Adding a Worker Node

[DavidHa]

How To: Add a Worker Node

Many customers need to expand their Alteryx Server environment to support a growing number of users, additional departments, increased data sizes, frequent job queuing, or a myriad of other reasons. This document walks through the process of adding a Worker Node to an Alteryx Server environment. These steps apply regardless of the size of the existing Alteryx Server environment.

Prerequisites

• Alteryx Server
• Additional required assets:
  • Controller Hostname
  • Controller Token
  • Alteryx Server and Data installers
  • Database Drivers

Procedure

1. Provision a new physical or virtual machine meeting the Alteryx Server minimum requirements. It is recommended to work with your Alteryx representative to understand what is an optimal system setup for your use cases, data set sizes, and business requirements.
    
2. Install applicable database drivers. For ODBC Drivers, configure System or User DSNs to match the existing Worker(s). In-Database connections should also be created for any data sources where In-Database processing is being used.
   
   
    
3. Install Alteryx Server and any Data packages using the same install files from your existing Alteryx Server environment. This ensures version compatibility between the Controller and the new Worker Node. There are a couple of ways to verify the same version is being used.
    
   1. Check the version reported in Gallery at https://MyGalleryHostname.com/#!help/version
      
      
      
       
   2. Check the version reported by Alteryx Designer running on the existing Alteryx Server machine.
      
      
      
       
   3. Ensure this matches the version reported by the file name of the Alteryx Server installable on the new Worker node.
      
      
       
4. On the Alteryx Server Controller machine, open the System Settings and navigate to the Controller > General section. Copy the Controller Token and save it for step 6.
   
   
   
    
5. On the new Worker Node where Alteryx Server has been installed, launch the System Settings wizard. For the Environment Setup Type, choose Custom - Enable Worker.
   
   
   
    
6. Continue to the Controller -> Remote section. Enter your Controller Hostname and paste the Controller Token saved in step 4. Click Test to ensure the Alteryx Server version, Controller Hostname and Token match.
   
   
   
    
7. Configure the Worker and Engine settings as desired. Typically this involves matching the settings of an existing Worker but there are situations where it makes sense to have different settings across Workers, such as the number of workflows allowed to run simultaneously, QoS settings, Job tags, Map Rendering, etc...
   
   An example Worker ConfigurationAn example Worker Configuration
   
    
8. Complete the System Settings wizard and validate the AlteryxService is Running on the new Worker node.
   
   
   
    
9. Validate the new Worker shows up in the Gallery Admin > Diagnostics page in the Workers panel.
   
   
   
    
10. Ensure the new Worker has access to any locally stored Macros or data sets. It is recommended to move all locally stored Macros and data sets to a network share or similar storage device that is accessible by all Workers, and then update Workflows based on the new locations. Storing files locally and copying to all Workers isn't recommended as it requires a method to keep them all in sync, increases data storage requirements, and introduces version differences across the environment.
     
11. Finally, run a few representative workflows through the new Worker to verify everything is working as expected.

Conclusion

With just a few simple steps a new Worker node can be added to an Alteryx Server environment to provide redundancy, higher throughput, shorter job queue times, and many more benefits.

Additional Resources

• Worker System Settings
• Considerations for Scaling Alteryx Server
• Measuring and Scaling a Private Server
• Scaling a Private Server: Five steps to greater throughput

[vepp]

Everything is in shared drive and I can access the folders in all machines But still its failing with  Invalid App id and File Not found. What to do? Please suggest.

2019-12-17 10:23:05.807000,NOTICE,6384,AlteryxService,,,,,,,,"ServiceThreadPool_GrowThreads: Growing thread pool count from <0> to <2>"
2019-12-17 10:23:06.147000,NOTICE,5364,AlteryxService,RenderWorkerDaemon,,,,,,,"RenderWorkerDaemon_Start: Started pipe PID <10840>"
2019-12-17 10:23:06.147000,NOTICE,916,AlteryxService,RenderWorkerDaemon,,,,,,,"RenderWorkerDaemon_Start: Started pipe PID <10808>"
2019-12-17 10:26:09.239000,WARN,10656,AlteryxService,ServerB|11ED305A,,USER1,,,,,"SlaveThread_TestFileExists: Failed to find file: <\\ServerA\Workflows\Test.yxmd> Trying to find again."
2019-12-17 10:26:09.761000,WARN,10656,AlteryxService,ServerB|11ED305A,,USER1,,,,,"SlaveThread_TestFileExists: Failed to find file: <\\ServerA\Workflows\Test.yxmd> Trying to find again."
2019-12-17 10:26:10.262000,WARN,10656,AlteryxService,ServerB|11ED305A,,USER1,,,,,"SlaveThread_TestFileExists: Failed to find file: <\\ServerA\Workflows\Test.yxmd> Trying to find again."
2019-12-17 10:26:10.774000,ERROR,10656,AlteryxService,ServerB|11ED305A,,USER1,,,,,"Service_Slave.cpp: 741. Invalid application ID <5df8ad410202c329cc00671e>, requested local path <\\ServerA\Workflows\Test.yxmd>"
2019-12-17 10:26:10.774000,ERROR,10656,AlteryxService,ServerB|11ED305A,,USER1,,,,,"SlaveThread_DoWork_VerifyError: Worker <ServerB|11ED305A> error <Invalid application ID <5df8ad410202c329cc00671e>,

[Julien_B]

Hi David ! Thank you for your article.
My "https://<alteryx_website>/gallery/#!help/version" doesn't display anything : 

And the "https://<alteryx_website>/gallery/#!help/version" page only displays 4 links, but none about versionning.

What am I missing ?

[DavidHa]

Hi Julien,

In newer versions of Server this has changed.  You can find the version under your name in the top right corner -> Profile -> Version.  

[Morten]

Hi David!

Will adding a new worker require additional/extended license or can you spin up unlimited workers with a single standard Alteryx server license?

[LisaL]

@Morten 

Alteryx Server licensing is on a per-core basis.  Because any additional worker will necessarily have more cores (usually at least 4), you will need to obtain appropriate licenses.  Your Account Executive can help you with that.

[shuaibahmad]

I have a requirement to automate this process. I want to spin up virtual machine as worker and configure Alteryx controller in it. I do not know how to do it ? Is there command to do it from Bash/PowerShell?