Set Up OAuth for Dropbox

This topic describes how to set up your Dropbox data sources for OAuth authentication. Complete the steps for each Tableau Server instance.

Setting up OAuth for Dropbox consists of the following tasks:

  1. Create a new app in your Dropbox developer portal App console.
  2. Use the information you get as part of creating the new app to configure your server.
  3. (Optional) Configure site-specific OAuth.

Step 1: Create a new app

  1. Sign in to your Dropbox developer console, and then choose App console.
  2. Click the Create app button.
  3. Configure and name your app and choose the Create app button.
  4. After the app is created, navigate to its Permissions tab and ensure that the files.content.read permission is selected.
  5. Navigate to the Settings tab and add a Redirect URI using the internet address for your Tableau Server.
  6. Add the following text to the end of the URI: auth/add_oauth_token. For example:
  7. https://your_server_url.com/auth/add_oauth_token
  8. Copy the app key, app secret, and redirect URI from the Settings tab.

Step 2: Configure Tableau Server for Dropbox

On the Tableau Server computer, open the bash shell, and run the following tsm commands:

tsm configuration set -k oauth.dropbox.redirect_uri -v <your_authorized_redirect_uri>

tsm configuration set -k oauth.dropbox.client_id -v <your_app_key>

tsm configuration set -k oauth.dropbox.client_secret -v <your_app_secret>

tsm pending-changes apply

If the pending changes require a server restart, the pending-changes apply command displays a prompt to let you know a restart will occur. This prompt displays even if the server is stopped, but in that case there is no restart. You can suppress the prompt using the --ignore-prompt option, but this doesn't change the restart behavior. If the changes dont require a restart, the changes are applied without a prompt. For more information, see tsm pending-changes apply.

Configure custom OAuth for a site

You can configure custom Dropbox OAuth for a site.

Consider configuring a custom OAuth client to 1) override an OAuth client if configured for the server or 2) enable support for securely connecting to data that requires unique OAuth clients.

When a custom OAuth client is configured, the site-level configuration takes precedence over any server-side configuration and all new OAuth credentials created use the site-level OAuth client by default. No Tableau Server restart is required for the configurations to take effect.

Important: Existing OAuth credentials established before the custom OAuth client is configured are temporarily usable but both server administrators and users must update their saved credentials to help ensure uninterrupted data access.

1: Prepare the OAuth client ID, client secret, and redirect URL

Before you can configure the custom OAuth client, you need the information listed below. After you have this information prepared, you can register the custom OAuth client for the site.

  • OAuth client ID and client secret: First register the OAuth client with the data provider (connector) to retrieve the client ID and secret generated for Tableau Server.

  • Redirect URL: Note the correct redirect URL. You will need this during the registration process in Step 2 below.

    https://<your_server_name>.com/auth/add_oauth_token

    For example, https://example.com/auth/add_oauth_token

2: Register the OAuth client ID and client secret

Follow the procedure described below to register the custom OAuth client to the site.

  1. Sign in to your Tableau Server site using your admin credentials and navigate to the Settings page.

  2. Under OAuth Clients Registry, click the Add OAuth Client button.

  3. Enter the required information, including the information from Step 1 above:

    1. For Connection Type, select the connector whose custom OAuth client you want to configure.

    2. OAuth Instance URL is required if multiple OAuth clients are being registered. Otherwise, it is optional.

    3. For Client ID, Client Secret, and Redirect URL, enter the information you prepared in Step 1 above.

    4. Click the Add OAuth Client button to complete the registration process.

  4. (Optional) Repeat step 3 for all supported connectors.

  5. Click the Save button at the bottom or top of the Settings page to save changes.

3: Validate and update saved credentials

To help ensure uninterrupted data access, you (and your site users) must delete the previous saved credentials and add it again to use the custom OAuth client for the site.

  1. Navigate to your My Account Settings page.

  2. Under Saved Credentials for Data Sources, do the following:

    1. Click Delete next to the existing saved credentials for the connector whose custom OAuth client you configured in Step 2 above.

    2. Next to connector name, click Add and follow the prompts to 1) connect to the custom OAuth client configured in Step 2 above and 2) save the latest credentials.

4: Notify users to update their saved credentials

Make sure you notify your site users to update their saved credentials for the connector whose custom OAuth client you configured in Step 2 above. Site users can use the procedure described in Update saved credentials to update their saved credentials.

Forward proxy for OAuth authentication

For more information about setting up a forward proxy with OAuth authentication for Tableau Server (Windows only), see Configure a Forward Proxy for OAuth Authentication(Link opens in a new window) in the Tableau Help.