FUSE-TableauFS: File System on Tableau Repository

TableauFS is a FUSE based userspace file system driver built on top of Tableau's repository server. It allows to mount tableau servers with its datasources and workbooks directly to the file system. File information and contents are retrieved on-access without any local persistence or caching. By default the file system connects directly to the postgresql database using readonly credentials, however, read-write mode is also implemented using twlwgadmin user.

Use cases

TableauFS helps Tableau Server administrators in several cases:

Save/copy workbooks or data sources to other, persistent file systems
Run workbook audit tools like Workbook Audit Tool or TWIS
Version control objects with any file based version control system (git, git-annex, subversion, mercurial, p4, etc.)
Directly modify files in the repository without using any API
Migrate contents between servers
Grep strings in workbook definitions

Your Tableau published objects will be visible as ordinary files, thus, the possibilities are unlimited. For more information please visit http://databoss.starschema.net/introducing-tableaufs-file-system-on-tableau-server-repository/

Installation

System requirements

At the moment only Linux, FreeBSD and OSX are supported. If you have to use files from Windows you can still run it form docker or mount thru WebDAV. If required, I can make a dokan or callbackfs based windows port, however, at the moment I am happy with this *nix only version.

Dependencies

To compile the application you need at cmake (=> 2.6), libpq (>= 9.0) and fuse (=>2.9).

Build

Just type cmake . && make && make installand you will have everything installed.

Configuring tableau server database

To exploit all features (include read-write mode) you need tblwgadmin or similar user with superuser privilege while for read only access readonly user is almost enough.

The steps here:

Enable readonly user with tabadmin dbpass --username readonly <password>
Check your pgsql admin password in tabsvc.yml file. The default location is C:\ProgramData\Tableau\Tableau Server\config but depending on your ProgramData folder, this can be different. lease note that ProgramData folder can be hidden.
Go to Tableau Server\9.0\pgsql\bin folder and issue psql -h localhost -p 8060 -U tblwgadmin workgroup command and paste the password from tabsvc.yml
Execute the grant select on pg_largeobject to readonly; statement

to leverage the full read only experience. It will not harm your system (this is still read only) but unsupported.

Usage

To mount a tableau server type:

# tableaufs -o pghost=tabsrver.local,pgport=8060,pguser=readonly,pgpass=readonly /mnt/tableau-dev

where -o stands for file system options. After executing you will see the file system in the mount list:

tableaufs on /mnt/tableau-dev type fuse.tableaufs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=0,group_id=0)

To unmount, simple umount /mnt/tableau-dev

Directory structure & File operations

TableauFS maps Tableau repository to the following directory structure:

/Sitename/Projectname/Workbook 1.tbw[x] 
/Sitename/Projectname/Workbook 2.tbw[x] 
/Sitename/Projectname/Datasource 1.tds[x]

Read operations are fully supported while write support is implemented but still highly experimental. For rw mode you need read-write access to workbooks, datasources and pg_largeobjects tables. Last modification time is read from last_updated columns while file sizes are actual sizes of the pg_largeobjects.

Questions

Is this supported or allowed by Tableau or any 3rd party?

Tableau FS uses the supported readonly repository user by default which is supported and allowed by Tableau. The file system part is completely unsupported, however, we are trying to help you on best effort basis.

Accessing your repository in read-write mode is not supported.

I need this on windows, can I?

You should ramp up a unix server, install a webdav server on it (like apache+mod_dav) and mount it. The Docker image with webdav + tableaufs is here: https://registry.hub.docker.com/u/tfoldi/fuse-tableaufs/

Do you have a binary installer?

No, but you can find a Dockerfile in docker folder, that should help.

Can I move my files to a version control repo?

Sure you can, here is how.

I have strange error regarding fuse device when I execute TableauFS from docker

Add --privileged to your docker exec command line.

Issues / Known bugs

Please send a pull request or open an issue if you have any problems.

License

Distributed under BSD License.

svrds10/fuse-tableaufs