Self-Deploy a Single Tableau Server on the Alibaba Cloud


This is archived content

Deployments on public clouds continue to be supported but the content for third-party public cloud deployments is no longer updated.

For the latest Tableau Server deployment content, see the Enterprise Deployment Guide(Link opens in a new window) and the Deploy(Link opens in a new window) section of Tableau Server help.

For those customers who have access, we recommend Tableau Cloud. For more details, see:

Introduction

You can install and run Tableau Server on an Alibaba Cloud Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance. Perform the following tasks to install and configure Tableau Server on an ECS instance.

Step 1: Set up a VPC

Create a virtual private cloud (VPC) where you'll launch your ECS instance and install Tableau Server. You'll also create a virtual switch (VSwitch), which facilitates communications between your ECS instances.

  1. Sign in to the Alibaba Cloud Console(Link opens in a new window) (https://account.alibabacloud.com/login/login.htm).

  2. On the Alibaba Cloud dashboard, under Networking, click Virtual Private Cloud.

  3. From the region drop-down list, select the region where you want to create resources.

  4. In the VPC console, click Create VPC.

  5. On the Create VPC page, specify the following:

    1. Name: Enter a name (up to 128 characters) for your VPC.

    2. IPv4 CIDR Block: Choose a private IPv4 CIDR range.

      Note: The IPv4 CIDR block cannot be changed after the VPC is created.

    3. Description: Enter a description (up to 256 characters) to describe your VPC.

  6. Under VSwitch, specify the following:

    1. Name: Enter a name (up to 128 characters) for the virtual switch (VSwitch).

    2. Zone: Select an availability zone.

    3. IPv4 CIDR Block Choose a private IPV4 CIDR range.

    4. Description: Enter a description (up to 256 characters) to describe your VSwitch.

  7. When you're finished, review your selections, and then click OK.

Step 2: Create a Security Group

Create a security group for use with your ECS instance. The security group is a virtual firewall that allows or denies access from the internet to your ECS instance.

  1. On the Alibaba Cloud dashboard, under Products & Services, click Elastic Compute Service.

  2. On the Elastic Compute Service page, under Network & Security, click Security Groups.

  3. On the Security Groups page, click Create Security Group.

  4. On the Create Security Group page, specify the following:

    1. Template: Choose Web Server Windows.

    2. Security Group Name Enter a name (up to 128 characters) for your security group.

    3. Description: Enter a description (up to 256 characters) to describe your security group.

    4. Network Type: Select VPC.

    5. VPC: Select the VPC you created earlier.

    6. Tag: Enter a key/value pair to tag the security group to enable easier searching/filtering later on.

  5. Click OK, and then in the Notes dialog box, click Create Rules Now.

  6. For each of the ports listed on the Ingress tab, click Modify, and then in the Authorization Objects field, change the IP address range to correspond to your network to allow only traffic from your network to connect to your ECS instance.

Step 3: Set up an ECS instance

Create an ECS instance where you'll install Tableau Server.

  1. On the Alibaba Cloud dashboard, under Products & Services, click Elastic Compute Service.

  2. On the Elastic Compute Service page, click Instances.

  3. On the Instances page, click Create Instance.

  4. On the Elastic Compute Service (ECS) page, click Custom.

  5. In Billing Method, click Subscription.

  6. In Region, select the region and availability zone where you created your VPC.

  7. In Instance Type, select Current Generation, select X86-Architecture, and then in the instances list, select ecs.g5.4xlarge.

    Note: Some instance types may not be available in all regions.

  8. In Image, select Public Image, and in the operating systems list, select Windows Server and one of the supported versions, for example, 2012 R2 Data Center Edition 64bit English Edition.

