Developer's Guide - Know When You Can Work On Client's Server

[benvatvandata]

Hi,

As a Developer/Consultant, time and time again I would hop on my client's/customer's server (after receiving requests for modifications to reports) and then wonder:

• Am I 'ok' to open up a QlikView file?
• Can I restart the QlikView Server Service to release Memory?
• Can I reload and deploy my updated QlikView file?
• etc. 

I bring up these questions because a lot of times when I go to do development work on the client's server... I may potentially 1) crash the server, or 2) kick users who are running (important) reports out (off the Access Point)... Obviously there are other potential risks, but even these two points alone can be a big no-no... Nobody wants their employees' work to get halted because some developer crashed their server.

So this is my basic guide on knowing when it's ok to do these things, and when it's not...

Step 1) After logging into the server, check Memory in Task Manager... If you know the qvw file you're about to work on is large and can severely impact memory... Do NOT open the file if memory is already pretty high (i.e. the below image's memory is okay... but not what I like... and it really depends on how much memory the server has, and how big the file is, etc.... but I usually avoid opening qvw's during a work day when memory is around 70% of the total... I like to stick to opening the file when it's less than 20%)

Step 2) Check Qlik Management Console for Active Sessions... If no documents are open/no active users... this is usually a good time to restart the QlikView Server service,  open the qvw, make changes, and do a reload (if needed)... see below screenshot example of QMC when no documents are open/no active users. (I blacked out the server name and file path for security purposes... but the main point is there are 0 Sessions for this document... so now is a decent time to work)

Step 3) Like I mentioned above, if no active sessions are going on, and memory isn't the best... it's a good idea to restart the QlikView Server service (just type in Services in the start menu search box to open up the list of services, and find QlikView Server)... this will drop the memory and help prevent any server crashes when you're about to open large qvw files (image of QlikView Server service below)

Step 4) If all of the above steps have been checked/completed... usually you are okay to open up a local copy of the qvw on the server, and make any changes or do a reload... once changes/reload is complete and the file is ready for deployment, I almost always check with the client if they're ready for me to swap in the updated file for the live file, unless they specifically said I could do so previously, or if they told me to place it in a certain location so they could do it their self (but ALWAYS create a backup of the live file... never hurts).

And that's about it... This is just a general guide I've learned/taught myself, so please feel free to add any comments you think would be useful, or if you think anything I've said was misleading/incorrect, and I will update as needed.

Thanks,

Ben