Alteryx Architecture

Alteryx is a one-stop-destination for converting various file types. Even non-technical folks find it simple to convert file types, which adds to the overall good impact. Alteryx can be used as an ETL tool and a visualization tool. Alteryx Architecture lets you construct, manage, and share data connections and develop, publish, and distribute analytic applications. This blog goes over all of the important concepts of Alteryx architecture in greater depth.

Alteryx Architecture - Table of Contents

• Overview of Alteryx Architecture
• Alteryx: Self-Service Data Analytics Tool
• Alteryx Engine
• Alteryx Service
• Alteryx Scheduler
• Alteryx Service Controller
• Alteryx Gallery

Overview of Alteryx Architecture

The Alteryx Architecture blog will show you how to construct enterprise-class, robust architectures with Alteryx Server. Alteryx Architecture, the market leader in self-service data analytics, allows analysts to simply prep, blend, and analyze their data using a repeatable workflow and then deploy and share analytics.

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Alteryx: Self-Service Data Analytics Tool

Self-service data analytics systems act as a centralized platform that allows business analysts and data scientists to collaborate and adhere to the Modern Analytics Lifecycle.  Data workers can find data from any accessible data store, examine and transform it in their analytic sandboxes, and then deploy the data and analytics workflow back into an enterprise data lake, analytic sandbox, or REST APIs for Permitted applications. It's also possible that resulting datasets could be reused in the future for other analytics and data science projects.

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Alteryx enables every industry to achieve feats previously considered unattainable. Alteryx can perform tasks such as:

• BI + Visualization: You can visualize data as part of your process and quickly output it to your choice visualization tool.

• Data discovery+ Management: In a regulated environment, you may build a foundation of truth and relevancy to support better, faster decisions.

• Data Preparation: Alteryx makes connecting, combining, and manipulating data simple.

• Location Intelligence: You can obtain helpful information from geospatial data relationships to tackle a specific problem.

• Technology Integration: Alteryx makes it simple to integrate front-end business intelligence apps to back-end data sources.

Let's move on to architecture now. The Alteryx Architecture process flow diagram starts with drag-and-drop workflow tools and ends with the Alteryx Engine executing outcomes.

Alteryx Engine

The Alteryx Engine, developed in C++, performs and generates the workflows created in the Alteryx Designer. The Engine allows direct connections to numerous data sources for data access and processes it in memory during workflow execution. Excessive memory processing is written to temp files on the disc removed once the processing is completed.  The Engine can be self-contained in an Alteryx Designer deployment, scaled across an organization using the Alteryx Server, or distributed in the cloud using the Alteryx Analytics Gallery.

Alteryx Service

Alteryx Service allows the Alteryx Engine to be distributed across numerous servers, resulting in a highly scalable architecture for analytic workflow scheduling, Administration, and execution.  A Controller-Worker architecture enables the Alteryx to Service, written in C++ with some C# wrappers, to be deployed across multiple Servers. This means that one server serves as the Controller, managing the job queue, while the others function as Workers, carrying out the tasks.

The Service Persistence tier stores data critical to the Service's operation, such as Alteryx application files, the job queue, and result data. When the Gallery requests it, the Service also provides content and information.

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Alteryx Scheduler

The Alteryx Scheduler component allows a user to schedule the execution of workflows created in the Designer on a repeating basis or at a specified date, time, and frequency in the future. In Alteryx Designer, you can access the Scheduler interface component via the desktop, and in an Alteryx Server deployment, you may access it via the web. The Designer is used to access the C#-based desktop Scheduler interface component. Users may plan and control any built-in workflow Designer.  The Alteryx Server Controller maintains the job queue and communicates with the Scheduler.

The Scheduler interface in an Alteryx Server deployment can be configured to display with the Controller on the same system or connect to a remote Controller to process workflows on a different machine. In an Alteryx Server implementation, the browser Scheduler interface component, coded in Javascript, HTML5, and CSS3, is accessed through a private Gallery. Users can only schedule workflows in the intimate Gallery to which they have access.

User credentials can be required for schedules to operate. Only administrators can see and manage all planned jobs from the Gallery Admin interface. Programs are saved and executed on the server that houses the private Gallery.

[ Related Article: Alteryx Data Types ]

Alteryx Service Controller

The controller is in charge of the server's settings and assigns workflows to the workers to complete. The Alteryx service is the key piece of code in the controller. The service enables you to distribute the engine that processes workflows across multiple Servers, resulting in a scalable architecture for analytic workflow scheduling, management, and execution. The service employs a controller-worker architecture, in which one server serves as the controller, managing the job queue, and others do as workers, performing the tasks. Only one machine can be used as a Controller if the Server is deployed across multiple servers.

The service uses the persistence layer to store data necessary to function. When content is requested, the service sends it to the Gallery. Workers must carry out Alteryx Service Worker Workflows. When a job is delegated to a worker, it executes it and produces the output. In a Server deployment, at least one working machine is required. The Alteryx engine is included in the workers. The engine supports direct connections to multiple data sources. During workflow execution, the engine accesses the input data and processes it in memory. When processing surpasses memory limits, the engine uses temporary files on the disc, deleting them once the processing is finished. In a Designer deployment, the engine can be self-contained; in a Server deployment, it can be expanded throughout an enterprise; and in the Gallery, it can be hosted in the cloud.

[ Learn About the Alteryx Designer ]

Alteryx Gallery

The Gallery is a cloud-based workflow tool that allows you to publish, share, and execute workflows, organize and manage workflows, and communicate with the service.

This enables you to scale the Gallery horizontally by deploying it across numerous servers behind a load balancer. The Gallery web server is implemented in C# and WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) and manages all of the Gallery's backend logic. The HTTP requests are received by WCF, which then delivers them to the server for processing. The server then connects directly with MongoDB to handle persistence, including information like users registered with the system, existing collections, and workflows in those collections.

The Gallery server interfaces with the Alteryx Service for workflow management and execution. When someone requests that a workflow be run, the Gallery server talks with the service layer and then obtains the results. When designing custom interfaces for running apps, Alteryx provides a REST API for the Gallery, which developers can connect with a private Gallery or the Alteryx Analytics Gallery.

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Conclusion

To sum up, Alteryx is one of the most well-known software solutions in analytics, and a large number of enterprises use it to gain valuable insights from data. It makes it simple to move data to reporting and dashboards and publish and share interactive analytics with people inside and outside your company.