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Engine Works

Under the hood of Alteryx: tips, tricks and how-tos.
StephenW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

Written in collaboration with @JoshH

 

In the blog, “Top 10 Alteryx Server FAQs”, one of the top frequently asked questions on managing an Alteryx Server, is how to monitor the deployment. Whether it’s to adhere to a data governance program, to track your usage and ROI or how to best optimize your Alteryx Server, administrators need and want monitoring and reporting capabilities. To help with this, we are pleased to announce the availability of a new Alteryx Server Usage Reporting app. This workflow provides valuable data and insights to user access content, scheduled jobs and job analysis information about your server and can be visualized in either a Tableau Workbook or to a set of PDF and Excel files. You can begin your download by going to licenses.alteryx.com and clicking on the most recent Alteryx Server release link.

 

Click on the Alteryx Server Usage Report Demo to learn more:

 

The Dashboards
The packaged workflow that runs in Alteryx Designer and outputs to Tableau presents you with four basic dashboards:

  1. User Access
  2. Job Analysis
  3. Content
  4. Scheduling

User Access
The User Access dashboard displays all of your Studios, how many users are in the Studio and the type of user. This valuable information provides details on of the number of users that have access to the Server and their role; for example, are they are Artisans or Curators and what they have access to. The User Access dashboard also provides insight on the activity of the users to help identify low activity users and who hasn’t logged in within a certain amount of time. You can also monitor login history for each user. It shows when they logged in, how long their session was. The last view within the User Access dashboard shows the logins by time of day. This is helpful in identifying where your peak usage hours are by easily identifying the time of day and day of the week.

 

Job Analysis
The Job Analysis dashboard highlights all of the apps and workflows that are being run on your Server. It highlights the number of apps run, how long they ran, and details of that runtime. The Job Analysis dashboard also shows the volume of the day of the week and by the time of day. You can also view the number of apps run over time and visually see if the runs were successful, have associated warnings or even errored out. Within the run details, you can get even more information on the results of each job and details on the error messages.  

 

Content
The content dashboard enables users to see all the different types of workflows and apps within the Server. You can see the total count of the content within each of the Studios and Collections, who the authors are, how often they have published, and the download metrics around that content. In addition, there are a number of dropdowns to quickly filter the content metrics important to you and what you want to view. 

 

Scheduling
The Scheduling dashboard shows which scheduling and automations are enabled, when they are being ran and if they were successful or not. The highlight tables show you what day of the week jobs are being scheduled and what time of day. This is helpful for optimizing usage and identifying when to run compute intensive jobs in off-peak hours. The dashboard also provides details on scheduled jobs that had errors.

 

PDF and Excel Outputs

Alternatively, if you want to schedule the reports for distribution, you can create PDF and Excel reports by selecting the PDF output option. In the results view, it outputs to three different types reports: a session activity excel file, an app execution excel file and a PDF summary report. The PDF report provides an overview of the users, apps, executions and subscriptions. The app execution Excel provides detailed information on what apps were run, the status of the runs, and any errors associated with that run. Lastly there is a session activity Excel file which provides information on which users logged in and how long those sessions were.

 

In Summary
The Alteryx Server Usage Reporting App is now available from licenses.alteryx.com and provides a great new resource to help you effectively manage your Alteryx Server. From viewing session login details and content types to the status of scheduled jobs, administrators now have more visibility into their Alteryx Server deployments.

Stephen Wagner
Product Manager, Technology Alliances

Stephen Wagner is a Product Manager, Technology Alliances with a passion for enabling users to take full advantage of the Alteryx platform. Stephen’s background includes analyzing sales, marketing, and operational data for a Fortune 50 retailer, as well as data visualization development as an Analytics Consultant.

Stephen Wagner is a Product Manager, Technology Alliances with a passion for enabling users to take full advantage of the Alteryx platform. Stephen’s background includes analyzing sales, marketing, and operational data for a Fortune 50 retailer, as well as data visualization development as an Analytics Consultant.

Comments
Coxta45
11 - Bolide

Would love to start using this, but I can't get it to run properly,  Tool 386 keeps giving a "No cursor found" error.

 

Any thoughts?

StephenW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@Coxta45  Sorry to hear that you're getting an error.  Are you outputting to a PDF?  This is the first time I've heard of this specific error.  I'll investigate and hopefully have an answer to you shortly.

 

StephenW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@Coxta45 After further research, it appears to be a MongoDB related error message.  Please create a workflow with a MongoDB Input tool configured like the screenshot below (use your credentials in the highlighted fields).  Please let me know if you're able to run it successfully.

 

MongoInput.PNG

Coxta45
11 - Bolide

@StephenW I've tested the MongoDB Input tool a few times and had no issues with it.  It connected and return results as expected.

 

Here's the log..

