NOTE: The Tableau with MFA user authentication method is supported starting in version 2.9.8 by leveraging personal access tokens.

Mitto's extract job type refreshes a Tableau Extract on Tableau Server or Tableau Online

The Tableau Extract Refresh plugin creates a Mitto job that refreshes a Tableau Extract on Tableau Server or Tableau Online. The Tableau Extract can either be an extract embedded in a workbook or a published data source.

The main use case for this job type is to add this job to the end of a Mitto sequence. This way the Tableau data is refreshed immediately after the data is refreshed in Mitto.

The Tableau Extract Refresh plugin uses the Tableau Rest API to essentially press the "Run Now" button:

Tableau Steps

  1. Publish a Tableau workbook with an embedded extract or publish an extract as a published data source.
  2. Set an extract refresh schedule. In order to refresh a Tableau Extract, the extract must have a refresh schedule. Best practice here is to set an infrequent refresh schedule (e.g. once a month) so the Mitto triggered extract refresh doesn't conflict with the Tableau refresh schedule.

How to Create an Extract Job via Wizard

Click +Add Job.

Choose "Tableau Extract Refresh".

From here, you will have 3 options for Source of credentials

  1. Use existing named credentials
  2. Provide Personal Access Token, to be saved
  3. Provide username and password, to be saved

If you are creating a Tableau Extract Refresh job for the first time, you will likely be using option 2 or 3.

Provide Personal Access Token (PAT)

This credential type was initial developed for Tableau users that have enabled Multi-Factor Authentication as their user authentication type.

Note: PATs expire after 1 year and will need to be recreated. Further, if a generated PAT is not used for 15 days, they will expire and need to be recreated.

Fill in the form.

PAT credential form
Creating a PAT thru the Tableau UI (My Account Settings)
  • Server URL - This is the "base" URL of your Tableau Server/Online. In these examples, the Server URL is in bold: https://tableau.zuar.com/#/home and https://us-east-1.online.tableau.com/#/site/zuar/home
  • Token Name - This is the name of  your generated Personal Access Token, which you can generate by Signing into Tableau Online or Tableau Server > Navigate to My Account Settings under your user profile > Provide a Token Name > Create new token. In this step you will input the Token Name. See Tableau's documentation for Personal Access Tokens here.
  • Personal Access Token - This is the token generated in the previous step. Save this token somewhere safe as you will not be able to retrieve it again once you close the window.
  • Site - This is your Tableau Server/Online site. For Tableau Server's default site you can leave this field blank (e.g. https://tableau.zuar.com/#/home). Tableau Online always has a site. In these examples, the Site is in bold: https://tableau.zuar.com/#/site/Demo/home and https://us-east-1.online.tableau.com/#/site/zuar/home  

Click Next

Note: This credential info will now be encrypted and saved in Mitto's Credential manager and can be used for future jobs.

The saved credential will be given an autogenerated name. If you would like to edit the/create your own saved credential:

  1. Navigate to the saved Credentials page in Mitto
  2. Add Credential
  3. Select Credential Type: Generic
  4. Give the credential a name
  5. Paste the following JSON into the Value section and insert details related to your deployment:
{
  "server_url": "https://prod-useast-b.online.tableau.com/",
  "token_name":"zuar-pat",
  "personal_access_token": "paste pat here!",
  "site":"zuar"
}

Zuar developer docs can be found here!

Jump to the next section!

Provide username and password

Fill in the form.

  • Server URL - This is the "base" URL of your Tableau Server/Online. In these examples, the Server URL is in bold: https://tableau.zuar.com/#/home and https://us-east-1.online.tableau.com/#/site/zuar/home
  • User Name - This is your Tableau Server/Online username.
  • Password - This is your Tableau Server/Online password.
  • Site - This is your Tableau Server/Online site. For Tableau Server's default site you can leave this field blank (e.g. https://tableau.zuar.com/#/home). Tableau Online always has a site. In these examples, the Site is in bold: https://tableau.zuar.com/#/site/Demo/home and https://us-east-1.online.tableau.com/#/site/zuar/home  

Click Next.

Select Tableau Extract

Pick a Tableau extract from the dropdown list.

The naming convention for the dropdown list is as follows:

{name of extract} [{type of extract - workbook or datasource}] {schedule}

So in the example screenshot above, the Tableau extract is named "test_extract", the extract is embedded in a workbook, and the schedule is "End of the month".

Click Next.

Give the job a title.

Best practice is to title the job as follows:

[Tableau Extract Refresh] {name of extract} [{type of extract - workbook or datasource}] {schedule}

So using our example above, we would title the job [Tableau Extract Refresh] test_extract [workbook] End of the month.

Click Done.

Extract Job Templates

Examples of Mitto extract jobs and associated credential examples can be found in Zuar's Github repo mitto-job-templates.

Extract API Documentation

See the Mitto extract job API documentation for all of the job configuration options and associated credential configuration options.

Considerations

Changing the refresh schedule on an existing Tableau extract will break the corresponding Mitto job. Simply go through the job wizard again and recreate the job.

When a Tableau Extract Refresh job succeeds, the command to refresh the extract was sent to Tableau Server/Online. Mitto does not know if the extract job succeeded or failed on the Tableau side.