by default, 8850) to the internet.

Viewing and adding accounts to the TSM-authorised group

The TSM-authorised group is created during server installation. By default, the TSM-authorised group that is named tsmadmin. If you created an alternative TSM-authorised group during installation, then substitute your group name for tsmadmin in the following code examples.

To view the user accounts in the tsmadmin group, run the following command:

grep tsmadmin /etc/group

To add a user account to the tsmadmin group:

sudo usermod -G tsmadmin -a <username>

Scripting and automating with tsm CLI

To run automation on a Tableau Server without a password in the script file, run the script on the initial node and with an account in the proper TSM-authorised group. See the "Authenticating" section above for more details.

Viewing help content in the shell

To view minimal help content from a command line, use the tsm help category.

Synopsis

tsm help [category] [command]

Commands

tsm help: Help for all tsm commands
tsm help <category>: Show help for a specific command category. For example, tsm help authentication.
tsm help <category> <command>: Show help for a specific command. For example, tsm help authentication open-id.
tsm help commands: List all top-level commands or categories.

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