Configure Server Event Notification

A Tableau Services Manager (TSM) administrator can configure Tableau Server to allow notifications for the following events:

  • Content updates
    • Extract failures (enabled by default)
    • Subscription views for users (disabled by default)
  • Server health monitoring
    • Server status changes (disabled by default)
    • Desktop License reporting (disabled by default)
  • Drive space
    • Email alerts when disk space crosses or remains below pre-configured thresholds (disabled by default)
    • Recording usage history (enabled by default)

Note: You need to configure SMTP before you can configure subscriptions or notifications. For more information, see Configure SMTP Setup.

  1. Open TSM in a browser:

    https://<tsm-computer-name>:8850.

    For more information, see Sign in to Tableau Services Manager Web UI.

  2. Click Notificationson the Configuration tab and click Events.

  3. Configure notification settings for your organization:

    • Content updates
      • Send emails for extract refresh failures

        When this option is enabled (the default), a server administrator can configure email notifications to be sent when extract refreshes fail. These messages are configured at the site level, so even if this option is enabled, messages are not sent unless the Send email to data source and workbook owners when scheduled refreshes fail option is enabled for a site (this is enabled by default). For details, see Enable Extract Refresh Scheduling and Failure Notification.

      • Allow users to receive email for views that they have subscribed to

        When this option is enabled (by default is it disabled), a server administrator can configure a site to send subscription email. These email messages are configured at the site level and can only be configured when this option is enabled. For details, see Set Up a Site for Subscriptions.

        When users subscribe to a workbook or view, a snapshot of the view is emailed to them on a scheduled basis, so they can see the latest updates without having to sign into Tableau Server.

        To allow users to attach PDF renderings on subscription emails, select Let users add attachments to subscribed views.

    • Server health monitoring
      • Send emails for Tableau Server process events (up, down, and failover)

        Tableau Server sends an email message when the data engine, file store, gateway, or repository server processes stop or restart, or when the initial Tableau Server node stops or restarts.

        If you are running a single-server installation (all processes on the same computer), health alerts are only sent when Tableau Server is up. No "down" alerts are sent. If you are running a distributed installation that's configured for failover, a DOWN alert means that the active repository or a data engine instance has failed and the subsequent UP alert means that the passive instance (repository) or second instance (data engine) of that process has taken over.

        Note: Tableau Server is designed to be self-correcting. If a service or process stops responding or goes down, Tableau Server attempts to restart it. This can take 15 to 30 minutes to complete. Because of this, reacting immediately to service or process alerts can be counter-productive, especially in an installation with redundant services that can handle requests while one restarts.

      • Enable Tableau Desktop License reporting

        License reporting data originates in Tableau Desktop and is sent to Tableau Server. When this option is enabled, Tableau Server will generate and display the administrative report for Desktop License reporting. For information on the report, see Desktop License Usage.

      • Drive space

        Enable notifications (alerts) for remaining disk space on your Tableau Server.

        • Send emails when unused drive space drops below thresholds

          You can configure Tableau Server to send email notifications when disk space usage on any node crosses a threshold, or remains below the threshold. And you can configure how often threshold notifications are sent.

          There are two thresholds you must set, Warning threshold and Critical threshold. Thresholds are expressed in percentage of disk space remaining. The critical threshold must be less than the warning threshold.

          You also specify the Send threshold alert every option. This determines how often, in minutes, warning and critical notifications should be sent. The default value is 60 minutes.

        • Record disk space usage information and threshold violations for use in custom administrative views

          When you configure Tableau Server to record disk space usage, information about free disk space is saved in the repository and you can view the usage history using the Administrative Views.

  4. Click Save Pending Changes after you've entered your configuration information.

  5. Click Pending Changes at the top of the page:

  6. Click Apply Changes and Restart.

The various notification values described above can be set individually with the tsm configuration set command. Alternatively, you can construct a json file and pass all configuration values in one operation. Both methods are described in this section.

Set notification values individually

The following table shows the key/value pairs that map to the notification events described earlier in this topic. Use the tsm configuration set command with the following syntax to set a single key/value pair:

tsm configuration set -k <config.key> -v <config_value>

For example, to enable job failure notifications, run the following command:

tsm configuration set -k backgrounder.notifications_enabled -v true

Notification option Key Value
Extract failures or Flow run failures backgrounder.notifications_enabled true | false
Enable subscription views for user subscriptions.enabled true | false
Enable PDF attachments for subscriptions subscriptions.attachments_enabled true | false
Maximum attachment size (MB) for subscription notifications subscriptions.max_attachment_size_megabytes integer value, default is 150
Server status changes svcmonitor.notification.smtp.enabled true | false
License reporting features.DesktopReporting true | false
Remaining space thresholds: enable email notifications storage.monitoring.email_enabled true | false
Remaining space thresholds: warning percentage storage.monitoring.warning_percent integer value, for example, 20
Remaining space thresholds: critical percentage storage.monitoring.critical_percent integer value, for example, 15
Set email interval storage.monitoring.email_interval_min integer value, in minutes, for example, 25
Record usage history storage.monitoring.record_history_enabled true | false

After you are done setting values, you must run the following command:

tsm pending-changes apply

If the pending changes require a server restart, the pending-changes apply command will display a prompt to let you know a restart will occur. This prompt displays even if the server is stopped, but in that case there is no restart. You can suppress the prompt using the --ignore-prompt option, but this does not change the restart behavior. If the changes do not require a restart, the changes are applied without a prompt. For more information, see tsm pending-changes apply.

Set all notification values with a single json file

To make all notifications settings with a single configuration, you can pass a json file.

Copy and edit the following template to create a file for your configuration.

{
  "configKeys": {
    "backgrounder.notifications_enabled": true,
    "subscriptions.enabled": true,
    "subscriptions.attachments_enabled": true,
    "subscriptions.max_attachment_size_megabytes": 150,
    "svcmonitor.notification.smtp.enabled": true,
    "features.DesktopReporting": true,
    "storage.monitoring.email_enabled": true,
    "storage.monitoring.warning_percent": 20,
    "storage.monitoring.critical_percent": 15,
    "storage.monitoring.email_interval_min": 25,
    "storage.monitoring.record_history_enabled": true
  }
}

After you have saved the file, pass it with the following command:

tsm settings import -f <path-to-file.json>

To apply changes, run the following command:

tsm pending-changes apply

If the pending changes require a server restart, the pending-changes apply command will display a prompt to let you know a restart will occur. This prompt displays even if the server is stopped, but in that case there is no restart. You can suppress the prompt using the --ignore-prompt option, but this does not change the restart behavior. If the changes do not require a restart, the changes are applied without a prompt. For more information, see tsm pending-changes apply.

 

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