If you enjoy monitoring your Tableau Server cluster by constantly refreshing the admin view (image below), this might be for you. Whether it’s the repetitive clicking or the severe lack of sleep that’s got you down, this tip might give you a much-needed break. So, free up some time and enjoy life. Go running, explore or smell the fresh air. Then quickly run back inside and fix the issue if you’re notified of a down Tableau Server process.

The following PowerShell script will allow you to read the status in a more ‘machine’ friendly way. If something bad does happen (it never does, right?), you’d be the first to know – maybe even before the boss finds out! Once you set this up, you’ll have more time to explore the logs, tune the cluster, etc.

There are essentially two easy steps to this procedure:

Update the attached script (TsStatusAlerts.ps1) with your relevant information: Tableau Server name, Email to, Email from, smtp server, etc. Save it in your preferred directory and move on to the next step. Schedule it on your server to run every hour, 30 minutes, 5 minutes or however frequently you feel it’s necessary to know when/if something breaks (TsStatusAlerts_SchdTasks.ps1).

Bonus Tip: Wait for stuff to break so you can fix it before anyone notices. 😉

Oh, and for those of you that enjoy one-liners, try this out (in the PS prompt, of course):

Set-StrictMode -Version Latest

irm -Uri ‘https:///admin/systeminfo’ -Method Get -UseDefaultCredentials | `

select-xml “//*/service” | select -expand node

Enjoy!