Upgrade to Tableau Server 2021.1

Planning an upgrade to Tableau Server 2021.1? Start here!

Download Server 2021.1

Know Before you Upgrade

Beginning in Tableau Server 2020.4, Tableau Server configured for mutual SSL authentication will block authentication of users with client certificates that use the SHA-1 signing algorithm. Users who attempt to login with SHA-1 client certificates will encounter an "Unable to sign in" error. For more information about responding to this change, see this Knowledge Base article. 

For more information about why this change was implemented, see this Tableau Community post and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Policy on Hash Functions.

Upgrade

Guide to Upgrading

Inform Your Users

Learn

Overview

Extend the value of your data across your entire organization with Tableau Server. The Tableau Server platform is easy to deploy, scale, and monitor.

What's New?

  • What's New in Tableau Server 2021.1
    • Offline Map Support
    • Resource Monitoring Tool available on Linux 
    • Azure External Repository and Key Vault
    • Enable and configure Catalog or Metadata API indexing limits 

What Has Changed?

New in Tableau Server 2021.1

Start by reading What's New in Tableau Server on Windows | What's New in Tableau Server on Linux

Make sure you check out current guidance before you upgrade:

New for Server or Site Administrators

 

Einstein Discovery in Tableau

Einstein Discovery in Tableau brings trusted, real-time predictions and recommendations from Einstein Discovery directly into Tableau dashboards, enabling smarter, guided decisions for every team.
  • Einstein Dashboard Extension: The new extension provides you with real-time, on-demand, and interpretable machine learning predictions from Einstein Discovery in Tableau dashboards. Click on one or more rows of data in Tableau visualizations, get dynamic predictions, see key drivers of predictions, and improve predictions based on the model.
  • Einstein Calculation: With predictions in Calc, users can drive Tableau analytics with dynamic predictive intelligence and directly connect Einstein predictions into Tableau's calculated fields.You can construct, share, and scale interactive visualizations and dashboards incorporating dynamic predictions using their existing Tableau infrastructure, as well as test new scenarios using Tableau parameters.
  • Bulk scoring in Prep Builder: Enrich your datasets with powerful analytics from machine learning and AI models. Connect to Einstein Discovery and integrate predictions and score data in bulk, including writing in key drivers of predictions.
 

Unified notification experience

The newly redesigned notification center will be your dedicated space within Tableau Server that shows shares, comments, extracts, and prep flows all in one place, consolidating all of the important changes across your organization. The new design makes it easy to act on, manage, and engage with all of your notification info.
 
 

Quick LODs

Create Level of Detail expressions more easily within your workflow. Use context menus or drag and drop a measure onto a dimension, and Tableau will automatically create a LOD expression with the default aggregation.
 
 

Device designer for Web Editing

Easily design dashboards for all your devices using the new device designer for web editing. Make your dashboards look like they were built for every device. Add, edit, and customize your dashboards' layouts to create a design optimized for the best viewing experience on a phone, tableau, or desktop.
 
 

Web authoring improvements

New web authoring features include the ability to drag-and-drop headers and format filters, parameters, and legends in the web browser.
 
 

Snowflake spatial support

We're expanding Tableau's spatial database connections to make solving location-based questions more straightforward than ever. You can now connect directly to Snowflake tables that contain spatial data and instantly visualize that data in Tableau.
 
 

KMZ spatial file support

We’re making spatial analysis with KML files easier within your workflow. In addition to KML files, you can now connect directly to KMZ files, the corresponding compressed file type.

Tableau Services Manager (TSM)

As of Tableau Server 2018.2, Tableau Services Manager (TSM) is now available for Windows as well as Linux, and replaces tabadmin. This new web-based server configuration and management application contains a new user experience for server administrators – a command-line interface (CLI) and a web interface (both interact with the new TSM REST API).

For more information about TSM, see the following helpful resources:

Upgrading from Older Versions

Upgrading Tableau Server on Windows from 2018.1 And Earlier Versions

Beginning with 2018.2, please note that the following administration maintenance tasks have changed for Windows:

Installation - The Installation process has changed significantly. Be sure to read the documentation before starting any installation or upgrade.

Upgrade – The upgrade process is new and differs, depending on whether you are upgrading from version 2018.2.x or from a version earlier than 2018.2. Do not upgrade without first reading the procedures for how to upgrade specific to your scenario.

Uninstall - Uninstall works differently now as well. With version 2018.2 and later you do not need to uninstall until after you have upgraded Tableau.

Watch the video Upgrading to Tableau Server with TSM

 

Upgrading Tableau Server on Linux to 2018.2

  • For Tableau Server on Linux, be sure to follow the detailed instructions outlined in the following Tableau Help article: Upgrade Tableau Server on Linux from 10.5.
  • Important: Failing to follow these steps may display warnings and cancel your upgrade. These extra steps only need to be done once during the upgrade to 2018.2.

Share workbooks and data extracts with other users in your organization using Tableau Server!

Read through the links below for advanced knowledge and details:

Troubleshooting Extracts on Tableau Server

If your users experience or report any of the following behaviors while performing an extract task, they may be running into an incompatibility scenario. Please redirect them to the following Knowledge Base articles to resolve the error(s).

Get Help

 
Self-Service Resources

 
 
Technical Support
Open a support case. For the fastest possible support, please include the following information:
  •  
  • Screenshots of the issue and any error messages (expanded)
  • How far you were into the upgrade process
  • Server logs
  • Note: you can take a log file snapshot and send it to Tableau Support directly from the Tableau Services Manager UI or CLI.
  • msinfo32.exe system report
  • Best times to call

 
 
Professional Services
Our consultants can accelerate your upgrade and help you unlock the value in your data.