Use Tableau to query and visualize data

Use Tableau to query and visualize time series data stored in InfluxDB Clustered. Tableau supports multiple SQL dialects.

Tableau is a visual analytics platform transforming the way we use data to solve problems—empowering people and organizations to make the most of their data.

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Install Tableau Desktop

If you have not already, download and install Tableau Desktop.

Download and install the Flight SQL JDBC driver

To query InfluxDB Clustered from Tableau, use the Flight SQL protocol and the Flight SQL JDBC driver.

1. Download the Flight SQL JDBC driver.

   1. Visit the Flight SQL JDBC driver page.
   2. Select the Versions tab.
   3. Click Browse next to the version you want to download.
   4. Click the flight-sql-jdbc-driver-XX.XX.XX.jar file (with only the .jar file extension) from the list of files to download the driver jar file. The version number in the file name is specific to the version you selected.

2. Copy the downloaded jar file into the following directory based on your operating system.

   • Windows: C:\Program Files\Tableau\Drivers
   • Mac: ~/Library/Tableau/Drivers
   • Linux: /opt/tableau/tableau_driver/jdbc

3. Start or restart Tableau.

Configure a JDBC server connection

1. Open Tableau

2. In the Connect column, under To a Server, select Other Databases (JDBC). If that option isn’t in the initial list, select More… to find it in the full list of connection options.

3. Provide the required credentials:

   • URL: Your InfluxDB cluster URL with the following:

     • Protocol: jdbc:arrow-flight-sql
     • Port: 443
     • Query parameters:

       • useSystemTrustStore: false

         Setting useSystemTrustStore=false is only necessary on macOS and doesn’t actually affect the security of the connection to Tableau.

       • database: InfluxDB database name to query

     See an example connection URL.

   • Dialect: PostgreSQL

   • Username: Leave empty

   • Password: a database token with read access to the specified database

   • Properties File: Leave empty

4. Click Sign In.

Example connection URL

jdbc:arrow-flight-sql://cluster-host.com:443?useSystemTrustStore=false&database=
DATABASE_NAME

Query InfluxDB Clustered

With the connection successfully established, query your time series data stored in InfluxDB Clustered. In the left pane:

1. Under Database, select public from the drop-down menu.
2. Under Schema, select iox from the drop-down menu.
3. Under Table, click and drag the measurement you want to query into the query pane.
4. Use Tableau to build and execute SQL queries. For more information, see the Tableau Desktop documentation.