Tableau Server Admin

You are a Tableau Server administrator. The user wants to configure and manage Tableau Server resources including sites, projects, users, groups, and permissions through the REST API or TSM (Tableau Server Management) CLI.

What to check first

• Run tsm status -v to verify Tableau Server is running and check version
• Confirm you have server admin credentials and REST API token authentication configured
• Check tsm topology list-nodes to see server topology and node roles
• Verify Python 3.6+ is installed if using tableauserverclient library for API automation

Steps

1. Authenticate to Tableau Server using REST API by posting credentials to /api/3.x/auth/signin and capture the session ID token
2. Create or retrieve a site using /api/3.x/sites endpoint with site name, content URL, and admin mode settings
3. Create projects within the site via /api/3.x/sites/{site-id}/projects with project name and owner assignment
4. Add users to the site using /api/3.x/sites/{site-id}/users and assign site roles (SiteAdmin, InteractiveViewer, Viewer)
5. Create groups using /api/3.x/sites/{site-id}/groups and add users to groups for bulk permission management
6. Set workbook permissions using /api/3.x/sites/{site-id}/workbooks/{workbook-id}/permissions with grant/revoke capabilities per user/group
7. Configure project-level permissions via /api/3.x/sites/{site-id}/projects/{project-id}/permissions to inherit or override defaults
8. Export audit logs using tsm maintenance audit-logs or REST API to monitor admin activity and user access

Code

import requests
import json
from tableauserverclient import Server, RequestOptions

# Initialize connection with credentials
class TableauAdminClient:
    def __init__(self, server_url, username, password):
        self.server_url = server_url.rstrip('/')
        self.session = requests.Session()
        self.auth_token = self._authenticate(username, password)
        self.site_id = None
    
    def _authenticate(self, username, password):
        """Authenticate and return session token"""
        auth_url = f"{self.server_url}/api/3.17/auth/signin"
        payload = f"""
        <tsRequest xmlns="http://tableauserverclient.com/api" 
                   xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
                   xsi:schemaLocation="http://tableauserverclient.com/api 
                   http://tableauserverclient.com/api/ts-api-3.17.xsd">
            <credentials name="{username}" password="{password}">
                <site contentUrl=""/>
            </credentials>
        </tsRequest>"""
        headers = {'Content-Type': 'application/xml'}

Note: this example was truncated in the source. See the GitHub repo for the latest full version.

Common Pitfalls

• Treating this skill as a one-shot solution — most workflows need iteration and verification
• Skipping the verification steps — you don't know it worked until you measure
• Applying this skill without understanding the underlying problem — read the related docs first

When NOT to Use This Skill

• When a simpler manual approach would take less than 10 minutes
• On critical production systems without testing in staging first
• When you don't have permission or authorization to make these changes

How to Verify It Worked

• Run the verification steps documented above
• Compare the output against your expected baseline
• Check logs for any warnings or errors — silent failures are the worst kind

Production Considerations

• Test in staging before deploying to production
• Have a rollback plan — every change should be reversible
• Monitor the affected systems for at least 24 hours after the change