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QlikView Server and Publisher

By Stephen Redmond
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  1. Free Chapter
    Getting Started with QlikView Server
About this book
Publication date:
January 2014
Publisher
Packt
Pages
176
ISBN
9781782179856

 

Chapter 1. Getting Started with QlikView Server

At a simple level, QlikView Server is a product that serves QlikView documents to connected users.

Users connect to AccessPoint—the out of the box QlikView web portal—and see their documents. They click on a document and it opens, displaying their up-to-date data.

Of course, under the hood, it is a lot more complex than that. There are multiple services in action. The main one is the QlikView Server service that actually loads the documents into memory on the server and delivers the information to clients. The QlikView Web Server service hosts AccessPoint and renders the QlikView documents to web and mobile clients. The Directory Service connector allows QlikView to connect to different user repositories and the QlikView Management service links everything together.

Up-to-date data is important to users, so we have the QlikView Distribution Service. Without a QlikView Publisher license, this is a simple reload engine that reloads the documents on a schedule. After adding the Publisher license, the Distribution Service becomes a service that reloads documents and distributes them to multiple locations with multiple options and schedules.

Before you begin to think about installing QlikView Server, there are some important things that you should know. We will cover them all in this chapter.

When you install the product, you are going to need some hardware in place—either physical or virtual—so you will need to understand the implications of different configurations and sizes.

Because QlikView is built on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), we will also look at the architecture of the different services so that you might understand how many servers you might need to deploy.

We will also look at the different licenses that you can use with QlikView Server and the different client types that can be deployed.

These are the topics we'll be covering in this chapter:

  • Supported Windows Servers

  • Licensing and Server types

  • Deployment options

  • Service Oriented Architecture

  • QlikView clients

 

Supported Windows Servers


QlikView is a Windows-based technology. Up to Version 11.2 SR4, there have been both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of QlikView Server (and Publisher).

These versions can be installed on the following Windows Server versions:

  • Windows Server 2003, both 32-bit and 64-bit

  • Windows Server 2003 R2, both 32-bit and 64-bit

  • Windows Server 2008, both 32-bit and 64-bit

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit only)

For purposes of testing and development only, QlikView Server 32-bit or 64-bit can also be installed on the following professional (not home edition) desktop operating systems:

  • Windows XP, both 32-bit (SP3) and 64-bit (SP2)

  • Windows Vista, both 32-bit and 64-bit

  • Windows 7, both 32-bit and 64-bit

Essentially, this is the list of operating systems that support the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0, which is required by QlikView Server.

Since version 11.2 SR2, an additional installation is available specifically for Windows 2012. This version will also install on Windows 8, for test and development purposes only.

QlikView Server will install on a fairly barebones Windows Server. The only additional requirement is an installation of the Microsoft .NET Framework—v4 for QlikView v11 and v11.2. If the .NET Framework is not installed when you start the QlikView Server installation, the QlikView installer will attempt to start the download and installation process for it.

Of course, this means that if the server is not connected to the Internet, the download will fail.

The installation will automatically create the QVPR (this is a legacy from the QlikView Publisher Repository, but it is not just about publisher any longer), an XML file-based storage of server settings managed by the QlikView Management service. Because these XML files are potentially corruptible on the filesystem, some administrators would prefer to have them stored in a more robust database. There is an option in the QlikView Management Console, to migrate the QVPR to SQL Server. This SQL Server could be running on the same server as the QlikView services but it is not recommended, as it will consume resources that might be needed by QlikView. It is worth noting that if you keep using the XML repository, the XML files will be backed up to ZIP files on either a daily basis or on a schedule that you can configure.

Other Windows options that you need to consider

There are a number of other Windows options that you need to consider before deploying QlikView Server.

IIS

To run the QlikView AccessPoint, QlikView Server has its own web server service—QlikView Web Service/Settings Service (QVWS). However, it will also deploy on IIS v6, v7, or v8 (on Windows 8/2012). This may be the preferred option for many IT departments, especially if they have existing IIS management experience or need to easily manage security certificates.

Authentication

The default security model uses either NTLM or Kerberos to authorize either an Active Directory or local SAM user. This default is the only option available for the Small Business Edition of QlikView Server. Other authentication mechanisms are possible with Enterprise QlikView Server (refer to Chapter 7, Alternative Authentication and Authorization Methods), so you will need to consider security.

