Connect to the Data Warehouse from Tableau

To access the Data Warehouse from Tableau:

Note on Tableau Oracle Connection

JDBC driver versus OCI driver

Beginning with version 2020.2, Tableau recommends that you use the JDBC driver (available from the Driver Download page) with this connector. The newer JDBC driver resolves some limitations found with the OCI driver, such as no spatial support or Kerberos delegation on Linux.

Windows Setup

1. Download the Oracle JDBC driver version 19.18: ojdbc8.jar
2. Copy the .jar file to C:\Program Files\Tableau\Drivers
   You may have to create the Drivers directory manually)
3. If you are prompted with a “Destination Folder Access Denied” pop up message box, select Continue
4. Save this TNSNames.ora file to C:\Program Files\Tableau\Drivers
5. Make sure the TNS_ADMIN environment variable points to the directory containing the tnsnames.ora file C:\Program Files\Tableau\Drivers
   1. Go to Start > Control Panel > System
      or
      Click on Start, search “Edit environment” select Edit the system environment variables or Edit environment variables for your account.
   2. Click Advanced system settings / User variables for User
   3. In the Advanced tab, click Environment Variables.
   4. Scroll through the System variables list for the TNS_ADMIN variable.
   5. If you see the variable, make sure the Value column matches the directory containing tnsnames.ora.
   6. If you don't see the variable, click New and add the variable and the directory in the Value.
   7. Click OK and close out of all the System/System properties windows.
6. Continue to Connect to the warehouse in Tableau.

Mac Setup

1. Make sure you're logged in as an Adminstrator.
2. Download the Oracle JDBC driver version 19.18 from here ojdbc8.jar
3. Copy the .jar file to this folder (you may have to create it manually):

   ~/Library/Tableau/Drivers

4. Double-click the downloaded .jar file. You should see the following message.
   
   
5. Click Open.
   Result: The message should disappear. Double clicking the OJDBC file again should not trigger this warning anymore.
6. Save these three files to your desktop and move them to your /etc folder
   • TNSNames.ora file
   • ldap.ora
   • sqlnet.ora
     Note: Do not use the command line to copy the file
   1. In Finder, select Go > Go To Folder, and then type /etc (do not put a period after etc).
      
   2. Copy the .ora file to /etc
7. Create a plist file by doing the following:
   1. Start Terminal and type the following command:

      nano ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.oracle.TNS_ADMIN.plist

      If the folder LaunchAgents has not already been created, you will need to create one by:

      1. Navigate to the library folder: cd ~/library
      2. Create the folder mkdir LaunchAgents
   2. Copy and paste the text below

      <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
      <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
      <plist version="1.0">
      <dict>
          <key>Label</key>
          <string>com.oracle.TNS_ADMIN</string>
          <key>ProgramArguments</key>
          <array>
            <string>/bin/launchctl</string>
            <string>setenv</string>
            <string>TNS_ADMIN</string>
            <string>/etc</string>
          </array>
          <key>RunAtLoad</key>
          <true/>
      </dict>
      </plist>
      

   3. Press Ctrl-X, then Y, then Enter to save changes and exit nano.
8. Verify the location for TNS_ADMIN in terminal by entering: echo $TNS_ADMIN.
   Result: This should return /etc
9. Restart the Mac.
10. Confirm you can connect to the Warehouse by opening Terminal and typing the following command:

    ping warehouse

11. Continue to Connect to the warehouse in Tableau.

Connect to the warehouse in Tableau (Windows and Mac)

1. In Tableau, click Connect to Data.
2. Under On a server, click Oracle.
3. Enter the following values and leave all other fields blank:

   Server	warehouse
   Select User	a specific username and password
   Username	your Kerberos username
   Password	your Data Warehouse password (If you don't have a Data Warehouse password or have forgotten it, see Change Your Data Warehouse Password.)

   

4. Click Connect.
5. If you get an error, enter ".world" (without the quotes) in the Service field and try again.
6. If you're on a Mac, try the following:
   • Oracle database error 21561 (ORA-21561: OID generation failed)
7. To add tables from the Data Warehouse, see I've successfully connected to the Data Warehouse in Tableau, but I don't see anything. What do I do?

See Also

• Tableau Landing Page