Usually when you remove an app from a published folder it removes itself from the QMC. Sometimes however it remains, in upper case, at the end of the list of apps. This article advises why this happens and how to remove these rogue entries.
What Causes Orphaned Records?
Applications that show in upper case at the bottom of the list of apps on the Documents tab in QlikView Server are those that have been deleted, but still have hooks back into the QMC. Typically this is either a reload task or some Document CALs. If it’s the former then this task will run and fail on it’s old schedule – sending annoying failure mails. If it’s the latter then there are one or more CALs which can not be used on this app, or be re-assigned to others, wasting money.
How Do I Remove Them?
In order to remove the orphaned records you simply need to remove the CALs or reload schedule. Unfortunately this is not always as easy as it sounds. It’s good practice to always remove reload tasks and document CALs before you delete or rename an app. However, sometimes this doesn’t happen.
Without the documents being in the correct location it is not possible to get to the Reload tab or the Document CALs tab, this prevents the removal of the CALs or tasks after deletion. If you have just deleted the file then you can simply restore it, then remove anything associated with it and then delete it again. This will put you back where you want to be.
If you can’t just restore the file, but you know where it used to exist, then you can create a new QlikView app with exactly the same name – this will put the app back in the correct place and allow you to reach the configuration pages. There doesn’t need to be anything in the file, you can simply right click in the folder and select New / QlikView Document and create the file. You will need to open it in QlikView and save it back again before it appears in the QMC – without opening and saving it is simply a zero byte file that the QMC doesn’t recognise.
How Do I Create A File If I Don’t Know Where It Used To Be?
If the prior location of the file has been lost then you will need to find out where it used to be on the server. If you have log files from when the file was previously reloaded or accessed through Access Point then these should point you to the location you need to recreate the file. A bit more detective work is required if not.
Fortunately there is an excellent tool, called the QlikView Server CAL Manager, by David Vasseur that can help. Full details of this product can be found in the Qlik Community thread here:
[Thread Removed].
Among the various options in this tool (including allowing the clearing down of un-used Document CALs) is the ability to create an XML file of all documents hosted in the QMC – including orphans with CALs attached. This could direct you to knowing where to recreate the files.
Things get a bit trickier if it is the Mounted Folder has been removed, but if you can find what the folder was called (either from Access Point Logs or the CAL Manager) then that mount can be recreated and the missing documents put within it.
Conclusion
Hopefully if you have been blighted with orphaned QlikView apps the advice above will allow you to remove them. If not please feel free to post specifics in the comments below and someone (myself included) may be able to assist.
Thanks to Bill Markham who posed the question about removing orphans to me, and prompted the writing of this piece.
Great article Steve! I wrote an article last year on how to quickly recover lost licences and also how to delete those orphan files. http://goo.gl/FPTCY7
Thanks Juan. I had missed your post previously, so thanks for pointing me towards it. That trick to see the contents of your PGO files is a useful one.
Hello Steve, thanks for pointing to my beloved tool :) BTW, no need to generate/open those ugly XML files to find orphan apps, there is an option in the provided Qlikview application to actually display them (see second screenshot).
Any suggestions to improve the tool are welcome!
Hi David, I have to confess I have not put the app over the top of the files you app creates – rather I’ve pulled them in to my own apps. I must have a good look at your app at some point soon – and I will be sure to feed back any comments when I do. Thanks for your work on the tool – a great addition to the Qlik toolset.
I have been migrating a load of our QV docs on the server and keep deleting the old file location leaving orphans behind. The way I found (forgive me if you already mentioned this) is if you select the orphan you can schedule a reload in the next 10 minute. When it fails, which it will you get an email (assuming you have notification emails set up) telling you the full file path or where it used to be. You can then tidy up what caused the orphan to appear (document CAL quota still assigned or whatever).
I hope this is of use.
Hi Oli, I have found that the error email that you get back from tasks often doesn’t contain the information that you need to debug the issue. When it does though it is a useful tip to start a reload now to locate the missing file. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Steve, what if a QV doc has been renamed and now both old and new doc names appear on the AccessPoint. How can I remove the old doc name? Both applications show on the list of apps on the Documents tab on the QlikView server.
You either need to rename the document back to what it was, and then remove all Document CALs and Reload Schedules, before renaming it back to the new name. Or, create a new document with the old name on it, then remove CALs and Schedules and delete the temporary document. Note the file with the same name as the orphaned document must also be in the same location as it.