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- Connect from Tableau Desktop with Authentication
Connect from Tableau Desktop with Authentication¶
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Prerequisites¶
- Windows
- macOS
Connecting Tableau to the MongoDB Connector for BI requires the following:
- Tableau version 10.3 or later
- A running mongod instance or Atlas deployment
- A running
mongosqld
instance running with authentication enabled using--auth
, or the BI Connector for Atlas enabled.
Connecting Tableau to the MongoDB Connector for BI requires the following:
- Tableau version 10.4 or later
- A running mongod instance or Atlas deployment
- A running
mongosqld
instance running with authentication enabled using--auth
, or the BI Connector for Atlas enabled.
Procedure¶
- Windows
- macOS
Download and install the MongoDB ODBC driver.¶
Download the MongoDB ODBC Driver for BI Connector and run the Windows installer (.msi
).
Create a system DSN.¶
To securely connect Tableau to the BI Connector, a system DSN configured to use the MongoDB ODBC driver is required. To create a system DSN, follow the steps below:
Start the Microsoft ODBC Data Sources program.¶
Choose the program version (64-bit or 32-bit) which is appropriate for your system and ODBC driver version.
Select the System DSN
tab.¶
Click the Add
button.¶

Select a MongoDB ODBC driver from the list of available drivers.¶
Select either the MongoDB ODBC 1.1.0 ANSI Driver or the MongoDB ODBC 1.1.0 Unicode Driver, then click OK.
Note
The ANSI ODBC driver offers maximum performance but has a limited character set. The Unicode ODBC driver supports a wider character set but may be slightly less performant as a result.
Fill in the necessary form fields.¶
Click the Details button to expose the lower half of the form.
The following form fields are required:
Field Name | Description |
---|---|
Data Source Name | A name of your choice. |
TCP/IP Server | Address of the server where your
mongosqld process is running. If you have enabled
BI Connector on MongoDB Atlas, you can find the
hostname of the server where mongosqld is running
in the connection information
for your cluster. |
Port | Port number of your mongosqld
process. |
Database | The name of the database to connect to, e.g. test . |
Fill in the authentication form fields.¶
The following fields Required when running with
--auth
enabled or when connecting to an
BI Connector for Atlas instance.
Field Name | Description | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
User | Username of the MongoDB user who is authenticated to use your target database. You can specify the following authentication options after your username as URI-style query parameters:
Example To authenticate as user Example To authenticate as user Example To authenticate as user For more information about Kerberos configuration, see Configure Kerberos for BI Connector. |
||||||
Password | The authenticated user’s password. | ||||||
Authentication | The default authentication method. When using the MongoDB ODBC Driver for BI Connector, this field is not required. To use the authentication plugin in conjunction with
another ODBC driver, fill in this field with the
string |
Click the Test
button to test the ODBC connection.¶
If the connection is successful, click OK to add the DSN. If the connection fails, check to make sure your MongoDB user is correctly authenticated for the database named in the connection.
Start Tableau.¶
Start the Tableau Desktop application or restart it if it is already running.
Connect using Tableau.¶
- In the left-side navigation under To a server, click on More… then click Other Databases (ODBC).
- From the Other Databases (ODBC) dialog box, select your DSN from the dropdown and click Connect.
- Once the connection test completes, click Sign In.
Download and install the MongoDB ODBC driver.¶
Download the MongoDB ODBC Driver for BI Connector and run the macOS installer (.dmg
).
Create a system DSN.¶
To securely connect Tableau to the BI Connector, a system DSN configured to use the MongoDB ODBC driver is required. To create a system DSN, follow the steps below:
Launch ODBC Manager.¶
Note
ODBC Manager is included with the MongoDB ODBC driver.
Click System DSN, then click Add.¶

Select a MongoDB ODBC driver from the list of available drivers.¶
Select either the MongoDB ANSI ODBC driver or the MongoDB Unicode ODBC driver, then click OK.
Note
The ANSI ODBC driver offers maximum performance but has a limited character set. The Unicode ODBC driver supports a wider character set but may be slightly less performant as a result.
Enter a Data Source Name (DSN).¶
Optionally enter a Description.
Note
Do not close the setup window. Proceed to the next step.
Add the necessary keywords.¶
- Add a keyword value pair by clicking the Add button.
- Modify the Keyword by double-clicking on it, entering the desired keyword, then pressing enter.
- Modify the Value by double-clicking on it, entering the desired keyword, then pressing enter.
Using the procedure above, add the following keywords:
Keyword | Value |
---|---|
SERVER | The hostname or IP address of the MongoDB Connector for BI host. Important Use |
PORT | The IANA
port number
for the MongoDB Connector for BI. The default is 3307 . |
DATABASE | The database to use after connecting. Note Required when connecting with Microsoft Excel. |
For the complete list of ODBC parameters, see Connector/ODBC Connection Parameters.
For example, your user DSN configuration should look similar to the following:

Note
Do not close the setup window. Proceed to the next step.
Add the authentication keywords.¶
- Add a keyword value pair by clicking the Add button.
- Modify the Keyword by double-clicking on it, entering the desired keyword, then pressing enter.
- Modify the Value by double-clicking on it, entering the desired keyword, then pressing enter.
Using the procedure above, add the following keywords:
Keyword | Value | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UID | The username for the user that can access the active MongoDB Connector for BI database. You can specify the following authentication options after your username as URI-style query parameters:
Example To authenticate as user Example To authenticate as user Example To authenticate as user For more information about Kerberos configuration, see Configure Kerberos for BI Connector. |
||||||
PWD | The password associated with the UID. |
For the complete list of ODBC parameters, see Connector/ODBC Connection Parameters.
For example, your user DSN configuration should look similar to the following:

Click OK to finish creating the DSN.¶
Start Tableau.¶
Start the Tableau Desktop application or restart it if it is already running.
Connect using Tableau.¶
- In the left-side navigation under To a server, click on More… then click Other Databases (ODBC).
- From the Other Databases (ODBC) dialog box, select your DSN from the dropdown and click Connect.
- Once the connection test completes, click Sign In.