Building Connections in Designer Cloud

[AYXAcademy]

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[simonaubert_bd]

Hello @randall_king 

First of all, thanks for this article. I'm currently exploring the designer cloud and I still have one very important point about data connections.

As you may know, on Alteryx Designer Desktop and classic server, we have two types of data connections : 

-in-memory (data is retrieved by the Alteryx machine, processed and then output in the target)

-in-db (data stays in the database, Alteryx just build a query from the workflow design and sends the query to the database)
 
I asked several times people about Alteryx Cloud Designer and everytime, the answer was : Alteryx Designer Cloud is already in-db. But I still don't understand how you know a connection is in-db or not. From what I see in this article, connections are only in-memory, some with the ability to read data, others with also ability to publish data... but never to mimics the in-database. I must miss something, I think.

Best regards,

Simon

[randall_king]

Hi @simonaubert_bd, 

This response is a bit lengthy so put your seatbelt on. In the Alteryx Analytics Cloud (AAC), these capabilities are in development. The roadmap suggests the following:

In-database (work in progress):
In AAC, this capability you’re asking about has been called pushdown. In the future, this will mean that if the following is true:

• data is hosted in a datastore where this is supported
• data is being written back to the same datastore
• additional technical requirements have been met

Then:

• The transformation is executed in the database

This work is in progress for AAC. Here is a doc related to Snowflake pushdown on Trifacta. In the doc we call it a running environment, as this is our generic term for any environment where data is transformed: https://docs.trifacta.com/display/AWS/Snowflake+Running+Environment

In-memory (work in progress):

Photon is an in-memory (same node) running environment. This environment is suitable for small- to medium-sized jobs. This environment is work in progress in AAC.Here’s the Trifacta doc that explains Photon: https://docs.trifacta.com/display/AWS/Trifacta+Photon+Running+Environment

These two running environments will be available for Designer Cloud in the coming months.

Tip: If you want to see how they work on Trifacta flows in AAC, you may be able to enable both experiences in your workspace. Please contact Alteryx Support for more.

[simonaubert_bd]

Hello @randall_king Thanks a lot for the explanations, that was the exact informations I was looking for. I'm impatient to see the in-database released, that will be a killing app :)

Best regards,

Simon