Tableau Live vs Extract Database Connection Comparison



Let's discuss the difference between Live and Extract database connection.

So, as the name says "Live", It will be connected to your live that means current data and extract is the data which takes the snapshot of your previous data.


 Now suppose if we have access to the data available then you will definitely use the Live connection but sometimes when you don't have the data available then you need to use the data of previous company or previous year, at that time you use this extract data. Extract in simple words you can say the snapshot taken of the data at a particular point of time or also you can say a static data at some place. 

 

When and in which scenarios Live database connection used?

Live connection will offer you to check the live progress of any event or to get real-time updates of your business. For example, when Real-Time analysis required as like In live telecasting of cricket matches, we need the dashboard to be updated for each run. So, in this case the connection should be Live. 


Also, If you want to analyze the incoming patients data in the Hospital to take real-time decisions, then you need a live database connection.


When and in which scenarios extract connection is used?

If you are connecting to a huge database, so that your query execution is very slow, in such case we can use extract database connection. Also when we are using custom SQL or when offline analysis of data is required, then extract database connection will be used.


For example, Suppose you are travelling somewhere and you have to work on tableau to analyze some data of your client, But unfortunately now you don't have any database connection or internet connection as you are outside and data kept on data server or cloud database system. Now in such condition, how to analyze your data is the key question? So, at this point of time a snapshot of your data is been taken and creates a static database and then connecting to it. So that one can analyses data on tableau without database connection.


This is a very important case where anyone can use extract database connections.


On Tableau data source page on top-right corner you can see database connection info:



How to identify whether connection is live of extract?


When you have live database connection then in Data Section where you see the name of dataset there is only one cylinder with a checkbox. But when you are connected to extract database then the icon of the cylinder will be changed to double cylinder.


We hope you understood the most important difference between Live and extract database connection in Tableau.

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