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swuehl
MVP
MVP

Extranet Server - Pros / Cons / Best practices?

Dear all,

I've  searched the forum for a while but couldn't really find much information about the extranet server. Does anybody have some experiences with this kind of QV server? At best, I would be interested in somekind of best practice regarding data source access and internal / external user access configuration.

I understood so far that the extranet server could be run stand alone or in combination with an internal EE / SBE server. The extranet server will be located in the DMZ and is capable of only holding session or usage CALS. It is said the extranet server is based upon the EE server, but will only support up to 3 documents. I am not sure what "bases upon" is saying in this context, or what the exact limitations are.

And, maybe more confusing, the pricing guidelines further say:

"There will be a choice to use the AJAX client or a customized AJAX client via QlikView Workbench. QlikView Workbench is included in the Extranet Server"

So there is no AJAX client support out of the box? The extranet server brochure available for download implies that there is support, but I am not sure.

I assume one doesn't want to run the scripts in the DMZ, opening the firewall for data source access. So a standard setting would probably include a second EE or SBE server in the intranet which is doing the back end part and then the applications will be put on to the extranet server? Or does anybody have a  different approach here?

Somebody told me that also the Publisher is needed  for communication between extranet and intranet QV server. Not sure why, though. Maybe he was just referring to the extranet server brochure, where an image may imply that. I usually regard these images more as simplifying marketing than correct technical information, but again, not sure.

Are there any major CONs regarding using an extranet server in combination with an internal SBE? Or is there an absolutely convincing PRO for using a extranet server in combination with an internal EE?

The limitation of 3 documents seems pretty hard to me, does anybode have some experiences here? I assume the license management would probably not allow to share user licenses across multiple extranet servers (which are needed for more than 3 documents), right?

I appreciate any input, also with regard to allowing access to QV for external customers / partners in general.

Best regards,

Stefan

1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
danielrozental
Master II
Master II

Stefan, I don't have an extensive experience with this kind of server but a customer of ours recently purchased this server so I'll answer the things I can.

- There is definitely an Ajax client.

- You need another SBE or EE server or else you wouldn't be able to develop any applications as the Extranet Server doesn't allow named cals. This is more like a "add on", in my opinion, to an enterprise existing BI infrastructure, where they need to serve many users but for just a few applications.

- I believe you can do reloads in any of the servers, if you have the same application in several servers it would make more sense to do one reload and then distribute it to different servers. I wouldn't "share" the same QVW between different servers unless they are in a cluster, or else I'm not exactly sure how the servers would resolve access to the shared and meta files.

- You don't need publisher, you could just copy/ftp/etc. the file to the second server.

- I'm not sure what you mean about sharing licenses between Extranet servers, kinda like a Cluster of Extranet Servers? not sure if that possible but sounds interesting, they would still only allow 3 documents though. I believe you can buy another Extranet Server license and just have one server serving 6 documents (You should probably check with your account manager).

View solution in original post

21 Replies
danielrozental
Master II
Master II

Stefan, I don't have an extensive experience with this kind of server but a customer of ours recently purchased this server so I'll answer the things I can.

- There is definitely an Ajax client.

- You need another SBE or EE server or else you wouldn't be able to develop any applications as the Extranet Server doesn't allow named cals. This is more like a "add on", in my opinion, to an enterprise existing BI infrastructure, where they need to serve many users but for just a few applications.

- I believe you can do reloads in any of the servers, if you have the same application in several servers it would make more sense to do one reload and then distribute it to different servers. I wouldn't "share" the same QVW between different servers unless they are in a cluster, or else I'm not exactly sure how the servers would resolve access to the shared and meta files.

- You don't need publisher, you could just copy/ftp/etc. the file to the second server.

- I'm not sure what you mean about sharing licenses between Extranet servers, kinda like a Cluster of Extranet Servers? not sure if that possible but sounds interesting, they would still only allow 3 documents though. I believe you can buy another Extranet Server license and just have one server serving 6 documents (You should probably check with your account manager).

swuehl
MVP
MVP
Author

Daniel, thanks a lot for your answer, I really appreciate if someone takes his time to answer my not-very-precise questions. This was definitely helpful for me.

Regarding share of licenses, I was thinking of a setting like: 2 extranet servers with 3 documents each. I was assuming that you need to build seperate servers, that you can't just increase the max number of documents by applying an additional license. This was at least the somewhat short answer of one of our QV contacts.

So I was thinking of two servers which don't share or load balance or whatever you can do with documents, but licenses, so if I buy say 10 session Cals, I may want to apply them as a total to the two servers, so if usage load changes between servers / documents, the license management will be somewhat dynamic (if this is wanted at least).

Does anybody has some insight on the licenses / document management of >= 2 extranet servers?

danielrozental
Master II
Master II

I don't believe you will be able to rearrange licenses between the two servers dynamically. You will have to buy licenses separately for each server.

You should try to find out more about raising the 3 document restriction, as the answers we got from QT is that there were cases of customers with updated LEFs to allow more documents.

IAMDV
Luminary Alumni
Luminary Alumni

Hi Stefan,

Sorry, I cant answer your questions with my knowledge. However, I have found this PDF document sometime back. I hope this helps! if not, apologies.

Cheers - DV

danielrozental
Master II
Master II

For user authentication, QlikView Extranet Server leverages whatever security system is in place

Bold statement, I wonder if there is anything else besides ticketing or HTTP Header authentication included...

swuehl
MVP
MVP
Author

D V, thanks for taking your time to look into that.

That is the extranet server brochure I was referring to in my original post (the one with the "marketing image"), so I am aware of that.

I also recently had access to some more information on QV salesforce, but no document answered my above questions so far. And since I agree with Daniel, that the extranet is more of an add-on kind of product, and I believe potential implementation issues are probably how to incoporate the server into existing IT setting, IMHO an actual use case description or case study would definitely be helpful.

Actually I just found an information, that "Only Ajax client and mobile clients may access the server" which is beginning to confuse me even more. While something like "Users must be external to the purchasing organization (customers,    partners, etc.)" is probably "only" concerning licensing terms, not technical (but another limitation I wasn't really aware of).

Appreciate your input,

Stefan

danielrozental
Master II
Master II

Stefan, although that probably was the original intention of the QES, the customer I was referring to in my first post bought the server to be used for internal company users, so that probably isn't a restriction.

swuehl
MVP
MVP
Author

Daniel,

within a presentation about server products, they are stating that extranet server supports,

- Section Access

- DMS

- AD / NTFS

- NO anonymous user

and 3rd party security integration is possible.

Not very detailed and again, some expert experience / case study / how to from the real world would be more than helpful.

Regards,

Stefan

swuehl
MVP
MVP
Author

Daniel,

do you or your client have any experience already with the extranet server and creating / sharing server objects?

My client wants to add /modify sheet objects (using the IE plugin), e.g. add another table for an ad hoc analysis.

This table should be persistent regarding reloads and a sharing among other users should be possible.

I think this should not be a problem using EE server (and AFAIR, also with SBE since QV11).

But how about extranet server?

I only took notice from one of the QV presentations, that extranet server supports session collaboration, but not collaboration (I assume latter includes the features I was asked for).

Do you know if this is possible with extranet server?

Regards,

Stefan