Download Tool - Error transferring data: Couldn't connect to server

I was wondering if anyone has experienced this error and if there were any common problems I could check, apart from the obvious one (that the server is actually unavailable)?

I am performing a POST with JSON to a REST API. The error occurs intermittently, occurs at different times during the day and sometimes in the middle of a batch (the first couple of records will process and then one will fail). So I am not sure if the server becomes unavailable due to processing the first couple of records or if the error would occur for something like a timeout?

Appreciate any ideas or feedback people could suggest.

Error Message

API

Accepted answers

NeilR

Perhaps the Throttle tool help file is a bit confusing. It does not send a batch of X records through each minute, but rather a single record per time increment. For example setting to 60 records per minute sends 1 record through per second. See screenshot below, where the Message tool after the Throttle tool prints out the datetime. @PaulaA

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michael_treadwell

It is tough to tell exactly why this would happen but my first guess would be this:

Most APIs have a call limit that only allows so many calls in so many number of seconds. If you exceed this, you will be blocked from making calls for a specified time frame.

It could be that. It could not. However, if it is truly a REST API, you should be able to look at the response headers that you get from the download tool. Instead of just looking at the [DownloadData] field from the download tool, try looking at the [DownloadHeaders] field for the HTTP reponse code and associated message. This may give you more insight to the problem.

NeilR

Check the API documentation for limitations. If for instance, you can only do 5 requests per minute, you could use the Throttle tool appropriately space the requests. If that doesn't work, you could try upping the Timout parameter in the Connection tab of the Download tool.

NeilR

120 records per minute = 2 records per second

NeilR

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