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Running the Alteryx collector in Cloud

Important

This collector is available in Private Preview. If you would like access to this collector, please contact your Customer Success Director.

Important

If your system is configured with the Catalog Toolkit , please follow these instructions to prepare your system for collectors runs and to make sure the collectors output show in the correct organizations and datasets.

Configuring the cloud collector for Alteryx

To configure the cloud collector for Alteryx:

  1. On the Organization profile page, go to the Settings tab > Metadata collectors section.

  2. Click the Add a collector button.

    add_a_collector.png
  3. On the Choose metadata collector screen, select the correct metadata source. Click Next.

  4. On the Choose where the collector will run screen, in the Cloud section, select data.world. Click Next.

    select_cloud.png
  5. On the Configure a cloud Alteryx Collector screen, set the following:

  6. On the next screen, set the following properties and click Next.

    Table 2.

    Field name

    Details

    Required?

    Host

    The host name where Alteryx Server is installed

    Yes

    Alteryx client ID

    The API access key

    Yes

    Alteryx client secret

    The API access secret

    Yes



  7. On the next screen, set the following properties and click Next.

    Table 3.

    Field name

    Details

    Required?

    Maximum number of jobs to be harvested

    Specify the number of jobs to be harvested for a given workflow

    No

    Max retries

    Specify the amount of times to retry an API call which has failed. The default value is 5.

    No

    Retry delay

    Specify the amount of time in seconds to wait between retries of an API call which has failed. The default is to try with a delay of 2 seconds between each call

    No

    TLS is not configured on the Alteryx Server

    Specify if TLS is disabled on Alteryx server

    No



  8. On the next screen, provide the Collector configuration name and set the run schedule. You can also set the schedule at a later point.

  9. Click Save and View to go the collector details page.

Scheduling collector runs

Important things to note:

  • Different collectors can be scheduled to run at the same time, but one collector can only run once a day.

  • It is recommended that you schedule the runs in off-peak hours.

  • The collector runs in the timezone in which the scheduler is located. For example, if the scheduler sets the collector runs from PST timezone, the collectors will follow the PST timezone.

  • Runs may start up to one hour after the scheduled time.

To schedule collector runs:

  1. On the Configured collectors page, locate the collector you want to run on a schedule.

  2. Click the Edit configurations button.

  3. Go to the screen where you can set the schedule for the collector.

  4. Enable the Scheduled runs option.

  5. From the Frequency dropdown, select from Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.

  6. For Weekly and Monthly options, select the day when the collector should run.

  7. Select the time for running the collector.

  8. Click Save and view. The schedule and next run date and time are displayed on the collector details page.

  9. To get notifications about the collector runs, simply setup web hooks at the Organization level from the Organization profile page > Settings tab. The Webhooks will automatically start capturing the Status events (Pending, Provisioning, Running, Completed, Error, Cancelled) for the collector runs.

    org_webhooks.png

    Sample data captured by the webhook.

    hooks_notfication_collectors.png

Running collectors manually

After setting up the collector configuration, it's advisable to manually execute it once to ensure correct configuration. Even collectors that are scheduled to run automatically can be manually initiated at anytime.

To run the collectors manually:

  1. On the Configured collectors page, locate the collector you want to run.

  2. On the collector configuration details page, click the Run now button. Alternatively, on the Configured collectors page, click the Three dot menu and click Run/Sync now button.

  3. On both pages, the Status field shows the status as Running with information about time elapsed since the run was started.

    The collector starts running in the background and you can navigate away from the page at any time. For a long running collector, if the collector run does not complete in a weeks time, the collector run automatically terminates after one week. The Status section and the Status field update to an Error state.

  4. After the collector has completed the required pre-configuration steps and starts harvesting the metadata, you get an option to Cancel the harvesting process, if you want. The Status section and the Status field update to Cancelled.

  5. After the collector run has completed, the Status section of the collector configuration details page updates to show the successful status. The Last run summary page also updates to show the total number of resource collected and total number of types of resources collected. The Resources collected by type gives granular level information about the number of resources collected for each type of resource.

  6. Browse to the Collection and Dataset specified while running the collector to view the collector output.

  7. To get notifications about the collector runs, simply setup web hooks at the Organization level from the Organization profile page > Settings tab. The Webhooks will automatically start capturing the Status events (Pending, Provisioning, Running, Completed, Error, Cancelled) for the collector runs.

    org_webhooks.png

    Sample data captured by the webhook.

    hooks_notfication_collectors.png

Canceling a collector run

After starting a collector run, you can cancel it if needed.

Important things to note:

  • Logs generate only after the collector starts up (about 5 minutes). No logs are available if the collector is canceled before this period.

  • After canceling a run, the collector produces the logs within 5 minutes

To stop a running collector:

  1. Locate the running collector you want to stop. After the collector has completed the required pre-configuration steps and starts harvesting the metadata, you get an option to Cancel it.

  2. On the collector configuration details page, click the Cancel run button. Alternatively, on the Configured collectors page, click the Three dot menu and click Cancel run button.

  3. The collector stops running. On both pages, the Status field shows the status as Canceled with information about time elapsed since the run was cancelled.

  4. The collector produces a log file in 5 minutes after stop running. To download a logs, click the View debugging info link. A pop-up window opens.

  5. In the pop-up window, click Export logs to download the log file.

Copying collector configurations

After you have configured a collector for a source system, you can easily create a copy of the configuration to configure another collector for the same source system but for different parameters.

To copy collector configurations:

  1. On the Configured collectors page, locate the collector configuration you want to copy.

  2. From the Three dot menu, click Duplicate configuration.

  3. In the Edit Collector window, provide a new name for the collector configuration. Optionally, set a schedule. Click Save and view.

  4. You are taken to the copied collector configuration page. Click the Edit Configuration button to adjust the details of the configuration.

Deleting configurations

Important things to note:

  • Deleting the configuration will not affect the resources that were collected from previous runs.

  • Any scheduled future runs for the collector are suspended.

To delete a configuration:

  1. On the Configured collectors page, locate the collector configuration you want to delete.

  2. From the Three dot menu, click the Delete configuration button.

  3. Confirm the deletion. The configuration is deleted and removed from the Configured collectors page.