HOWTO: Tableau Server Linux in Docker Container -Databoss

FOR BI PROS LEARN Tableau

HOWTO: Tableau Server Linux in Docker Container

November 2, 2017

beta, container, docker, tableau, tableau server

We are all excited about the great news that Tableau will release its Server version on Linux. Even if I’ve been testing the linux build for a while now, since this feature is currently in Beta I can start sharing tips and tricks that will make others’ (yours perhaps) lives easier. The first is an easy howto, namely how to run a Tableau Server Linux in Docker container. Running the production Server in docker definitely makes no sense, however, for quick and dirty checks or automated testing pipelines (CD/CI) it has it’s own place. So let’s see.

TL;DR

Dockerfile, instruction and code is here: https://github.com/tfoldi/tableau-server-docker

If you prefer to watch a geeky console video, here is the flow how you can build the image with few simple commands:

After the build you can simply execute make run to execute the built image.

Prerequisites

To start you need a systemd based Linux host (can be physical box or VM) with Docker installed. If you don’t have this I suggest to create an amazon ec2 instance with CentOS 7. Simply provision a new image with a CentOS7 marketplace image:

You need to install docker and set the required permissions to run it with a non-root user. To do that simply create a group called docker and set your desired user’s membership to include this group. If all good, you should be able to list running docker images with docker ps :

[centos@ip-172-30-2-105 ~]$ docker ps

CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES

[centos@ip-172-30-2-105 ~]$

Now we are good to go and focus on Tableau specific tasks.

Building the Dockerfile

First of all, “Dockerizing” Linux is not that easy, even folks at Tableau had problems doing that:

The good old systemd. It’s a love hate relationship: we all know that the init.d/rc.d approach is not scalable but we all do hate systemd. Let’s address this first with our Dockerfile:

# Run `make run` to get things started

# our image is centos default image with systemd

FROM centos/systemd

As you see we start from a special systemd centos image. If your parent docker image does not support systemd, you will have bad times.

# this is the version what we're building
ENV TABLEAU_VERSION="10.5-beta5" \
    LANG=en_US.UTF-8

# make systemd dbus visible 
VOLUME /sys/fs/cgroup /run /tmp /var/opt/tableau

# Install core bits and their deps:w
RUN rpm -Uvh https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm && \
    yum install -y iproute curl sudo vim && \
    adduser tsm && \
    (echo tsm:tsm | chpasswd) && \
    (echo 'tsm ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL' > /etc/sudoers.d/tsm) && \
    mkdir -p  /run/systemd/system /opt/tableau/docker_build && \
    yum install -y \
             "https://beta.tableau.com/linux_files/tableau-server-automated-installer-${TABLEAU_VERSION}.noarch.rpm" \
             "https://beta.tableau.com/linux_files/tableau-server-${TABLEAU_VERSION}.x86_64.rpm"  \
             "https://beta.tableau.com/linux_driver/tableau-postgresql-odbc-9.5.3-1.x86_64.rpm"  && \
    rm -rf /var/tmp/yum-* 


COPY config/* /opt/tableau/docker_build/

RUN mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/ && \
    cp /opt/tableau/docker_build/tableau_server_install.service /etc/systemd/system/ && \
    systemctl enable tableau_server_install

# Expose TSM and Gateway ports
EXPOSE 80 8850

CMD /sbin/init

# this is the version what we're building

ENV TABLEAU_VERSION="10.5-beta5" \

LANG=en_US.UTF-8

# make systemd dbus visible

VOLUME /sys/fs/cgroup /run /tmp /var/opt/tableau

# Install core bits and their deps:w

RUN rpm -Uvh https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-7.noarch.rpm && \

yum install -y iproute curl sudo vim && \

adduser tsm && \

(echo tsm:tsm | chpasswd) && \

(echo 'tsm ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL' > /etc/sudoers.d/tsm) && \

mkdir -p /run/systemd/system /opt/tableau/docker_build && \

yum install -y \

"https://beta.tableau.com/linux_files/tableau-server-automated-installer-${TABLEAU_VERSION}.noarch.rpm" \

"https://beta.tableau.com/linux_files/tableau-server-${TABLEAU_VERSION}.x86_64.rpm" \

