OBIEE 11.1.1.7 available

Great news, OBIEE 11.1.1.7 version is available for download. 

Follow the link below:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-enterprise-edition/downloads/bus-intelligence-11g-165436.html



OBIEE 11g Configuration, log and script file locations

Although its best to configure BI using Fusion Middleware Control (also referred to as enterprise manager) or Fusion Middleware Control MBean Browser, yet some of the setting can be updated through text files only.

A warning to admins, each BI host has its own set of configuration files for the components that are deployedon that host. So any changes to one host, should also be made to all other hosts, this is specially true for clustered environments.


BI Configuration files:

1. NQSConfig.INI
and
logconfig.xml

\Middlewarehome\instances\instance1\config\OracleBIServerComponent\coreapplication_obis1

2. instanceconfig.xml

\instances\instance1\config\OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent\coreapplication_obips1

3. ClusterConfig.xml
ccslogging.xml

\instances\instance1\config\OracleBIApplication\coreapplication

4. instanceconfig.xml     (Second instanceconfig.xml dedicated file for BI Scheduler)
\instances\instance1\config\OracleBISchedulerComponent\coreapplication_obisch1

5. config.xml
logging_config.xml
\instances\instance1\config\OracleBIJavaHostComponent\coreapplication_obijh1

6. bridgeconfig.properties (For BI Persentation services Plug-in)

\Middlewarehome\user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\config\fmwconfig\biinstances\coreapplication

7. opmn.xml   (OPMN Config file)
/Middlewarehome/instance/instance1/config/OPMN/opmn/opmn.xml
(It contains the PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH values for the system components and the port number for OPMN and optional SSL configuration.)

8. boot.properties
/Middlewarehome/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/servers/[managed_server]/security


Script files:

1. startNodeManager.sh
(Must be started to allow Managed Server to be started from Weblogic console)
/Middlewarehome/wlserver_10.3/server/bin/startNodeManager.sh

2. opmnctl(Command line tool to start BI services)
/Middlewarehome/instance/instance1/bin
-- OPMN can be used to automatically start BI on linux system. To do that following commands must be included in opmn startup script:

/Middlewarehome/instance/instance1/bin ./opmnctl startall

3. startWebLogic.sh(Script to start Weblogic server)
/Middlewarehome/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/bin.

./startManagedWebLogic.sh
/Middelwarehome/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/bin
To start Managed Server - But this typically can be started from Webogic Console after weblogic server is in running mode.

./startManagedWebLogic.sh bi_server1 http://administration_server_host_name:7001

Log Files:

1. Admin Server (Or weblogic server issues)
\user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\servers\AdminServer\logs

2. Managed Server
\user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\servers\bi_server1\logs\

3. BI Server
\Middlewarehome\instance\instance1\diagnostics\logs\OracleBIServerComponent\coreapplication_obis1

4. BI Persentation Server:
\Middlewarehome\instance\instance1\diagnostics\logs\OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent\coreapplication_obips1

OBIEE 11g New features (compared to 10g)

Apart from major architectural differences, OBIEE 11g has several new features that were not available in 10g.

Some of the key features include:

• Supports creating hierarchy objects in Subject Area
• Export to xml or export to tab delimited/ and power point
• 11g lets variable have multiple values
• 11g RPD cannot be without a password
• 11g supports ragged hierarchies
• Column selector in 11g can be defined on multiple columns, compared to just one column in 10g.

Key Terminology Changes

In 11g, the following terminology changes have been made:

• iBots have been renamed to agents (also known as intelligent agents)
  
• Requests (or reports) have been renamed to analyses, and the term reports now refers to BI Publisher reports
  
• Presentation columns have been renamed to attribute columns, and a new column type, hierarchical column, is introduced
  
• Charts have been renamed to graphs
  
• Security terminology and architecture has changed.

The user interface has undergone major improvements in several areas, including a new Home page and redesigned editors and panes.

