Tableau Server (Repository) - Import - Cloud

Talend Cloud Data Catalog Bridges

Version
Cloud
Language
English
Product
Talend Cloud
Module
Talend Data Catalog
Last publication date
2024-03-17

Note: AWS

Bridge Requirements

This bridge:
  • requires Internet access to https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ and/or other tool sites to download drivers into <TDC_HOME>/data/download/MIMB/.

  • requires the tool to be installed to access its SDK.

Bridge Specifications

Vendor Tableau
Tool Name Tableau Server and Cloud
Tool Version 8.x to 2023.x
Tool Web Site https://www.tableau.com/products/server
Supported Methodology [Business Intelligence] Multi-Model, BI Report (Relational Source, Expression Parsing, Report Structure) via REST API
Data Profiling
Incremental Harvesting
Multi-Model Harvesting
Remote Repository Browsing for Model Selection

SPECIFICATIONS
Tool: Tableau / Tableau Server and Cloud version 8.x to 2023.x via REST API
See https://www.tableau.com/products/server
Metadata: [Business Intelligence] Multi-Model, BI Report (Relational Source, Expression Parsing, Report Structure)
Component: TableauServer version 11.2.0

DISCLAIMER
This import bridge requires internet access to download third-party libraries:
- such as https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ to download open source third-party libraries,
- and more sites for other third-party software such as database specific JDBC drivers.

The downloaded third-party libraries are stored into $HOME/data/download/MIMB/
- If HTTPS fails, the import bridge then tries with HTTP.
- If a proxy is used to access internet, you must configure that proxy in the JRE (see the -j option in the Miscellaneous parameter).
- If the import bridge does not have full access to internet, that $HOME/data/download/MIMB/ directory can be copied from another server with internet access where the command $HOME/bin/MIMB.sh (or .bat) -d can be used to download all third-party libraries used by all bridges at once.

By running this import bridge, you hereby acknowledge responsibility for the license terms and any potential security vulnerabilities from these downloaded third-party software libraries.

OVERVIEW
This import bridge imports Business Intelligence (BI) reporting metadata from a Tableau Server.

REQUIREMENTS
This import bridge needs network connectivity to the Tableau server which may require network SSL or proxy setup (see the Server parameter for more details). Therefore, the Tableau server must be accessible with the same setup over a web browser on the machine where the import bridge is running.

The user must have proper permission (see the User parameter for more details).

For Tableau server v.9.2.0 and later the import bridge will use REST API to access metadata.
Its availability is controlled by configuration option 'api.server.enabled'.
For more details see https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/api/rest_api/en-us/REST/rest_api_concepts_auth.htm

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: What level of user privileges is required to successfully import from the Tableau server?
A: Explorer/Interactor role, which can browse and interact with published views.
- Access to both published and unpublished views.
- Identify dependencies between Workbooks and Data Sources.
- Access to download their source XML definition.
In addition, the bridge tries to show the owner names for the objects it imports which requires a higher level of access to the Tableau repository.

LIMITATIONS
Refer to the current general known limitations at http://metaintegration.com/Products/MIMB/MIMBKnownLimitations.html or bundled in Documentation/ReadMe/MIMBKnownLimitations.html

This import bridge does not support login using SAML.

Tableau REST API does not support SSO on Tableau Cloud.

SUPPORT
Provide a troubleshooting package with:
- the debug log (can be set in the UI or in conf/conf.properties with MIR_LOG_LEVEL=6)
- the metadata backup if available (can be set in the Miscellaneous parameter with -backup option, although this common option is not implemented on all bridges for technical reasons).

The troubleshooting purpose a Tableau backup can be automatically generated using the -backup option of the Miscellaneous parameter.
Alternatively, a Tableau server backup (.tsbak) can be manually generated as follows:
1- Open a command prompt as an administrator;
2- Navigate to the directory where the Tableau server has been installed:
'C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Server\[version]\bin' (32-bit)
'C:\Program Files (x86)\Tableau\Tableau Server\[version]\bin' (64-bit)
3- Type the following command:
tabadmin backup tabserv --stop-server -d -t C:\temp\tableau
- 'tabserv' - backup file name;
- 'C:\temp\tableau' - path to the directory to save backup to.
The Tableau server can stay online while making a backup if parameter '--stop-server' is replaced with '--unsafe'.


