/QlikSense-Task-Failure-Email-Alerts

Automated email alerts for failed Qlikse Alerts

QlikSense Automated Task Failure Email Alerts

Release Notes

  • 8/9/2017 Version 1.4b is released. (Fixed array error! Make sure the AD Account running the task has QMC access to tasks)

  • 2/9/2017 Version 1.4a is released.

    • Download Ver 1.4a! Installer

    • Download Ver 1.4 VisualStudio Project File

    • Added Multiple Email Address Distribution option using QMC Custom Properties. You can now assign different email addresses to each individual task in QMC using a custom property. Multiple emails can also be assign to each task as well. This is optional. If not setup, tool will use the default email for all alerts.

    • Added VIEW SEND HISTORY & VIEW LOG buttons on the GUI to easily view detailed log files and sent history.

  • 8/31/2016 Version 1.2 is released.

    • Added RESET HISTORY button on the GUI to easily reset the 24 hour wait period for previously sent notifications.
    • Changed FAILED TASK logic filter so it ignores DISABLED TASKS. Previously it would sent emails even if the task was disabled.

  1. To Assign individual emails for alerting, first create a custom property. Check for Reload Tasks and populate with email addresses. Make sure to use the same property name in the Alert tool's Configurion screen.

  2. Now you can edit each reload task and assign one or more emails for alerting. If a custom property is not setup or the value is blank, then tool will use the default email address configured in the setup screen instead.

  3. If a task fails then you get an email like this.

You can now use multiple email addresses for alerting and management and assigment of emails are done entirely in QMC using custom properties.

This is an automated QlikSense task failure email alert tool. It is designed to run unattended like a windows service to send emails if a failure is detected in any of the tasks. It uses repository(qmc) api calls to query only the failed tasks and emails notices if any found. Each email is recorded in a log file so it does not bombard users with multiple emails for the same task. Instead it will wait for 24 hours before sending another alert per each failed task if an other email was sent prior. It uses direct REST calls instead of using wrappers so it should be backwards compatible within reason.

The main program file QlikSenseEmailAdmin.exe has 3 modes of operation.

  1. Running it without any command line arguments will cause the configuration screen to be displayed, allowing you to configure the process.

  2. Running it with "-a" argument such as QlikSenseEmailAdmin.exe -a will run it as an unattended program where it will use the configuration settings stored in the windows registry. These settings are maintained by the configuration UI screen.

  3. Running it with the following arguments will cause it to ignore the registry settings and run as unattended program using the specified parameters in the argument itself

Example: 

QlikSenseEmailAdmin.exe **-proxy:**https://localhost **-wait:**60000 **-smtp\_server:**smtp.gmail.com **-smtp\_port:**587 **-smtp\_enableSSL:**Y **-stmp\_user:**YourEmail@gmail.com **-smtp\_pw:**YourEmailPassword** -smtp\_from:**YourEmail@gmail.com **-smtp_to:**UserToBeNotified@YourCompany.com

SETUP & CONFIGURATION

Once installed. setup is an easy 3 step process. Run the app as an Admin, Configure and test Qliksense and SMTP servers, click to create a scheduled event. Below are detailed instructions on this process:

  1. Download the latest version located at the bottom of the page. Unzip it and run Setup.exe

  2. Once the installation is complete. It will create a new program group called “QlikSense Email Alerts”

3. Right Click on QlikSense Email Alert and choose Run as Administrator  (Run as Admin is required to be able to save your changes)

4. Configuring the Alerting System is done in 3 steps.

 

a. Setup Qliksense Server URL & Click Test Connection. This will test the URL by requesting a task list from QlikSense server

b. Setup SMTP Email Server Settings & Click Test Email. If successful, you will get a message box indicating the result and should receive a test email almost immediately,  (if using GMAIL, gmail account settings needs be modified to allow 3^rd^ party smtp connections.* Instructions for changing gmail settings is located below this article*. Also depending on the email server, if the email address is not the username, smtp_user and smtp_from fields could be different) 

c. Setup TASK SCHEDULER & click ADD/UPDATE SCHEDULER 

      • Add the domain or local username & password that will perform the task. (Username needs to be in Domain\Username format. User has to have security rights within QMC to be able to query tasks.)

      • Choose the time interval in minutes. * ( This is how often windows scheduler will query for failed tasks.*)

      • Click on Add/Update Scheduler to create a Windows Scheduler Task item which will execute at the specified time interval. This will create a new windows scheduler task called "QlikSense Email Alert - (Auto)" located in Control Panel\Admin Tools\Task Scheduler. (More advanced time or execution related changes can be made to this task manually after it has been created) 

![](https://github.com/NickAkincilar/QlikSense-Task-Failure-Email-Alerts/blob/master/images/Task Scheduler.jpg)

5. Test the functionality. For this you have two options: 

    • Within windows scheduler interface right click on QlikSense Email Alert - (Auto) task and choose Run.

    • OR wait for the specified time interval and see if you get an email.  

Debugging: You can check the C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\QlikSenseEmailAdmin\History\ folder for debug details to see if it ran at all and to see if there are any errors.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

You can manually trigger the task (and disable it if not needed) or it will start at the specified time once a day and run for 24 hours every X minutes.  It will get a list of all failed tasks every X minutes. if it finds a failed task that it has not sent an email within the last 24 hours, it will trigger an email alert. (*Each task failure alert is emailed once a day regardless of how many times it fails during the day. X minutes determines the max time interval between the actual failure and the first email notice *)  If setup as following these directions,  It will run like a service so the user does not have to be logged in to the machine.

 

If everything is configured properly and you have failed tasks, you should start getting alerts like this (sorry no attached log files as of now) .

 

APPLICATION FOLDERS & DATA

    • Application is installed in to “C:\Program Files\QlikSenseEmailAlert\” folder by default.

    • Following files & folders ( log & History) are stored in “C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\QlikSenseEmailAdmin\”

      • Log.txt has a list of previously sent emails per task to track what was previously sent so it only sends a single email alert per task per 24 hour period.

      • \History\ folder has debug logs of each run within the last 2 days. Files older then 2 days are deleted automatically.

    • Configuration settings are stored in registry in the following location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Qliksense_Email_Alert 

 

**CHANGING GMAIL SETTINGS **

If you are planning to use Gmail SMTP server to send emails then you need to follow these instructions to allow 3rd party apps to use your gmail account.

  1. Go to the "Less secure apps" section in My Account.

  2. Next to "Access for less secure apps," select Turn on. (Note to Google Apps users: This setting is hidden if your administrator has locked less secure app account access.)