Troubleshooting12% of the exam
Resetting admin, user and Run As passwords
How to recover a lost initial server administrator with tsm reset and tabcmd initialuser, reset Tableau user passwords with the REST API or the directory, and update, verify or replace the Windows Run As service account and its password.
4.2 Understand how to: 4.2.1 Reset passwords for a Tableau user or Tableau Run-As Service account; 4.2.2 Package log files for reporting; 4.2.3 Use tsm to validate site resources; 4.2.4 Rebuild the search index; 4.2.5 Use maintenance analysis reports; 4.2.6 Create/open support requests.
~8 min read · 9 practice questions
What the exam expects
- Recover access when the initial server administrator's password is lost, including on an Active Directory server and when the old username must be kept.
- Update the Run As service account password after a directory rotation, on a single node or a cluster, with the TSM web UI or CLI.
- Diagnose a failed Run As password update and apply the Microsoft Services console workaround.
- Replace one domain Run As account with another, and know what to clean up afterward.
- Decide when the REST API Update User method can reset an ordinary Tableau user's password, by identity store.
Key terms:
- Initial server administrator: the first Tableau Server administrator, created at the end of installation with
tabcmd initialuser. tsm reset: the TSM command that clears the initial admin user so a new one can be created.- Run As service account: the Windows account Tableau Server services run as, by default NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService.
- Tableau Server Services Manager: the Windows service whose Log On password the Services console workaround updates.
- Update User: the REST API method that updates a Tableau Server user; under local authentication it can change name, email, password or site role, under Active Directory only display name, email and site role, and on Tableau Cloud not the password.
Key facts
tsm reset- Detail
- Clears the initial admin user; the new admin's name cannot repeat the previous one
tsm reset --request-timeout- Detail
- Default 1800 seconds (30 minutes)
tabcmd initialuser- Detail
- Creates a Server administrator, not a TSM administrator; runs on the initial node
Directory identity store
- Detail
- The new initial admin must match a directory account
Run As password in a cluster
- Detail
- Update with TSM on the initial node only
service.runas.password result- Detail
- Validated with Active Directory; TSM reports no success or failure
Degraded after update
- Detail
tsm configuration get -k service.runas.passwordshows the stored value
Services console workaround
- Detail
- Tableau Server stopped; repeated on every node in a cluster
Switching domain accounts
- Detail
- NetworkService first; two restarts, so off hours
Old account after a switch
- Detail
- Permissions remain until revoked manually
Update User and passwords
- Detail
- Can set a password under local authentication; cannot under Active Directory
Sources for this section (5)
- Why run
tsm pending-changes listafter setting the Run As password from the CLI? - When does Tableau Server set the local computer permissions for a newly entered Run As account?
- Why must the Run As account keep its default Active Directory read and query permissions?
- How long does
tsm resetwait for the command to finish by default?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
Keep reading with the Tableau Server Administrator pack
- Core concepts
- Exam traps
- Worked scenario
The pack includes:
- All 34 lessons of the Tableau Server Administrator guide, with reading progress
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