topic Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting in Alteryx Server Discussions

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

ivy29gm — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 04:16:12 GMT

Just upgraded to Alteryx Server 2018.4. also downloaded latest alteryxserverusagereport.zip from download portal. I configured the tool correctly and I get a Tableau workbook with data, except for the last dashboard called 'Alteryx Server | Usage'. Looking at datasource behind the sheets in the viz, there are missing fields such a NewUsers, SerialNumber, ServerDataTime, StoppedUsers,tool_group, Count.

Looking at Alteryx_Server_Usage_Report.yxmc, the nested macro "RunBatch.yxmc" throws an error. Inside this macro the error seems to a batch file in the run command tool:

Error: RunBatch (695): Tool #1: The external program ".\CollectionCheck.bat" returned an error code: 1
Error: RunBatch (695): Tool #29: The external program ".\CollectionCheck.bat" returned an error code: 1

I was able to run my own batch file correctly and I see collection outputs.

Can you recommend a fix?

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

AngelaO — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 04:15:05 GMT

Designer must be configured to send usage data to the server:

https://help.alteryx.com/server/11.0/admin/index.htm#Configuration/SaveDesignerUsageData.htm%3FTocPath%3DConfigure%2520Server%7C_____5

Does this resolve your issue?

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

ivy29gm — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 06:28:06 GMT

Thanks for the response but no, this doesn't resolve it. I am running this directly on the server. I wouldn't have to add 'localhost' would I?

I am able to run mongo with params from command line and get output but not when using this macro/bat.

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

AngelaO — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 18:04:52 GMT

The error occurs because the "Enable Desktop Usage Report" checkbox is checked, but Designer has not sent usage data to the server to create the Collection the Usage Report uses.

Un-checking the check box or configuring a Designer to send usage data to the server should stop the error.

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

ivy29gm — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 21:11:02 GMT

Hi Angela,

We don't have that checkbox checked. See screenshots. Error is in Collection Check tool container which contains only one tool - the runbatch macro. This macro is fed by multiple interface tools but not the check box for 'Enable Desktop Usage Report'. IMHO, it has to be one the actions in this macro since I did get it to work by

hardcoding the command args in the top Run command tool (AlteryxGallery Query).

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

ivy29gm — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 22:55:19 GMT

Does anyone have a solution to this?

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

LisaL — Wed, 26 Dec 2018 16:56:59 GMT

@ivy29gm

You are correct that the "AlteryxServer | Usage" tab of the Tableau workbook is not populated. That tab refers only to usage from the Designer and won't be populated unless you have done all of the below.

I wasn't able to view your screenshot of the macro configuration in the workflow itself. That's what @AngelaO was referring to:

Any time that box is checked, you'll see an error if you have not already made the modification for Desktop Usage Configuration.

Make certain that you've either unchecked the box on the main macro configuration OR that you've configured the RuntimeSettings.xml as described on the help page that is linked above.

If you have not amended the RuntimeSettings.xml, reopened Designer, and run a workflow from there, you won't have any data in the "AlteryxServer | Usage" tab of the Tableau workbook.

Please note that the errors you're observing in the RunBatch.yxmc are because you did not set the debug values within your submacro, so it's still using the default values rather than pulling the correct path from the RuntimeSettings.xml as it would if you'd run it from the full workflow.

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

Derangedvisions — Thu, 03 Jan 2019 17:30:00 GMT

I ran into the same error and this helped (I also had to check the box for "Advanced options" in the usage macro) and left the default database names in there. Thanks @LisaL

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

ivy29gm — Thu, 24 Jan 2019 17:59:58 GMT

Picking this up again! ... and still can't get it to work...

I modified RuntimeSettings.xml and added PhoneHomeUrl like so

Quick question: is PhoneHomeUrl same as BaseAddress? see screenshot.

I also checked box for 'Enable Desktop Usage Report' so I should be good to go. I ran the yxmd (w/o errors) and checked the output but last tab in Tableau workbook is still not populated.

Any other thoughts or ideas?

Thanks,

Simon

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

ivy29gm — Sat, 26 Jan 2019 02:20:04 GMT

Ok after a lot of testing this worked.

