You can decide how to install Tableau based on your organization's needs, and your resources, adding additional nodes and configuring Tableau for high availability.
Please note: If you are running Tableau Server version 2018.2 or more recent (with Tableau Services Manager), please see this version of the High Availability whitepaper with TSM. You do not have to configure a standby initial node in case the initial node fails. However you may not have enough information about these variables when you deploy Tableau Server for the first time. Some of these processes are dependent on the existence of a valid Tableau Server license while other installed processes are not.
vmware vplex For details, see Install and Configure Tableau Server. Today, more than ever, self-service analytics and data-driven decision-making are becoming the norm in organizations worldwide. You cannot install a multi-node instance of Tableau Server on a combination of Linux and Windows nodes. Note: For deployments using virtual machines, Tableau recommends dedicated CPU affinity. Add Client File Service to every node that is running the Coordination Service. The development environment does not have to have identical hardware specs to the production and QA environments, unless the development environment is used for upgrade testing or participation in beta programmes. That is why we have built Tableau Server with high availability out of the box and made it easy to configure and setup. For Proof of Concept (PoC) deployments, we recommend you use Tableau Online. Regardless of where you choose to deploy Tableau Server, properly-sized hardware is critical. For more information, see tsmconfiguration set Options. For more information, see tsm topology set-node-role. 
For more information, see indexandsearchserver.vmopts. vmware vplex Index and Search Server: Index and Search Server memory can be configured to improve performance by using the indexandsearchserver.vmopts TSM configuration option. For more information on configuring node roles for backgrounder and file store, see Workload management through node roles. Note: One instance of Tableau Prep Conductor is automatically configured with Backgrounder, when you have the Data Management Product Key activated on your server.
You also need to make sure the computer you install Tableau Server on has adequate resources to handle the processes and the demands of users and data. For more information, see Configure the additional node. Brad consults with Tableaus most performance-conscious clients to ensure their environments are running optimally. When deploying Tableau Server in the cloud, you can leverage all existing scaling abilities of the Tableau platform including hot topology. When things go wrong, being able to quickly restore to the most recent backup is critical. Influences how often you restore your backups to an alternative cluster and the amount of infrastructure investment. As Director of Data Analytics at Pluralsight, Mike Roberts has a wealth of experience and a varied background that encompasses databases, analytics, visualization and scripting. Move all the licensed process from the initial node to additional nodes. This topic describes three baseline architectures that can be used as starting points for your Tableau Server installations. Assuming an Explorer counts as 1 user, a Creator has a relative workload of 2.4 users, while a Viewer has a relative workload of 0.75 of a user. We recommend using a single machine to install your Tableau Server for initial deployments with limited usage and are not mission critical. Memory should be at least 8 GB of RAM per core for a production server. This is one of the primary reasons to move to a multi-node configuration. We understand how important it is for users to readily see and understand their data. vplex vmware Below is the number of instances of the processes for an 8 core machine: VizQL Server: Set to 2 instances. vmware vplex Tableau Server requires at least one instance of Client File Service (CFS). Index and Search Server memory is added to all three nodes for redundancy and can be configured to improve performance by using the indexandsearchserver.vmopts TSM configuration option. For more information on Tableau Server licensed processes, see Tableau Server Processes from the node. For single-node deployments, you may also turn off Tableau Server machines during downtimes to reduce machine costs. Backgrounders run all types of jobs by default.
