Convert a Controller to a Worker

[smoskowitz]

Good morning All --

I am looking for a little insight to as to the best way to do a server consolidation. I am in the process of standing up an Alteryx CoE at my company and one of the tasks is to take over another server implementation that one of our agencies is using.

As of right now, I have an Alteryx server configured as a controller and so does the agency. What I want to do is migrate all of the workflows from one server to the other and then take one Controller and reconfigure it to act as a worker.

Some of the questions I have are:

• After I move my workflows is it as easy as converting the Controller to a worker in the Server config?
• What happens to the new worker? Are all configurations/workflow/databases deleted?
• What happens if the servers are on different version of server?
• Anything else I should consider before consolidating/converting?

All of the documentation I have Googled have revolved around setting up a new worker and not any sort of migration path. if you know if any documentation that deals specifically with this, I would be grateful if you shared.

Best,

Seth

[fmvizcaino · Accepted solution]

Hi @smoskowitz ,

Here are the answers.

• After I move my workflows is it as easy as converting the Controller to a worker in the Server config?
  • Yes. You only have to guarantee you can access your main server from the worker machine. Other than that, pretty straightforward.
  • https://knowledge.alteryx.com/index/s/article/Adding-a-Worker-Node-1583461562815
• What happens to the new worker? Are all configurations/workflow/databases deleted?
  • Not deleted, they will remain there but won`t be used anymore.
  • To clean it up, remove the persistence layer folders and the logging folder, which you can find the paths inside the Alteryx System Settings. There are more files to be removed for a full clean up but those are the bigger ones.
• What happens if the servers are on different version of server?
  • Both Alteryx servers must be on the same version. 
  • If the question is about the windows server version, if Alteryx supports the version, I don`t think you will have an issue there
• Anything else I should consider before consolidating/converting?
  • Having a new worker node is always nice if you have a good reason to separate the environments. For example, have a dedicated worker for a specific team or for critical jobs not to be delayed. 
  • If you don`t, evaluate if you have more benefits by simply adding more cores to the current server. This will help your workflows run faster
  • Keep in mind that an Alteryx server with the AMP engine enabled requires an 8-core server for good performance
  • The worker node doesn`t require a full server license, but an additional capacity license. Each additional capacity license allows 2-cores, meaning you would need 2 to have a 4-core server. Each license costs 1/3 of the full server license, which means you could have 3 additional capacity licenses for the cost of the full server license. Talk to your Alteryx account executive and see if it is possible to make a change in the middle of the contract.

Let me know if you have follow-up questions.

Best,

Fernando Vizcaino

[smoskowitz]

Fernando --

Thank you for the response, this is very useful information. Exciting stuff lies ahead with all of this.

Best,

Seth

[fmvizcaino]

Definitely, I would be excited to be in your shoes!