Tableau Server on Linux Help

Machine, Network, and Account Requirements

Note: Resource Monitoring Tool (RMT) server and agent are not Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 compliant, and will not function properly on operating systems running with FIPS mode enabled.

Complete the following prerequisites before installing the Tableau Resource Monitoring Tool.

1. Make sure you have administrative privileges for all computers that will run the Resource Monitoring Tool. This includes the computer running the RMT Server, and all the Tableau Server nodes in the installation you will be monitoring with Resource Monitoring Tool.

2. Open port 5672 to inbound TCP traffic on the computer running the RMT Server

   The Resource Monitoring Tool Agent application sends the data that it collects through port 5672, so the machine where the RMT Server is installed will need to allow inbound TCP traffic on that port.

3. Open the following ports:

   • Open port 80 to inbound TCP traffic on the computer running the RMT Server

     This is the port on which the RMT Server will host the web interface. Note that we can change the port number during installation if there is a 3rd party service already using it. To make the web interface accessible from outside the RMT Server, this port will need to be opened.

   • Open port 443 to inbound TCP traffic on the computer running the Resource Monitoring Tool RMT Server.

     This is the port on which connections come from the Agent when testing the connection to the RMT Server.

   • Open port 5672 and 5671 (TLS connections) to outbound TCP traffic on all Agent nodes.

     The Agent application sends the data that it collects to the RMT Server using this port.

   • Open port 80 to outbound TCP traffic on all Agent computers.

     Periodically, the Agent will make requests to the RMT Server web interface.

   • Open port 443 to outbound TCP traffic on all Agent computers.

     This is the port on which the Agent tests its connection to the RMT Server.

   For more information on ports and communications, see Tableau Resource Monitoring Tool Communication Ports.

4. Verify that all Agent computers can contact the RMT Server.

   The web interface hosted by the RMT Server is bound to a specific hostname or IP address during the setup process. It will only answer requests sent to that specific hostname. For example, if the RMT Server is configured to be hosted at http://RMTServer/ but the Agents can only contact the RMT Server through http://myrmtserver.myserver.com/ then the requests will not go through.

5. Gather credentials for a Tableau Server Administrator account.

   Resource Monitoring Tool will use the Tableau Server web API to collect information about the content, so it will need credentials for a user that is a Tableau server administrator and can access all sites, projects, etc. We recommend creating one dedicated to Resource Monitoring Tool, but it can be any user that is a Tableau Server administrator.

6. Enable access to the Tableau Server repository database. This is required starting in version 2022.3.

   Resource Monitoring Tool accesses the repository database directly for performance reasons. For this to work, access to the repository must be enabled, with a password set for the "readonly" database user. For details, see Enable access to the Tableau Server repository.

7. If you want to use SSL connections between Resource Monitoring Tool and Tableau Server Repository, make sure Tableau Server is configured to use SSL for internal Postgres connections. For more information, see Configure SSL for Internal Postgres Communication.

   The Resource Monitoring Tool allows you to use either the certificate file (server.crt) or thumbprint for the SSL connections. The certificate file for the Postgres database is installed to:

   /var/opt/tableau/tableau_server/data/tabsvc/config/pgsql_<version>/security

   If you plan to use the certificate file (server.crt), copy the certificate file generated by Tableau Server for internal Postgres SSL connections, to the machine where you plan to install the RMT Server. Make sure that the Operating System trusts the certificate.

8. Confirm that the REST API is enabled on Tableau Server (this is the default). Use the tsm configuration get -k api.server.enabled command to do this. A return value of true means the REST API is enabled. To enable the REST API, use the tsm configuration set command. For more information, see api.server.enabled.

9. Review the size of Tableau Server logs. Once Agent Server is installed and configured, the Resource Monitoring Tool processes relevant historical data from Tableau Server logs before data is displayed. If there is a large amount of historical log data, it may take a while to process the information. This might result in a delay of processing newer events on the Server.

   If you are concerned about the delay, and not having historical information does not concern you, you can do the following to clean up the existing files:

   • Remove Unneeded Files, and consider Log File Snapshots (Archive Logs) before you remove log files.

   Note: Performance data like CPU usage and memory usage are not gathered using historical log data and are collected after Agent is installed and configured so cleaning up historical data does not affect performance data.

10. (optional) Gather connection information for a SMTP server that the RMT Server can access.

    If you want email notifications, you need to provide the RMT Server with the server name, username and password (if any), and port number for a SMTP Server that it can use to send the email, and the TLS version. Currently, TSL version 1.2 is required, but TLS version 1.3 is also supported. If you want to use TLS version 1.3, make sure you have Open SSL 1.1.1f or greater on the machine where RMT Server will be installed. For more information, see Email notifications

Who can do this

To do all the steps described above you need be an admin on the machine that you are installing Resource Monitoring Tool, and be a Tableau Server Administrator.