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Environment
- Qlik NPrinting
- Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows
Transcript
Hello everyone, and welcome to the July edition of Techspert Talks! I’m Troy Raney and I’ll be your host for today's session. Today's presentation is Troubleshooting NPrinting On-Demand with Qlik Sense with our own Frank Savino. Frank why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Sure Troy, thanks. Looking forward to today's session. My name is Frank Savino and I am a Principal Technical Support Engineer with Qlik. My main focuses here at Qlik are Qlik NPrinting, the on-premise version of our reporting system as well as Qlik Reporting which is our SaaS Cloud edition; and also work a lot with QlikView and Qlik Sense. I’ve been here at Qlik for nearly 8 years, and I’m looking forward to showing you a little bit about on-demand troubleshooting this morning.
Great! Today, we're gonna be talking about what NPrinting On-Demand for Qlik Sense is; we're gonna look at some specific configuration considerations; definitely focus on how to troubleshoot some common errors; and give everybody some resources on things to remember if they're looking for more details. So, Frank to get started for people who really aren't that familiar what is On-Demand Reporting?
Sure Troy. So, On-Demand Reporting is a self-service execution of pre-formatted NPrinting reports from the Qlik Sense Hub.
Okay.
For example, you'll make a selection, and go ahead and using the On-Demand button, create a report. You can also choose the format. For example: Excel reports, Word reports, PDF format, there's a number of reporting formats.
Okay. So, what are some configuration considerations that people should be aware of?
Sure. So, some of the configuration considerations are that: you need to ensure that your NPrinting report is enabled.
Okay.
For On-Demand; and you do that from the NPrinting web console.
Before we get into all the troubleshooting scenarios, what are some common questions people tend to have when it comes to setting this up?
Yeah, that's a really good question, Troy. One of the things people don't realize is that you actually need to install the components when you're installing Qlik Sense. If you don't see them in the edit sheet mode, it's likely that you haven't installed them.
Okay.
Yeah. So, if they're missing you can always download the extensions from a file path and you can just upload the bundle directly.
Right, because the bundles should come with the installation package for Qlik Sense Server, right?
That's correct.
Okay. All right. Now, I understand you've prepared a troubleshooting demonstration here. What kind of environment are we about to look at?
So, we're going to look at an NPrinting May 2021 SR4 environment.
All right.
But these really apply to any supported version of NPrinting.
All right. So, how do we get started?
First of all, show you some of the initial problems you might see if you try to run your on-demand report from your Qlik Sense Hub.
Okay. So, you've got a button prepared to run a report?
That's right. Click here for report. So, we start off with this prompt for a username and password. Try to log in (just like your customers might do).
Okay.
So, we've tried to log in. Try it again.
It just goes blank, yeah.
Yeah. Are you sure you typed your name and password correctly? Okay. Nothing's working. So, let's get out of here. Let's go back to tasks.
All right. That's giving you the ‘Unable to Connect to Server’ error.
Correct.
All right. So, what would you look for next?
Let's go ahead and look at the Dev Tools.
And where’re those?
Over here by clicking the three dots at the top right corner > more tools > and you got Developer Tools.
And where in here should we be?
So, you need to be on the Network tab.
Uh-huh.
So, let's go over to 2errors.
All right, that jumps you down there.
Correct. What are we seeing here? ‘Access control allow origin’ error; ‘failed,’ that's not telling me – oh, I see ‘CORS policy.’ That's a commonly seen error.
That's right. If you see the CORS policy error, that's a very strong indication that you have not added your Qlik Sense Server as a trusted origin.
Okay. So, where would we address that in the NPrinting console?
What do we have in here? So, you can add a trusted origin. You're saying: well I’ve already got one. So, what's wrong with it? qlik.server1 is where our NPrinting reports are embedded using the on-demand components.
Okay. So, you've obviously put one in there called ‘wrong,’ but what should that address be?
Right, the address should be the address of your Qlik Sense Hub. You just want to write the address of the Qlik Sense Server right here.
Okay.
Save it off.
And that basically establishes the trust between NPrinting and Sense; that it knows how to access the Qlik Sense Hub.
That's right.
All right, shall we try it again?
Let's try to run this one again. We're still getting the same error. So, let's try again. It's still not getting me in.
Okay.
So, let's cancel out of here, go back to tasks. Still, it's ‘Unable to Connect to Server.’
So, you go back to Developer Tools again?
That's right. And what kind of message are we getting now?