• You can use a "selection step" to limit data for columns by specifying the criteria for a set of members
• Drill in data (expanding a member, without impacting rest of the report)
• Sorting in 11g is now enabled by default. Sorts can be applied to members, measures, and rows in views such as tables, pivot tables, graphs, and maps
• In a pivot table, you can easily drag and drop columns to various edges, to rearrange the display to suit your needs
• Graphs and gauges come with new feature of section sliders.
• Map view is a new view type that presents data in spatial form
• We can also create master-detail relationships among certain view types
• We can create calculated items to perform mathematical operations on members. In 10g, we could create a calculated item for an attribute column. In 11g, we can create a calculated item for the members of an attribute column or of a hierarchical column
• 11g allows us to work with multiple subject areas in same report. In addition to the primary subject area that you select when you create a new analysis, filter, or dashboard prompt, you can include additional subject areas that are related to the primary subject area with which to work

 Interaction with Other Oracle Products

• Oracle BI Publisher is a fully integrated member of the Oracle BI EE 11g by default. All of the BI Publisher functionality appears seamlessly within the Oracle BI EE application, and all of the reports and related objects are created within Oracle BI EE and saved to the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog
• Oracle Hyperion Smart View is available for download from the Oracle BI EE Home page
• Interface with MS Office is enhanced, including an additional functionality to download to CSV. In 10g, there was an option to download data, but it was only 'Tab delimited', not Comma seperated.

SQL Functions for Time Series Calculations and Level-Based Measures

The following new and revised SQL functions enable you to create time series calculations and level-based measures:

• PERIODROLLING is a new function that computes the sum of a measure over the period starting x units of time and ending y units of time from the current time.
  
• AGGREGATE AT is a new function that aggregates columns based on the level or levels specified.
  
• AGO is a time series aggregation function that calculates the aggregated value from the current time back to a specified time period. In this release, the time_level argument is optional, and there are additional syntax changes. This function was called PERIODAGO in the previous release.
  
• TODATE is a time series aggregation function that aggregates a measure attribute from the beginning of a specified time period to the currently displayed time. The syntax for this function has changed in this release. This function was called PERIODTODATE in the previous release.

Enhanced database function usage capability

OBIEE 11g allows calling EVALUATE, EVALUATE_AGGR, and EVALUATE_PREDICATE function for advanced calculations.

Enhancements to the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog

The Oracle BI Presentation Catalog is a powerful, underlying storage directory-based system that contains the objects (dashboards, scorecards, prompts, and KPIs for example) that you create. If you use BI Publisher, then the catalog also contains BI Publisher data and objects (data models and schedules, for example). Using the catalog, you can:

• Perform basic tasks such as creating, deleting, and copying objects and folders.
  
• Perform object-specific tasks (for example, modifying settings using the associated editor, or creating and assigning an agent).
  
• Find objects by performing a search.

In addition to these tasks, administrators can:

• Access the root folder that contains system-wide object and user data.
  
• Specify permissions that determine the folders and objects that users can view.
  
• Create folders.
  
• Work with properties such as changing the ownership of a folder or viewing the creation date of an object.
  
• Archive the entire catalog, folders, or objects to unzip them in another directory location.

Actions

You can create actions that navigate to related content or that invoke operations, functions, or processes in external systems. You can include actions in analyses, dashboard pages, agents, scorecard objectives, scorecard initiatives, and KPIs

Starting OBIEE 11g Services

OBIEE 11g comes with fancy enterprise manager, and weblogic console, however if you have to restart the server for any reason, the services may not start back up on their own (unlike 10g). The checklist below will be helpful if 11g fails to start

1. Start the node manager:

/MiddlewareHome/wlserver_10.3/server/bin/nohup ./startNodeManager.sh &

2. Set WLS (weblogic server) environment:

cd /MiddlewareHome/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/bin

Setting the environment:

./setOBIDomainEnv.sh
./setDomainEnv.sh

3. Start the WLS:

nohup ./startWebLogic.sh -Dweblogic.managment.username=weblogic -Dweblogic.management.password=webdev123 &

Weblogic logs are located at:

/MiddlewareHome/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/servers/AdminServer/logs
The server log file
/MiddlewareHome/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/servers/AdminServer/logs/AdminServer.log

change auto boot file:
/MiddlewareHome/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/servers/AdminServer/security/boot.properties (this is the file as in nohup.out log)
/MiddlewareHome/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/servers/bi_server1/security/boot.properties

4. Login to WLS console:

http://localhost:7001/em

and navigate to :

Farm>WebLogic Domains>bi_cluster.