Browser

The QlikView Management Console (QMC) is a web-based tool that you will need a "modern" web browser to work with—so IE6 won't work. This doesn't need to be on the server, but it is useful to have it there. The following browsers are suitable:

Browser

Minimum Version

Internet Explorer

7

Google Chrome

18

Mozilla Firefox

12

Apple Safari

5

I have used all of these browsers and although I have a personal preference for Google Chrome, all of them should work fine. You will have to watch out if using IE on your server because the enhanced security option is often enabled. In these circumstances, I have sometimes found myself having to download Firefox (because IE blocks the Chrome download!)

Internet Protocol

The Internet Protocol is not something that you might consider normally because it is set by default in Windows Server, but some organizations may have IP turned off. QlikView services talk to each other using the HTTP protocol, so it is important that IP is available—either IPv4 or IPv6.

Print spooler service

The print spooler service is necessary for QlikView to generate reports for web-based users. In fact, if it is disabled, the PDF-XChange drivers that QlikView uses will not even install. Unfortunately, it is common for IT departments to disable this service as part of Group Policy. Check that this is enabled before installation.

Windows hardware considerations

Windows Servers have their own hardware requirements but going with a minimum option will not work for QlikView. QlikView Server is a CPU- and memory-intensive application. You will need to have enough of both to be able to handle your data and your user requirements (refer to the Ready reckoner section).

Because QlikView Server is so hardware intensive, it is rarely appropriate to host the QlikView Server on a server that will also host other services such as Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, and so on. By default, QlikView Server will consume up to 90 percent of the available physical RAM on the server and that doesn't leave much for other services.

Memory

It is worth remembering that a 32-bit Windows process can only access a maximum of 2 GB of memory. So, if you are running a 32-bit QlikView Server, there would be little point in having more than 4 GB of memory. On the other hand, if you are running 64-bit Windows, 4 GB would be an absolute minimum! I wouldn't normally recommend a 32-bit server for QlikView. Since Windows 2008 R2, there is no longer a 32-bit version of Windows Server.

There is no hard and fast rule on the amount of memory that you will need for your implementation, as it is dependent on the amount of data that you will be loading, the number of applications that will be used, the number of users who will be accessing those applications, and how often they will be accessing them. It is also worth considering that the amount of data and the number of applications will likely increase over time.

CPU

QlikView loads the data from the documents into memory, but every time a user makes a different selection, all of the data needs to be recalculated by QlikView's chart engine. You will need enough CPU power to be able to process these calculations in good time, for both user experience and to avoid time-outs. For most calculations, QlikView Server scales linearly across CPU cores. If you double the number of cores that you have, the calculations will mostly be calculated twice as fast.

There is a memory partitioning scheme known as NUMA, which allocates blocks of memory to a particular processor on the basis that this processor can access that area of memory quicker than areas assigned to other processors. Because QlikView applications can be in larger blocks of memory, and because the calculations execute across all processors, this scheme can actually end up degrading performance of the QlikView Server. Therefore, non-NUMA or Interleaved memory partitioning schemes should be used.

Ready reckoner

The following table can be used as a very rough estimate for the size of server that you might need. When considering the number of Fact rows (lowest level transactions) and number of users, you should consider all of the expected applications and allow an increase over time.

It is very important to remember that every dataset is different and there are many things that make up the size of a QlikView application. The best approach is to use the following table as a rough estimate but also to add the ability to increase if necessary:

Number of "Fact" rows

Number of users (Concurrent)

Servers

CPU cores

Memory

10,000,000

20 (5)

1

8

8 GB

10,000,000

100 (20)

1

16

16 GB

50,000,000

20 (5)

1

16

32 GB

100,000,000

100 (20)

1

16

64 GB

800,000,000

200 (50)

1

16

128 GB

800,000,000

400 (100)

1

24

256 GB

800,000,000

1000 (200)

2

24

256 GB

2,000,000,000

4000 (400)

4

24

512 GB

Virtualization

QlikView Server works well on a VM. For many years now, VMWare has been "officially" supported, but I have also implemented it on Citrix XEN. The QlikView Demo servers are hosted on Amazon EC2 servers (a variation of XEN). Essentially, QlikView Server is a Windows application, and so will run on Windows, including virtualized servers.

