Different (lower) output when flow is run on server compared to Designer run of same flow

[Greenlama254]

Hi all,

I am struggling with the following. I have built a flow where the input files are all in the same input folder. The Alteryx server has access to that location. 

Also, the workflow dependencies are all put to " All UNC". Still, for some reason the output when run on the server is lower than the output when run in Designer. 

After investigating it leaves out several lines.

I therefore tried to pinpoint where the output starts to deviate when running on the server and it turns out that after the Filter tool the output is still the same but after the Unique tool the output differs when run on the Alteryx server compared to a in Designer run. (Picture BNFlow 1)

So my first conclusion was that that the Unique tool is doing something differently online than locally. However, I wanted to make sure and I did an additional check by isolating the Unique tool from the preceding part of the flow by using the output of the Filter tool (1) as the input data for just the Unique tool with the same configuration and compare the output (2) when run on the server compared to a local run. The flow then looks as in " BNFlow 2". To my surprise however the output turns out to be exactly identical again.

First of all: how on earth can it be possible that the output of a flow is different when running on the server compared to locally?

Secondly, does somebody have an idea what the cause of this might be? So at the moment it seems not just 1 isolated tool that is causing this but some sort of codependancy between the flow in combination with the Unique tool. 

(unfortunately I cannot share the data)

any suggestions would be highly appreciated, thanks!

Roger

[Greenlama254]

"Could regional settings or something similar be at play here"
Don't know. not even sure how to find that out to be honest

[Sprunki]

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@fmvizcaino wrote:

Hi @Greenlama254 ,

That is definitely weird and not supposed to happen.

Could you tell me about the configuration of your unique tool? Are you deduplicating integers, doubles (numbers with decimals) or texts?

I`m asking this because sometimes numbers with decimals can behave differently on different machines due to the floating number point problem. https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Engine-Works/The-Floating-Point-Number-Problem/ba-p/1135898

Other than that, are your Designer and Server on the same version? That shouldn`t happen just because the versions are not matching, but it could also be a bug on one of the versions.

Best,

Fenando Vizcaino

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I've experienced this exact frustration where a workflow runs perfectly on my desktop but produces different results once uploaded to the Server. It turned out to be that floating point issue mentioned here, so changing my data types to be more specific really solved the problem. Checking that both versions match is also great advice, as that has caught me off guard before.

[Sprunki]

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@Greenlama254 Sprunki Retake wrote:

Hi all,

I am struggling with the following. I have built a flow where the input files are all in the same input folder. The Alteryx server has access to that location. 

Also, the workflow dependencies are all put to " All UNC". Still, for some reason the output when run on the server is lower than the output when run in Designer. 

After investigating it leaves out several lines.

I therefore tried to pinpoint where the output starts to deviate when running on the server and it turns out that after the Filter tool the output is still the same but after the Unique tool the output differs when run on the Alteryx server compared to a in Designer run. (Picture BNFlow 1)

So my first conclusion was that that the Unique tool is doing something differently online than locally. However, I wanted to make sure and I did an additional check by isolating the Unique tool from the preceding part of the flow by using the output of the Filter tool (1) as the input data for just the Unique tool with the same configuration and compare the output (2) when run on the server compared to a local run. The flow then looks as in " BNFlow 2". To my surprise however the output turns out to be exactly identical again.

First of all: how on earth can it be possible that the output of a flow is different when running on the server compared to locally?

Secondly, does somebody have an idea what the cause of this might be? So at the moment it seems not just 1 isolated tool that is causing this but some sort of codependancy between the flow in combination with the Unique tool. 

(unfortunately I cannot share the data)

any suggestions would be highly appreciated, thanks!

Roger

---

I've experienced this exact frustration where a workflow runs perfectly on my desktop but produces different results once uploaded to the Server. It turned out to be that floating point issue mentioned here, so changing my data types to be more specific really solved the problem. Checking that both versions match is also great advice, as that has caught me off guard before.