Week 8 of The Data School was all about building on our knowledge of Tableau Server and getting our heads around the PostgreSQL database. PostgreSQL is built into Tableau and is fundamentally a database where Tableau Server stores all the data relating to how the server is used, this is known as the Tableau Server Repository. In effect, the Tableau Server Repository- generates its own data.
The data stored within tables in the Tableau Server Repository can provide solutions to many questions relating to the server’s:
- Users and their interactions with the server
- Disk space
- Sites
- Projects
- Workbooks
- Load times
- Licences
It is a great resource to help to monitor and optimise the Server’s performance. However, the biggest flaw being is the PostgreSQL database is not switched on by default, meaning that companies are not realising what data they could be collecting.
Tableau builds dashboards based on the data in different tables within the Tableau Server Repository, these can be found under the ‘Site Status’ tab on the left panel. It is possible to create custom landing pages tailored to specific metrics or users.
Part of our project work this week was to makeover one of the default dashboards. Charlie and I chose to look at the ‘Traffic to Views’ dashboard, here is what we came up with!
I hope this has given you an understanding about PostgreSQL and the Tableau Repository!