SSH (secure shell) tunneling is the process of forwarding selected ports through an authenticated and encrypted tunnel. In many cases, SSH tunneling is used to connect to a remote database that is secured behind a restrictive firewall or other network restrictions. For example, suppose you want to connect to a MySQL database that does not allow outside connections or is configured to only accept requests through SSH. In order to allow Tableau to connect to the remote MySQL data source, you have to complete the general steps, below.
Important: Tableau does not support or test compatibility with SSH tunneling.This article is intended to provide general guidance on certain configurations that may allow Tableau to work with SSH.
- Install an SSH client
- Set up port forwarding through port 3306
- Connect to MySQL from Tableau using 127.0.0.1 as the server name
Typically, machines running on Linux or Mac OS X already have OpenSSH software included with the operating system (OS). There are several programs you can install if you are running the Windows OS, such as OpenSSH and PuTTY. For more information about setting up SSH tunneling, refer to the MySQL Online Help page:http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/windows-and-ssh.html.