Designer upgrade to 2021.4 - Connectors

[CatheyH]

Am I reading this right: If I upgrade desktop (from 2020.4 to 2021.4 in our case) the connectors (eg Salesforce) will not automatically be updated?

It leads to a few other questions:

I assume that this means that alongside the desktop install we will need to load the updated connector tools onto all of the upgrade machines.

Are there any other tools that we need to update ourselves? It would be good to be able to package up all of the files so that they can all be given to users at the same time.

Is there a more efficient way of doing this than trusting desktop users to correctly save a bundle of files to the correct place?

Will existing workflows containing connectors continue to work on machines with existing connectors in the new version of Alteryx? (I'm guessing possibly not)

Will existing workflows containing connectors continue to work on machines with new connectors in the new version of Alteryx? (I'm guessing almost certainly not)

I think I understand that this is because they are 3rd party tools and third parties keep changing stuff - and it makes sense not to automatically implement a change that is likely to break workflows, especially if a third party is reponsible for it.

Thanks in advance!

Cathey

[JoshML · Accepted solution]

@CatheyH

If I upgrade desktop (from 2020.4 to 2021.4 in our case) the connectors (eg Salesforce) will not automatically be updated?

• Correct. Your upgrade to Designer/Server will not affect existing installations of data connector tools.

Is there a more efficient way of doing this than trusting desktop users to correctly save a bundle of files to the correct place?

• The installers (YXI) or the resulting folder(s) of the tool installation can be distributed.

Will existing workflows containing connectors continue to work on machines with existing connectors in the new version of Alteryx?

• Yes.

Will existing workflows containing connectors continue to work on machines with new connectors in the new version of Alteryx?

• Only if the machine also has the same version of the tool installed that is utilized in the workflow.
  • For example, a workflow authored with v4.1.0 of the Salesforce Input Tool would require that same version to be installed. If only v4.2.4 of the Salesforce Input Tool was installed, the workflow would identify the tool as missing. At that juncture, v4.1.0 could be installed or the missing tool could be replaced/reconfigured with v4.2.4.
• When upgrading/installing newer versions of data connector tools, regardless of upgrading Designer/Server, it's advised to retain any existing tool installations for the best workflow compatibility.

[CatheyH]

Thanks all for you help online and offline - especialy @Samantha_Jayne  (you star, you)

It is a lot to work though, but essentially I'm working through all of the documentation for the upgrade as well as the documentation for the connectors and drivers that we use.