alteryx connect Knowledge Base

Find out what new features, improvements, and bug fixes we released with this version of Connect! The 2020.2 release brings several new features such as new Admin Menu or Active Directory integration.

The purpose of this document is to describe the manual steps to deploy Alteryx Connect on the PostgreSQL database. This document is valid for Alteryx Connect 2020.2 or newer.

The newest release of Connect is here! With Connect 2020.1, find out what new features and improvements we released! Here is a summary of what has changed.

The purpose of this article is to describe the steps how to deploy Connect on the MS SQL database.

Error on Alteryx Connect - Kerberos authentication is not supported on the Gallery Server

In this article, you will learn how to update data assets in bulk using the import and export feature in Connect. In our examples we'll be updating data asset owners and changing the group membership of users by exporting, updating, and later importing an XLS file.

Backing up Connect can easily be done from the Administrator Console via the Connect web page. Please see the following Help article for details steps: Back Up and Restore Connect. However, for various reasons it may be advantageous to do the backup via the command line or a script. This article walks you through how to do this.

This tutorial contains information about Custom Fields. You will learn how to create, assign, and configure a Custom Field in the Connect data catalog.

This article provides instructions for adding a self-signed SSL certificate to the web page hosted by Alteryx Connect so that the page is served securely.   Note: This article is only intended for Self-Signed Certificates. A self-signed certificate is not recommended to be used for production purposes. This is because self-signed certificates must be installed on all of the machines you intend to use with Connect as a trusted certificate. This includes any machines that will use Connect applications like loading metadata in Alteryx Designer or using search results from Connect Designer.  

This article provides instructions for adding an issued SSL certificate to the web page hosted by Alteryx Connect so that the page is served securely.   Note: This article is intended for trusted certificates in your environment. You must have a copy of the certificate (such as .crt) and the signing key (such as .key), or a combined certificate file (such as .pfx or .p12) in order to complete this process. This certificate must be installed on all machines you intend to use with Connect as a trusted certificate if these machines are to be used in conjunction with Alteryx Connect, such as loading metadata with Alteryx Designer or search results from Alteryx Connect displayed within Alteryx Designer.

How To: Connect to the H2 Console   Connect has an interactive console for the H2 database that allows administrators to browse the database and execute commands. Follow the below steps to enable and connect to the console.   Prerequisites   Alteryx Connect   Procedure   Follow steps 1-6 under Enable access to the Connect database found on the Review Connect Usage Information Help page Navigate to http://localhost:8082 on the Connect Server If you have the firewall open, you can access this from another machine using the IP or the hostname in place of localhost (i.e. http://hostname:8082) Fill in the JDBC URL and the Password   For the JDBC URL, enter the value for the Master DB JDBC string found in the System Info section of the Connect Administration Console The database password is set by the Connect Administrator during installation. Your Administrator can reset the password in the Connect Console under Connect Configuration > H2 Password Click the Test Connection button You should see 'Test Successful'. If not, please double-check your connection information above Click the Connect button to enter the H2 Console A successful connection will show the console with the below schema (shows as folders on the left)   Common Issues   I don't see the STD_XFORMS database schema You have an invalid JDBC connection string - please confirm your JDBC URL found in the System Info section of the Administration Console    Additional Resources   Back Up and Restore Connect Database via Command Line

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Unspecified Error when Resetting a User's Password   When clicking Reset Password, a warning regarding an unspecified error pops up.       Environment   Product - Alteryx Connect   Cause   When resetting a password, Connect needs to send an e-mail to the user.  This error indicates the administrator has not configured the SMTP server correctly.   Solution   In the Admin portal, go to the SMTP Settings tab under Connect Configuration, fill in all required fields, test the connection, and Save.      