Having said that, we need to be aware that QlikView is an intensive user of the hardware on the server. There will be a performance hit on a virtual server because of the overhead of the hypervisor. The nature of QlikView Server's use of hardware is that it tends to require memory and CPU in intensive bursts. This does not work well with virtual servers with any type of shared resource or ballooning. If there is any significant latency when QlikView Server tries to access resources, the service can crash. For this reason, resources assigned to a QlikView Server should be reserved for that server.

 

Licensing and Server types


There are four types of server licenses and user licenses available. There are different restrictions of the latter type, depending on the former type.

The pricing given in this section is as it was at the time of writing this book but this information is publicly available from the QlikView website: http://www.qlikview.com/us/explore/pricing.

Client licenses

There are four client access license types. We will discuss these in detail, shortly.

Named User license

The Named User license is, as its name suggests, a client access license that is associated with a particular user. This is the most flexible of the license types from the perspective of document access. A named user can open as many server documents as they have access to.

The named user also has the option of leasing their license from the server to a copy of QlikView Desktop. This allows them to open and create QVW files locally. Essentially, this is the license that you will assign to developers and power users—those that will access multiple documents.

At the time of this writing, a Named User license costs $1,350.

Document license

The Document license is, again, a Named User license. However, it restricts the named user to one named QlikView document. One named user can be assigned one license each for multiple documents and each document can have licenses for multiple users.

At $350 per license (at the time of this writing), this can be a cost-effective way of getting one application out to many users. While that may sound expensive compared to some other products, it is worth noting that a Document license user can still create their own content within the context of the document.

The ratio of just under 4:1 between the cost of Document license and Named User license means that, if any of your users require access to four or more documents, then a Named User license would be more cost effective than multiple Document licenses. Indeed, many customers will deploy Named User licenses to avoid the potential hassle of managing the association of user to document.

Concurrent license

The Concurrent license, formerly called a Session CAL, doesn't have a restriction on the number of users or documents; instead the restriction is on the number of concurrent sessions—one license equals one concurrent session. A session corresponds to one user accessing the server for a period of 15 minutes. Within that 15-minute period, the user could open multiple documents but still remain within that "session". If they are still active at the end of those 15 minutes, they keep hold of that session and begin a new 15-minute period.

This is a very flexible license type when you have a large population of users who will be accessing documents in a very ad hoc kind of way. It wouldn't really be suitable for users who are going to use one or more documents for longer periods. A Concurrent license (at the time of this writing) costs $15,000, which is a cost ratio of 11.11:1 versus the Named User license. A single user who is consuming many sessions should probably be assigned either a Named User license or Document license instead.

Usage license

A Usage license corresponds to one user using one document for one hour in any one 28-day period. They are generally sold in blocks of 100. As each user uses a license, the number reduces down to zero but then resets back each month.

This is an interesting license type that is usually associated with the Concurrent license. To describe it, imagine that you have 20 Concurrent users and this perfectly suits your usage profile Tuesday to Friday. However, it is Monday morning when everyone is trying to get their sales figures for the last week. 20 users are already in and a 21st user tries to access the server—he won't get in as all of the sessions are being consumed. This is where a Usage license comes in. As the 21st and the 22nd user hit the server, they get assigned a Usage license instead, and they can carry on with their analysis. It complements a population of Concurrent users, to cover those periods of overuse on the concurrency.

QlikView Small Business Edition Server license

The Small Business Edition (SBE) Server is a fully-functional QlikView Server that is designed to sit on one server only and has a limit on the number of users that can be licensed.

Each of the QlikView services—QlikView Server, Distribution Service (reloads), Management Server, and so on—will sit on the same server. This is different from a more "enterprise" deployment, where the various services can be deployed on different servers.

There is a limitation on the license types available. There is a maximum of 25 Named User licenses and 100 Document licenses allowed on SBE. Concurrent and Usage licenses are not allowed.

At the time of this writing, a Small Business Edition Server license costs $8,400 per server.

QlikView Enterprise Edition Server license

This is the license that most large organizations will deploy. QlikView Enterprise has no limitations on the number of Named User or Document licenses and allow Concurrent and Usage licenses. We can also introduce server clustering.

