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This Quick Start describes how to create a

backup of your primary Tableau Server so that
if your current primary fails, it will take just a
few steps to bring your backup primary online.
Before beginning, make sure you have
congured your environment for failover
and highly available gateways, using the
Conguring Failover & Highly Available
Gateways Quick Start as your guide. You
should have two worker servers and a primary
Tableau Server. To help ensure a smooth
transition for your Tableau Server users, assign
the same common name to both your current
and backup primary servers.
CONFIGURING PRIMARY FAILOVER
Confgure the Primary
Stop the server on your primary Tableau Server,
then run the following command from the Tableau
Server bin directory:
tabadmin failoverprimary --primary
<computer1> --secondary <computer2>
computer1 is the current primarys IPv4 address
or computer name. computer2 is the backup
primarys IPv4 address or computer name.
1
Copy the Primarys Confg to the
Backup
Copy the primarys tabsvc.yml le (located in
ProgramData\Tableau\Tableau Server\cong) to a
temporary location on the backup primary. In the
le, replace the IPv4 address or computer name
for the primary (on the worker.hosts line)
with the IPv4 address or computer name for the
backup primary.

2
3
Install & Disable the Backup Primary
Install Tableau Server on your backup primary.
After Setup completes, open a command prompt
on the backup primary and stop the server. Next,
run the following command:
sc confg tabsvc start= disabled

Before you begin the next section, power down
your primary to simulate a system failure.
View Status
Sign in to Tableau Server on your new primary and
view the status of your distributed system on the
Maintenance page. In the Computer column of the
Status table youll see the IP address or computer
name of your new primary server.
Confgure the Backup Primary
On your backup primary, use the tabsvc.yml le you
edited in step 2 to overwrite the locally installed
tabsvc.yml. Next, open a command prompt on your
backup primary and run the following command
from the backup primarys Tableau Server bin
directory:
tabadmin failoverprimary --primary
<computer2> --secondary <computer1>
computer2 is the IPv4 address or computer name
of your backup primary (soon to be your active
primary) and computer1 is the IPv4 address or
computer name for your former primary (soon to be
your backup).
4
Start the Backup Primary
Run the following command:
sc confg tabsvc start= auto

Then start the server. Your backup primary is now
your main primary.
5
6
AFTER THE PRIMARY FAILS
Create a Backup Primary