Tableau Server on Windows Help

When Tableau Server cannot complete a scheduled refresh, an alert appears to indicate that the refresh has failed. If a scheduled refresh fails five consecutive times, Tableau Server suspends the refresh. When a refresh is suspended, Tableau Server does not try to run it again until someone takes an action that attempts to correct the cause of the failure.

Note: The number of consecutive failures for a refresh is set to five by default, but can be changed by a Tableau Server administrator, using the backgrounder.failure_threshold_for_run_prevention opti0n. For more information, see tsm configuration set Options.

You will see the Alerts menu only if an extract refresh failed and you are:

• A system or site administrator

• The author of the workbook or data source that couldn’t be refreshed

• The author of a workbook that connects to a data source that couldn’t be refreshed

When you open the Alerts menu you can see more information about the refresh failure(s):

When a Data source is listed as Embedded it means that the data source definition (which includes things like the data source credentials or the database name) is embedded, or resides, within the workbook itself, originally created in Tableau Desktop.

When a data source name or workbook name is listed as the Data source (for example, Data source: sales_data), it means that the data source is a Tableau Server data source. The data source definition resides on Tableau Server.

In the Data pane on Tableau Desktop, you can determine whether the data source is on Tableau Server or is local. If the data source is on the server, a Tableau icon is displayed next to the data source name instead of a database icon :

Resolving Extract Refresh Problems

To resolve refresh issues, you can take any of these actions, based on the cause indicated in the alert:

• Errors related to access token validation or user credentials

  You can resolve some extract refresh problems by clicking the Connection Details in the alert. Select the check box next to the problematic data source, click Actions > Edit Connection, and then enter the missing information. Click Save when you're done. After you update the connection information, Tableau Server restarts the refresh schedule.

  If you originally embedded the credentials or other data connection information when you published the workbook or data source from Tableau Desktop, you can also republish the workbook or data source. As part of the publishing process, you can choose to set a new refresh schedule. If you don't choose a new schedule, Tableau Server restarts the existing schedule.

• Errors that indicate the database was unreachable

  Confirm that the database is online and that you can sign in to access the data. You can use the Try again link in the alert to restart the refresh schedule.

• Errors when using user filters or impersonation

  See the Tableau Knowledge Base(Link opens in a new window).

If the problem cannot be corrected by editing the data connection, you will need to resolve it in Tableau Desktop and republish the workbook.

Tip: Administrators can edit data connections at any time on the Data Connections page, accessible from each site by clicking the Content tab and Data Connections