Salesforce-Tableau-Server-Administrator Practice Test Questions

Explanation:

Why C is Correct: A key feature of group-based subscriptions in Tableau is their dynamic nature. The subscription is not tied to a static list of individual users who were in the group at the moment of creation. Instead, it is linked to the group itself. When a user is added to (or removed from) that group, their subscription status is automatically updated to reflect their new group membership. Therefore, any user added to the group will automatically start receiving the subscription without any manual intervention from an administrator or the subscription creator.

Why A is Incorrect:
There is no approval workflow for group membership changes in standard Tableau Server subscriptions. The system handles the update automatically.

Why B is Incorrect:
The subscription creator does not receive a notice, and no manual editing of the subscription is required. The entire purpose of using a group for a subscription is to avoid this manual maintenance. The system manages the recipient list based on the current group members.

Why D is Incorrect:
This describes a static subscription list. While Tableau does allow for subscriptions to individual users (which are static), a group subscription is specifically designed to be dynamic. Option D contradicts the fundamental behavior of a group-based subscription.

Reference:
Tableau Help: Create Subscriptions - The documentation explains that when you subscribe a group, "the subscription is sent to all members of the group. If the group membership changes, the subscription is automatically updated."

Explanation:
tsm maintenance backup -f .tsbak creates a Tableau Server backup of data managed by the server—primarily the Tableau PostgreSQL repository (workbook/user metadata) and the File Store (extracts, etc.). It does not capture server configuration/topology settings. Those are exported separately with tsm settings export.

Eliminations:
A) Notification settings – part of configuration; not included in the .tsbak. Use tsm settings export.
B) SMTP server settings – also configuration; export with tsm settings export, not in the data backup.
D) Topology data – node/process topology is configuration, not included in .tsbak. Export settings separately.

References:
Tableau Help — Back up Tableau Server Data (“includes … data extract files and the Tableau PostgreSQL database”) and note to use tsm settings for configuration.
Tableau Help — Perform a Full Backup and Restore of Tableau Server (what’s in the .tsbak).

Explanation:

The Background Tasks for Extracts administrative view is the primary place to troubleshoot failed extract refreshes on Tableau Server. This built-in dashboard provides a detailed log of all extract refresh tasks, showing you the status (succeeded or failed), run time, and—most importantly—the specific error message for any failed tasks. This view is the fastest and most direct way to identify the root cause of the problem, such as database connection issues, incorrect credentials, or a malformed query.

Detailed Breakdown
A. The status of the Backgrounder process, as shown by the tsm status -v command: While the Backgrounder process is what performs the extract refresh, this command only tells you if the process is running or not. It does not provide any specific information about individual tasks or why they might have failed.

C. The UNC path to the extract's data source: This is a potential cause of the problem (e.g., the path is no longer accessible), but it is not a place you would review to identify the cause. The Background Tasks for Extracts view would tell you if there was an issue with the data source connection, which would then lead you to investigate the UNC path.

D. Whether the project permissions are set to Locked to the project: Permissions are a common source of issues, but the user would likely receive a permission-denied error when attempting to publish or schedule the refresh, not when the extract refresh itself is running. The Background Tasks for Extracts view would still be the place to find this specific error message.

Explanation:

When Tableau Server is stopped using tsm stop, most of the core server processes—like VizQL Server and Backgrounder—are shut down. However, two key Tableau Services Manager (TSM) processes continue to run:
License Manager: This process manages Tableau Server's licensing and activation. It remains active to ensure license validation and allow administrative actions related to licensing even when the server is stopped.
Administration Controller: This process handles TSM commands and administrative tasks. It stays running so that you can still perform configuration changes, backups, or start the server again.

These processes are part of the TSM layer, which operates independently of the Tableau Server application layer.

❌ Why not the others?
A. VizQL Server: This is a core Tableau Server process responsible for rendering visualizations. It stops when the server is stopped.
C. Backgrounder: This handles scheduled tasks like extract refreshes and subscriptions. It also stops when the server is stopped.

🔗 Reference:
You can find this behavior documented in Tableau’s official guide on TSM processes.

Explanation:

In Tableau Server, site-level configuration allows server administrators to tailor settings for each site individually. Two such configurable options are:
Limitation on storage space (B): Server admins can set storage quotas per site to control how much disk space is used. This helps manage resources and prevent any single site from consuming excessive storage.
Language and locale (D): Each site can be configured with its own default language and locale settings, which affect date formats, number formats, and UI language for users within that site.