Bridge Parameters

Parameter Name Description Type Values Default Scope
Server The Tableau Server URL (by default http://localhost:80)
or IP address (e.g. 192.168.0.2)
If SSL is used, the URL must start by https (and possibly end with a custom port if the SSL default port of 443 is not used).
STRING   http://localhost:80 Mandatory
Site The Tableau Site is only required when connecting to an online Tableau server with multiple sites installed.
The value is case sensitive, and must not contain any space as it is used in the URL to connect to Tableau.
STRING      
User Name The Tableau user name used by this bridge.
That user must have proper access rights to read all metadata. It is recommended to try as Administrator first (all bridges are warrantied to be ready only and only extract metadata) and possibly on a subset of the metadata. Once successful, a user with only the necessary access rights can be used.

User account must be licensed as 'Interactor' (renamed to 'Explorer' in the latest versions) on the Tableau Server and must have 'View' and 'Download' rights for all of the Workbooks, Data Sources and Projects that he/she is about to import. It is however preferable to use an account that has 'Site Administrator' security role.

Alternatively personalAccessTokenName can be used instead of the user name if PAT type of the authentication is required.
STRING     Mandatory
Password The Tableau user password.

Alternatively personalAccessTokenSecret can be used instead of the regular password if PAT type of the authentication is required.
PASSWORD     Mandatory
Repository Objects The subset of repository objects (workbooks, data sources) to import.
For any workbooks selected, any dependent data sources will also be included in the import.
The bridge can look up an object by path if entered manually. Character 'forward slash' (/) is used as a path delimiter and 'backward slash' (\) as an escape character if an object name contains character '/' in it's name'.
REPOSITORY_SUBSET      
Exclude Repository Objects The subset of repository objects (workbooks, datasources) to be excluded from the import.
For any workbooks selected, any dependent data sources will also be excluded from the import.
The bridge can look up an object by path if entered manually. Character 'forward slash' (/) is used as a path delimiter and 'backward slash' (\) as an escape character if an object name contains character '/' in it's name'.
REPOSITORY_SUBSET      
Published Data Sources Controls the import and modeling of Tableau Extract (Hyper) Data Sources:

'Import internal' (default)
import the Tableau Extract (hyper) Data Sources within the Tableau Server multi-model.

'Import External (Hyper and Extract)'
import the Tableau Extract (hyper) Data Sources as external connections to be resolved (stitching) with the actual model importing from the Tableau Server Extract (hyper) Data Store.
ENUMERATED
Import internal
Import External (Hyper and Extract)
Internal  
Tableau Prep Import Controls whether to import flows from Tableau Server.
For more information see https://help.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/prep_web_auth.htm
BOOLEAN
False
True
False  
Multiple threads Number of worker threads to harvest metadata asynchronously.

- Leave the parameter blank to have the import bridge compute the value, between 1 and 6, based on JVM architecture and number of available CPU cores.

- Specify a numeric value greater or equal to 1 to provide the actual number of threads.
If the value specified is invalid, a warning will be issued and 1 will be used instead.
If you experience out of memory conditions when harvesting metadata asynchronously, experiment with smaller numbers.
If your machine has a lot of available memory (e.g. 10 GB or more), you can try larger numbers when harvesting many documents at once.
Note that setting the number too high can actually decrease the performance due to resource contention.
NUMERIC      
Miscellaneous INTRODUCTION
Specify miscellaneous options starting with a dash and optionally followed by parameters, e.g.
-connection.cast MyDatabase1="MICROSOFT SQL SERVER"
Some options can be used multiple times if applicable, e.g.
-connection.rename NewConnection1=OldConnection1 -connection.rename NewConnection2=OldConnection2;
As the list of options can become a long string, it is possible to load it from a file which must be located in ${MODEL_BRIDGE_HOME}\data\MIMB\parameters and have the extension .txt. In such case, all options must be defined within that file as the only value of this parameter, e.g.
ETL/Miscellaneous.txt

