Can someone use QlikView locally and still access server_paths?

[datanibbler]

`Hi,

a few colleagues of mine have a QlikView_report running which is saving them tons of time, but still they are having a hard time keeping up with the nr. of queries for data that they get.

They only have two Named_User_CALs unfortunately, we cannot give them anymore because we don't have any.

Now I thought of something: The report should never really change from now on, it is fine the way it is and nobody should mess with it. So they don't actually have to all use the same one on the server

=> It might be possible to just copy the qvw so that one member of the team could use it without the need for a licence; They only actually need to get the data, export it to Excel and then they send it off.

<=> I don't know if someone using QlikView_PE locally can still access qvd_files lying on the server?

That is a requirement for that report to work - it needs access to the data in some qvd_files.

Can someone tell me whether that is possible? That would be a way to get around our "licence problem"

Thanks a lot!

Best regards,

DataNibbler

[marcus_sommer]

Hi DataNibbler,

AFAIK it should work because a qvd is just a kind of a flat-file like a txt or xls.

- Marcus

[datanibbler]

Okay.

We can try.

[Peter_Cammaert]

Sure that's possible. QVDs are - just like Marcus said - ordinary data files, without restrictions or protection. If you supply a file share to the relevant QVDs, a PE user is perfectly able  to reload from QVDs over and over again. However, there are some "issues" that may turn this solution into something rather business-unfriendly:

• Security: your QVDs are unrpotected. Publishing them through a file share may expose the data to other interested parties. Everyone can install a PE version and start building QlikView applications. QV Server shields your data from prying eyes but not in this case.
• Reliability: a QlikView Desktop PE version is a notably unreliable environment for business tasks, as many community members will testify. In the end after balancing the license savings vs added costs to maintain a working solution using PE Desktops, your TCO will probably be higher than if you bought a couple more CALs.
• Complexity: a PE Desktop is unable to import a document that is developed somewhere else by a licensed user (except for four times after which the PE version becomes close to unusable). You can't let the server reload the document, so every PE user has to perform the reload himself/herself. After every incident with a document that needs to be recovered, you lose one attempt. After four attempts, it's over and out.

Maybe a better strategy would be to create a document and a server task that perform the necessary data operations and then export a data subset to xlsx for your users to import into MS Office?

Best,

Peter

[datanibbler]

Hi Peter,

all those are very good points that I will have to consider.

1) Security is of course an issue. Well, I will see which qvd files that report needs and if I can have those few STOREd somewhere else and then give those users access to only that particular directory. That's something I have done before I think.

2) The balance of costs is unfortunately not an issue here, there are political decisions - we just cannot buy additional CALs, the budget will not be approved no matter what ...

3) That could break my plan - the report is on the server, it has been developed by a licensed user of course - me 😉

  So I cannot just copy the report, can I? => So someone would have to copy part by part - the text (code) from every tab of the script and then all of the objects on the GUI - but that would have to be done by a user without a licence who would for the purpose have to "switch" the report, no? And the other team_members - would they still be able to use the report during that time?

[datanibbler]

You see that point 3) is the only one really relevant in this instance.

I have one more question on that: If one member of that team were to open the report, switch it once and then copy all its contents one by one into a new report, then only that one user would be able to use that? So if we wanted two additional users to be able to use the report without a licence, that would have to be done twice?

[Peter_Cammaert · Accepted solution]

Indeed. For all PE users, document access is restricted to documents that carry the same personal key as the PE installation (usually meaning access to their own documents only) and to documents that have been PE-enabled by Qlik itself (a Qlik privilege)

PE users cannot open documents created by a licensed QV Desktop. They can however recover other PE documents for a maximum of four times.

Also note that all circumvention techniques (like File -> Import -> Import Document Layout or the -prj export/import features) have been disabled in each PE version.

[datanibbler]

Thank you!

That's actually quite logical. Any commercial software company would be a  bit naive to allow that kind of circumvention of their licence policies ... the manager of the team won't like it, but that's not my issue.

They will have to decide for either going for this - a lot of effort for just one additional user without the need for an additional licence - or buying an additional licence ...

Thanks a lot!

Best regards,

DataNibbler