Migration & Upgrade6% of the exam
Migrating Tableau Server to new hardware
Move Tableau Server to a new Windows computer, or from Windows to Linux, with a backup and restore: the restore prerequisites, where the .tsbak goes, when to deactivate the old product key, and what a cross-platform restore does and does not bring across.
5.3 Describe how to migrate to different hardware
~7 min read · 3 practice questions
What the exam expects
- Describe the backup-and-restore procedure that moves Tableau Server data to a new computer.
- Find and, if needed, change the folder the restore command reads the backup from.
- Decide when to deactivate the product key on the old computer, and why activations matter.
- Apply the restore prerequisites: same identity store type, same or newer version, a clean target.
- Explain what changes when the target runs Tableau Server on Linux.
Key terms:
- Hardware migration: moving Tableau Server data from the production computer to a new computer where Tableau Server is installed.
- .tsbak: the backup file that
tsm maintenance backupcreates andtsm maintenance restorereads. - basefilepath.backuprestore: the TSM configuration key that sets the backup and restore folder.
- Activation: using a product key on a computer; the same key can be activated up to three times.
- Identity store: local authentication or Active Directory/LDAP, chosen when the server is initialized.
Key facts
Restore command
- Detail
tsm maintenance restore -f <filename>betweentsm stopandtsm start
Restore input folder
- Detail
- Set by
basefilepath.backuprestore; read it withtsm configuration get
Default backups folder
- Detail
C:\ProgramData\Tableau\Tableau Server\data\tabsvc\files\backups\
Changing a basefilepath
- Detail
- Existing files are not moved; not at a drive root
Activations per key
- Detail
- Up to three
Late deactivation
- Detail
- After testing confirms the new server is ready for production
Identity store
- Detail
- Backup and target must use the same type
Version
- Detail
- Restore only to the same or a newer version
Cluster restore
- Detail
- Run on the TSM Controller node
Windows backup on Linux
- Detail
- Content restores; customizations and Windows configuration do not
Sources for this section (5)
- How many times can the same Tableau Server product key be activated?
- Which part of a server does a
.tsbakbackup not carry, and how does it travel instead? - Why might built-in administrative views fail on a Linux test server after the restore?
- When are the additional nodes of a distributed installation installed during a hardware migration?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
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