JAVA ENVIRONMENT OPTIONS
-java.memory <Java Memory's maximum size> (previously -m)

1G by default on 64bits JRE or as set in conf/conf.properties, e.g.
-java.memory 8G
-java.memory 8000M

-java.parameters <Java Runtime Environment command line options> (previously -j)

This option must be the last one in the Miscellaneous parameter as all the text after -java.parameters is passed "as is" to the JRE, e.g.
-java.parameters -Dname=value -Xms1G
The following option must be set when a proxy is used to access internet (this is critical to access https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/ and exceptionally a few other tool sites) in order to download the necessary third-party software libraries.
Note: The majority of proxies are concerned with encrypting (HTTPS) the outside (of the company) traffic and trust the inside traffic that can access proxy over HTTP. In this case, an HTTPS request reaches the proxy over HTTP where the proxy HTTPS-encrypts it.
-java.parameters -java.parameters -Dhttp.proxyHost=127.0.0.1 -Dhttp.proxyPort=3128 -Dhttp.proxyUser=user -Dhttp.proxyPassword=pass

MODEL IMPORT OPTIONS
-model.name <model name>

Override the model name, e.g.
-model.name "My Model Name"

-prescript <script name>

This option allows running a script before the bridge execution.
The script must be located in the bin directory (or as specified with M_SCRIPT_PATH in conf/conf.properties), and have .bat or .sh extension.
The script path must not include any parent directory symbol (..).
The script should return exit code 0 to indicate success, or another value to indicate failure.
For example:
-prescript "script.bat arg1 arg2"

-postscript <script name>

This option allows running a script after successful execution of the bridge.
The script must be located in the bin directory (or as specified with M_SCRIPT_PATH in conf/conf.properties), and have .bat or .sh extension.
The script path must not include any parent directory symbol (..).
The script should return exit code 0 to indicate success, or another value to indicate failure.
For example:
-postscript "script.bat arg1 arg2"

-cache.clear

Clears the cache before the import, and therefore will run a full import without incremental harvesting.

If the model was not changed and the -cache.clear parameter is not used (incremental harvesting), then a new version will not be created.
If the model was not changed and the -cache.clear parameter is set (full source import instead of incremental), then a new version will be created.

-backup <directory>

This option allows to save the bridge input metadata for further troubleshooting. The provided <directory> must be empty.

The primary use of this option is for data store import bridges, in particular JDBC based database import bridges.

Note that this option is not operational on some bridges including:
- File based import bridges (as such input files can be used instead)
- DI/BI repository import bridges (as the tool's repository native backup can be used instead)
- Some API based import bridges (e.g. COM based) for technical reasons.

DATA CONNECTION OPTIONS
Data Connections are produced by the import bridges typically from ETL/DI and BI tools to refer to the source and target data stores they use. These data connections are then used by metadata management tools to connect them (metadata stitching) to their actual data stores (e.g. databases, file system, etc.) in order to produce the full end to end data flow lineage and impact analysis. The name of each data connection is unique by import model. The data connection names used within DI/BI design tools are used when possible, otherwise connection names are generated to be short but meaningful such as the database / schema name, the file system path, or Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). The following option allows to manipulate connections. These options replaces the legacy options -c, -cd, and -cs.