I see 4 error messages; and this time it's a 401, all right.
Unauthorized. Okay. Okay, so, that CORS policy is still mentioned, but we have gotten past that one.
So, how do we fix that?
Well, let's go into NPrinting and let's look at the users. So, our account that we want to use is this ‘np admin’ user; but we don't actually have a domain account mapped to that user.
So, the configuration for the user account was incomplete?
That's right. I’m going to pop it in here.
And that's the same domain where NPrinting is installed, right?
Yes. And that is a really good point, Troy. The NPrinting and Qlik Sense Servers must be in the same domain.
Okay.
So, let's go ahead and save that off. You can check it again if you like, make sure it's been saved. It's a valid NT Domain.
It's nice that it gives a little check there to let you know it's valid.
Absolutely.
Okay. So, that's the user you've been trying to log in as, right?
Correct. So, now this takes us to the formal steps for getting NPrinting reports running in your Qlik Sense Hub. So, the first step actually is to go to your NPrinting environment; fully qualified domain by the way.
Okay.
Now click the blue button; and now we have established an NT authorized access to the NPrinting web console.
Okay. So, that's opened a session and authenticated you as that fully set up NPrinting user?
Correct.
Okay.
Now we want to go to the Qlik Sense Hub. All right, we're going to go to our app; pick a selection and click OK. Let's go and try to do the report now. So, what have we've done: we fixed the user account, and we fixed the trusted origin.
So, hopefully we'll see what happens when it works.
Let's try a Quick Report first. We're now able to download NPrinting reports.
And that's how it's supposed to look?
Successfully.
Okay. Great.
Now, you have your environment set up correctly at least.
So, what's an example of another common error that users have seen?
For example, you might get this ‘Failed to det data from external resource’ error.
What does that look like?
Good question. Another ‘Unable to connect the server.’
So, back to Dev Tools; and hopefully it will be something new?
Yep. Let's see what it gives us.
All right, we're still on the network tab, jumping down there is ERROR_CONNECTION_RESET.
It's basically just an error saying: ‘this isn't working.’
So, how do we investigate that then?
Let's just click ‘Close.’
Okay.
Let's go ahead and Edit the sheet now; and let's find the second report.
Yeah. So, what are you looking for here? The connection string it's using?
That's right. If you go over to the right - remember this is the NPrinting Server URL, then (this is common) you're missing the port.
Okay.
Just forgot to put the port. Go ahead and click Enter. That error goes away; and now you can pick your report.
So, the configuration of this button was just incomplete, and now you can finish going through all the settings.
So, we're done now.
Okay. And it should work.
That's right.
Crossing my fingers.
So, let's get rid of the one we just did; let's go try a Quick Report first. Boom, it's done.
And what's a Quick Report?
So, the Quick Report gives you without any selections, basically. Now, if you want to go and pick a new format, there's a couple of options here. So, let's go ahead and pick the HTML, and everything's fine now. No errors.
Great. Okay. What other issue to encounter have you prepared for us?
So, unknown we get an ‘Unknown Error’ when we're trying to connect to an on-demand report. Let's get rid of our successful reports.
Okay.
Let's try a Quick Report.
‘Unknown Error,’ yeah, that's - yeah that's my favorite.
That's very descriptive. Again we're gonna just do our tools. In this case, it's not giving us much. All you can do is what?
I would Google it.
Yeah.
But, what would you suggest?
Go into the Edit Sheet mode.
Take a closer look at the button, yeah?
Yeah. Let's, let's take a closer look; you know, Dev Tools aren't telling you anything. So, let's take a look at the button well…
Ah! One of the values is empty.
Make sure everything is configured.
Right.
We're just missing the connection in this case.
So, basically all those drop-downs and the settings need to have a selection?
That's correct.
Okay.
So, now we've selected a connection; let's go ahead and click Done. Click the report; let's do a Quick Report like last time.
Great. So, nice to see things working as expected.
You might want to change the output format.
So, it feels like we've already solved everything that could easily go wrong. We have our Trusted Origin, the Server Connection is set up; we've made all the selections with the button configuration. What's happening with that last report: the ‘Request Failed’ scenario?
So, somebody comes along and says: “well, I’m having this request failed message.”
Okay.
So, the first thing you want to do: check the path; check the app; it's there.
How about the report configuration?
You check the report; and it's there.
Okay.
Well, this is one of those situations where you think there might be something wrong with the report itself. Make a selection in this case.
Okay.
