Input Data Tool is slow when data is from shared drive

[milbertdacudao]

The workflow was running fast until September 16, 2021. When running in local drive, the workflow average runtime is 15 seconds. However, when we run it in the shared drive, it takes 30.36 minutes to complete the run.

We have enabled the Performance Profiling and found out that the Input Data Tool result is this: Info: Get Input Files (380): Profile Time: 1835608.88ms, 100.00%

It took approximately 30 minutes just to run the input files which contains 45 fields and 407 records.

[BrandonB]

Hi @milbertdacudao 

The biggest difference is that your computer needs to pull the data across your network in order to process it when it sits on the network drive whereas it can just pull the data immediately when it is stored locally. That being said, this does seem like an abnormal amount of time. This is something that I would suggest checking in with your IT team. This likely either has to do with a VPN connection that you are using or it has to do with the network drive itself. How long does it take your computer to copy the file from the network drive to your desktop? If copying the file is relatively quick, I might suggest sending an email to support@alteryx.com. However, if copying the file from the network drive to your computer is very slow, this might be a good indication that something is wrong with your IT infrastructure. 

[JokeFun]

I have a similar issue. Everything went fine before I got a new HVD because the old one has some performance issue. The same workflow on my colleague's HVD runs just 10sec, while it takes 6min on mine. The conclusion is it's a specific problem with my ID, because even IT assigned a new HVD to me, it is still the same poor performance. I also tried to log on my colleague's HVD where her ID works quite well and mine the same poor performance. So now it can take hours as I am developing some complicated workflow. I tried to save all data source to local C drive at the very beginning, which helps a bit. But maintenance and update of the workflow after go-live have to be based on shared drive files, which is really a big headache for me.

a summary table of performance

Test ID	Test Method	time for sheet name loading (Select Excel Input) not responding time	time for workbook loading (Entire Alteryx not responding time)	time for Input tool selection after loading (refresh preview 100 records)
1	My primary	1m 45s	10min	10min
2	My secondary	10-12s	70s	30s
3	Colleague on Secondary	2s	8s	Instant
4	Me on Collegaue's sec	10-15s	40-74s	30s
6	My Primary 2 (new HVD)	1m 45s	10min	10min

[BrandonB]

@JokeFun is it possible that your HVD is located in a different region than your colleague? If it was hosted in a different location that could explain the latency if your colleague is closer to the data. 

[JokeFun]

Nope. Our HVDs are located at the same place. You know, I tried to use her HVD for testing as well, which had poor performance as well, while she does not.