	<Designer>
        	<PhoneHomeUrl>http://localhost/gallery</PhoneHomeUrl>
	</Designer>

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

bktaylor — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 22:35:58 GMT

Did you find a resolution to this problem? I am having the same problem with my Alteryx Server Usage Report workflow. In my case the report was running fine and collecting Desktop usage stats, but then just stopped working with this same error yesterday. I would like to know the cause if you found it.

Thanks

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

mse139 — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 18:48:58 GMT

@bktaylor I pulled my hair out with the Error Code 1 from RunBatch. I think I found the issue an am now able to run it successfully - both from my local machine and our server. I'm using the latest version of the macro - 2019.3.

You need to edit one of the included macros in the Usage Report macro, so I would make a backup first.

The issue is caused by the value in the 'Mongo Directory' question in the RunBatch configuration window. The value entered is ./Supporting_Macros, which tells the command prompt to find a Supporting_Macros directory in the current directory. However, when the command is run, it is already running from Supporting_Macros directory, so its unable to find the necessary files.

Change the value to ../Supporting_Macros, this will tell the script to go up 1 level, and back down to Supporting_Macros. Alternatively, you could leave this blank and accept the default value of C:/program files/alteryx/bin, but that requires this directory to exist on any machine where the macro is run and that it contains mongo.exe.

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

wildflower — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 15:24:34 GMT

I'm getting the error code 1 out of the box for v.2019.3 Alteryx Server Usage Report from the portal (our server and Designer is 2019.4.6).

Similar to @bktaylor, our report was running on the gallery for a year and then when we moved to server 2019.4.6 this other error code appeared for the batch macro:

RunBatch (695): Tool #1: The external program "..\Supporting_Macros\CollectionCheck.bat" returned an error code: -4

RunBatch (695): Tool #29: The external program "..\Supporting_Macros\CollectionCheck.bat" returned an error code: -4

That's when I found this post and downloaded the latest workflow version from the portal. I inputted our MongoDB credentials and hit run -- out of the box, the error appears, The external program ".\CollectionCheck.bat" returned an error code: 1. I tried your fix within the nested RunBatch macro config, @mse139, but it didn't resolve the error for us.

I met with Support Engineer and when we configured the main Alteryx Server Usage Report macro (8) tool to output results to PDF, it works but not when we Output to Tableau workbook. The error is coming from the Tableau Output container, not the PDF container! He also received the error code 1 on his end. I need the Tableau workbook option to work.

Really looking for a solution as we rely on this report and dashboards for app executions and usage analysis.

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

LisaL — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 16:44:37 GMT

@wildflower @ivy29gm @mse139 @bktaylor @Derangedvisions

If you have a user-managed MongoDB, then you might not be using the same MongoDB version that the workflow assumes. The package that you download from https://downloads.alteryx.com includes within it a mongo.exe. Depending on the version you download, I believe it is usually MongoDB 3.4.13. If your database uses a different version and is not explicitly set up to be compatible with the provided version, then it will error.

You can probably work around that problem if it occurs by renaming the executable that comes in the Supporting_Macros folder of the download, and add the version that you use instead. I say probably because if the syntax in the other version of MongoDB is different, then you'll have to modify the Run Command tool's syntax as well.

Another potential pitfall is that the schema of the MongoDB (how Alteryx stores the data for retrieval) changes somewhat as new features are added. Though the name of the download may not match exactly to the version of Alteryx you are running, it should be fairly close for best results. For example, the AlteryxServerUsageReport was updated for 2019.3. That same version works with 2019.4, but as of 2020.1 it has been updated further. If you are not sure that you're using a compatible version, try downloading again from the download site for the version of Server you're running.

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

wildflower — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 16:56:24 GMT

Thank you, @LisaL - I opened up the mongo executable details and see that it is indeed version 3.4.13.0. Our mongodb replicaset is on 4.0. Looks like running the compatibility test within the executable shows that I'd have to set the compatibility mode to Windows 8 in order for the shell to launch/work... I'll give that a try first.

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

AlexFreitas — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 20:09:15 GMT

Invalid link 😞

Re: Alteryx Server Usage Monitoring & Reporting

LisaL — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 18:16:34 GMT

@AlexFreitas True. That portion of the Help has been retired.