Issue - Unable to add user(s) to a group in Alteryx Connect   When trying to add a user to a group in Connect, the user is not found and therefore cannot be added to the group.       Environment   Alteryx Connect Version 18.4+   Cause   The user does not have an email address set.   Solution   Navigate to the user in Connect under People Click the Edit button in the top right Enter the user's email in the Email field You should now be able to add the member to a Group.   Additional Resources   Managing Users and Permissions in Connect Authentication Methods for Connect

How To: Configuring SAML on Alteryx Connect for OneLogin   The information will assist with configuring Alteryx Connect to be function with OneLogin   Prerequisites   Alteryx Connect  ≥ 2019.1 OneLogin Account with access to perform administration tasks All users must have an email address attribute   Procedure Login to Alteryx Connect using the Administrator account, change the Base URL to match the FDQN of the machine in Administration Console > Connect Configuration > Instance setting, make sure the Base URL is NOT http://localhost:                     2. In the OneLogin Administration screen, highlight Apps in the top navigation menu and select   Add Apps       3. On the Find Applications screen, search for SAML in the box provided, and select OneLogin SAML Test (ldP)       4. Fill in the name, description and the details for Alteryx Connect, then, click Save                     5. Click the More Options button on top right and select to download the SAML Metadata file:                   6.  Click Configuration in the navigation menu, fill out details according to your Alteryx Connect's url                   SAML Consumer URL: your Connect URL with /aas/Saml/Acs appended to the end        SAML Audience: "Entity ID" provided by Alteryx Connect (Admin Console > Connect Configuration > Single Sign On)        SAML Recipient: "Single Sign On URL/Destination URL" provided by Alteryx Connect (Admin Console > Connect Configuration > Single Sign On)        SAML Single Logout URL: "Single Logout Endpoint" provided by Alteryx Connect (Admin Console > Connect Configuration > Single Sign On)         Leave ACS URL Validator blank, when finished, click Save.        7. Under the Parameters section, we will need map the Claims of email, firstName and lastName, select "Include in SAML assertion" when add these parameters. Email (NameID) is a starting Field provide by OneLogin, ignore this.  The end result of Parameters is showing as below:                   8. Select the users under User section, and click on Applications on left hand side, add the Alteryx Connect application to the user:                    9. Navigate to Alteryx Connect's Administrator Console > Connect Configuration > Single Sign on, Click + ADD to add the SAML authentication. For Name and Description, you can give any custom values.          10. Under Identity provider details, select the check box of "Upload IDP metadata", and Choose the file download at step 4, and click SAVE                     11. Log out of Alteryx Connect, and in the Log in page, you will see the OneLogin SSO option, click on there, it will navigate to the OneLogin sign in page:                        Once the user have logged in once, the OneLogin method will automatically authenticate the user into Alteryx Connect when the user clicked on the OneLogin option in Connect's login page.   Common Issues   The configuration for OneLogin works for Alteryx Connect if the Entity ID is "com.alteryx.saml.localhost" In the earlier version of Alteryx Connect, the Entity ID is "Localhost"    Additional Resources   Once the user have logged into Alteryx Connect using OneLogin SSO, the OneLogin administrator can see the sign in entry in Activity > Reports, under Application access           

How To: Use the Connect REST API with Designer This guide will walk you through how to login to the Connect API and download Connect entries in JSON format. Attached to this guide is a macro you can use to download all entries listed in an input file.   Prerequisites   Product - Alteryx Connect 2018.2+ Product - Alteryx Designer   Procedure (Alteryx Designer)   Log in to the REST API with your credentials. The API login endpoint is http://HOSTNAME:PORT/rest/1/login  In Designer, configure the URL of the Download tool to the API login endpoint. Set the HTTP Action to POST and pass your username and password in the payload data. In the DownloadHeaders field of the Download tool output, make note of the JSESSIONID. IMPORTANT: The DownloadData field also contains the JSESSIONID returned in the session_cookie field of the API response, but generally '=' is encoded to '\u003d'. The only value you need for the next step is JSESSIONID=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx NOTE: The JSESSIONID is valid for 30 minutes Make note of an xid from Connect. If you don't already have one, you can grab one from the URL of a Connect entry in Connect. Make a GET request on the Get Entry API endpoint. The Get Entry API endpoint is http://HOSTNAME:PORT/rest/1/entry/{xid} Example: http://localhost:1900/rest/1/entry/10b603fa-5c89-4bf6-b865-b243b303c760 In the basic Tab of the Download tool, select the Get Entry API endpoint as the URL In the headers tab, pass a variable called cookie with the value from step 3 (JSESSIONID=xxxx) Explore the Connect REST API documentation to learn more. Have fun!     Common Issues   I logged in successfully, but I get a 401 response when trying to get an xid. Typically this occurs when you are not passing a cookie containing an active JSESSIONID in the header of the request. Refer to Step 4 above. I logged in successfully, but I get a 400 response when trying to get an xid. Check your values in the Download Tool Headers and ensure that the name of the variable is cookie and the value is JSESSIONID={id}    Additional Resources   Connect REST API Documentation

