Activate Tableau Server Offline

If you are doing Tableau server license activation offline, it may be a bit problematic, and confusing.

There is already an article published by Tableau showing how to do Tableau server license activation offline. However, the last part about how to process the activation.tlf is not mentioned.

Hence, I am creating some guide on how to do that.

After you upload the offline.tlf file on Tableau site, and get the activation.tlf back, you need to:

1. Place the activation.tlf file somewhere in the server where you have your Tableau server installed. e.g. D:\activation.tlf

2. Open command prompt as Administrator from Start menu.

3. Go to the Tableau server directory where tabadmin.bat is located. Usually it is located at C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Server\<version>\bin.

cd\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Server\<version>\bin

4. Use this command to activate using the activation.tlf file:

tabadmin activate -tlf D:\activation.tlf

5. That's all, folks.

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Dual Axis not Working in Tableau

Problem:
When creating chart with Dual Axis, Synchronize Axis is disabled and cannot be clicked.

Cause:
Tableau identified this as a bug, though it is supposed to have been fixed on later version, but it somehow still happens.

Solution:
1. To enable Synchronize Axis, make sure that the data type of both the measures are the same.

2. If you are using Integer data type, problem persists even if the data types are the same. You should convert the measures to float.
Notice that now the Synchronize Axis is enabled after we convert the data type to float.

Format it with 0 decimal points if you want it to appear as integer.

And this is how the end result looks like.

PS: I know the graph is ugly, but I hope you get what you need :)

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Tableau Server Unable to Start due to Blocked Ports

Problem:
Sometimes you might need to use different (from the default port) port on Tableau. By default, SSL is using port 443. For my case, I use SSL and port 8443 for Tableau Server. After you changed the port, and tried to start Tableau service, you get this error:
*** Tableau Server Gateway requires port 443,
***    in use by process 4.
*** Tableau Server unable to start due to blocked ports.

Solution:
There are 2 files you need to change:
1. C:\Tableau\Tableau Server\data\tabsvc\config\httpd.conf
2. C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Server\10.3\apache\conf\original\extra\httpd-ssl.conf

Change the port to listen to 8443 (replace 443 to 8443) on these 2 files.

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Frame cannot Load - Content Security Policy Issue

Problem:
You are using iframe to load a site from within a website, and the frame does not load.
In my case, I am using https for both the website and the iframe.

Error:
If you press F12 on the browser, you will see error similar to:

Refused to frame 'https://iframe_site' because it violates the following Content Security Policy directive: default-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval'...... (this can be found in web.config). Note that 'script-src' was not explicitly set, so 'default-src' is used as a fallback.

Solution:
Add the iframe_site to content-security-policy on the web.config.

<httpProtocol>
 <customHeaders>
  <add name="Content-Security-Policy" value="default-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval' iframe_site;" />
 </customHeaders>
</httpProtocol>

PS: If you are using port for the iframe site, you would need to include the port when adding into web.config.

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Add Trusted Hosts to Tableau Server

Problem: After deploying Tableau dashboards, you are not able to display the dashboard using trusted ticket method. Error returned: "Could not locate unexpired trusted ticket <ticket_number>".

Solution: Although there could be various reason for this error, you might want to check if the IP address in which the Tableau dashboard is going to be displayed, is already added to the trusted hosts in the Tableau server. If it is not yet added, add it to the trusted hosts.
Note: Make sure not to overwrite the existing trusted hosts already added previously.

Assume the host (where the Tableau dashboard is going to be displayed) is: 10.0.0.99

1. Go to the Tableau server, and look for dataserver.properties, located in C:\ProgramData\Tableau\Tableau Server\data\tabsvc\config\ (location might vary).
Search for trusted_hosts, and take note of the existing trusted hosts already added previously.
e.g. trusted_hosts=10.0.0.91, 10.0.100.92. We will include these IPs again later.

2. Add the IP address(es) where Tableau dashboard is going to be displayed. Open Command Prompt, then go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Tableau\Tableau Server\7.0\bin\ (location might vary), and use the command

tabadmin set wgserver.trusted_hosts "<Trusted IP Addresses>" 

to add the trusted hosts. Don't forget to also include the existing trusted IP addresses previously added, separated by comma if there is more than 1 IP address.

e.g. 

tabadmin set wgserver.trusted_hosts "10.0.0.91, 10.0.100.92, 10.0.0.99"

3. Save the configuration by using the command:

tabadmin config

4. Check the file dataserver.properties on step 1 and look for trusted_hosts. Now, the content of the trusted hosts should look like trusted_hosts=10.0.0.91, 10.0.100.92, 10.0.0.99.

5. Restart tableau server by using the command:

tabadmin restart

or run services.msc, then look for Tableau Server (tabsvc) service, and then restart the service.

6. Verify if the Tableau dashboard can be displayed properly (in this case, from 10.0.0.99).

7. That's all, folks!

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