2022. Let's click this report here, and let's go for a Quick Report.
Oh, there's the ‘Request Failed.’
Right. The reason is: you cannot make a selection if that dimension value is already filtered.
Okay.
Let's go have a look at the report itself. Let's, let's check the filters.
So, this is a report where you've already applied a filter with that specific field?
That's right. This dimension value for Year has 2020 in it already. So, that basically results in a conflict. As a best practice, any on-demand report that you're going to use in Qlik Sense Hub should not have any filters on it.
That way, it just sort of avoids any conflicts that users might run into?
That's correct.
That's a great tip.
So, let's try the report again. Clear the previous one and do a Quick Report; and now we're good.
Great.
So, Troy there is one more scenario that I wanted to share with you today.
We'll log into NPrinting, and then we'll go to Hub. Click here for a report and you get this message.
Okay. ‘No NPrinting connections configured’. So, where would you go to resolve this issue?
First, we look inside of our Dev Tools to see if there's any clues; and this time we're not getting anything.
Yeah, no errors at all. So, what do you do then?
Just go back into the NPrinting web console, and see if there's any problem with the user account itself. And we're looking at the Roles assigned to this particular user. NP Admin that we're trying to log in with. We're coming over to the Roles here; and we notice that User is the only role assigned to it. In order to run an On-Demand report, we need at least Developer role or a custom role that has the correct permissions to run NPrinting On-Demand reports. So, update the User Roles; let's go back into NPrinting. Let's try this all over again. Log in. So, now let's go over to the app; let's even pick a selection this time; let's just try it again. So, we have two previously run reports that were run successfully. Quick Report. Both methods: using Quick Report and New Report just worked just fine; and we no longer get the error.
That's great. Now Frank, I was wondering about issues with securing the servers. This demo is not secured, but what are some issues that customers have run into when going through the process of setting that up?
If you've secured the NPrinting server - I can show you what that looks like. We have a secured server in this case.
Okay. And basically, that means you've installed correctly a certificate so, that it's trusted?
That's correct. If you're having problems running reports and you're getting the net sr error, let's go over to this article here; and you've probably used this article to set up your own printing environment.
Right. Is there something here you want to highlight?
You need to make sure that when you're extracting the .key file, is that you remove the passphrase. You need to decrypt this key file. NPrinting cannot have a password protected key file.
Okay.
Work with your certificates people and you need to remove the key file. This syntax basically does that for you.
Okay. What are some other key takeaways you'd like people to remember?
Yeah, that's a good question. First of all, if you do not have your NPrinting web server secured properly with a key file that does not have a password in it; login to NPrinting first, establish an NTLM authorized web session; then log into your Qlik Sense Hub and perform your on-demand reports. The next thing I would say is: that installation of the on-demand custom object component via the Qlik Sense installer; make sure that you're using fully qualified domain name paths to both your Qlik Sense and your NPrinting Servers.
Right. I imagine that alone would mitigate a lot of potential problems.
Yeah, and remember both of the NPrinting and Qlik Sense Servers must be in the same domain. And last thing that we didn't show you today was the fact that if you happen to be using on-demand reports that are connected to more than one QlikView or Qlik-Sense document, that's not supported. So, any on-demand report that you create needs to be connected to a single Qlik Sense application only.
Okay. And links to everything you've seen here will be included along with the recording of today's session.
And it also includes an article that goes through each one of these scenarios in detail. So, please go ahead and use that for your reference purposes after today's session.
Okay. Now it's time for Q&A. Go ahead and submit your questions to the Q&A panel on the left side of your On24 console. Frank, how about we just take these one at a time?
Sounds good.
All right. First question: do users require any special rights to be able to use the On-Demand Reporting?
Yes, Troy. Actually, and this was covered in today's discussion. NPrinting Administrator and Developer Roles do have the needed role permissions to enable generation of on-demand report execution. However, you may wish to create your own custom role or update the existing users or Newsstand role; then use the permissions outlined in an article we can share with you. But there is a way you can just add certain permissions to existing roles or customize your own in fact.
Oh, cool. Okay. Great. Well, next question (and I bet this one comes up a lot): is this the same for Qlik Cloud? Same functionality?
And that question is coming up a lot lately, Troy.
Yeah.
and rightly so. We're getting heavily into Qlik SaaS nowadays. So, no. The answer is no. NPrinting is our on-premise Qlik reporting solution; and we do have a separate Qlik Reporting Services that is available in the Cloud. There's no migration (by the way) between one or the other. They're completely separate platforms, and Qlik Reporting Services is the solution you would use in the Cloud.
