Install Tableau Server with External PostgreSQL Repository

Applies to: Tableau Advanced Management

This topic describes how to install and configure Tableau Server to use an external service for Tableau Server Repository.

Before you install

Install and Configure Tableau Server

Step 1: Create a configuration file

Create a json file with the following configuration settings:

{
 "flavor":"<flavor name>",
 "masterUsername":"<admin user name>",
 "masterPassword":"<password>", 
 "host":"<instance host name>",
 "port":5432
}

  • flavor: This is the type of external service you are going to use for Tableau Server repository.

    • Amazon RDS: use “rds”
    • Azure Database: use "azure"
    • Google Cloud Database: use "gcp"
    • Stand-alone PostgreSQL database: use "generic"

  • masterUsername:

    • Amazon RDS: Use "rails" for the user name. This is the user that you specified when creating the RDS instance.

      You must use "rails" as the masterUsername. This is required for the external repository to work with Tableau Server properly.

    • Azure Database, Google Cloud PostgreSQL instance, or Standalone PostgreSQL Database: Choose a user name that meets your requirements. We recommend using postgres as the Administrator user name. If you choose to use a different user name, make sure that the user name does not start with pg, or azure. The user name also cannot be rails, tblwgadmin, tableau, readonly, or tbladminviews.

  • masterPassword: This is the same password you specified when creating the PostgreSQL database instance.

  • host: This is the endpoint of your PostgreSQL database instance.

  • port: The database port you specified when creating the PostgreSQL DB instance.

Step 2: Install Tableau Server and Configure the External Repository

Using TSM CLI:

  1. Install TSM: Follow the "Use the TSM CLI" instructions provided in this topic and complete steps 1-5 which runs the setup program and installs TSM.

  2. Activate and Register Tableau Server: Provide the Tableau Server Key and the Advanced Management key in the activate step. You will need to run the following command twice, first with the Tableau Server product key and then with the Advanced Management product key:

    tsm licenses activate -k <product key>

  3. Configure Initial Node Settings: Follow the "Use the TSM CLI" instructions provided in the topic to configure the initial node settings.

    Important! Do not run the Initialize and Start Tableau Server step when you configure the initial node. After completing the other steps in the Configure Initial Node Settings topic, return to this page and follow the rest of the instructions.

  4. Configure Tableau Server to use the external repository by using the following commands:

  • Specify the external repository settings using the json file that you created in the previous step:

    tsm topology external-services repository enable -f <filename>.json -c <ssl certificate file>

    The json file is the file that you created in the first step with the configuration settings.

    Note: The SSL certificate is needed only if you are using encrypted connections between Tableau Server and the External Repository. If this is not a must for you, you must specify the --no-ssl option. In this case, the tsm command would look like this:
    tsm topology external-services repository enable -f <filename>.json --no-ssl

  • Apply the changes:

    tsm pending-changes apply

Step 3: Complete tsm Initialize

To initialize and start Tableau Server:

tsm initialize --start-server --request-timeout 1800

Step 4: Complete the install

Add an Administrator Account and complete the installation.

Who can do this

Tableau Server Administrators can install and configure Tableau Server.

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