Running into a dilemma, currently just using Tableau desktop, getting ready to deploy Tableau Server in the next couple of days. We have a primary MSFT SQL Server shop for all of our data, COTS, OLTP, etc... Started using SQL Server views to build my Tableau POC and performance is bad, query/data refresh is >20+ seconds compared to ms on the SSRS/SSAS side, some of my data-sets are not that large, min data-sets start around 90k rows. Anyone out there running into anything similar. Thanks...
Hi Ray,
In one Tableau worksheet I can make a 2 row data set take down the system Tableau is running on and in another worksheet a billion row data set can be lightning-fast…that is to say there are many, many reasons why you can see different results so I can’t give you exact advice, only some pointers:
1) A key resource is the Designing Efficient Workbooks white paper, it’s got a ton of great tips on tuning Tableau: https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/designing-efficient-workbooks <https://www.tableau.com/learn/whitepapers/designing-efficient-workbooks>
2) Know that the performance you see on Tableau Desktop is likely to be different than on Tableau Server (the white paper has detailed explanations why), the best advice is to make it run fast on Desktop first. The reason why is that if it’s not fast on Desktop then it’s probably not going to be fast when you publish it to Tableau Server due to the extra overhead for delivering views over the web.
3) I suggest you run Tableau’s Performance Recorder in Tableau and review the results, you’ll figure out where the Tableau views are being slow to render. Instructions for:
Tableau Desktop: https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/help.html#perf_record_create_desktop.html <https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/pro/desktop/en-us/help.html#perf_record_create_desktop.html>
Tableau Server: https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/perf_record_create_server.htm <https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/perf_record_create_server.htm>
4) Finally, Tableau was designed for interactive analysis of data so it’s going to issue more and/or different queries than other tools. For example for a static report a “kitchen sink” query or view can work to get everything that’s needed all at once, whereas if that query is being executed every other mouse click in Tableau (which could conceivably happen) then that query/view could be too slow to support the desired interactivity. Therefore queries & views that were built to support the needs of SSRS/SSAS, etc. won’t necessarily translate perfectly with Tableau. The Performance Recorder will help you identify this.
Jonathan