Okay. So, yeah those are definitely different offerings. One's for SaaS, one's on-premise. Okay. Next question: where can we find more information about setting this up in a DMZ? I remember in the beginning you were saying that this whole demo we've done today is not relevant to DMZ; but where can people find some more information about that scenario?
We do get that question occasionally as well. Again, this - this demo today was built upon working inside the network. So, DMZ questions are typically submitted over to our Professional Services team to help you with those types of complex development scenarios. So, yes. So, for assistance with that I would suggest that you reach out to your Account Manager and arrange an engagement with our Qlik Professional Services team.
Great advice. Yeah, because those can be very specific to everybody's unique environments.
Yes, exactly.
Next question: can the button be set up to send reports via email?
That's a good question. So, it's only possible to generate on-demand reports On-Demand. It's not actually possible to execute publish tasks (for example) which from On-Demand; and certainly not to make selections. So, in this case, you can set up a custom role as a workaround. Basically, a give group or a set of users permission to that role, and they can have access in NPrinting only. Not even in the Qlik Sense Hub. You can go to NPrinting and execute a published task On-Demand. I suppose that's probably your best option. But as far as doing it in the Hub; it's not possible. You can only execute specific on-demand reports and download them.
But it is possible in NPrinting (as you say) to send reports via email, right?
Yes; in the published task; that's correct.
Yeah. It's just not something that's On-Demand from the Hub (as you say). Okay.
Correct.
Great. All right, well, let's move on to the next question: how are the configuration concerns different with QlikView server?
So, that alone Troy is its own conversation which we could spend 30 minutes on. So, yeah –
Yeah, that could be its own session, you're right.
Exactly. So, I will say that a lot of the same principles, like logging into the NPrinting first, then log into the QlikView Access Point second. That's a rule that applies to both QlikView and Qlik Sense.
Yeah, we'll definitely include some links to how to troubleshoot and a little more information about setting that up with QlikView, because there's a lot of resources out there for that. Okay. Next question: what is the recommended version of Qlik Sense and NPrinting for all of this to work?
So, any supported version of Qlik Sense and NPrinting will work and allow you to perform On-Demand Reporting.
Okay. Is it recommended that they be the same version? Ss that important?
Now that's a very good question. Another good point is: make sure that NPrinting is the same version or higher than your Qlik Sense version.
Okay.
And that's mostly to do with image reporting, because it's likely you're going to use at least one image at some point. Make sure that you're using NPrinting version that's equal to or greater than Qlik Sense.
That's good advice. Okay. Next question is: how long are the reports saved in memory? Where are they saved? Is it possible to change this setting?
Yeah. So, NPrinting reports are not saved in memory at all in fact. NPrinting reports are just saved to a file, and we actually have locations where reports are saved to you. For example, if you're in On-Demand, and you click the Quick or New Report button to build your report, the reports are actually saved to the location that you have designated in your browser. So, if your default location is downloads then that's where your files will be downloaded to.
Okay. So, that would be a browser-based setting then?
Correct.
Great. All right, next question is: it required to use HTTPS with NPrinting On-Demand?
The simple answer: yes.
All right.
So, if you want to avoid other complications, just yes stick with HTTPS and away you go.
Okay. nice and simple.
Correct.
Moving on to the next question: how do you know if a report has a filter applied to it again? Oh, that's something you talked about. I guess they just want you to revisit it.
Well, if a report has a filter applied to it again, it probably won't work. You might get a request failed error in fact. So, it's really important to make sure that the selections you make won't cause an impossible selection. You know, if you make certain selections, other selections will become deselected. So, if that becomes the case and you've tried to make that kind of similar selection with your NPrinting filters, then you will get a Request Failed.
Yeah.
And just to add to that, Troy. Another thing to look for are unsupported items like Locked Fields. So, make sure you're not having any unsupported items. Make sure you look into that as well.
Okay. I liked your advice in the demo of just it's best to leave all on-demand reports without filters and then just avoid problems.
Absolutely.
Okay. Next question: do selections print with this even if the app is using multiple variables?
Very very good question. So, it's actually not possible to use variable selections with on-demand reports.
Okay.
Basically, you need to have made a selection that is associative in nature. So, variable selections are not directly associative in nature. So, you have to use – basically, pick a filter, pick a selection use that. So, selectable filter item that is not associated with a variable is what you need to do to ensure that the filtering works properly.
