Tableau Cloud Environment Migrations Using the Content Migration Tool

Published: 18 Mar 2021
Last Modified Date: 27 Jul 2023

Question

How to use the Content Migration Tool to move between Tableau environments, including migrations from:

Tableau Server to Tableau Cloud
Tableau Cloud Sites to Tableau Cloud Sites (partner and region migrations)
Tableau Cloud to Tableau Server

Environment

Tableau Cloud
Tableau Server
Content Migration Tool (Tableau Advanced Management)

Answer

Follow the Below Steps for Your Migration Scenario

Migrating From Tableau Server to Tableau Cloud

Important Consideration: For the best experience migrating your content, we strongly recommend engaging your Tableau Sales Account Manager for assistance with your migration.

Note: Tableau Bridge is needed to connect to on-premises databases that are not reachable directly from Tableau Cloud. See Keep Data Fresh and Use Bridge to Keep Data Fresh for more information.

Contact your Tableau Sales Account Manager for assistance creating your Tableau Cloud site. If needed, your Account Manager can assist with transferring your license subscriptions from Tableau Server to Tableau Cloud.
Download content from your source site on Tableau Server and republish to your destination site in Tableau Cloud.

Migrating From One Tableau Cloud Site to Another Tableau Cloud Site

Contact your Tableau Sales Account Manager to create the Tableau Cloud site in the desired region and to initiate the migration request.
Download content from your source site and republish to your destination site.

Note: If you would like to keep the same original site name, contact your Tableau Sales Account Manager with this request after completing the migration.

Migrating From Tableau Cloud to Tableau Server

Install and configure Tableau Server using the same version which Tableau Cloud is running. If needed, your Tableau Sales Account Manager can assist with transferring your license subscriptions from Tableau Cloud to Tableau Server.
Download content from your source site in Tableau Cloud and republish to your destination site on Tableau Server.

Additional Information

In some cases, you may consider a self-service migration using the Content Migration Tool; however, it is strongly discouraged if your environment meets the below criteria:

Multiple Sites.
More than 100 data sources and workbooks (combined).
Contains custom views, alerts, subscriptions, Flows, or content other than data sources and workbooks.
Require Tableau Bridge to refresh on-premise data.

If you choose to perform a self-service migration using the Content Migration Tool, you should be aware of the following considerations:

CMT has known limitations. For more information see Migration Limitations.
CMT supports content migration for Tableau Server versions 2019.3 and later. For more information on capability see Compatibility with Tableau Server.
Pre-release versions of CMT are compatible with Tableau Cloud and the previous 8 versions of Tableau Server.
For Tableau Cloud to Tableau Server Migrations, the source and destination servers should be running the same version of Tableau.
If your Tableau Cloud site has been suspended, reach out to your Sales Account Manager for assistance to get the site reactivated.
If you have trouble activating the tool, see Error "Valid license required for source server. Verify that the Advanced Management license is enabled and try again." When Using the Content Migration Tool for information.

Download and Install the Content Migration Tool

Go to https://prerelease.tableau.com/key/TableauCloudConversion and login using your TableauID credentials.
Opt into the project.
Under Tableau Early Feedback, you should now see Tableau Cloud Conversion.
Open the page and follow the instructions under Migration Walkthrough to download and install the application.
To learn how to create a migration plan and migrate content, see Migration Plan Overview.
Follow the steps under Migration Walkthrough to activate the tool.

Additional Information

FAQ & Troubleshooting

What types of content does the Content Migration Tool support? CMT currently can be used to migrate data sources, workbooks, and permissions. The tool supports workbooks and data sources from the previous 8 versions of Tableau. Permissions can be migrated even when the source and destination have different usernames, group names, or domains.
What types of content are unsupported in the tool? Please see Migration Limitations for unsupported content types and other limitations. Any unsupported content and metadata will need to be migrated outside of the tool manually.
The tool is giving me an error when I sign in – what should I do? When you download the tool, if you see a Connection Failure for reason ‘Unknown product version’, you will need to download a new version of the tool that matches your newest deployment of Tableau (if Online, it will be the most recent available version).
The tool is giving me a version error – what should I do? If you see the following error: [ERR]: Published data source document version isn't compatible with the destination. This means that content on your source is too old to move with Content Migration Tool. We will improve compatibility going forward. For now, the best workaround download and publish this content using Tableau Desktop.
I’m having trouble with the "none" permission – what should I do? The tool currently does not maintain the Permission state of ‘None’ between source and destination, and will instead default to the standard ‘All Users’ group permissions when you use the ‘None’ state. This is a known issue that we are addressing in a future version.