topic Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine in Alteryx Server Discussions

Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

jgolden — Thu, 19 May 2016 20:31:19 GMT

Hi folks,

We're just getting our feet wet over here, and recently brought alteryx into the fold. We have been regular Tableau users for years, and currently we excute some extract jobs on one machine from batch scripts, which then login and run tabcmd on the tableau server.

We are looking to do something similar with Alteryx workflows. I have been looking for a good example.

For instance, say we have a workflow called "travel.yxmd", and we want to run this workflow from a command line on a machine other than the alteryx server.

Does anyone have any examples of how this looks on windows 2008 R2 servers?

Logging in, and then executing the command?

When I say we are new to this, I mean liek weeks old.

Is this the satandard command from the directory on the alteryx server: AlteryxEngineCmd.exe MyWorkflow.yxmd

I truly appreciate the help.

Thanks,

Jamie

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

stevea — Fri, 20 May 2016 15:36:28 GMT

Hi @jgolden,

I've had great luck with Microsoft's Sysinternals suite of tools in the past for jobs such as this (specifically a tool called "psexec") and it works well here as well.

First, download the Sysinternals tools from Microsoft's TechNet. I recommend unpacking the tools to a simple location such as "c:\sysinternals" because these are command-line tools and simple paths make things easier.

After downloading and unpacking, open a command shell, navigate to the "c:\sysinternals" directory, and enter "psexec /?". After accepting the EULA you will see the command line options as shown here:

Now, build up your command to run the AlteryxEngineCmd.exe on the remote machine. There are a number of options that can be passed to the AlteryxEngineCmd.exe, but this example assumes there's a module to run in a particular directory (c:\temp\MortgageCalculator.yxwz) and that no parameters are being passed to the module. The results of the module run will be shown on the machine from which you're running the remote job:

Note that you must have a valid user on the target machine and the firewall on the target machine may need to be opened to allow for remote access. I would encourage caution before dropping a firewall completely.

Hopefully this works for you... please let us know if you have success or run into problems.

Best,

Steve A.

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

jgolden — Fri, 20 May 2016 16:19:38 GMT

Thanks, Steve,

I'll give it a go!

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

fiorano — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 11:12:34 GMT

hi @jgolden

did you get this to work? I am also trying to automate a workflow from a batch file.....

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

jgolden — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 13:39:05 GMT

Hi,

Not exactly. However, I am doing something you may have success with. I've downloaded PSTools on host and target machine, and then created a batch script to run to run the psexec from PSTools to go to the other machine's directory where the batch is, and execute the command.

I'm sure there is a better way, but for what I needed, it worked.

Jamie Golden l Business Intelligence Administrator & Analyst l Grand Circle LLC, Boston MA
Direct (617) 346-6205 l jgolden@oattravel.com

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

jgolden — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 08:58:36 GMT

Actually, we are using alteryx as part of a reporting solution.

A 3rd party tool we use for scheduling, called activebatch, also you to script jobs to trigger based on various completion during nightly, datawarehouse batch jobs.

This is done in ActiveBatch, on a dedicated cluster. When DW batch is done, it riggers on success a scheduled activebatch job, which passes a PSTools command to the Alteryx server, where a bat file is sitting in a directory to run. This bat file runs the alterx command line job which executes a workflow.

As an additional note, this workflow, upon completion, sends an email to the activebatch server, which then triggers a tableau tabcmd job to dun a datasource refresh extract command.

A few moving parts, but works consistently.

Jamie Golden l Business Intelligence Administrator & Analyst l Grand Circle LLC, Boston MA
Direct (617) 346-6205 l jgolden@oattravel.com

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

jgolden — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 08:58:36 GMT

Not sure - that may require some form of authentication locally.

Sorry I don't have more for the desktop version.

Jamie Golden l Business Intelligence Administrator & Analyst l Grand Circle LLC, Boston MA
Direct (617) 346-6205 l jgolden@oattravel.com

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

stevea — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 12:06:46 GMT

@fiorano What exactly are you trying to achieve? I've had good success using Alteryx to generate bat scripts to automate workflow execution, but not [yet] on a remote machine (for example, in the benchmarking app posted here https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Engine-Works-Blog/Measuring-and-Scaling-a-Private-Server/ba-p/8786).