That's a great explanation. Okay. This one sounds like it could be a support case in the end but I’ll just read it. I think I have the setup correct, but users keep getting blank reports. It shows headers of a table, but no data. Any ideas?
Yes. It probably does require a support case; but you might want to check if you're using section access, because you simply - your users may simply not have access to certain data if there's section access applied. So, check section access. That would be my first place to look in this case. Otherwise, I would recommend doing a support case for that.
That's a good tip. All right. Next question: can Qlik Sense and NPrinting work well when installed on the same machine?
This is actually not supported. However, it can work, but again, this is not supported; because NPrinting and Qlik Sense are both highly resource intensive systems and they both require their own environments to work properly. Having both on the same computer will often cause one or the other to crash. So, be careful with that. If you're gonna do, it just do it for your own minor testing purposes where it doesn't see the daylight in terms of production usage. Make sure you have a dedicated server for NPrinting and a dedicated server for Qlik Sense.
Great. Okay. Next question: is there a way to reset the NPrinting administrator password?
Yes, sure. Absolutely, and there's a password reset tool that's available in the interface. So, we'll include the link that you're going to get after this today.
Okay. It's good to know there's some information out there to help solve that problem, because I imagine that could be frustrating.
Yeah.
Okay. Next question: I’ve noticed that the colors of some charts are different in the Qlik Sense app and the NPrinting report, any idea why or how to keep the colors consistent?
Right. So, if this is a pivot table chart, then you are experiencing a limitation in which this isn't supported. This is also documented. This limitation and other limitations, the Help page discusses all of them, and this actually is one of those limitations.
Okay. All right, next question: is there a way to limit access or visibility to the button to a specific set of users?
Unfortunately, there isn't a built-in global control mechanism to show or hide On-Demand report button. I mean, there is a way you can do some complex development to do some showing and hiding, but we really have to get you with one of our consultants to kind of go through your requirements. But as far as a turnkey solution, nothing is built into the back end or the administrative console to prevent this.
Okay. It's good to know. I feel like in my experience, I’ve seen Professional Services set something up like that using Section Access where it set up something on the data model. So, certain fields allowed people to show an object, but (yeah) that's (like you say) not out of the box.
Right.
Okay. Next question: is this on-demand extension capability free if we already have Qlik Sense and NPrinting licenses?
Yes. No extra costs. But of course, you have to have access to the Qlik Sense Hub to do it. So, if you don't have access to the Hub, then you need to get a license to do that.
Right. Okay. Next question: is there a way to remove the new report button? I want to simplify the option for my users.
Unfortunately, that is not available. As well, that's a common question. That's a good question, but unfortunately the Quick Report and New Report buttons are default and can't be altered by any administrative customization.
Okay. We have time for one last question: does every user need to log into NPrinting before being able to use the reporting button on Qlik Sense? Is there a way to set up authentication to both Qlik Sense and NPrinting at the same time to avoid this extra step? And it goes on: when using a certificates, do Sense and NPrinting need to use the same one?
Right. So, the answer is yes. It is possible. And the answer to the certificate questions: unless you have secured the NPrinting web console with third-party certificate, you need to log in to NPrinting first and then log into the Qlik Sense Hub; or to help out those QlikView folks that may be on the call, then log into the QlikView access point second. So, you need to secure the NPrinting Server; follow the steps in accurately setting up the third-party certificates to use with the securing of the NPrinting Server. And once you have secured everything properly, you can then go directly to the Qlik Sense Hub or the QlikView access point and directly execute your On-Demand report. So, you can bypass the NPrinting Server log in first that way, but you must have a secured NPrinting web console to do that.
Okay. So, that would be the solution: to have a third-party certificate that both servers use and that established to trust make that one step less?
Yeah, with a little bit of in detail: both servers would need access to the same trusted root, and each server would need its own unique certificate associated with the trusted root.
Okay. Great. Well, thank you very much Frank. I think this will be helpful for a lot of people, especially ones that are running into issues. It's nice to see it all demonstrated; all these different scenarios you've gone through.
Thank you, Troy. It was great being here today. And I appreciate everybody being here on the call. We appreciate your time and certainly enjoyed presenting this material to you today, and I’ll look forward to seeing you over in the Qlik NPrinting Community as well.
Great. Thank you everyone! We hope you enjoyed this session. Thank you to Frank for presenting. We appreciate getting experts like Frank to share with us. Here is our legal disclaimer. Thank you once again. Have a great rest of your day.