Each of the Services can be deployed on a separate server (although it is not compulsory!).

Additional server licenses can be added to scale the solution by using QlikView clustering.

At the time of this writing, an Enterprise Edition Server license costs $35,000 per server. The per-server price includes either multiple standalone servers or clustered servers.

QlikView Extranet Server license

The Extranet Server is designed to present data to people who are external to your organization. It is limited in that you can only deploy Concurrent licenses. These are specially priced (at the time of writing) at $3,000 (rather than $15,000 for the normal Concurrent license).

At the time of this writing, an Extranet Server license costs $18,000 per server.

QlikView Information Access Server license

This is a special QlikView Server license that allows unlimited user access to one QlikView document. As such, there are no user licenses associated with it. All of the users must be anonymous and, as such, you can't secure the data to users, and it must be open to all users. The website must be available publicly with no authentication. This is an ideal license for delivering information to the public using QlikView's excellent user interfaces.

At the time of this writing, an Information Access Server license costs $70,000 per server.

QlikView Publisher license

Without QlikView Publisher, the QlikView Distribution Service can only work alongside QlikView Server to perform reloads of documents in the server folders. The reload task can only have one trigger—the event that starts the reload—associated with it. The trigger can be a time-based event (daily, hourly, weekly, and so on), it could be an event from another reload (success or failure), or it could be an externally triggered event—EDX (Event Diven eXecution).

Once the Publisher license has been added, the Distribution Server can be deployed on its own server and can perform a much wider range of tasks including reloads, reduction of data in documents based on selections in the document, distribution of documents to multiple locations, and execution of external tasks. Each of these tasks can have multiple triggers and multiple dependencies (a dependency means that the execution of another task must have completed successfully prior to this task being started). It also introduces the additional server management option of having document administrators and the publisher authorization portal. The document administrators can be given the rights to administer a particular server folder. This includes changing document settings and reloads. The publisher authorization portal allows you to create mapping tables that are stored on the publisher server. The design purpose of these is to implement Section Access tables, but they can actually be used for any lookup tables that you might need.

At the time of this writing, a QlikView Publisher license costs $21,000 per server. As with QlikView Server, QlikView Publishers can also be clustered.

For an additional $21,000, you can add the functionality to distribute PDF files generated from QlikView reports in a QlikView document.

 

Deployment options


There are five services that make up a QlikView Server deployment:

  • QlikView Management Service (QMS): The QlikView Management Service talks to all of the other services to set up their configurations and manage tasks. It also publishes an API that external applications can use to interact with the QlikView Server deployment.

  • QlikView Server (QVS): The QlikView Server service is the core engine of QlikView when deployed on a server. It loads the QVW documents into memory, performs the necessary calculations to present the correct results, and handles user and document memory allocation.

  • QlikView Directory Service Connector (DSC): The Directory Service Connector is the service that connects to different user repositories, such as Active Directory, LDAP, or even a custom database of users, to allow configuration of document-level security.

  • QlikView Distribution Service (QDS): Without a publisher license, the Distribution Service is simply a reload engine, reloading QVW documents on a QlikView Server. With the Publisher license added, it becomes an independent service that can perform reloads anywhere, distribute documents to multiple locations, and can perform many more tasks.

  • QlikView Web Service/Settings Service (for IIS) (QVWS): QlikView supports deploying its web pages on IIS but also comes with its own web server service—QVWS. If you do deploy on IIS, the Settings Service acts like the QVWS (listening on the same ports) and communicates with IIS to configure the correct settings.

Each of the services maintains their own folder and file structures, and they can all be enabled for SNMP if required.

There are several common deployment options, which we will discuss in the forthcoming sections.

Single server

This is a very common option for many customers—especially for the so-called "departmental" implementations. You have one server and all of the services are deployed on that server.

Obviously, this is the easiest option to deploy and it works quite well. It is also the only option available for the SBE server.

Problems only start to arise where there is a scarcity of memory. The QVS will grab as much system memory as it can, up to about 90 percent of physical RAM (this is configurable), and will tend to hang on to allocated memory, especially user cache, once it has taken it. Any reload task will use memory as needed, and that could be a lot of memory if there are complex script processes. If there are reloads happening during the day, the server will come under resource pressure, which can cause errors, failures, and unhappy users.

