Deployment flexibility just got better: Tableau on Linux is here!

Flexibility should be at the heart of your existing business intelligence solution. Designing Tableau to easily integrate with your existing environment is important to us. That’s why we are excited to announce that Tableau Server on Linux has arrived with the Tableau 10.5 launch!

The introduction of Tableau Server on Linux lets you combine Tableau’s analytics platform with the enterprise capabilities Linux is known for. Quickly and seamlessly integrate Tableau Server into your current Linux processes and workflows.

By extending our flexibility to the operating system of your choice, your decision is no longer how best to make Tableau fit with your organization’s stack, but rather how best to leverage your existing systems and the expertise of your team with our platform. With Tableau Server on Linux, your security, reliability, and processes are maintained. It’s the same Tableau Server you know and love, but now it fits smoothly into your infrastructure. Choose your distribution and be on your way to making important decisions.

Senior Consultant at Teknion Data Solutions, Bridget Cogley, recently shared her enthusiasm for Tableau Server on Linux: “I’m excited about its availability for a few reasons. First, you’re lowering the overall cost of ownership. And second, it creates openings for a developer population that often seeks greater control and security and truly makes Tableau Server platform agnostic.”

Once you’ve decided on the operating system, the choice becomes how to deploy: on-premise (on a VM or physical machine) or in the public cloud (on AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or Microsoft Azure). Oh, and if you don’t want to maintain a server at all, Tableau Online is a great option.

There are advantages to being able to choose how you want to deploy. With an on-premise server, you have complete control - from the hardware to the security protocols. Hosting a server in the public cloud lets you scale faster because someone else is managing the hardware and you can quickly modify the size.

Having options is important because each organization has unique protocols they need to follow and a diverse user group to consider. Maybe you’re currently running on-premise applications, but moving towards a goal of operating in the cloud. Tableau fits into that strategy. There’s no need to worry about losing content or having to start over.

Concerned about getting all your users access to Tableau Server? First, we make it easy by letting you choose which type of authentication to use: AD, SAML, Kerberos, or LDAP. Then, choose the appropriate permissions per user or group them together to make managing them much easier.

Our flexibility doesn’t stop at deployment.

Tableau connects to hundreds of data sources (and counting), making it easier for your organization to capture and analyze critical data. Tableau’s mission is to help people see and understand data. Therefore, it’s our mission to make sure that you can access the data you need, wherever it lives, and furthermore it’s as easy to work with as possible.

We give you the option to connect to your data live or to bring it into a Tableau extract. By connecting live, you can quickly refresh and see the most up-to-date data. But if you need to improve your performance - say, your data source is too big - Tableau offers the option to bring your data in-memory, letting your queries return results much faster.

Finally, let your users pick their favorite way of interacting with Tableau. Tableau Desktop users can decide between Windows or Mac. To interact with and view visualizations published to Tableau Server, let users see them in a place that’s convenient - embedded in your Salesforce instance, wiki, or web portal. Of course, they can navigate to Tableau Server or Tableau Online, itself, using any browser of their choosing. And if they need to make a quick change or ask a subsequent question, Tableau’s web editing capabilities give them that ease and flexibility as well.

Tableau also makes it easy for you to see your data wherever you are, whether at your desk or on the go with Tableau Mobile, your insights can be made, and questions can be answered.

At Tableau, we believe that our platform should fit into your story, not the other way around. We believe that you should have the choice in how you deploy, integrate, and use our products. We want to make sure you can leverage your current infrastructure, and by continuing to innovate, we’ll be ready to adapt when your infrastructure goes through future changes.