File Size alert on Alteryx Connect after removing assets           The size of the database files depends on the activity made in the system. If you are removing assets from Connect using soft-delete (assets marked as deleted ) the database size is still increasing. Synchronizing and adding more assets into Connect will also increase the size of the database. Alteryx Connect uses database H2 (version .197) which does not support auto shrinking functionality so removing items from the trash will not shrink the database by itself.        What can I do to reduce the size of my database ?   Perform a Defrag  Perform a Compact  Set Soft-Delete to False   On the Horizon   In 2020.1 Alteryx Connect will be upgrading to H2 version .200 which will include auto shrinking functionality  

Newly Created Users Encountered Error on Login in Connect   Users are not able to log in and encounter the following error:   The Alteryx Connect License is invalid. Contact Alteryx Support for assistance.   Environment   Product - Connect version: 2019.1   Diagnosis   Checking the log in the Administration Console indicates a wrong license has been used.  Please note: The Connect Administrator account will always be able to log in to Connect.  You can also find the logs written locally on the server at %ConnectInstallPath%\logs\Catalina.out           04:31:51.971 [http-nio-8080-exec-2] ERROR cz.semanta.xf3.license.License - This system has 4 physical cores, but the license only allows 2 04:31:51.971 [http-nio-8080-exec-2] ERROR c.s.x.s.Xf3AuthenticationProvider - Failed to login user org.springframework.security.authentication.BadCredentialsException: The Alteryx Connect license is invalid. Contact Alteryx Support for assistance.           Cause   The error is due to using an invalid license on the Connect server.   Solution   This issue is resolved after obtaining and installing the correct license for the server.