Server/Publisher

In this option, which requires a Publisher license, the Distribution Service is deployed on a separate server to the one on which the QVS and other services are deployed. The Publisher server doesn't need to have the same hardware specification as the larger QVS server. Because memory and CPU resources are released when each task is completed, the server only needs enough resources to complete those tasks—it doesn't hold the resource like QVS does.

Enterprise

An Enterprise deployment will require multiple servers with different services running on each. It will also normally have multiple QVS servers using QlikView Cluster technology. An example configuration might be similar to the one shown in following diagram:

The various Servers shown in the previous diagram and their corresponding services are listed in the following table:

Server

Services

Server 1

QVS1

Server 2

QVS2

Server 3

QMS, DSC

Server 4

QDS (Publisher)

Server 5

QVWS (or IIS)

Server 6

QVWS (or IIS)

The Publisher server can also be clustered, in order to extend the resilience of the deployment.

The web servers can also be deployed in a, so-called, DMZ (a security zone, protected by network firewalls that allows people on the Internet to connect to the web server but not to get any direct access to the QlikView Server) to provide the ability to publish QlikView data externally.

 

Service Oriented Architecture


All of the QlikView services talk to each other using HTTP web service calls. This means that the services can be easily deployed on different servers—even in different domains and behind firewalls—as long as the services can make calls on the ports they use.

QlikView Server

The QVS is slightly different from the other servers, in that "direct" clients—QlikView Desktop, QlikView Plugin, and any OCX clients—will communicate with it via a proprietary, encrypted, binary messaging format, QVP, over port 4747. If a client can't connect directly with the server on port 4747, they have the option of "tunneling" via HTTP or HTTPS through the QVWS or IIS; the web server then talks to QVS over port 4774. The Ajax and mobile clients do not go directly to the QVS. They will communicate to the QVWS/IIS using the XML-based QVPX format.

The QlikView Server also has a settings port 4749, which is available when using certificates. QVS listens for SNMP queries on port 161.

QlikView Management service

This service is the main broker between the other services. It presents the QlikView Management Console (QMC) to administrators on port 4780. The URL is as follows:

http://servername:4780/QMC/SystemSetup.htm

This is the frontend that an administrator can use to set up and configure all of the QlikView services. The QMC requires NTLM authentication, and only members of the local QlikView Administrators Group can run the console.

QMS also has a backend service address on port 4799 that allows access to the API via the web service address http://servername:4799/QMS/Service.

The web services can be accessed by users who are members of the local QlikView Management API group.

If enabled, QMS listens for SNMP queries on port 4781.

QlikView Web Server/Settings service

The QVWS service will serve web pages over port 80 (HTTP) or 443 (HTTPS) or any other configurable port. When listening for requests from other services, such as QMS, it listens on port 4750. The service address is http://servername:4750/QVWS/Service.

If the QVWS is deployed in a different firewall segment to the QMS, you will need to ensure that port 4750 is open in both directions. Similarly, port 4747 needs to be open in both directions between the QVWS/IIS and QVS.

If enabled, QVWS listens for SNMP queries on port 4751.

Directory Service Connector

The DSC is the service that connects to user repositories such as Active Directory or LDAP. It communicates on port 4750. The service address is http://servername:4730/DSC/Service.

As with other services, if this is located on a different firewall segment, port 4730 will need to be open in both directions between the servers.

If enabled, the QDS listens for SNMP queries on port 4731.

QlikView Distribution Service

The QlikView Distribution Service is the service that enables the QlikView Publisher functionality. It listens on port 4720. The service address is http://servername:4720/QDS/Service.

This service is only available if there is a QlikView Publisher license installed. As with the other services, port 4720 will need to be open to enable communication across a firewall.

If enabled, QDS listens for SNMP queries on port 4721.

 

QlikView clients


There are several ways of connecting and consuming QlikView Server data. We will discuss the main clients in the forthcoming sections.

QlikView Desktop Client

The QlikView Desktop Client has the option to Open in Server and connect to a QlikView Server to open a document. This defaults to using Windows authentication, and the user's Windows credentials are automatically passed through to QVS. By navigating to File | Open in Server, or by using the Show Options selection from the Open in Server option on the Start Page, the user can specify alternative credentials.

