Tableau Rest API signin keeps on giving 401001 Signin error

Question

I have read numerous posts on this and other Tableau forum, I have read through the documentation several times, but still while trying to login to the Tableau using the REST API, I keep on getting errors.

I have double checked the contentUrl (tried with both empty string and actual side ID obtained from the site settings). For the username, I have tried the [email protected], username as shown in the account settings, and even added the local\username as shown in the account settings. But nothing still, I keep on getting the 401001 error.

Its a bit frustrating that the API is not designed properly as the return value can give two possible errors - either username/password incorrect or contentUrl is wrong. A right API should have given 401001 for username/password failure and something else, like 401002 for content Url failure.

Am using the below in Postman (I've tried the XML version also, but keep getting the same error):

https://my--tab--server.---ondemand.com/api/2.8/auth/signin

{
  "credentials": {
    "name": "my----username---",
    "password": "my-----password",
    "site": {
      "contentUrl": "HR"
    }
  }
}

Response is:

<error code="401001">
    <summary>Signin Error</summary>
    <detail>Error signing in to Tableau Server</detail>
</error>

Am able to successfully logon to the web portal using the same user credentials.

So, what can I be doing wrong here? Any inputs would be really helpful.

Thanks

sppc42 sppc42 · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-28T12:04:13

I think I have finally found the reasons! The Tableau server is configured to use SAML for SSO signin, and Tableau REST APIs specifically don't work with SAML!

Note: The REST API does not use SAML single-sign (SSO) authentication. To sign in, you must specify the name and password of a user who has been created on the server. The user could have a local or Active Directory account, depending on how you have configured Tableau Server. For Tableau Online, you can specify the TableauID credentials of the user. You will have the permissions of the user that you're signed in as. You cannot use a SAML account for sign in when you use the REST API. For information about the requirements for using SAML, see SAML Requirements.

So, I'll now need to create a native Tableau user and try that with the REST API. Hope that works.

Tableau Rest API signin keeps on giving 401001 Signin error

1 Answers