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

[robertlenius]

Hello everyone,

Hoping someone here may be able to shine some light on an issue were facing.

Problem

We're using the download tool for sending an XML request to a website and then retrieving the output. It works as expected locally in Alteryx Designer, however on Alteryx Server we receive "Error transferring data: Couldn't connect to server". I searched the forums for this topic already, but couldn't find anything describing the scenario where it works locally but not on server.

Remedies Tried

We've opened up the firewall between our server and this site, and in fact on the machine hosting our Alteryx server environment we are able to ping/reach the URL in question.

More Information

The only settings we've changed in our download tool is the URL and the Payload which is an XML string built by a formula tool.

[Thableaus]

Hi @robertlenius 

Is this a single node environment? Did you do this test on the worker that is running this workflow?

I guess the other problem could be proxy configuration? Check out this post, it might be helpful.

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/Change-proxy-connection-in-download-to...

Cheers,

[robertlenius]

Hello @Thableaus,

Thank you for your feedback!

I'm unaware of the environment, but our IT that manages the server is testing on the worker to see if it is able to run the workflow.

Regarding the proxy, I've forwarded this information to the IT team to see if they would be able to do this.

[robertlenius]

Hello @Thableaus,

So weirdly enough, IT was able to run the workflow directly from the machine hosting the server environment. But when attempting to run it from gallery "Error transferring data: Couldn't connect to server " is received.

I still haven't heard back on the proxy yet, but will update this post when a solution is found. 

[Thableaus]

@robertlenius 

Is there any kind of authentication related to the use of the Download Tool?

Do you have to be connected as a specific user to have access to the related data?

Cheers,

[robertlenius · Accepted solution]

Following up on this issue as we were finally able to determine the root cause. On our machine running Alteryx server our proxy information was set so the request would just bounce off every time the download tool was used. 

[samhithakothuru]

Hi robert ,

could you assist how to set that proxy setting .could you please provide steps if possible 

[kitkat]

Hi Robert,

Our organization is also getting the same error, what changes did you have to change to resolve this? Thx

[AndresNieto21]

Hi Team, 

I was wondering if the only way to solve the "Server not found" error is to change the firewall configuration in the worker, or is there something else a user with artisan permission can do, since I have exactly the same problem as in my local computer the workflow runs smothly. 

Thanks in advance for your time.

[Ariharan]

Hi @robertlenius , 

We are also facing this issue intermittently and I am curious to know more about the solution which you implemented. Even though I thought the same whenever it failed I doubted whether the request it sent to proxy or not.

Regards, 

Ariharan Rengasamy