How To: Configure SAML on Alteryx Connect for Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)   Alteryx Connect has the ability to interface with a number of identity providers that support the SAML 2.0 standard, and recently we stood up an ADFS test server and set it up with Alteryx Connect successfully. The following information will assist with configuring Alteryx Connect to be functional with ADFS.   Please note the following information is based on third-party software and processes may be slightly different on older or newer versions of the software. The following was created against ADFS v4.0 running on Windows Server 2016 and Alteryx Connect 2019.2.   Prerequisites   Alteryx Connect >= 2018.1 Account with access to perform administration tasks AD FS Server Account with access to perform administration tasks All users that will login must have an email address attribute SSL/TLS certificate installed on Alteryx Connect (Self-Signed certificate is not recommended) How To: Configure SSL (Issued SSL Certificate) on Connect How To: Enable SSL in the Connect Installer   Procedure   Verify that your Alteryx Connect server has been configured with SSL/TLS enabled and that a proper SSL certificate is installed. Instructions are provided in the link above Login to your Alteryx Connect website as the default administrator (admin) account. Note: Other administrator accounts may not be able to see the required options in certain versions of Alteryx Connect Open the Administration Panel > Connect Configuration > Single Sign-On Click Download Metadata. This will download a XML file containing configuration information and Connect's SAML signing certificate that we will import into ADFS. You should send this resulting file to your ADFS administrator to assist with setup. Note: This button may only be visible to the "super-admin" account (admin) within Alteryx Connect. This option is not available to other administrator accounts in certain versions, so if you do not see the button, make sure you are signed into the default "admin" account created when you initially setup your Alteryx Connect instance. This and following steps will require an ADFS administrator. Open the AD FD Management utility (Start > Windows Administrative Tools > AD FS Management) Click Relying Party Trusts   from the console, then click Add Relying Party Trust... Click Import data about the relying party from a file Use the Browse button to browse to the location of the XML file gathered in Step 4, then click Next Type a  Display name  for the trust. I placed "Alteryx Connect" here, but you can use a name that best identifies the connection for you, such as a server name or other easily identifiable name. Then click  Next . Select Permit everyone from the Access Control Policy and click Next. Note: You may wish to configure this option differently depending on the environment and whom you wish to be able to authenticate with Alteryx Connect, or you may wish to setup Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). Specific access permissions and these types of setup are outside the scope of this article. Click Next on the Ready to Add Trust page. Check the box next to Configure claims issuance policy for this application and click Close. Verify the  Claim rule template  is set to  Send LDAP Attributes as Claims  and click  Next . Type a desired name for the rule within the Claim rule name box. From the Attribute store drop-down, choose Active Directory. Using the following table, set the appropriate options within the Mapping of LDAP attributes to outgoing claim types box. Click Finish. Note: The following outgoing values are case sensitive and will need to be typed except for "E-Mail-Addresses". LDAP Attribute Outgoing Claim Type E-Mail-Addresses Name ID Given-Name firstName Surname lastName On the Claim Issuance Policy window, click  Apply  to apply the settings, then click  OK . In the Relying Party Trusts window, double-click the Trust that you created earlier. Click the Advanced tab. Change the Secure hash algorithm to SHA-1. Click OK. (Optional) The ADFS signing certificate and/or web access certificate (certificate used to serve metadata from ADFS and field requests) may be required to manually import if your certificates are not signed by a publicly recognized Certificate Authority (CA). These should be provided to your Alteryx Connect admin as Base64 encoded Certificate (typically .cer) files if possible. You will now need an administrator with access to the Alteryx Connect website as the default administrator (admin) account. Note: Other administrator accounts may not be able to see the required options in certain versions of Alteryx Connect Open the Administration Panel > Connect Configuration > Single Sign-On page. Click +ADD to open the new SAML dialog. In the Name field, type a name for the ADFS connection. Note: This name will appear on the Alteryx Connect login page for users of the Alteryx Connect system. Choose an Icon for the Identity Provider (IDP). Note: An icon picture must be provided to continue. You can use a placeholder image if you do not have an appropriate image available. In the Description field, type a description for the IDP. Under Identity provider details, select an appropriate connection option. For our guide, we'll be using Get IDP metadata from URL. Contact your ADFS administrator if you are not sure which option to use. Set the  IDP Metadata URL  to the location of the  Federation Metadata  xml file provided by the ADFS server. Example: Note : If you are not positive on the value for this, ask your ADFS administrator. Click SAVE. If you receive an error at this stage, please review the Log page in the Alteryx Connect Administration Console. Review the articles below, as one or both of the following knowledge articles may apply to your situation based on the error(s) you are receiving. How To: Add SAML IDP Signing Certificate to Connect Keystore How To: Add Web Connection Certificate to Alteryx Connect Keystore Click the X in the Active column next to the new ADFS IDP entry. Click OK within the dialog asking if you wish to turn on the IDP. If you receive an error at this stage, please review the Log page in the Alteryx Connect Administration Console. Review the articles in the previous step, as one or both of the above knowledge articles may apply to your situation based on the error(s) you are receiving. Once the connection is enabled, Restart the Alteryx Connect service on the machine. Validate that the IDP is now appearing on the login page of Alteryx Connect Note: If you also have Windows Authentication turned on in Connect Administration, you may need to log out to see this option or browse to the login page directly. URL: https://{ConnectBaseURL}/login Example: https://trn-con-07.cs.alteryx.com/login   Common Issues   If any issues are experienced during setup, reach out to Alteryx Support for additional assistance.    Additional Resources