Log.JPG

 

So I cracked open the macro, and then the connector and ran the MongoDB Input that the error seemed to derive from (#386 -> #73)

Results.JPG

 

When all is said and done, I'm still not sure why it's failing.  I do think it's odd that report runs for 35-40 minutes before failing.  In your experience, does it normally take that long to run for 10 days of history?

StephenW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@Coxta45 I requested a support ticket be created for this.  I'm not sure of the root cause but to get around this you could swap out the Connector (#386) with the MongoDB Input workflow that you were able to run successfully.  Please let me know if you need help getting it working.

StephenW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@Coxta45

 

If my suggestion above didn't work, another potential fix is adjusting the timeout.  I've included some instructions below.

 

Run the following in the Mongo shell (replacing nnn with the number of milliseconds you wish to change the timeout to).  This must be ran in the 'admin' database so make sure and use the administrator login.  Also, this change only lasts until the server is rebooted:

use admin
db.runCommand({"setParameter": 1, "cursorTimeoutMillis": nnn})

https://docs.mongodb.com/v3.0/reference/parameters/#param.cursorTimeoutMillis

Coxta45
11 - Bolide

@StephenW,

 

I'm stuck here....

 

Mongo_Shell.JPG

 

StephenW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

It looks like your account isn't authorized.  Try following this documentation:  https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/tutorial/enable-authentication/

Coxta45
11 - Bolide

Yeah, I realized that about 2 minutes after my last post.  I've updated the timeout to 30 minutes and trying another run currently.  Been running for almost an hour...

 

I think we have a TON of results to return, I have web applications I that I've built using the server API endpoint to execute workflows and return results to the web page that are run thousands of times a day in additional to our normal scheduled work.  BTW, for anyone wondering how to properly log in and execute the timeout parameter change in a Mongo shell, here is what worked for me:

 

Needed to add the appropriate options/parameters to mongo.exe statement.  Use the username and password highlighted, which is found in your server configuration.

Mongo_Shell.JPG

 

 

 

 

Coxta45
11 - Bolide

SUCCESS!!!!  [Marks increasing timeout execution as solution]

 

Thanks, @StephenW !!

 

nikul
5 - Atom

Hi Stephen

Thanks for such a great tool. This seems to be super useful.

 

I'm actually getting this error however when I run this app. I've double checked the mongodb password as well. Any suggestions?

Image 001 2017-03-22 09h 28m 54s.png

 

Thanks

Nikul

StephenW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@nikul

 

Check that your Gallery has at least one app uploaded to it.

nikul
5 - Atom

@Stephen

 

Actually we don't use Gallery yet. All we have is 5 workflows running daily (On Disk). Does this mean I can't use this app in my use case? Does this app only work if Gallery is being used? If that's the case then is there any other app/resource that can generate similar usage report for On Disk scheduled jobs?

 

Thanks

Nikul

 

StephenW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@nikul

 

From my understanding, that's correct.

nikul
5 - Atom

Thanks @StephenW

 

Any other similar apps/macros that I can utilize in this case then?

Nov_Axt
5 - Atom

Hi! Is this a macro that needs to be run only from the Alteryx server machine? Additionally, I am getting the following error when trying to open the workflow or macro:

 

 

alteryx error.PNG

 

Is there a more recent version of this? I am looking to track usage statistics of our Alteryx users.

 

Thanks,

Rajeev 

 

StephenW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

Hi @Nov_Axt

 

This error indicates that the Alteryx Designer version your running is earlier than the workflow.

 

To fix this, either update your Alteryx Designer to 11.0 or download an earlier version of the Usage Report here.

ctbrisbois
5 - Atom

I ran into an issue similar to @nikul: "Collection usageReports not found in database AlteryxGallery."  I was able to resolve this by updating the RuntimeSettings.xml as detailed in this help article and then running a basic workflow in Designer to generate some data.  It automatically created the missing collection in the AlteryxGallery database.

 

As an aside, if you want to dig into the Alteryx MongoDB a little bit you can use the MongoDB Input Tool.  That is how I was able to verify that the collection was missing, as well as verify it had been created.

 

 

reddy520
7 - Meteor
Is there any way that we can post output to tableau server, just the tde and workbook , refresh on a schedule ? I tried to do it but seems need a lot of work because of lot of data sources with in a tde .
ppoorab1
7 - Meteor

Can anyone please provide the 10.5/10.6 version of the AlteryxUsageReport package.

The one on downloads.alteryx requires 11.0 and does not open on 10.5.

Further, the GaleryUsageReport for per-11.0 does not provide the same details.

farisa
5 - Atom

Hi, 

I,m running the Alteryx Server User Report but I'm having troubles with the tableau workbook.

The Alteryx server | Usage  dashboard doesn't work. It's missing some input (see picture).

Does anybody know what is happening?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

alteryx server.png

rschlig
6 - Meteoroid
@farisa did you happen to find a solution to your issue? Experiencing the same on 2018.1
SophiaF
Alteryx
Alteryx

@rschlig - there is a new version of the Server Usage Report for 2018.1. You can pick it up in the Downloads portal.

