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Database passwords
We are still using the trial version and are very excited about the product. Our biggest issue at the moment is what appears to be a requirement to give users database passwords (we use MySQL). I expected to be able to store passwords with connections such that the passwords do NOT have to be provided to non-admin designers -- and more importantly, never with viewers or even interactors on the server. I've never seen a web based service that exposes database security through to the user (for many, many good reasons), so I'm hoping that I am just missing something. Besides the security issue this also creates administrative headaches with having to separately manage DB user and Tableau users. We are ready to move forward, this is the last significant hurdle.
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You sound like you're talking about the server product. If so, you'll want to enable the "Embedded Passwords" feature on the Admin/Maintenance page.
Desktop users do need DB access, but don't need to be DB admins - Tableau Desktop only needs Read and "create temp table" permissions.
Ok. With a little help I finally got this figured out. The help is really lacking on this point. Other than a vague reference to airlines the help seems to indicate this can't be done. And the "Passwords" button disappears in Desktop until after you have selected embedded passwords on the server AND logged off and logged back in to the server from the desktop.
Plus the fact that desktop isn's smart enough to store a password doesn't inspire confidence that server would be any better.
BUT - Once you get past this it works great. Thanks.
I'm sorry, we'll try to improve the help to make this more clear!
We have a very high standard for security regarding this topic of storing passwords. That button/feature is disabled by default because we want people to consciously choose to enable embedding, which can never be completely risk-free. We do feel very good about the level of security we can provide with the Server product, as long as your server machine isn't cracked in some other way.
The desktop environment is another beast altogether, which is why we don't yet embed passwords within workbooks: encryption alone is not enough, and a false sense of security is worse than none at all.
I'm glad this feature fits your needs - we're open to feedback on how it can be made even better.
Thanks,
James
(Sorry for the delay - the RSS feeds don't seem to catch replies, and I missed this post.)