When to run one
At least once a year, and before any big change: a growth phase, a major upgrade, new licences or a move to Tableau Cloud. Also after a run of refresh, performance or reliability problems.
The checklist
1. Infrastructure and capacity
- Is the server sized for today’s users and workload, and for next year’s?
- Are all nodes and processes healthy, with room to spare at busy times?
- Is storage growing at a rate you can explain?
- Are backups running, and has a restore been tested?
2. Data flow and scheduling
- Do refreshes finish before people need the data?
- Are schedules spread out, or stacked at the same times?
- Do the same refreshes keep failing?
3. Performance and reliability
- How long do the most used dashboards take to load?
- Are there times of day when everything slows down?
- Have there been outages or restarts nobody can explain?
4. Solution design
- Are published data sources shared, or is the same data duplicated across workbooks?
- Are the heaviest workbooks designed with performance in mind?
5. Content efficiency
- How much content has not been opened for months?
- Is unused content still being refreshed?
6. Governance and security
- Are permissions managed by group and project, not one by one?
- Are licences assigned to people who use them?
- Is the server on a supported version?
Reading your results
Mark each line good, watch or risk. A few “watch” items are normal. Several risks in one area, or anything you cannot answer with confidence, is a sign to look deeper before your next big decision.
When to go deeper
A checklist shows where to look. It does not measure how serious each issue is, or what to fix first. The VizBolt Deployment Audit covers the same six areas with evidence from your environment, and gives you findings and a roadmap prioritised by business impact, effort and potential ROI. It is read-only and independent.
Between reviews, VizBolt Server Intelligence keeps watch every day. See also how to monitor Tableau Server.
Common questions
What is a Tableau Server health check?
A structured review of how a Tableau Server is sized, configured and running, covering infrastructure, scheduling, performance, design, content and governance.
How often should I run a Tableau Server health check?
At least once a year, and before major changes such as an upgrade, a growth phase or a move to Tableau Cloud.
Can I run a health check myself?
Yes, a checklist gives a useful first pass. An independent audit adds evidence, priorities and a plan when decisions depend on the answer.
Further reading: Tableau Help, Tableau monitoring. Tableau and Salesforce are trademarks of Salesforce, Inc.