In SQL Server 2008, changes were introduced in the drivers related to the Datetime2 data type. Specifically, earlier versions of the SQL Server driver process the Datetime2 field as a string while the latest drivers process the field as a date.
Potential Effects when working with SQL Server Data Sources in Tableau Server
If a Tableau Desktop user creates a workbook with the latest SQL Server driver and publishes the workbook to Tableau Server with an an older driver version installed, the following behavior(s) may be observed:
- After publishing a view to Tableau Server, user receives an error message related to an invalid sheet or parsing error with a date field when trying to access the view
- After publishing a view, user can view in Tableau Server but the scheduled extract refresh fails with a parsing error
- Users can initially access view in Tableau Server but after a scheduled extract refresh on Tableau Server that appears successful, the view now returns an invalid sheet error
Resolution
In order for the Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server to exhibit consistent behavior when working with SQL server data, both will need the latest SQL Server drivers installed on the respective machines. This can be verified by installing the latest SQL Server drivers on both Tableau Desktop and Tableau Server, and the 32-bit version of the drivers are available for download on the Tableau website:
For 64-bit operating systems, please go to the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2 Feature Pack page in the Microsoft Download Center. The download options for different operating systems are near the middle of the page under "Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Native Client"