❌ Why not the others?
A. Ability to embed credentials: This is a data source-level or workbook-level setting, not configured per site.
C. Limitation on number of users: Tableau Server does not support setting a hard limit on the number of users per site. User access is managed through licensing and permissions, but not capped per site.

🔗 Reference:
You can find more details in Tableau’s documentation on Managing Sites and Site Settings

Explanation:

tsm reset returns Tableau Server to the post-install, pre-initialization state (without doing a full reinstall). After a reset, the next time you access the server you’ll be prompted to set up the initial administrator again.

Eliminations:
A) Edit tabsvc.yml – legacy (pre-TSM) and not how you reset the initial admin in modern Tableau Server.
C) tsm register – registers licensing/contact info; it doesn’t affect the admin account flow.
D) Reinstall Tableau Server – unnecessary; tsm reset achieves the goal without a full reinstall.

Explanation:

Why D is Correct:
Tableau Server has a safeguard to prevent accidental data loss. If a user owns any content (such as workbooks, data sources, or projects), the system will not allow you to delete them. Instead, the delete action fails, and the user's site role is automatically changed to "Unlicensed". This effectively removes their access to the server without deleting their account or the content they own. To fully delete the user, an administrator must first reassign all of their content to another user.

Why A is Incorrect:
This does not happen automatically. While the server administrator has the permission to reassign content, they must do so manually before the user can be deleted. The delete action itself will not trigger an automatic reassignment to the admin.

Why B is Incorrect:
Reassignment to a project leader is not an automatic process in Tableau Server. Project leaders do not automatically inherit content from users being deleted. The administrator must explicitly manage the reassignment.

Why C is Incorrect:
This would be a dangerous default behavior, as it could lead to massive, unintended data loss. Tableau Server is designed to protect content by preventing the deletion of users who own it.

Reference:
Tableau Help: Delete Users - The documentation clearly states: "You can't delete a user who is the owner of content on the site... If the user owns content, Tableau Server changes the user's site role to Unlicensed. To delete the user, you must first assign ownership of the user's content to another user."

Explanation:

The Administration Controller manages the Tableau Services Manager (TSM) web interface, enabling secure access over HTTPS (e.g., at https://:8850). It handles TSM operations and SSL configuration for secure communication.

Why not others?
A. License Manager: Manages licenses, not HTTPS access.
C. Administration Agent: Executes TSM commands on nodes, doesn’t handle HTTPS.
D. Coordination Service: Ensures node consistency, not related to TSM HTTPS access.

Reference:
Tableau Help: Configure SSL for TSM

Explanation:

A Tableau Server Administrator has the highest level of administrative privileges. They manage the entire Tableau Server instance, including all sites, users, and server-level configurations. A Site Administrator, on the other hand, is limited to managing content, users, and settings within a specific site.

B. Adding a site:
Only a server administrator can create new sites on a Tableau Server. This is a fundamental, server-wide architectural task that defines the multi-tenancy structure of the environment.
D. Adding users:
While site administrators can add users to their own site, they can only do so if the server administrator has explicitly granted them that permission. A server administrator, by default, has the ability to add and manage users across all sites on the server. The tsm command-line utility, which is a server-administrator tool, is used for advanced user management tasks, such as bulk imports.

Why the other options are incorrect:
A. Creating a schedule:
Both site administrators and server administrators can create schedules for tasks like extract refreshes and subscriptions. This is a common, day-to-day task that is not exclusive to the server admin role.
C. Locking project permissions:
Both site administrators and server administrators can lock project permissions. This task is a site-level administrative function, but it is one that both roles are capable of performing.

Explanation:

Tableau Server's caching mechanism is designed to balance performance with data freshness. By default, it will recompute queries and refresh the cache for a workbook only when certain conditions are met to avoid unnecessary load on the server.

The workbook has upcoming scheduled refresh tasks (B): This is the trigger. Tableau Server knows that the underlying data for the workbook is being updated, so it needs to prepare new, fresh data for a user to view.

The workbook has been viewed recently (D): Tableau Server is smart about managing resources. It will only "warm the cache" for workbooks that users are actually interacting with. The definition of "recently viewed" is a configurable threshold (backgrounder.externalquerycachewarmup.view_threshold). If a workbook hasn't been viewed in a while, Tableau Server won't spend resources on re-computing the cache because it's unlikely a user will access it soon.