Direct SQL Server connections in Tableau Server without business user having read permission on database

Question

Is it possible to configure a workbook in Tableau Server with an embedded direct SQL Server database connection that doesn't require the business user consuming the workbook to also have read permissions on the connected databases?

I can use extracts for non-real-time data (which works fine with for most things), but some sources are better served with a direct connection so that the workbook view is always serving the most recent records from our database(s), but most (if not all) business users are not going to go through requesting access to each database that a report might use (also, IT would hate me).

I'm currently using Tableau Desktop 9.3.3, Tableau Server 9.3.3, and SQL Server 2012.

I've tried using impersonate user when uploading the data source to Tableau Server, and while the source uploads fine, there's a permission error when trying to access it.

The other option I've found while looking into this issue is using a service account and embedding the database connection credentials, but due to concerns with multiple users/one login this would be (understandably) hard (or impossible) to get through the security team.

Given that there are a lot of companies using Tableau with large BI teams and many report consumers, someone must have already solved this problem, but neither myself nor Tableau Support have come up with a good solution.

Answer 1

You can publish live connections and select Embedded password. Tableau users can then use a server hosted data source (if you give them permission) and they will not need their own account access to the SQL server.