Tableau Server

Requirements

1. Enable REST API and Metadata API

Tableau's REST API and Metadata API must be enabled in order to see Tableau metadata in Select Star.

The REST API is permanently enabled for Tableau Cloud, and is enabled by default on all supported versions of Tableau Server.

To enable the Metadata API, a server admin must enable the Metadata API on Tableau Server using the tsm maintenance metadata-services enable command through the Tableau Services Manager (TSM) command line interface (CLI). For more information, see Tableau Documentation.

For both Tableau Online and Tableau Server, go to Settings > Automatic Access to Metadata about Databases and Tables, and make sure the checkbox is checked.

Tableau Online can take some time to populate the Metadata Database if you have a big amount of Workbooks in Tableau Online.

2. Create a Personal Access Token

Navigate to My Account Settings on the top right of the screen.

Scroll down to Personal Access Tokens.

Enter a name for your token and click Create new token.

The user you connect to with Select Star needs a Site Administrator Explorer role at minimum in order for Select Start to retrieve all the necessary metadata from the Tableau API.

Copy the Token Secret from the popup and store it somewhere safe. You will need it later on during this setup.

3 Grant access to Tableau Server database (Tableau Server)

Tableau Server: This step is only applicable if you have a Tableau Server instance. Jump to Step 4 if you are connecting Tableau Online.

Tableau Server uses an External Repository to store data about all user interactions, extract refreshes, and more. Select Star needs access to your this External Repository in Postgres, in order to properly generate lineage and popularity Tableau and its data sources.

To provide access, create a new database user with access to all of the following tables in the public schema:

  • public.hist_users

  • public.hist_views

  • public.historical_events

  • public.system_users

  • public.users

  • public.views

If your PostgreSQL External repository is located in a private network (Firewalls, SSH, VPN, etc), we also offer the option to sync this information from Snowflake. All we need is the same information transferred to your Snowflake instance.

Contact support@getselectstar.com if you have any questions regarding this step.

4. Create a Tableau Data Source

  1. Go to the Select Star Settings > Data

  2. Click + Add to create a new Data Source.

Fill out the set up form with the information as outlined below.

  • Display Name: Give your data source a meaningful name, the default is Tableau.

  • Access Token Name: The Personal Access Token Name.

  • Access Token Secret: The Personal Access Token Secret.

  • Base Url: The main URL for your site, such as https://10ax.online.tableau.com

  • Site Id: The name of your site in tableau. You can extract this from the URL you access in Tableau. Example, analytics is the name of the site for the URL https://10ax.online.tableau.com/#/site/analytics/home.

Click the Connect button at the bottom of the modal.

5. Connect Tableau External Repository (Tableau Server)

To connect Tableau External Repository, use the details of the user, database, and schema that you granted access to in Step 3 for Tableau Server. Select Star will connect to

Introduce the details in the setup form as shown in the example below.

IP Whitelisting For any instance located in a private network, you must either

  • whitelist the following two IP addresses to connect Select Star: 3.23.108.85, 3.20.56.105

  • Configure the External Repository exporting your activity data to Snowflake. Reach out to support@getselectstar.com for more information about this step.

Your metadata should start loading automatically. Please allow 24-48 hours to completely generate popularity and lineage.

When the sync is complete, you'll be able to explore Tableau in Select Star. See the link below for more information on Tableau in Select Star.

Last updated