Comparing Qlik Sense and QlikView

This topic describes some of the key similarities and differences between Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows and QlikView.

The Qlik Management Console

The Qlik Management Console (QMC) is the central location of all administration in both Qlik Sense and QlikView. The QMC is organized differently in Qlik Sense compared to QlikView. To find your way around the Qlik Sense QMC, see Navigating in the QMC.

Database repository

There is a difference in the architecture between the two products. QlikView is dependent on the file system. It has all its configuration in files. Qlik Sense, on the other hand, is based on a repository database and the configuration settings reside in the repository.

The repository database is a PostgreSQL database that contains the Qlik Sense app metadata, including the paths to the binary files in the file share. For more information about the Qlik Sense architecture, see Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows architecture.

The Qlik Sense Repository Service (QRS) manages persistence, licensing, security, and service configuration data. The QRS is needed by all other Qlik Sense services. For more information, see Services.

Proxy and virtual proxy

In QlikView, the QlikView Web Server or Microsoft IIS manage site authentication, session handling, and load balancing. In Qlik Sense, this is handled by the Qlik Sense Proxy Service.

In Qlik Sense, you can use a virtual proxy to handle several settings for authentication, session handling, and load balancing on the same physical server. Instead of having one server for each configuration, you can reduce the number of servers needed, by using virtual proxies. For more information, see Creating a virtual proxy.

Distribution of apps

The QlikView document and the Qlik Sense app are similar in their architecture. Both the document and the app are containers for the objects that are used to present data for analysis. They can contain data connections, load scripts, data models, sheets, charts, variables, and so on.

Unless otherwise noted, this topic uses the term "app" to collectively refer to documents and apps.

In Qlik Sense, published apps are organized in streams. A stream enables users to read and/or publish apps, sheets, and stories. Streams are the equivalent of user document folders in QlikView. You can create and publish apps to streams from the Qlik Sense hub and from the QMC. You can also duplicate, reload, import, export, or delete an app from the QMC. Security rules applied to the app, stream, or user, determine who can access the content and what the user is allowed to do. Read more about apps and streams in QMC resources overview.

In QlikView, the QlikView Publisher component handles reloading and publishing of applications. In Qlik Sense, there is no separate publisher component as this is handled in the engine. The scheduler in Qlik Sense manages reload tasks. For more information about publishing and reloading apps, see Managing apps.

Security management

A major difference between Qlik Sense and QlikView is how you manage access rights. In QlikView, you configure security as permissions on documents. Qlik Sense introduces the new concept of security rules.

Security in Qlik Sense is primarily based on a series of rules defined in the QMC. Security rules are attribute-based and use expressions to evaluate user access to resources. You can create custom rules to give users and groups access to streams, apps, and even sections of the QMC. For more information, see Designing access control.

While security rules can be very granular and complex, they can also increase the load on the QMC. To maintain optimal performance, follow the best practices in QMC performance – best practices.

Example: Configuring Document Administrators

In QlikView, you can delegate task creation and task management to users that are not in the QlikView Administrator Windows group. You can give the users access only to the content in the proper source document folder.

The equivalent in Qlik Sense is to have an administrator for each department. Each administrator is then provided with full access rights to content created by users belonging to that department. For details on how to configure department administrators, see Security rules example: Creating QMC organizational admin roles.

Tags

In Qlik Sense, you can create tags and apply them to resources, such as a stream or an application. Tags make it easy to find resources and lets you manage the environment efficiently from the resource overview pages in the QMC. For more information, see Tags.

Extensions

An extension can, for example, be a widget library, a custom theme, or a visualization extension. In the Qlik Sense QMC you can see an overview of all extensions that are installed on the system. For more information, see Extensions.

Audit

The Qlik Sense Audit tool enables you to audit security rules, load balancing rules, or license rules. You can preview the effects of new or edited security rules and confirm what a user or group have access to, without disrupting your system. For more information, see Audit and Auditing access control.