"https://beta.tableau.com/linux_driver/tableau-postgresql-odbc-9.5.3-1.x86_64.rpm" && \

rm -rf /var/tmp/yum-*

COPY config/* /opt/tableau/docker_build/

RUN mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/ && \

cp /opt/tableau/docker_build/tableau_server_install.service /etc/systemd/system/ && \

systemctl enable tableau_server_install

# Expose TSM and Gateway ports

EXPOSE 80 8850

CMD /sbin/init

Few important things here:

Line 6: We should add the cgroup specific volumes here as external ones. Also, to speed things up /var/opt/tableau should go to a volume.
Line 9: to reduce docker fs layers we install dependencies (plus vim), create the OS users and install the Tableau Server bits in the same RUN run.
Line 22: my magic config file templates and init scripts go under /opt/tableau/docker_build/
Line 24: this is the magic part: installing tableau_server_install.service systemd file and enable it. This systemd service will run only at the first execution and will invoke the initalization part.
Line 31: the start command is systemd’s init

Now we have our docker image, let’s run it.

The first run: initalizing the container

Tableau Server must be initalized before you start using it. You have to accept the EULA, register, license and initalize the server. All these actions are performed during your first load from the above mentioned tableau server install systemd service. The code to initalize the server can be found here:

#!/bin/bash

# Exit on first error:w
set -e

LOGFILE=/var/log/tableau_docker.log
RETAIN_NUM_LINES=10000

function logsetup {  
    TMP=$(tail -n $RETAIN_NUM_LINES $LOGFILE 2>/dev/null) && echo "${TMP}" > $LOGFILE
    exec > >(tee -a $LOGFILE)
    exec 2>&1
}

function log {  
    echo "[$(date --rfc-3339=seconds)]: $*"
}

logsetup

log start initalize tsm
su tsm -c "sudo sh -x /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/scripts.*/initialize-tsm -f --accepteula" 2>&1 1> /var/log/tableau_docker.log
log initalize done

source /etc/profile.d/tableau_server.sh

log login tsm
su tsm -c "sudo /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/customer-bin.${TABLEAU_SERVER_DATA_DIR_VERSION}/tsm login --username tsm --password tsm" 2>&1 1>> /var/log/tableau_docker.log
log login tsm done

log licenses activate
su tsm -c "sudo /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/customer-bin.${TABLEAU_SERVER_DATA_DIR_VERSION}/tsm licenses activate -t" 2>&1 1>> /var/log/tableau_docker.log
log licenses activate done 

log register 
su tsm -c "sudo /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/customer-bin.${TABLEAU_SERVER_DATA_DIR_VERSION}/tsm register --file /opt/tableau/docker_build/registration_file.json" 2>&1 1>> /var/log/tableau_docker.log
log register done

log settings import
su tsm -c "sudo /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/customer-bin.${TABLEAU_SERVER_DATA_DIR_VERSION}/tsm settings import -f /opt/tableau/docker_build/tableau_config.json" 2>&1 1>> /var/log/tableau_docker.log
log settings import done

log pending-changes apply
su tsm -c "sudo /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/customer-bin.${TABLEAU_SERVER_DATA_DIR_VERSION}/tsm pending-changes apply --restart" 2>&1 1>> /var/log/tableau_docker.log
log penging-changes apply done

log initalize server
su tsm -c "sudo /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/customer-bin.${TABLEAU_SERVER_DATA_DIR_VERSION}/tsm initialize --start-server --request-timeout 1800" 2>&1 1>> /var/log/tableau_docker.log
log initalize server done

log initialuser 
su tsm -c "sudo /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/bin.${TABLEAU_SERVER_DATA_DIR_VERSION}/tabcmd initialuser --server localhost:80 --username admin --password admin" 2>&1 1>> /var/log/tableau_docker.log
log all done


touch /opt/tableau/docker_build/.init-done

log start initalize tsm

su tsm -c "sudo sh -x /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/scripts.*/initialize-tsm -f --accepteula" 2>&1 1> /var/log/tableau_docker.log

log initalize done

source /etc/profile.d/tableau_server.sh

log login tsm

su tsm -c "sudo /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/customer-bin.${TABLEAU_SERVER_DATA_DIR_VERSION}/tsm login --username tsm --password tsm" 2>&1 1>> /var/log/tableau_docker.log

log login tsm done

log licenses activate

su tsm -c "sudo /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/customer-bin.${TABLEAU_SERVER_DATA_DIR_VERSION}/tsm licenses activate -t" 2>&1 1>> /var/log/tableau_docker.log

