Instead of using tableau server can t I just install tableau desktop and connect it to required database

Question

Tableau architecture shows that Tableau Desktop first get connected to tableau server (using some gateway) and then to data server which are on tableau server.

My question is why do I need a tableau client to talk to tableau server? Can't I just install tableau desktop and connect to required database which is already hosted on cloud?

Answer 1

There are multiple ways for connecting to the data within tableau.

You can get your database connect directly to tableau desktop without even involving tableau server.

If you want you can use tableau server as an effective proxy to your database, and have multiple desktop (servers and clients) get connected with each other.

You can even mix and match approaches for different data sources, and there are some other middle ground approaches such as to store an extract on Tableau Server, which acts as a very fast read-only materialized view which you can then refresh on a schedule of your choices.