Click control > Start

4b. Use following command to start BI application from command line :
cd /MiddlewareHome/instances/instance1/bin

./opmnctl status

./opmnctl startall

error log
/MiddlewareHome/instances/instance1/diagnostics/logs/OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent/coreapplication_obips1/console~coreapplication_obips1~1.log

This can be also started from EM

By now, services should be up and running. If not, check log files for error messages and you will need to do troubleshooting.


LOG FILES:

-The server log file. All server side log events will be written to this file:
/MiddlewareHome/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/servers/AdminServer/logs/AdminServer.log

-Presentation server log:
get /MiddlewareHome/instances/instance1/diagnostics/logs/OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent/coreapplication_obips1/sawlog0.log


CONFIG FILES:
-Instance config:
/MiddlewareHome/instances/instance1/config/OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent/coreapplication_obips1

-NQSConfig.ini file:
/MiddlewareHome/instances/instance1/config/OracleBIServerComponent/coreapplication_obis1/

OBIEE 11g Upgrade considerations

OBIEE 11g is a major leap in technology when compared to its prior version 10g. To go for newer version is a big decision, and required correct timing and planning. Following are important considerations when planning this move.

OBIEE 11g upgrade required revising hardware, annual license costs as weblogic is additional component used in 11g technology stack, and maintenance costs.

1. New installation Vs Upgrade - For companies going for Oracle BI for the first time, 11g is the only choice. Oracle is going to discontinue its dupport for 10g by Mid of 2014, so that leaves 10g implementation out of considerations.
2. Volume of published reports in current version- If the current set of reports are large, this will impact the upgrade timeframe for 11g. Managers need to plan sufficient time and budget for post upgrade bug fixes to published reports in 10g, redesign for reports that cannot be simply fixed due to change in application logic (this should be minimum), testing by development and users community.
3. Upgrade to 11g will be impacted by volume of customizations in 10g platform, like use of Java componenet for reporting.
4. Technical capabilities of administration team - 11g works on weblogic, which is pretty complex if things go wrong and need to be fixed. Although under normal circumstances, only working knowlegde of weblogic should suffice.
5. Security model - 11g has completely new security model. Catalog level and RPD level security is supported for backward compatibility only, and its recommended to migrate to weblogic based application roles based security. Depending of number of groups and users, this might be a challenge to complete
6. Retesting of entire upgrated catalog is a must - to ensure none of the existing functionality is lot.
7. Requirements for new features - if there is an upcoming project that will need integration with essbase, or has ragged hierarchies, its much better idea to upgrade before starting that project to take advantage of new features.
8. Development team and end user training - 11g interface is quite different than 10g, so some level of training is required for sure.
9. Cloud based 11g implementation - instead of installing and maintaing inhouse, implementing on a internet based cloud server might be a good option for those who dont want to maintain a in-house administration team. Although it will not be very flexible when it comes to migrations, and the model will not be cost affective when size of implementation increases.

I hope the above helps in making a choice, to read about all installation steps, please my blog post on  page below:

http://obiee911.blogspot.com/2013/01/obiee-11g-installation.html

OBIEE 11g Installation

You might be thinking, how come I blogged for OBIEE uninstallation, before OBIEE installation. Well, I had to do atleast one uninstall before finally we were able to have a successfull install, and so I followed the same order while blogging too. Here are the steps we followed:

Environment:

Server OS: Linux red hat -
Client OS: Win XP Proff
Database (for BI repository): Oracle 10g
BI Warehouse database may or may not be the same, it does not matter.

Requirements:

- Linux terminal (putty) and FTP access
- root or sudo root access in Linux
- sysdba access to database (just DBA access will not work)
- All install / patch files downloaded and copied to Linux server
- RCU (repository creation utility) must be downloaded and saved to Client machine.
- Either firewall software must be disabled on Linux box, or all ports required by BI server must be opened before installation



Steps for Installation:

1. Run the RCU on windows client machine (or linux if you have 32 bit server). This installs two schemas on database which store BI server metadata. OBIEE 11g merged tables for BI publisher, usage tracking and iBots all into this schemas, along with several new tables to support BI functionality. This step will fail if you dont have a database ID with sysdba level of access.

