Workflow runs on Local Designer, Server Designer, but not Gallery

[BenMoss]

Hi Everyone,

We are doing some development work and currently testing whether dropbox can be used as a source for macros and additional datasources for workflows scheduled/ran from the Gallery.

On Alteryx Server with the Administrator account, we have set up a dropbox and mapped this to the drive I:\

We have then shared the folder and mapped it to our local machines, again on the drive I:\

Files are syncing perfectly fine between the machines.

I have then created a workflow on my local machine which pulls in data from the I:\ drive, it runs fine.

I go onto the server machine, open designer, connect to the workflow from the gallery, and the workflow runs fine.

HOWEVER, when we try and run the workflow from the gallery, we get a 'file not found' error.

The 'Run As' account is making use of the Administrator account, which we know has access to the folder, and is the same login we are using when we are logging onto server and on the Server Designer.

What could possibly be going on here?

In the set-up we have used a trick to map the dropbox to the I drive, so we cannot use UNC paths as they are different between all of our local machines and the server. But to me, this should not cause an issue if we do not use this, as they are all mapped to I:\ and we know it can run on the server machine.

@SophiaF I've seen a post on a similar topic but it seems to veer off towards the end, perhaps you can offer some advice for us :)

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Server-Discussions/Error-in-writing-output-from-gallery-to-...

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Ben

[ZacharyM]

Can you please confirm that the Alteryx Service process on the Server Machine is running as an elevated account? By default it will run as the NT_Auth account, which would not have network permissions, thus even though the workflow itself is being passed credentials, the server process (service) doesn't have the appropriate permissions to get to the file.

To check this, open the services manager on the Server Machine and confirm that the far right column reflects an account that would have network access.

 

Cheers!

Zak

[LordNeilLord · Accepted solution]

Solved using this:

Create a scheduled task, insert "system" in the "run as" field and point the task to a batch file with the simple command

net use z: \servername\sharedfolder /persistent:yes

[BenMoss]

Hi @ZacharyM as mentioned @LordNeilLord resolved this for us using the trick mentioned.

We also got this comment internally about why this didn't work as expected

' issue is mapped network drives aren't connected until a user establishes a session. So even when you set the 'run as' the account the Administrator isn't actually logged in, it's just used to run the Alteryx Engine process. Hence no network drive'

Thanks all for your help!