QL2 Server

QL2 Server is a high performance, standards-based platform for executing QL2 intelligent agents. By providing a virtual database layer, QL2 Server shields users from the intricacies of underlying data structures, file formats and network protocols. QL2 Server enables you to integrate through the most convenient access point, whether that's the data layer, a web service or a web user interface. QL2 Server supports SOAP and other web services standards for programmatic access. Moreover, QL2 Studio users can run queries remotely on QL2 Server.

QL2 Server has three major components:

• Application Programming Interface (API)
• WebQL Deployment Platform
• Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

Application Programming Interface (API)

QL2 server provides an API that empowers developers to embed QL2's advanced data extraction and transformation capabilities in custom applications. The API provides a simple object-oriented interface through which you run QL2 queries in much the same way you execute SQL queries on a traditional database server. The API allows both local and external execution. Local execution is preformed leveraging linked libraries. External execution is performed leveraging web services.

The local API supports popular programming languages including:

• C#
• Visual Basic .NET
• Other .NET hosted languages
• Java
• C++ (managed and unmanaged)
• ActiveX/COM

Web services support:

• SOAP
• REST

QL2 offers a Software Development Kit (SDK) that includes sample code, supporting technical notes and other documentation that clarifies implementation of API.

WebQL Deployment Platform

WebQL – the cornerstone of QL2 Server – is based on ANSI standard SQL, so it utilizes skills that IT shops already have in-house. WebQL's concise notation includes joins, grouping, sorting and set operations, plus simple but powerful extensions that allow access to any resource – especially those on the Internet.

Click here to view a large version of the architectural diagram

WebQL can extract data from even the most complicated websites and seamlessly handles scripts, forms, cookies, user agents, frames, tables and authentication. There is extensive support for XML, including extraction of data using XPath and transformation of input and output using XSLT. In addition to mark-up languages, WebQL's extraction capabilities extend to all common file types – PDF, PPT, DOC, CSV and images – for unstructured and semi-structured data.

QL2 Server offers a variety of security services to protect sensitive data. The rights management system authenticates users and controls user access to resources. Encryption protects data transmissions and confidential information in local and remote data stores. Log sanitization prevents accidental recording of passwords and other private information used to access network resources. QL2 even offers anonymization services to protect your identity and mask the origin of data requests when querying external resources.

QL2 Server is highly scalable. It automatically parallelizes queries to ensure hardware resources are fully utilized without overloading network resources. Similarly, with built-in cluster support and grid computing, QL2 Server separates large jobs into small units, distributes them across the cluster and reassembles when all work is complete. QL2 Server is administered through a web browser, making it a readily accessible end-point for managing integration tasks.

QL2 Server is available on Windows, Linux, and UNIX. You can host it yourself or QL2 can host it on demand. We'll even incubate new deployments and help you migrate in-house as your needs change.

Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

QL2 Server includes a full-featured Integrated Development Environment featuring:

• Syntax highlighting
• Graphical display of query plans and execution
• Real time delivery of results for rapid testing and iteration
• Network monitoring tools that reveal precisely what's read and written
• Comprehensive error trapping and reporting
• Flexible scheduling so automated tasks can be performed during off hours

QL2 Server Product Details