Let us know what you're aiming for and perhaps we can assist...

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

fiorano — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 14:19:50 GMT

Hi @stevea ,

We currently have Alterryx Desktop and a pretty simple workflow. What I am hoping to do is refresh this workflow from a bat file (rather than opening the workflow in the Designer and running it manually).

Is this possible to achieve?

Thanks!

Fiorano

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

stevea — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 14:29:31 GMT

@fiorano

I'll say "YES" but it depends on what exactly you mean by the phrase "refresh this workflow"? Can you elaborate?

If you haven't yet done so, take a look at the workflow linked at the bottom of the blog post on benchmarking. It shows how a workflow can be used to update the command line for a bat script which in turn drives the Server on the command line. The bat script is included in the YXZP package for reference, so that may be a starting point for you.

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

jgolden — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 14:39:21 GMT

So, how we have it set is there is a folder where the workflows are kept on a D: drive.

We have a batch script folder on C: drive, where the bat files live, that can be scheduled via either windows scheduler, or a third party tool you may be using.

The bat file looks like this:

D:
cd "Program Files\Alteryx\bin"
AlteryxService addtoqueue="D:\alteryx_queue\Key jobs.yxmd",localhost,58XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As you can see, it calls the "AlteryxService" task "addtoqueue" which, when run, adds the yxmd to the the scheduler queue on the alteryx machine.

These files live on the primary alteryx scheduler/server.

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

fiorano — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 14:53:48 GMT

Hi @stevea.

We need to simply run the workflow. We don't have a server licence - we are just running the basic Desktop version.....

I was hoping that there is a simple way of using a windows batch file and TaskSheduler to run this bat file on a nightly basis rather than remembering to open Alteryx every day and run it manually...

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

fiorano — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 14:55:52 GMT

Hi @jgolden,

Thanks for your reply... as mentioned we don't have Alteryx Server .. so was wondering if there is a way of 'opening' Alterryx via a batch file and running a workflow...

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

stevea — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 15:00:10 GMT

@fiorano

Yes, there is. You can use the Alteryx Engine on the command line from your bat script, which in turn can be run from the system scheduler on Windows, or you can drive the Alteryx Engine command line directly from the system scheduler.

If you open a command shell (cmd.exe) and navigate to the Alteryx installation directory (by default "c:\Program Files\Alteryx\bin"), type "AlteryxEngineCmd.exe" to see the options available. Note that there are other options available on the command line depending on the type of app you are executing, so I encourage you to play with it a bit and turn to Community when you need a hand.

Happy automating!

Steve A

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

fiorano — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 16:21:07 GMT

Hi @stevea

Just tried what you suggested and received the following error:

Error Alteryx Engine : The feature "API" is not licensed

Any thoughts

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

jgolden — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 17:16:24 GMT

Do you have a token to Pass?

Jamie Golden l Business Intelligence Administrator & Analyst l Grand Circle LLC, Boston MA
Direct (617) 346-6205 l jgolden@oattravel.com

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

fiorano — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 17:19:22 GMT

HI, @jgolden

No, I dont think I do... as I mentioned - we are only running the standard desktop edition of alteryx...

Fiorano

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

DanM — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 18:49:01 GMT

@fiorano,

You must either have Alteryx Desktop with Automation or the Alteryx Server to access the API.

Regards,

DanM

Re: Using command line to run a workflow on a different machine

Szabolcs — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 19:39:40 GMT

Hi,

This is working but I got an error.

Error - ToolId 1: Error SQLDriverConnect: [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Data source name not found and no default driver specified despite when I run directly on the other computer this is run successfully either if I run in alteryx or use AlteryxEngineCmd.exe.

The workflow only retrieve data from Aws and send to sql server.

Have you experienced similar issue?

Thanks,

Szabolcs