log licenses activate done

log register

su tsm -c "sudo /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/customer-bin.${TABLEAU_SERVER_DATA_DIR_VERSION}/tsm register --file /opt/tableau/docker_build/registration_file.json" 2>&1 1>> /var/log/tableau_docker.log

log register done

log settings import

su tsm -c "sudo /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/customer-bin.${TABLEAU_SERVER_DATA_DIR_VERSION}/tsm settings import -f /opt/tableau/docker_build/tableau_config.json" 2>&1 1>> /var/log/tableau_docker.log

log settings import done

log pending-changes apply

su tsm -c "sudo /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/customer-bin.${TABLEAU_SERVER_DATA_DIR_VERSION}/tsm pending-changes apply --restart" 2>&1 1>> /var/log/tableau_docker.log

log penging-changes apply done

log initalize server

su tsm -c "sudo /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/customer-bin.${TABLEAU_SERVER_DATA_DIR_VERSION}/tsm initialize --start-server --request-timeout 1800" 2>&1 1>> /var/log/tableau_docker.log

log initalize server done

log initialuser

su tsm -c "sudo /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/bin.${TABLEAU_SERVER_DATA_DIR_VERSION}/tabcmd initialuser --server localhost:80 --username admin --password admin" 2>&1 1>> /var/log/tableau_docker.log

log all done

And now, for you, a boring but complete screencast from this phase:

After the initalization you can see that the container reached the multi user state:

[centos@ip-172-30-2-105 ~]$ docker ps

CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES

585552e58df3 tfoldi/tableau-server:beta "/bin/sh -c /sbin/ini" 11 minutes ago Up 11 minutes 8850/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32768->80/tcp silly_fermat

[centos@ip-172-30-2-105 ~]$ docker logs 585552e58df3 --tail=4

[ OK ] Created slice User Slice of tsm.

[ OK ] Removed slice User Slice of tsm.

[ OK ] Started Tableau Silent Install in Docker.

[ OK ] Reached target Multi-User System.

And now nothing is left but log on to the server with admin / admin user / pass:

Tableau Linux build in Docker.

And wow, Linux, fully automated installation directly in docker.

Pro tip

After you initalized the image and your tableau server is up and running, it’s activated and licensed it’s time to save back to your docker repository. Thus, next time when you run the image you don’t have to wait 10 mins for the initalization. However, for that you have to keep track of your volumes and make sure that you set volume storage to a persistent location.

[centos@ip-172-30-2-105 ~]$ docker ps

CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES

585552e58df3 tfoldi/tableau-server:beta "/bin/sh -c /sbin/ini" 14 minutes ago Up 14 minutes 8850/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32768->80/tcp silly_fermat

[centos@ip-172-30-2-105 ~]$ docker commit 585552e58df3 tfoldi/tableau-server:actvtd

sha256:66350c3ca20ac3462db147bddb3ef950a53666aaeabe48ac4148fc176ae1c0dc

[centos@ip-172-30-2-105 tableau-server-beta-docker]$ docker run -ti --privileged -v /sys/fs/cgroup:/sys/fs/cgroup -v /run -p 80 tfoldi/tableau-server:actvtd

Where is the code?

Again, it’s here: https://github.com/tfoldi/tableau-server-docker

Questions? Comments?

Just drop a comment.

About
Latest Posts

Tamás Földi

Director of IT Development at Starschema

Decades of experience with data processing and state of the art programming. From nuclear bomb explosion simulation to distributed file systems. ethical hacking, real time stream processing practically I always had a great fun with those geeky ones and zeros.

Latest posts by Tamás Földi (see all)

Python Experiments in Tableau 1. – Add live currency conversion to Tableau Dashboards using TabPy - January 9, 2018
HOWTO: Tableau Server Linux in Docker Container - November 2, 2017
Tableau Filestore Consistency Checker – How Repository Maps to Filestore - August 17, 2017

Patrick Whitefield

I followed your guide and it was a great tutorial. However, I ran into a problem. My desktop did not meet the minimum requirements. Do you know how to get around this issue:

–Your system does NOT meet the minimum system requirements for Tableau Server–
Tableau Server requires these minimum hardware requirements: http://www.tableau.com/products/server/specs
Either try the install on a different computer, or explore our other options for running a trial of Tableau Server: http://www.tableau.com/products/server/download
Tableau Server requires at least 8 GB memory to run, but found only 2 GB of memory.
Tableau Server runs best with at least 8 cores, but found only 4 core(s).
- Tamas Foldi
  
