Processes Down and Multiple Error Messages when Using Dynamic Memory Allocation

Issue

When running Tableau Server in a virtual environment with dynamically allocated memory (dynamic RAM), processes might intermittently go down, and a variety of errors might occur, including the following:

Tableau Data Engine Error: 8: No connection could be made because the target machine actively reused it.
IPC_Socket::Connect(socket::connect::connect host="<IP Address>", port=<port number>)

Response code: 500

When you restart Tableau Server, the processes might come back up and the error messages might disappear, but the issues eventually reappear.

Environment

Tableau Server 8.0 and later versions
Virtual environment
Dynamically allocated memory

Resolution

Create a full backup of Tableau Server. For more information, see Back Up Tableau Data in Tableau Help.
Work with your IT team to reconfigure the virtual environment to use static RAM instead of dynamically allocated memory. Verify that the RAM allocation meets the Tableau Server Technical Specifications.
On the Windows Start menu, navigate to Control Panel > Programs and Features, click Tableau Server, and then click Uninstall.
Delete the Tableau Server folder from the following location:
- On a 32-bit machine: C:\Program Files\Tableau\Tableau Server
- On a 64-bit machine: C:\Program Files (x86)\Tableau\Tableau Server AND C:\ProgramData\Tableau\Tableau Server
Restore the backup with the "--no-config" option. For more information, see Restore from a Backup in Tableau Help.

Cause

When Tableau Server is installed in an environment with dynamically allocated memory, changes in RAM allocation might result in insufficient memory allocation for Tableau Server.

Additional Information

You might also want to increase the size of the page file. For more information, see Hyper-V Dynamic Memory Configuration Guide in Windows Help. A larger page file allows more memory to be added to the running virtual machine if it is needed suddenly, and improves performance when the availability of physical memory is limited.