-connection.cast ConnectionName=ConnectionType

Casts a generic database connection (e.g. ODBC/JDBC) to a precise database type (e.g. ORACLE) for SQL Parsing, e.g.
-connection.cast "My Database"="MICROSOFT SQL SERVER".
The list of supported data store connection types includes:
ACCESS
APACHE CASSANDRA
DB2/UDB
DENODO
GOOGLE BIGQUERY
HIVE
MYSQL
NETEZZA
ORACLE
POSTGRESQL
PRESTO
REDSHIFT
SALESFORCE
SAP HANA
SNOWFLAKE
MICROSOFT SQL AZURE
MICROSOFT SQL SERVER
SYBASE SQL SERVER
SYBASE AS ENTERPRISE
TERADATA
VECTORWISE
HP VERTICA

-connection.rename OldConnection=NewConnection

Renames an existing connection to a new name, e.g.
-connection.rename OldConnectionName=NewConnectionName
Multiple existing database connections can be renamed and merged into one new database connection, e.g.
-connection.rename MySchema1=MyDatabase -connection.rename MySchema2=MyDatabase

-connection.split oldConnection.Schema1=newConnection

Splits a database connection into one or multiple database connections.
A single database connection can be split into one connection per schema, e.g.
-connection.split MyDatabase
All database connections can be split into one connection per schema, e.g.
-connection.split *
A database connection can be explicitly split creating a new database connection by appending a schema name to a database, e.g.
-connection.split MyDatabase.schema1=MySchema1

-connection.map SourcePath=DestinationPath

Maps a source path to destination path. This is useful for file system connections when different paths points to the same object (directory or file).
On Hadoop, a process can write into a CSV file specified with the HDFS full path, but another process reads from a Hive table implemented (external) by the same file specified using a relative path with default file name and extension, e.g.
-connection.map /user1/folder=hdfs://host:8020/users/user1/folder/file.csv
On Linux, a given directory (or file) like /data can be referred to by multiple symbolic links like /users/john and /users/paul, e.g.
-connection.map /data=/users/John -connection.map /data=/users/paul
On Windows, a given directory like C:\data can be referred to by multiple network drives like M: and N:, e.g.
-connection.map C:\data=M:\ -connection.map C:\data=N:\

-connection.casesensitive ConnectionName

Overrides the default case insensitive matching rules for the object identifiers inside the specified connection, provided the detected type of the data store by itself supports this configuration (e.g. Microsoft SQL Server, MySql etc.), e.g.
-connection.casesensitive "My Database"

-connection.level AggregationLevel

Specifies the aggregation level for the external connections, e.g.-connection.level catalog
The list of the supported values:
server
catalog
schema (default)

TABLEAU OPTIONS
-dataSource.all (previously -a)

Import all data source fields. For inventory purposes allows to import all the data source fields, even those that are not e.g. in the worksheets. It will also import unpublished worksheets.

-dataSource.embed

Allows to embed connectivity information from the published data source directly into the workbooks.

-previewImage (previously -pi)

Import the Preview Image for each Tableau object (Worksheet or Dashboard) as a custom attribute Preview storing the PNG image in base64.
STRING      

 

Bridge Mapping

Meta Integration Repository (MIR)
Metamodel
(based on the OMG CWM standard)
"Tableau Server (Repository) and Cloud"
Metamodel
Tableau (Connection)
Mapping Comments
     
Attribute Field  
Name Name  
Position Position  
Class Table  
Name Name  
DataSet Stored Procedure Parameters, Stored Procedure Results  
Name Name  
DatabaseSchema Schema  
Name Name  
FileDirectory Directory  
Name Name  
FlatTextFile File  
Name Name  
StoreModel Connection  
Name Name  
StoreType Store Type  
SystemType System Type  
StoredProcedure Stored Procedure  
Name Name  
PhysicalName Physical Name  

Meta Integration Repository (MIR)
Metamodel
(based on the OMG CWM standard)
"Tableau Server (Repository) and Cloud"
Metamodel
Tableau (Datasource)
Mapping Comments
     
