SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) into Tableau using Joomla IDP Plugin

Overview

Single Sign-On in Tableau using Joomla IDP allows users to log in to Tableau using Joomla by configuring Tableau as a Service Provider (SP) and Joomla as a SAML Identity Provider (IDP). This guide will take you through a step-by-step process to configure SSO between the two platforms.

What is Tableau?
Tableau is a powerful business intelligence tool used for data visualization in the form of charts, graphs, and more, to gain business insights for better company development. It is an interactive tool that helps business managers and team leaders make quicker and more appropriate decisions. Non-technical staff can also create customized dashboards for their work using Tableau's drag-and-drop interface.

Configuration Steps

In this setup, Joomla serves as the repository for storing users i.e. it will act as the IDP while Tableau is where users will log in using their credentials from Joomla where Joomla SAML IDP SSO Plugin will be installed.

Step 1: Configure Tableau as SP (Service Provider)

Log in to your Tableau Dashboard as Admin.
Click on Settings in the sidebar menu and then go to the Authentication tab.

Go to Authentication Tab ins Tableau Dashboard

Under Authentication types, select Enable an additional authentication method and select SAML from the dropdown menu.

Note down the Tableau Entity ID and Assertion Consumer Service URL (ACS URL) which will be needed to configure the plugin, or directly download the metadata by clicking on Export Metadata and later upload it in the configuration of the Joomla IDP plugin.

Tableau Entity ID and Assertion Consumer Service URL (ACS URL)

Please upload the Joomla IDP Metadata file that you downloaded in the above step to the Import metadata file section. Then, click on the Apply button to upload the Metadata file.

In order to resolve this error the localhost environment of the Joomla should be opened using https and not http, and then download the idp metadata from there.

Go to the Map Attributes section in Tableau Online and match the attributes of Joomla IDP with that in Tableau Online. Select First and last name option in Display Name. Click on Save Changes.

Go to the Users tab in Tableau and click on the three dots on the right of Display Name under Action of the user you wish to modify. Select Authentication and under it select SAML. Click Update.

Note: In the Manage Users’ section, a new user has to be created other than the admin, and the same user should be created with same credentials in Joomla.

Step 4: Test SSO

Go back to the Import Metadata file into Tableau Online section and click on Test Connection. Upon successful connection, you will see the following message on your screen.

Step 5: Embedded Views (Optional)

After following the above steps to Single Sign On (SSO) in Tableau, select Default Authentication Type of Embedded Views to Authenticate using an inline frame from Authentication Settings.

Go to your Tableau View and select the view you desire to show in an Iframe.

Click on Share, and then click on Copy Link or on Copy Embed Code.

Now you can add the above embed code in your Joomla site.

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