Connect Designer to Alteryx Analytics Hub

Version:
2020.2
Last modified: October 15, 2020

Connect Alteryx Designer to Alteryx Analytics Hub (AAH) to seamlessly work between AAH and Designer. In Analytics Hub, you can share, schedule, run analytic apps, download workflows that open in Designer, and access all of your outputs in one place. You can also easily discover files your coworkers have shared with a glance at Overview, Shared Files, or with a quick search. In Designer, you can save workflows to a connected Analytics Hub site and also open workflows from your site.

Software Requirements

  • Alteryx Designer 20.2 or Newer
  • Active Alteryx Analytics Hub License

Provide Certificates

In order for Designer software installed on one machine to communicate with an Analytics Hub instance on a different machine, you need to provide certificates. You can install self-signed certificates or certificates from a certificate authority (recommended). The steps below describe the process for generating and installing self-signed certificates.

If Alteryx Analytics Hub is configured to use certificates issued by a commercial Certificate Authority (CA), Alteryx Designer can connect to the server without any additional effort on your part. CA-generated certificates are respected by your operating system, and therefore Alteryx Designer by default. Visit Configure TLS (SSL) for information about configuration with CA-issued certificates.

Engine Workers

These steps allow Alteryx Designer to communicate with an Alteryx Analytics Hub instance with a single worker. To install certificates on worker machines, visit Engine Workers.

Set Up the Analytics Hub Certificate

Platform Administrators

These steps are typically performed by the Platform Administrator. If you already have a Root CA certificate, skip to the Set Up the Client Machine section.

  1. Open Windows PowerShell as Administrator.
  2. Go to the AAH install location cd "INSTALL_LOCATION\Alteryx Analytics Hub".
  3. Generate a new set of certificates. Note that these certificates expire in 60 days. Run .\ayxhub.ps1 -https generate-selfsigned "LOCATION_FOR_CERTIFICATES" "HOSTNAME_OF_MACHINE" "YOUR_DESIRED_PASSWORD".
    • "LOCATION_FOR_CERTIFICATES": The location where certificates are stored.
    • "HOSTNAME_OF_MACHINE": The hostname to which we issue these certificates. This should match your AAH base address.
    • "YOUR_DESIRED_PASSWORD": The password to protect these certificates.
    For example, if you want to generate a new set of certificates and save them under C:\Program Files and issue certificates to "MYCOMPANY.COM", the command is .\ayxhub.ps1 -https generate-selfsigned "C:\Program Files" "*.MYCOMPANY.COM" "myPassword".
  4. Run .\ayxhub.ps1 -restart to restart all services.
  5. Copy the CAroot.crt file from the location you entered in step 3. This file is needed to set up the client machine.

Set Up the Client Machine

If you are using self-signed certificates or don't have a centrally distributed root, you will need to do this for each machine that you want to connect to AAH from. To avoid the manual process associated with self-signed certificates and to simplify your users' experience, we recommend that you use certificates issued by an SSL Certificate Authority.

  1. Copy the CAroot.crt file you created in Step 3 above to this machine and open it.
  2. Select Install Certificate.
  3. Select Store Location > Local Machine > Next.
  4. Select Place all certificates in the following store > Browse…
  5. Select Trusted Root Certification Authorities > OK > Next.
  6. Select Finish.
  7. Restart your browser and Designer.

Connect Designer to Analytics Hub (Requires Access to a Site)

To connect Designer to Analytics Hub...

  1. In Designer, go to File > Save As > Analytics Hub > Add New Connection. You can also connect via File > Open Workflow > Add New Analytics Hub Connection.
  2. In the Add Analytics Hub connection window, enter your Analytics Hub site URL and select Next.
    • The URL needs to include the domain and site name in this format: protocol/domain/site. For example, https://hub.alteryx.com/sales where sales is the site name.
    • If you configured AAH to listen on a different port than 443, the URL format is slightly different: protocol/domain:port/site. For example, https://hub.alteryx.com:30443/sales where 30443 is the port number and sales is the site name.
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  3. Enter your Analytics Hub credentials (Email address and Password) and select Sign In.
  4. Your Analytics Hub site is now connected to Designer. When you are ready to save your Designer workflows to Analytics Hub, follow the steps in the next section.

Save Workflow to Analytics Hub

To save a workflow to Analytics Hub, follow these steps:

  1. Open a workflow in Designer.
  2. Go to Save As > Analytics Hub.
  3. Select your Analytics Hub site or select Add New Connection. To add a new connection, see above.
  4. In the Save Workflow window, provide a Workflow Name and an optional Description. Note that the Location is set to My Files and cannot be updated at this time.
  5. Select the Workflow Options dropdown to configure these settings:
    • Save workflow then validate: Selected by default, validates your workflow after it is saved to Analytics Hub. If validation fails, error messaging displays to alert you to the causes, for example incorrectly configured tools or missing dependencies.
    • Manage workflow assets: Select if your workflow has assets. Make sure you include all the assets, or the workflow won’t run in Analytics Hub.
      • Select Group assets by tool to display all of the workflow's assets or file dependencies grouped together with the tool they are connected to.
      • Deselect an asset to omit it from the workflow package.
  6. Select Save. The Save Workflow window displays Workflow saved, Data Connections*, and Workflow validated status. The workflow is saved to Analytics Hub for you to run, schedule, and share.

    *If Analytics Hub detects that your workflow uses an embedded data source connection to one of the supported databases (Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Postgres, Snowflake, and Redshift), the Save Workflow window displays a success or error message for Data Connections. If no database connection exists, the Data Connections section does not display.
     
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  7. Select View in Browser to view the workflow in Analytics Hub or select Close to close the Save Workflow window in Designer. The View in Browser function works best when Google Chrome is set as your default browser.

Open Analytics Hub Workflow in Designer

If you recently opened an Analytics Hub workflow, you can open it again via File > Open Recent. The list contains the 10 most recently opened workflows. If your workflow is not in the list, follow these steps:

  1. In Designer, select File > Open Workflow.
  2. Select your Analytics Hub connection.
    • If you previously connected to Analytics Hub, your connection is listed by connection name.
    • To add a new Analytics Hub connection, select Add New Analytics Hub Connection. See Connect to Analytics Hub above.
  3. In the Open Workflow window, select the workflow, macro, or app that you want to open. Use the search bar to locate a specific item or use the All, Workflows, Macros, and Apps tabs to view specific item types.
  4. Select the Open button to open the item in Designer.

Remove Connection

To remove an existing connection to Analytics Hub, follow these steps:

  1. In Designer, go to Save As > Analytics Hub.
  2. Select the connection that you want to remove.
  3. In the Save Workflow window, select the gear icon at the top and select Remove Connection.
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