By default, all Desktop clients will have a Personal Edition license. This means that they can create new content but cannot share it with other Personal Edition licensed users. If a user opening a server document has a Named User license, and the server is configured to allow leasing, the license will be leased to the Desktop client. The status will change from Personal Edition to QlikView User License (using license lease from server). The user will now be able to create new content that can be shared with other licensed users. This license is leased for 30 days at a time. Every time you run the QlikView Desktop executable, it will try and refresh the lease for a further 30 days. If you have been disconnected from the server for more than 30 days, it will revert to Personal Edition.

It is also possible to obtain a standalone license key that can be entered into the QlikView Desktop client by navigating to Settings | User Preferences. This user will then be able to create content, but this license will not license them to open a document from the server—they would still require a server-based license to do that.

QlikView Plugin Client

The QlikView Plugin Client is an ActiveX container of the QlikView OCX control that is only available within Internet Explorer.

An AccessPoint user can choose the Internet Explorer Plugin as either their default or on a document-by-document basis. This will also integrate with alternative authentication mechanisms such as Custom Ticket Exchange (CTE).

A user can also choose to bypass AccessPoint and attempt to access the QVS directly via the plugin by using a URL in the form:

http://servername/QvPlugin/opendoc.htm?document=Movies%20Database.qvw

This URL can also have a Custom Ticket Exchange (CTE) ticket appended to it for integration with alternative authentications. Refer to Chapter 7, Alternative Authentication and Authorization Methods, for more information on CTE.

The same QlikOCX control used by the QlikView Plugin Client can be used within other Windows applications as a COM control and is commonly used by OEMs to deploy QlikView within their solution.

QlikView Ajax Zero Footprint Client

Probably becoming the default option for most new customers, the AjaxZfc client can be deployed with no client-side installation and will work well in a wide variety of browsers—including mobile browsers that are found on the iPad, iPhone, and Android devices. It uses HTML5 and Ajax technology to present a high-quality client to users. It is "touch aware" for mobile clients.

While it is not perfect, it is very much a What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get when compared with the "thicker" Desktop/Plugin clients.

As with the plugin client, a user can also choose to bypass AccessPoint and attempt to access the document directly by using a URL of the form:

http://servername/QvAjaxZfc/opendoc.htm?document=Movies%20Database.qvw

A CTE ticket can also be appended to this URL for use with alternative authentications. Refer to Chapter 7, Alternative Authentication and Authorization Methods, for more information on CTE.

QlikView iPad App

The latest incarnation of the QlikView iPad App is basically a container for the AjaxZfc client. It has some nice features for managing single sign-on for users into the AccessPoint equivalent. It also has a limited "offline" mode that allows a user to store a specific set of selections for offline viewing without having a live connection to the QlikView Server. It is available for free from the Apple App Store.

 

Summary


In this chapter, we have learnt about all of the supported versions of Microsoft Windows server that QlikView will run on. We have discussed the different types of licensing and QlikView Server types. We have also reviewed some different deployment options. Then, we looked at how the different QlikView services communicate in a QlikView's Service Oriented Architecture. Finally, we went through all of the QlikView clients that can consume information from QlikView Server.

In the next chapter, we will look at preparing for and then installing QlikView Server in a default configuration.

About the Author
  • Stephen Redmond

    Stephen Redmond is the CTO and Qlik Luminary at CapricornVentis - a QlikView Elite Partner. He is the author of several books, including QlikView for Developers Cookbook and QlikView Server and Publisher, both published by Packt Publishing. He is also the author of the popular DevLogixseries for SalesLogix developers. In 2006, after many years of working with CRM systems, reporting and analysis solutions, and data integration, Stephen started working with QlikView. Since then, CapricornVentis has become QlikView's top partner in the UK and Ireland territories, and with Stephen as the head of the team, they have implemented QlikView in a wide variety of enterprise and large-business customers across a wide range of sectors, from public sector to financial services to large retailers. In 2014, Stephen was awarded the Luminary status by Qlik in recognition of his product advocacy. He regularly contributes to online forums, including the Qlik Community.

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