Brad is a solution architect based out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The second is detecting when there are failures and triggering reliable failover mechanisms as necessary. For more information on failover, see Repository Failover . Our customers confidence in the security of our solutions is paramount. While HA configurations reduce downtime, you may still encounter failures in case of a disaster or hardware failures. It only takes 15 seconds to fill out. Your Tableau account team is available to assess your requirements and assist with sizing. There is less redundancy and fewer safeguards in the event of a problem with one of the server processes. Backing Up Server vplex vmware All Rights Reserved, Principal Business Intelligence Consultant, InterWorks, By submitting this form, you acknowledge and agree that your personal data may be transferred to, stored, and processed on servers located outside of the People's Republic of China and that your personal data will be processed by Salesforce in accordance with the, By submitting this form, you confirm that you agree to the storing and processing of your personal data by Salesforce as described in the, Tableau Your Data! For more information, see Minimum hardware requirements for installation. Having a few extremely large extracts could put your deployment in this category, as would having many small extracts. The RPO, a measure of how much data loss your business can tolerate, influences how often you will need to take backups of your system. Typically 2 vCPUs = 1 physical core for Tableau Server. Index and Search Server across all the three nodes. If you are running Tableau Server in a virtual environment, use your VM host's best practices for vCPU allocation in relation to the number of physical CPU cores on the VM host. In addition to the above considerations, you should evaluate the importance of disaster recovery in your organization and plan for a deployment that helps you meet your disaster recovery goals and objectives. The example configuration described above does not include Tableau Prep Conductor since it is a single node server. For information about moving the License service and TSM Controller from the initial node to another node, see Recover from an initial node failure below. This node should have a minimum or 4 physical cores (8 vCPUs), and 16 GB of RAM. To determine your hardware platform and sizing, consider these variables: your environment, sources of data and management to provide self-service data access, potential workload from all users and actual usage data. For more information, see Tableau monitoring and Measurement of Tableau user engagement and adoption. The tolerance for downtime will vary for each organization and depends on the SLAs you have established in your organization. vmware vplex One instance of Interactive Microservice Container is installed on a node that has Application Server enabled, and one instance of Non-Interactive Microservice Container is installed on a node that has Backgrounder enabled. Active/Passive Repository across two nodes. Auto-scaling functionality that terminates or instantiates machines based on demand is not supported. To build in redundancy, you need to add additional nodes to host instances of the repository and File Store/Data Engine processes. It also describes how to architect, configure, and deploy on a variety of hardware to ensure stability and reliability. A well-defined Disaster Recovery plan with regular testing will prepare you and your enterprise to act quickly and precisely during a disaster so there is minimal impact to your business. Discover more tools to help deploy, support, and scale Tableau analytics across your organization. High availability basically means that the system is available with minimal amount of downtime. It also describes how to architect, configure, and deploy on a variety of hardware to ensure stability and reliability. For example, on the node where it is dedicated to running backgrounder, initially, you can set the number of backgrounders to minimum (total number of cores divided by four), and increase the number of backgrounder processes later if you find that: Extract refreshes are taking a long time to complete, Subscriptions and alerts are not completing on time. To reduce the systems vulnerability, you can run multiple gateways and additional instances of some of the server processes. This means you should make a point of moving the two unique processes to another of your running nodes as soon as possible. VizQL Server: Set to 2 instances (default calculation: Number of physical cores divided by 4, up to a maximum of 4). To calculate the maximum number, divide the computer's total physical cores by 2. Your installation options include: Single-node installationThis type of installation is reasonable for testing, running trials, and for environments that can handle occasional downtime and system availability due to lack of redundancy. However, separating your environment could come at the expense of increased latency across the system. For example, assuming a correctly-sized hardware configuration for the initial deployment, unplanned user onboarding, unmonitored utilisation, inefficient workbooks, suboptimal data extract design and peak-hour refresh schedules can have a major impact on server performance and user experience, causing performance to degrade from the cumulative effect of the separate incidents. When everyone in your company depends on data and analytics, you cant afford to let them down. 2003-2022 Tableau Software, LLC, a Salesforce Company. Generate a node configuration (bootstrap) file on the initial node. The diagram above shows the maximum for an 8 core node. With the right configuration, a distributed installation can also provide you with automatic repository failover. All Rights Reserved, High Availability for Tableau Server 10 whitepaper. Users may favour the QA environment to circumvent stringent policies or delays to get content into production, so work towards a good balance by automating content migration to the production server with the Content Migration Tool found in the Tableau Server Management Add-on or custom workflow scripts using Tableaus REST APIs. Any event such as hardware failure, software failure, natural calamity, human error, or infrastructure failure that causes disruption to business continuity can be considered a disaster. The need for specialised nodes evolves over time. Tableau is in compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley and has worked with a certified public accounting firm to perform an in-depth audit of the control objectives and activities for Tableau Cloud. This whitepaper outlines the high-availability and disaster-recovery features in Tableau Server 2018.2, after the release of the Tableau Services Manager (TSM). If so, your users may be able to continue to sign in and see and use their content after the initial node fails, but you will not be able to reconfigure Tableau Server because you won't have access to the Administration Controller. For details on how to deploy a Coordination Service ensemble on your cluster, see Deploy a Coordination Service Ensemble . If you're already registered, By registering, you confirm that you agree to the processing of your personal data by Salesforce as described in the, By submitting this form, you acknowledge and agree that your personal data may be transferred to, stored, and processed on servers located outside of the People's Republic of China and that your personal data will be processed by Salesforce in accordance with the, By submitting this form, you confirm that you agree to the storing and processing of your personal data by Salesforce as described in the. If you are running Tableau Server in a virtual environment, use your VM host's best practices for vCPU allocation in relation to the number of physical CPU cores on the VM host. For example, for AWS installations, the 4 core minimum recommendation is equivalent of 8 AWS vCPUs. The production and test environments should have identical hardware specs, server topology and configuration. However, It is recommended that you have a dedicated node for Tableau Prep Conductor. Furthermore, deploying and integrating with diverse and heterogeneous enterprise IT platforms is becoming the only way to support the current and future analytical needs of the business. Advanced high availability, robust failover, and fast disaster recovery is why the largest companies in the world choose Tableau for their enterprise analytics. If you are installing Tableau Server in a virtual environment or a cloud-based deployment, see Virtual Machines and Public Cloud Deployments section later in this topic. This allows you to recover from the failure while using resources you already have in the cluster. The Tableau Server Repository is a PostgreSQL database that stores data about all user interactions, extract refreshes and more. Single Server installations can also be expanded to multi-node installation as your workloads grow. Determining the topology (number of nodes, number of Tableau Server processes) of your Tableau Server deployment requires you to consider these variables: your environment, sources of data and management to provide self-service data access, workload, and usage. To isolate the workload of the backgrounder process, add specialized backgrounder nodes, ensuring redundancy, as shown in Nodes 4 and 5 below. vmware vplex Highly available (HA) installationAn HA installation of Tableau Server is a special type of multi-node installation with a minimum of three nodes and multiple instances of key processes (the Repository, File Store/Data Engine (Hyper), Coordination Service, and Client File Service) on different computers. At a high level, these are the steps you follow to create a highly available installation of Tableau Server: Install Tableau Server on at least two additional nodes using the node bootstrap file. These additional steps include adding at least two additional nodes (for a minimum of three nodes in the cluster), adding a second instance of the repository, and second instances of the data engine/file store, adding additional gateway processes, and deploying a Coordination Service ensemble. This whitepaper outlines how Tableaus built-in backup and recovery technologies can be used to meet your DR needs. For example, deploying each node of Tableau Server in its own virtual network or in different availability zones/zones are both supported. There are two common strategies for achieving HA. Users and decision-makers have come to depend on immediate access to data and self-service tools to answer their questions in real time and rely on these systems daily. For example, for AWS installations, the 4 core minimum recommendation is equivalent of 8 AWS vCPUs. On the initial node, set the Backgrounder node role to run all job types including flows using the tsm topology set-node-role tsm configuration. This reliance on data requires a high degree of availability and stability of the underlying systems. For more information about licensed processes, see Licensed processes. When planning for disaster recovery (DR) in your Tableau environment, there are two main factors to consider: Recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO). Step 5: Maintaining & Monitoring. On the initial node, install all the processes except for the backgrounder. - Fast and Easy Visual Analysis with Tableau Software. For details on how to create a three-node HA installation, see Example:Install and Configure a Three-Node HA Cluster. We recommend that you configure an instance of CFS on each of the nodes where you deploy the Coordination Service. Tableau Server scales nearly linearly with the addition of hardware resources, according to your unique environment, data, workload and usage mix. Reasons for doing this include wanting to run as few processes as possible on the node to limit processing requests on the node. If are using Tableau Prep Conductor to schedule and manage flows, and have an extract heavy environment, we recommend that you have at least 3 nodes and use the 3 node configuration described later in this topic. In addition to your production environment, Tableau recommends one test environment for testing upgrades and server topology changes. Below is the number of instances of the processes for an 8 core machine: Backgrounder: Minimum 2, maximum 4. As users are onboarded and start creating and consuming content, you should monitor the hardware and content utilisation to make informed decisions on server sizing using data from hardware monitoring tools and Tableau Servers Repository. vplex vmware metro In such a scenario, a single server configuration may not be the right option as you may need additional specialized nodes to isolate the difference workloads. Thats why Tableau is designed to meet your most stringent SLAs. vplex vmware At a minimum, Tableau Server processes will automatically restart to keep your system running in the event of component failure.