• Run rcu.bat file from command prompt
• Select ‘Create Repository’, click Next
• Enter the database connection details where schemas will be installed
• Ignore the warning about the AL32UTF8 character set (not sure who should not ignore)
• Select the components to be installed and specify a prefix, example 'DEV'. We installed two schemas - MDS and BIPLATFORM
• Click Next all the way till its completed

2. On Linux server, create a group 'orainstall', a user 'obi'  and a folder as 'MiddlewareHome'. Following commands will comein handy:

• groupadd oinstall
• /usr/sbin/user add obi -g oinstall
• mkdir -p /MiddlewareHome
• chown -R obi:oinstall /MiddlewareHome
• chmod -R 775 /MiddlewareHome

3. On your client machine, download and install a X-windows server like X Cygwin or Xming. Google this for free installable software. This will be useful to run installation from your desktop. If you have direct access to Linux box, and dont need to use putty, skip this step and go directly to step 8 below.

4.  Login to Linux using terminal and execute command

              xhost + <>
This step will let you view GUI on your windows machine from installer running on linux server (compared to text based terminal / putty window). I am not aware if Linux has something similar to remote desktop connection as in windows. So this should work till we have something like RDC.

5. Open Putty on your windows machine and specify the host name for linux server. Next, click on

         Connections > SSH > X11
    and check 'Enable X11 forwarding'. Also make sure 'MIT-Magic-Cookie-1' is selected in radio button below.

6. Login to linux server using Putty and execute following command

        export DISPLAY= <>
    Replace IP address with that of your windows client machine.

7. Make sure that your windows client is not accepting the connections. To do that, execute command like "xterm" or "firefox" in Putty, and it should open a window for application on your local client. That way, then you start the installation for 11g, the GUI window will open on your windows machine.

8. In putty window, change directory to the folder containing the installer (bishiphome/Disk1)

9. Execute command “./runInstaller”

10. Select the ‘create local inventory option’, when asked to create the oracle inventory.

11. Choose “Enterprise Install”

12. Enter password for weblogic user. Follow minimum password standard, alphanumeric, atleast 8 characters long. Then click Nexk.

13. Browse or enter Oracle Middleware Home Location (/MiddlewareHone). This should fill out rest of the options for this screen. Hit Next.

14. Select the components you want to install. Not many companies have Real-Time Decisions, so uncheck it if you dont have the license, to save some space. Hit Next

15. On this screen enter database details for BI Platform schema that was created in step 1 above followed by MDS schema in next step.

16. Choose Auto Port Configuration on the next screen

17. Specify email ID on the next screen

18. Hit "Install" to start the installation process.

Thats it. Unless you have space limitations, you should be good with installation. Follow my blog for more articles if you liked this post. Give me a google+ for your appreciation. Thank you.

  

Uninstalling Obiee 11g instance on a linux red hat platform

Here are the steps followed to uninstall 11g:

1. Take backup of nqsconfig.ini file at following path: (using pftp)

/MiddlewareHome/instances/instance1/config/OracleBIServerComponent/coreapplication_obis1/

2. Take back up of instanceconfig.xml file at following path:

/MiddlewareHome/instances/instance1/config/OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent/coreapplication_obips1

3. Take back of RPD OracleBIAnalyticsApps_BI0002.rpd at following path:

/MiddlewareHome/instances/instance1/bifoundation/OracleBIServerComponent/coreapplication_obis1/repository

4. Take backup of web catalogue:

/MiddlewareHome/instances/instance1/bifoundation/OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent/coreapplication_obips1/catalog/EnterpriseBusinessAnalytics

5. Back the patch files for BP2

6. Run deinstaller (Xming should be running for this as this is GUI based):

>cd /MiddlewareHome/Oracle_BI1/oui/bin

>./runInstaller.sh -d

7. Uninstall weblogic and leftovers using brute force (fastest method known to man)

>cd /MiddlewareHome

>rm -rf wlserver_10.3/

8. Remove all directories under /MiddlewareHome

I reinstalled after performing above steps and it did work.