Prepare, Blend, and Analyze FTP Data in Alteryx Designer (Connect AI)

Alteryx is a software platform that allows people to work with data more easily. When paired with CData Connect AI, Alteryx provides instant access to FTP data from your data automation processes. This article demonstrates how to connect to FTP using Connect AI and work with FTP data in Alteryx.

CData Connect AI offers a dedicated SQL Server interface for FTP, facilitating data querying without the need for data replication to a native database. With built-in optimized data processing capabilities, CData Connect AI efficiently directs all supported SQL operations, including filters and JOINs, straight to FTP. This harnesses server-side processing to rapidly retrieve the desired FTP data.

Configure FTP Connectivity for Alteryx

Connectivity to FTP from Alteryx is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with FTP data from Alteryx, we start by creating and configuring a FTP connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "FTP" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to FTP.

   To connect to FTP or SFTP servers, specify at least RemoteHost and FileProtocol. Specify the port with RemotePort.

   Set User and Password to perform Basic authentication. Set SSHAuthMode to use SSH authentication. See the Getting Started section of the data provider help documentation for more information on authenticating via SSH.

   Set SSLMode and SSLServerCert to secure connections with SSL.

   The data provider lists the tables based on the available folders in your FTP server. Set the following connection properties to control the relational view of the file system:

   • RemotePath: Set this to the current working directory.
   • TableDepth: Set this to control the depth of folders to list as views.
   • FileRetrievalDepth: Set this to retrieve and list files recursively from the root table.

   Stored Procedures are available to download files, upload files, and send protocol commands. See the Data Model chapter of the FTP data provider documentation for more information.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add FTP Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to FTP data from Alteryx.

Connect to FTP from Alteryx

To establish a connection from Alteryx Desktop to the CData Connect AI Virtual SQL Server, follow these steps:

1. Set up an account in Alteryx.
2. Drag and drop a new Input Data tool onto the workflow.
3. While the Input Data tool is selected, click Set Up a Connection in the navigation panel. A Data connections dialog appears.
4. Click Data sources. Select Microsoft SQL Server > **Quick connect.
5. In the Connection Manager dialog, click New.
6. In the New Data Source dialog, enter the following information:
   • Data Source Name: Microsoft SQL Server ODBC DSN-less.
   • Driver: select ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server from the drop-down list.
   • Server: tds.cdata.com,14333
   • Database: enter the Connection Name of the CData Connect AI data source you want to connect to (for example, FTP1).
   
7. Click Save. Then click Connect Credential.
8. In Connections, enter the following:
   • Authentication Method: select Username and password.
   • Credential: select Create New Credential.
   • Credential Name: enter a name to identify the credential.
   • Username: enter your CData Connect AI username. This is displayed in the top-right corner of the CData Connect AI interface. For example, [email protected].
   • Password: enter the PAT you generated on the Settings page.
9. Click Test Connection. If successful, click Create and link.
10. Connect with your credentials.
11. In the wizard that opens, drag and drop the table to be queried in the Query Builder box. Select the fields by checking the boxes that you want to include in your query. Where possible, the complex queries generated by the filters and aggregations will be pushed down to your data source, while any unsupported operations (which can include SQL functions and JOIN operations) will be managed client-side by the CData SQL engine embedded in the connector.
12. To further customize the dataset, you can open the SQL Editor and modify the query manually, adding clauses, aggregations, and other operations to ensure that you are retrieving exactly the data desired.
    
13. With the query defined, you are ready to work with your data in Alteryx Designer.

Get CData Connect AI

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