  9. In Storage, under System Disk, select SSD Cloud Disk, and then set the size to 50 GiB.

  10. Under Data Disk, click Add Disk, select SSD Cloud Disk, and then set the size to 100 GiB.

  11. In Duration, choose the length of time you want to rent the instance for, and then click Next: Networking.

  12. In Network, select the VPC and VSwitch you created earlier.

  13. In Security Group, select the security group you created earlier.

  14. Click Next: System Configurations, and specify the administrator password and instance name.

  15. Click Next: Grouping, specify any tags or deployment sets, and then click Next: Preview.

  16. Review your selections, review the Terms of Service, and then click Create Order.

Step 4: Connect to your ECS instance

After you create your ECS instance, you must connect to it and prepare it to install Tableau Server. For more information about how to connect to an ECS instance, see Connect to instances(Link opens in a new window) at the Alibaba website.

  1. On the Alibaba Cloud dashboard, under Products & Services, click Elastic Compute Service.

  2. On the Elastic Compute Service page, click Instances.

  3. In the list of instances, select your instance, and then click Connect.

  4. If prompted, enter your VNC password.

  5. Enter the Microsoft Windows login name and password, and then press Enter.

Step 5: Install Tableau Server on your ECS instance

Installing Tableau Server on an ECS instance is similar to installing it on any other server.

  1. Copy the Tableau Server installation program to your VM by doing one of the following:

    • Download the installer directly. While logged into the VM, open a browser, browse to the Tableau Server download page(Link opens in a new window), and download the 64-bit version of Tableau Server.

      Note: The default enhanced security configuration on Windows Server dictates that Internet Explorer is always set to High for the Internet zone and cannot be changed for that zone. Therefore, as you browse to public sites using Internet Explorer, you must add those sites to the list of trusted sites.

    • Copy the installer to the VM. If you already have a copy of the Tableau Server installer on your computer, copy it to the VM. Create a folder on the VM where you want to put the installer. From your computer, upload the Tableau Server installer file (for example, TableauServer-64bit-10.5.exe) to the instance.

  2. Run the Tableau Server installer on the VM to start the server installation process. The installation process works the same as it does on any other server. For more information, see Install and Configure Tableau Server.

Step 6: Access Tableau Server from a remote browser

Make sure that users can access the Alibaba Cloud ECS instance where you've installed Tableau Server.

  1. In the Elastic Compute Services console, click Instances, select your instance in the list, and then find the external IP address.

  2. On another computer (not on the instance), open a browser.

  3. In the browser, type the external IP address of the Tableau Server you installed on the instance. For example, http://13.64.47.61.

  4. Sign in using the credentials for the administrator user that you created at the end of the installation process. When you've signed in, you see the Tableau Server Content page.

Step 7: Publish data to Tableau Server on your ECS instance

After you set up Tableau Server on an ECS instance, users in your organization can publish workbooks and data sources to the server. The process works the same way that it does if Tableau Server is installed on premises, except that users must sign in to the server that is running on the ECS instance.

Before you allow users to publish, make sure that each user has been created with the Publisher site role in Tableau Server and that the users have Publisher permissions. For more information, see Add Users to Tableau Server.

To publish workbooks and data sources to Tableau Server, users must sign in to the server by using the cloud server IP address using credentials they've been assigned. For more information, see How to Publish Workbooks to a Tableau Server(Link opens in a new window).

Step 8: Manage Tableau Server licenses

You don’t need to manage your Tableau Server license if you shut down your ECS instance using the Alibaba Cloud console or from inside the instance itself. When you stop an instance(Link opens in a new window) using the ECS console, the instance may still incur charges.

Deleting an instance deallocates all of its resources, including external storage. You might delete your instance when you no longer need it. Always deactivate your Tableau Server license before you shut down and delete your instance.

Before you delete your instance, do the following:

  1. Sign in to your instance.

  2. Create a backup of Tableau Server, and then copy the .tsbak file to another location, such as Alibaba Cloud Object Storage Service(Link opens in a new window), that will be accessible after the instance is no longer available. For more information, see Perform a Full Backup and Restore of Tableau Server.

  3. Use the tsm licenses deactivate(Link opens in a new window) command to deactivate your Tableau Server product key. You can now shut down and delete your VM.

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