  Maybe add more resources? Actually it’s tableau’s requirement, not mine. You can bypass the checks by modifying the install scripts but that requires to change the RPMs
王新俊

the latest version https://www.tableau.com/zh-cn/support/releases/server/10.5.2 ,docker support ？
- Tamas Foldi
  
  it’s in a different repo: https://github.com/tfoldi/tableau-server-docker
  
  hope this helps
percy78

Hi,
Great guide, unfortunately I’ve seen to have stumbled on the last hurdle.
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
c06546f4443d tfoldi/tableau-server:release “/bin/sh -c /sbin/…” 22 minutes ago Up 22 minutes 8850/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32768->80/tcp gracious_pare

As you can see my Docker container is running, however I cannot login to tableau from the web-browser. I’m trying all sorts.
I’ve tested 32768 and as your demonstration 32774 with no success.

Telnet works on 32768.
Trying 127.0.0.1…
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is ‘^]’.
Connection closed by foreign host.

Any ideas?

Thanks
- Tamas Foldi
  
  can you connect to the docker image with “make exec” from a different terminal but same subdirectory. then you can try tsm status to see what is going on
王新俊

Hi,
Use your new Dockerfile,it stop here:
…
[ OK ] Created slice User Slice of tsm.
[FAILED] Failed to start Tableau Silent Install in Docker.
See ‘systemctl status tableau_server_install.service’ for details.
[ OK ] Reached target Multi-User System.

Inner docker,The details :

sh: /opt/tableau/tableau_server/packages/scripts.*/initialize-tsm: No such file
or directory

How to do next?

Thanks
- Tamas Foldi
  
  Can you ping me the full logs from docker build? not just from the make run
  - Joshua Tonga
    
    having the same issue
  - Joshua Tonga
    
    [ OK ] Created slice User Slice of tsm.
    [ OK ] Removed slice User Slice of tsm.
    [ OK ] Created slice User Slice of tsm.
    [FAILED] Failed to start Tableau Silent Install in Docker.
    See ‘systemctl status tableau_server_install.service’ for details.
    [ OK ] Reached target Multi-User System.
    
    make exec
    systemctl status tableau_server_install.service’ -l
    
    tableau_server_install.service – Tableau Silent Install in Docker
    Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/tableau_server_install.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
    Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2018-04-11 04:09:55 UTC; 5min ago
    Main PID: 19 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
    
    Apr 11 04:09:31 e753b7fd3dcb tableau-init-configure.sh[19]: [2018-04-11 04:09:31+00:00]: login tsm done
    Apr 11 04:09:31 e753b7fd3dcb tableau-init-configure.sh[19]: [2018-04-11 04:09:31+00:00]: licenses activate
    Apr 11 04:09:31 e753b7fd3dcb su[919]: (to tsm) root on none
    Apr 11 04:09:43 e753b7fd3dcb tableau-init-configure.sh[19]: [2018-04-11 04:09:43+00:00]: licenses activate done
    Apr 11 04:09:43 e753b7fd3dcb tableau-init-configure.sh[19]: [2018-04-11 04:09:43+00:00]: register
    Apr 11 04:09:43 e753b7fd3dcb su[1040]: (to tsm) root on none
    Apr 11 04:09:55 e753b7fd3dcb systemd[1]: tableau_server_install.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
    Apr 11 04:09:55 e753b7fd3dcb systemd[1]: Failed to start Tableau Silent Install in Docker.
    Apr 11 04:09:55 e753b7fd3dcb systemd[1]: Unit tableau_server_install.service entered failed state.
    Apr 11 04:09:55 e753b7fd3dcb systemd[1]: tableau_server_install.service failed.

TL;DR

Prerequisites

Building the Dockerfile

The first run: initalizing the container

Pro tip

Where is the code?

Questions? Comments?

Tamás Földi

Latest posts by Tamás Földi (see all)

Python Experiments in Tableau 1. – Add live currency conversion to Tableau Dashboards using TabPy

Tableau Filestore Consistency Checker – How Repository Maps to Filestore

Pushing the Limits of Tableau Server – Practical Lessons from a Zen Master

Fresh Data

Python Experiments in Tableau 1. – Add live currency conversion to Tableau Dashboards using TabPy