Attribute Field  
Name Name  
Position Position  
Stereotype Stereotype  
Class Table  
Name Name  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
Condition Condition, Data Source Filter  
Name Name  
ConnectionClassifier Proxy Table  
Name Name  
NativeType Type  
ConnectionFeature Proxy Field  
ExternalId External Id  
Name Name  
ConnectionNamespace Project, External Data Source, Directory  
Name Name  
NativeId GUID  
ConnectionPackage Namespace  
Name Name  
DataAttribute Calculation Measure, Group, Pivot Field, Set, Bin, Temporary Field, Dimension, Parameter Dimension, Hierarchy Field, Union Field, Calculation Dimension, Measure, Parameter Measure, Data Field  
Description Comment  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
Position Position  
DataSet Stored Procedure Parameters, Hierarchy, Temporary Table, Parameters, Query, Dimension Table, Fact Table, Pivot, Union, Stored Procedure Results  
Name Name  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
DatabaseSchema Extract  
Name Name  
DesignPackage Data Source, Data Source Joins, Session  
Name Name  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
FlatTextFile File  
Name Name  
Join Join  
PhysicalName Name  
Type Type  
StoreConnection Connection  
Comment Comment  
Connection Connection  
Name Name  
SystemType System Type  
StoreModel Tableau Data Source  
Author Owner  
Comment URL  
Description Description  
Name Name  
StoredProcedure Stored Procedure  
Name Name  
PhysicalName Physical Name  

Meta Integration Repository (MIR)
Metamodel
(based on the OMG CWM standard)
"Tableau Server (Repository) and Cloud"
Metamodel
Tableau (TableauDirectory)
Mapping Comments
     
DiRuntimeContent Flow  
LastModificationTime Modified  
Name Name  
DirectoryStructureModel Tableau Server  
Name Name  
SystemType System Type  
Folder Project  
Author Owner  
Description Description  
LastModificationTime Modified  
Name Name  
NativeId GUID  
StoreContent Data Source, Data Source With Extract, Connection, Internal Store, Workbook  
Author Owner  
Description Description  
LastModificationTime Modified  
Name Name  
NativeId URL  

Meta Integration Repository (MIR)
Metamodel
(based on the OMG CWM standard)
"Tableau Server (Repository) and Cloud"
Metamodel
Tableau (Tableau Browse)
Mapping Comments
     
DirectoryStructureModel Tableau Server  
ImportDate Import Date  
Name Name  
Folder Project, Publisher  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
StoreContent Data Source, Data Source With Extract, Workbook, Flow  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  

Meta Integration Repository (MIR)
Metamodel
(based on the OMG CWM standard)
"Tableau Server (Repository) and Cloud"
Metamodel
Tableau (Workbook)
Mapping Comments
     
Attribute Field  
Name Name  
Position Position  
Stereotype Stereotype  
Class Table  
Name Name  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
Condition Condition, Data Source Filter  
Name Name  
ConnectionClassifier Proxy Table  
Name Name  
NativeType Type  
ConnectionFeature Proxy Field  
ExternalId External Id  
Name Name  
ConnectionNamespace Project, External Data Source, Directory  
Name Name  
NativeId GUID  
ConnectionPackage Namespace  
Name Name  
DataAttribute Calculation Measure, Group, Pivot Field, Set, Bin, Temporary Field, Dimension, Parameter Dimension, Hierarchy Field, Union Field, Calculation Dimension, Measure, Parameter Measure, Data Field  
Description Comment  
Name Name  
NativeId Native Id  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
Position Position  
DataSet Stored Procedure Parameters, Hierarchy, Temporary Table, Parameters, Query, Dimension Table, Fact Table, Pivot, Union, Stored Procedure Results  
Name Name  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
DatabaseSchema Extract  
Name Name  
DesignPackage Data Source, Data Source Joins, Published Data Source, Session  
Name Name  
PhysicalName Physical Name  
Filter Filter, Shared Filter  
FlatTextFile File  
Name Name  
Join Relationship, Join  
PhysicalName Name  
Type Type  
ReportField Column, Mark, Page, Row  
Comment Aggregation  
Name Name  
ReportPage Unpublished Worksheet, Worksheet, Dashboard, Story  
Comment URL  
Name Name  
StoreConnection Connection  
Comment Comment  
Connection Connection  
Name Name  
SystemType System Type  
StoreModel Tableau Data Source, Workbook  
Author Owner  
Comment URL  
Description Description  
ModificationTime Modified  
Name Name  
StoreType Store Type  
StoredProcedure Stored Procedure  
Name Name  
PhysicalName Physical Name