The_Dev_Kev_Env
9 - Comet

Where in the portal would I find this? I am looking under starter kits and can't find this packaged workbook.

 

Best,

Kevin

StephenW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@The_Dev_Kev_Env Go to the portal and under Product Downloads, click on Alteryx Server > Alteryx Server (2018.2) > Alteryx Server Usage Report

dtokarz312
8 - Asteroid

 @StephenW Do you know if there is a variable/data dictionary list anywhere that is available to view regarding the Alteryx Server Monitoring? I am hoping to find something similar to what Tableau has done here. 
https://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/data_dictionary.htm

 

Thanks, 

 

Derek 

 

StephenW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@dtokarz312

 

Unfortunately, there isn't a data dictionary.

rahulagrawal
5 - Atom

Hi Stephen,

i want to know that how many days report we can generate using "Alteryx server usage report". is there any setting in server level which shows How many days history “Mongo DB”  can keep in Alteryx server?

 

Thanks

Rahul

StephenW
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

Hi @rahulagrawal

 

I believe that it may be a Server Admin option but I'm inclined to say it keeps all history.

gsjacobs
8 - Asteroid

This was working great until I installed Designer 2018.4. Is there a different configuration for this version? The usage activity no longer shows up on the usage report.

sshaika1
5 - Atom

@StephenW 

 

Is there a way i could filter the App to get only last 30 days data ? 

 

Thanks in Advance 

Aum
8 - Asteroid

Can anyone tell me why the scheduled is later than the completed? This is the result from AppExecution output. 

 

I have about 500 records out of 1700 that is showing weird time like this.

 

I am using the datetime diff formula to calculate the duration. 

 

Suggestion - If the result from the session activity file can include the workflow field, then it would be great. 

serverreport2.PNG

Paul_Holden
9 - Comet

Hi,

 

Video will not play for me, has it been pulled? If so any chance of a link to any updated resources?

NeilR
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@Paul_Holden I've added the video back in. Please ignore my previous (now deleted) comment about the app being deprecated - I was mistaken.

Paul_Holden
9 - Comet

@NeilR I was about to ask what had replaced it!

jeffreyhuynh
5 - Atom

Hi,

 

We were able to schedule it successfully via Alteryx Server, but I cannot view the Tableau workbook output (getting the following error). Our Alteryx Server version is 2020.3.4.30228 - our Alteryx Designer license is 2020.3x

unnamed.png

jeffreyhuynh
5 - Atom

@NeilR @StephenW  Can you assist with the above? I'm still getting the same error when trying to view it (if I output to PDF instead, I can see the usage report just fine).

Paul_Holden
9 - Comet

@jeffreyhuynh have you tried outputting the Tableau file to a different folder? I always get nervous when I see apps trying to load from the Outlook\IE temp file area.

jeffreyhuynh
5 - Atom

@Paul_Holden Ahh yes I have. I've pulled it to my desktop and still the same issue.

Paul_Holden
9 - Comet

@jeffreyhuynh I'm not sure what to suggest next. The error seems to be saying that there is corruption in the XML of the twb file.

 

Have you just tried moving the existing file or did you recreate it from scratch by pointing the workflow at a different output folder?

Carrie_Chen
5 - Atom

@StephenW I feel like this video is very useful and I'd love to try it. I got an issue related to the Mongo DB database credentials.

 

Carrie_Chen_0-1627661070823.png

I got "Not Available" for all fields. Any ideas?

 

 

 

Paul_Holden
9 - Comet

What does it say in the sections above Database?

 

Paul_Holden_0-1627661565513.png

 

Carrie_Chen
5 - Atom

@Paul_Holden Thanks. Same, it says "Mongo BD".

Paul_Holden
9 - Comet

Hmm, in that case I'm not sure what to suggest.

 

Can you confirm that your account has admin access on the Alteryx Gallery host i.e. Windows admin, not just Curator (Admin) on the Gallery?

 

If you access the Gallery as Admin is everything as expected i.e. can you see lists of Workflows, Users etc. on the relevant tabs?

sandra_lim
5 - Atom

Hi All,

 

I running Alteryx Server Usage Report in Alteryx Server and I able to get excel and pdf report by downloading the report from Alteryx Server. However for Tableau hyper format it seem like is a temporary file. Anyone can suggest how to change in the macro for the location, so that i can store it in Alteryx Server share drive as I not able to find the tool in the macro.

sandra_lim_0-1640703138311.png

 

Jon-Knepper
8 - Asteroid

When I go to the downloads section through the link provided I don't see the Alteryx Server Usage Report.  Am I missing something?

NeilR
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

@Jon-Knepper Click on Alteryx Server, then click on Alteryx Server (2022.1), and then it's there:

 

NeilR_0-1661895458545.png

 

oyes2704
7 - Meteor

I'm not able to find the ServerUsageReport in the downloads portal.

20231205 ALteryxServerUsageReport.png