Tableau connection | IBM Cloud Pak for Data as a Service

Tableau connection

Last updated: Dec 11, 2024

Tableau connection

To access your data in Tableau, create a connection asset for it.

Tableau is an interactive data visualization platform.

Supported products

Tableau Server 2020.3.3 and Tableau Cloud

Create a connection to Tableau

To create the connection asset, you need these connection details:

Hostname or IP address
Port number
Site: The name of the Tableau site to use
For Authentication method, you need either a username and password or an Access token (with Access token name and Access token secret).
SSL certificate (if required by the database server)

Choose the method for creating a connection based on where you are in the platform

In a project: Click Assets > New asset > Connect to a data source. See Adding a connection to a project.
In a catalog: Click Add to catalog > Connection. See Adding a connection asset to a catalog.
In a deployment space: Click Import assets > Data access > Connection. See Adding data assets to a deployment space.
In the Platform assets catalog: Click New connection. See Adding platform connections.

Next step: Add data assets from the connection

Where you can use this connection

You can use Tableau connections in the following workspaces and tools:

Projects

DataStage (DataStage service). See Connecting to a data source in DataStage.
SPSS Modeler (watsonx.ai Studio)

Catalogs

Platform assets catalog
Other catalogs (IBM Knowledge Catalog)

Data lineage

Metadata import (lineage) (IBM Knowledge Catalog and IBM Manta Data Lineage)

Tableau setup

Restriction

You can use this connection only for source data. You cannot write to data or export data with this connection.

Running SQL statements

To ensure that your SQL statements run correctly, refer to the Run Initial SQL for the correct syntax.

Configuring lineage metadata import for Tableau

When you create a metadata import for the Tableau connection, you can set options specific to this data source, and define the scope of data for which lineage is generated. For details about metadata import, see Designing metadata imports.

To import lineage metadata for Tableau, complete these steps:

Create a data source definition. Select Tableau as the data source type.
Create a connection to the data source in a project.
Create a metadata import. Learn more about options that are specific to Tableau data source:
- When you define a scope, you can analyze the entire data source or use the include and exclude options to define the exact projects and workbooks that you want to be analyzed. See Include and exclude lists.
- Optionally, you can provide external input. You add this file in the Add inputs from file field. The file must have a supported structure. See External inputs.

Include and exclude lists

You can include or exclude assets up to the workbook level. Provide projects and workbooks in the format project/sub-project/workbook. The whole input is evaluated as a regular expression. Assets which are added later in the data source will also be included or excluded if they match the conditions specified in the lists. Example values:

myProject/: all workbooks in myProject
myProject2/.*: all workbooks in myProject2
myProject3/myWorkbook1: myWorkbook1 from myProject3
myProject4/myWorkbook[1-5]: any workbook in myProject4 with a name that starts with myWorkbook and ends with a digit between 1 and 5
myProject4/mySubProject/myWorkbook[1-5]: any workbook in myProject4 and mySubProject nested within it, with a name that starts with myWorkbook and ends with a digit between 1 and 5".

External inputs

You can add whole exported Tableau workbooks as external inputs. The file can have the following structure:

[project_name] - Arbitrary nested folder structure of project folders.
 [workbook].twb - A file with the workbook.
 [workbook].twbx - A file with the workbook.
 [workbook].tds - A file with the workbook data source.
 [workbook].tdsx - A file with the workbook data source.

Learn more

Parent topic: Supported connections