Do I need a Tableau Server if I already have a Tableau Desktop?

Question

If I have already purchased Tableau Desktop so do I need to purchase Tableau Server as well? I mean I know both them are two different products and are shipped separately. But I want to know under what circumstances do a person need to use both Desktop and Server.

In short, What can be done with Desktop and Server combined that is not possible with just Desktop?

Answer 1

• Tableau Desktop which need a license..
• Tableau Server which need a license for users on server

So, Who can publish content?

The following site roles allow publishing content:

• Server Administrator (Available only in Tableau Server on-premises)

• Site Administrator

• Publisher

• Viewer (can publish) — limited publish access

• Unlicensed (can publish) — limited publish access

Users with a site role of Interactor, Viewer, and Unlicensed cannot publish content to the server.

General capabilities allowed with each site role

• Server Administrator (Tableau Server only): The server administrator has full access to all server and site functionality, all content on the server, and all users.

• Site Administrator: Site administrators can manage groups, projects, workbooks, and data sources (including connection information) for the site. On Tableau Server on-premises, the server administrator determines whether site administrators can add users and assign site roles and site membership. On Tableau Online, site administrators are allowed these capabilities.

• Site administrators also have unrestricted access to the site’s content. A user can be a site administrator on multiple sites.

• Publisher: Publishers can sign in, browse the server, and interact with the published views. They also can connect to Tableau Server from Tableau Desktop to publish (upload) and download workbooks and data sources. Publishers cannot manage users.

• Interactor: Interactors can sign in, browse the server, and interact with the published views. They are not allowed to publish to the server.

• Viewer: Viewers can sign in and see published views on the server but cannot use any interaction features like filtering and sorting. Users with this site role can be allowed only to view and add and view comments.

• Unlicensed: Unlicensed users cannot sign in to the server. Users are assigned the Unlicensed role in the following circumstances:

• Import users from a CSV file

• The number of available licenses is reached at the time you add or import users

• You remove a user who owns content on the site. The user will still own the content but not be able to do anything with it

• Viewer (can publish). The user can sign in from Tableau Desktop to publish and download workbooks, but they cannot interact with content on the server.

• Unlicensed (can publish). The user can sign in from Tableau Desktop to publish workbooks to the server, but they cannot sign in to Tableau Server directly. In addition, they cannot publish data sources or download them from the server.

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