Backup, Upgrade, and Recover Qlik Sense

Doing Qlik Sense backups manually sucks. It’s tedious, time-consuming, repetitive, and often means working after hours or on weekends. You have to remember every little thing (PostgreSQL, certificates, apps) and run through a checklist just to make sure nothing gets missed. It’s the most frustrating part of being a Qlik Sense admin.

But backups aren’t optional. Without them, your entire Qlik Sense environment is one glitch away from disaster. And yet, despite how critical they are, they still feel like a chore that no one wants to do.

Over years, I’ve built and refined an automated backups system and shared it in this course so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel or waste time figuring it out alone. Inside, I’ll show you the full Qlik Sense backup automation process I use to protect real environments from installing the tools, to writing scripts, to scheduling jobs that run without you lifting a finger. You’ll get ready-to-use scripts for both bundled and standalone PostgreSQL installs.

With just a little time up front, often under an hour, you’ll walk away with a fully automated backup system that runs quietly in the background, creating reliable, consistent backups with minimal downtime. No stress, no late nights, just peace of mind knowing your backups are handled.

Upgrading Qlik Sense can be stressful, even intimidating. This is a platform that businesses and governments rely on daily. That’s why upgrades feel so high-stakes. You’re responsible for keeping it secure and supported… yet you're left navigating vague, incomplete documentation where a single misstep can lead to serious downtime or data loss.

The Upgrade section of this course makes the process crystal clear. You’ll follow precise, step-by-step instructions that remove the guesswork and reduce upgrade time.

I’ve personally completed dozens of Qlik Sense upgrades, including upgrades for both bundled and standalone PostgreSQL servers, as well as SSL/TLS certificates. Along the way, I’ve developed the guides I use to successfully upgrade environments.

In this course, I’m giving you those same guides - tested, proven, and packed with screenshots - so you’ll know exactly what to expect at every step. You’ll be able to reliably upgrade and patch Qlik Sense, upgrade PostgreSQL (whether bundled or standalone), renew certificates, and unlock new features, performance gains, and security enhancements. With this course at your hand, you'll have clear, repeatable process to keep your Qlik Sense server fully up-to-date.

Knowing you can bring your Qlik Sense server back from the dead - anytime, on any machine - is the ultimate safety net. Upgrade gone wrong? No problem, a few steps and you're back online. Hardware failure? Just restore to a new machine. Migrating to better hardware? Schedule some downtime, restore from a recent backup, and be done before lunch. Restoring Qlik Sense doesn’t have to be stressful and after Recovery section of the course, it won’t be.

Recovery isn’t just a bonus skill, it’s the key to eliminating the fear that comes with upgrades, migrations, or system failures. Once your backups are automated and you know how to restore from them, disaster recovery becomes routine. Minimal downtime. No stress. Just you, calmly fixing things while everyone else wonders how you make it look so easy.

In this final section, I’ll walk you through the exact steps I use to recover Qlik Sense servers - tested, proven, and field-ready. Whether you’re restoring to the same machine or a new one, the included guides will show you how to do it with both bundled and standalone PostgreSQL installations.

You’ll learn how to:

• Restore Qlik Sense on the same or different hardware

• Handle common recovery issues, like stuck hostname restoration

• Properly reapply SSL/TLS certificates

• Avoid overwriting critical config files during restore

• Prevent backup interruptions once the system is back online

With these recovery steps in your toolkit, you’ll complete your transformation from cautious admin to expert operator - someone who doesn’t just hope things go right… but knows exactly what to do when they don’t.

To help you put what you learn into practice, this course includes ready-to-use tools and resources designed to make your work as a Qlik Sense administrator easier and more reliable.

PowerShell Scripts for Backup Automation

This course provides a complete set of PowerShell scripts that automate backup of your Qlik Sense server environment:

• Stop Qlik Sense Services script stops all Qlik Sense services to initiate server backup.

• Start Qlik Sense Services script starts the Qlik Sense services once the backup process is finished.

• Backup Certificates script exports and stores Qlik Sense certificates from Microsoft Management Console (MMC).

• Backup PostgreSQL script backs up the full contents of the Qlik Sense PostgreSQL server.

• Backup Directories script captures file directories holding configuration files, logs, apps, extensions, and other Qlik Sense-related files.

• Backup Backups script copies backup files to a secondary location for redundancy, further increasing the chance of successful server recovery.

These scripts are built to save you time and generate reliable, consistent backups of your Qlik Sense servers.

Qlik Sense App for PostgreSQL Upgrade Validation

Also included is the PostgreSQL Upgrade QS App. This is a Qlik Sense application that is built to assist with upgrade of PostgreSQL server. You can import it to your Qlik Sense server and use it to automatically compare the contents of old and new PostgreSQL instances. With it, you can:

• Quickly identify mismatches between databases, users, and server settings.

• Confirm that the upgrade was successful.

• Validate that your new PostgreSQL instance is ready for use with Qlik Sense.

This app does a thorough comparison of old and new versions of PostgreSQL to give you reassurance that your upgrade has been executed correctly before returning your system to production use.

To give you a smooth learning experience, nearly all guides in this course include high-quality screenshots that make each step clear and easy to follow. This means less effort for you to learn and a higher chance of getting the processes for backing up, upgrading, and recovering Qlik Sense done correctly the first time around.

Drawing on years of experience teaching and training teams across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, I’ve built the most effective and practical learning material I’ve ever created. I can’t wait for you to dive in and see what you’ll be able to accomplish with your Qlik Sense servers!