App Distribution from Qlik Sense Enterprise to Qlik Cloud fails when distributed from rim node

JanJorissen · Mar 9, 2022 2:40:17 AM

After setting up App distribution to Qlik Cloud in a Hybrid Environment (Qlik Sense Enterprise with Qlik Cloud), you see that any app distribution from a rim node to Qlik Cloud fails, while all app distributions from the Central Node execute successfully.

In such a scenario you might have the below error in your App distribution logs (C:\ProgramData\Qlik\Sense\Log\AppDistributionService\Trace😞

 Message: "Response status code does not indicate success: 404 (Not Found)."

Resolution

To solve this issue, you can disable the app distribution service on any node that does not have access to all content.

If only the Central Node has access to all content, you can switch off the app distribution on all rim nodes, so only the Central Node will distribute apps to the Cloud.

To disable app distribution on a rim node, both the Application Distribution Service and the Hybrid Deployment Service need to be disabled.

Alternatively, you can ensure only rim nodes that have access to all content can be selected as distribution candidates and disable the Application Distribution Service and the Hybrid Deployment Service on the ones that don’t.

This can be done as follows.

In file “C:\Program Files\Qlik\Sense\ServiceDispatcher\Services.conf”, modify the file content to disable the services by adding "Disabled=true" for both services, as in example below.
Restart the Qlik Sense Service Dispatcher Service

[appdistributionservice]
Disabled=true
Identity=Qlik.app-distribution-service
DisplayName=App Distribution Service
ExePath=dotnet\dotnet.exe
UseScript=false

[hybriddeploymentservice]
Disabled=true
Identity=Qlik.hybrid-deployment-service
DisplayName=Hybrid Deployment Service
ExePath=dotnet\dotnet.exe
UseScript=false

Note: After upgrading Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows to a newer version (not to a newer patch) these settings can be overwritten and need to be applied again.

Root Cause

App distribution failing from a rim node is a common issue when customized Load Balancing Rules are in place

When the Qlik Sense App Distribution Services chooses an App Distribution candidate, it is chosen randomly and does not take the custom load balancing into account.

Hence, the distribution can fail when the distribution candidate/rim node does not have access to the content and resources specified in its Load Balancing Rule.

Background Load Balancing Rules

To set up custom load balancing you would start with disabling the default role for “ResourcesOnNonCentralNodes”

Once this rule is disabled, access is disabled to all content and resources on non-central nodes.

The custom rules can be set up to make content and resources available on non-central nodes.

More info on Load Balancing Rules:

Load Balancing in Qlik Sense
Configuring load balancing rules
Creating load balancing rules with custom properties

App Distribution from Qlik Sense Enterprise to Qlik Cloud fails when distributed from rim node