Welcome to the Alteryx Knowledge Base

According to this documentation, the getIpAddress() function returns the IP address of the machine the browser is running on. If the machine is on the virtual private network (VPN), the function returns the address used by the VPN network adapter. 

Example:

The IP address of machine A is 192.168.88.6.  The IP Address of the network adapter when connected to the VPN is 10.48.137.184.

PAC file:

function FindProxyForURL(url, host)
{
    var IP = myIpAddress();
    if (isInNet(IP, "10.48.0.0", "255.255.0.0")) {
        return "DIRECT"; // Bypass the proxy for addresses within this subnet
    }
	return "PROXY 172.27.25.242:3128";
}

Running the above PAC file in browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and Edge returns “DIRECT” and bypasses the proxy server when the machine is connected to the VPN. Without the VPN, the proxy server will be used as the IP address will then be 192.168.88.6. This is the expected behaviour. However, when running the workflow with the Python-based connector, the PAC file returns the unexpected result, which is to use the proxy server, thereby indicating that the obtained IP Address from the getIpAddress() function is incorrect. The connector may then fail with the following error if it cannot establish a connection to the external server (depending on the network/security setup in your organisation):

Connection to platform was not successful.

NOTE: The error messages may vary, but they will indicate connection failure.

• Alteryx Designer/Server
  • Version: All
• *All Python-based Connectors/Tools:
  • Salesforce
  • SharePoint
  • Tableau
  • Power BI

*Not an exhaustive list.

• Network
  • Virtual Private Network (VPN)
• Proxy Setting
  • PAC file

Further investigation shows that the getIpAddress() function in the PAC script returns the local address of the machine, even if the Python-based connector uses a different network adapter to connect to other sites. This causes the if-statement(s) in the PAC file to return different and unexpected results in our connector as compared to other browsers (Chrome, Firefox, etc). A defect (GCSE-3234/TDCE-807) has been logged to review and address this.

NOTE: As the connector uses a third-party library to parse the PAC file, there may NOT be a fix if this is deemed an issue or limitation of the library. 

[UPDATE] We have determined that this is a limitation.

Please work with your IT Team to review the PAC script to modify the logic in the script to ensure the correct behaviour is seen when using the connector.