Category: Business Intelligence Platform

BI Administration, Business Intelligence (BI) Development, Business Intelligence Platform, Data Development, Reporting

EVALUATE_SUPPORT_LEVEL inside NQSConfig.INI is not set

If you use the Oracle EVALUATE function in OBIEE, then you will need to set a parameter in the NQSConfig.INI file in OBIEE 11g.

If you get this error below, then you are using the EVALUATE function somewhere inside OBIEE (in one of your analyses/requests) and the parameter needs to be set appropriately in the NQSConfig.INI file.

State: HY000. Code: 10058. [NQODBC] [SQL_STATE: HY000] [nQSError: 10058] A general error has occurred.
[nQSError: 43113] Message returned from OBIS.
EVALUATE_SUPPORT_LEVEL inside NQSConfig.INI is not set to support EVALUATE. (HY000)

This is what you need to do to correct the problem… 

Edit the NQSConfig.INI file, located at: OBIEE_INSTANCE/config/OracleBIServerComponent/coreapplication_obisn

This is what you will see by default in the config file…
————-
# EVALUATE_SUPPORT_LEVEL:
# 1: evaluate is supported for users with manageRepositories permssion
# 2: evaluate is supported for any user.
# other: evaluate is not supported if the value is anything else.
EVALUATE_SUPPORT_LEVEL = 0; 
————-

Change the parameter as follows: EVALUATE_SUPPORT_LEVEL = 2;

Save and restart the BI Server.  Your requests should work fine now.

Business Intelligence (BI) Development, Business Intelligence Platform, Reporting

OBIEE 10g: Unable to sort table although “Enable column sorting in dashboards” is checked

I discovered an interesting scenario recently. Although “Enable column sorting in dashboards” was checked (turned on), I was unable to sort on a particular table.  The mouse icon changed when I moused-over the column headings which gave the impression that it would sort, but it simply did not work.

Turns out there was an invalid “view” above the Table object in the Compound Layout. This happens when an object is removed from an analysis/request and its placeholder is not removed from the Compound Layout. See the screenshot below – notice the empty placeholder above the table with the message “The view that was in this position the the Compound Layout is no longer available. …”.

To fix the problem, simply remove/delete that invalid view from the compound layout and you will now be able to sort the table.

BI Administration, Business Intelligence Platform, Data Security

Configuring OBIEE 11g to use LDAP (Active Directory) Authentication with External Groups table

I have been working on configuring OBIEE 11g to use Active Directory for authentication and an external table for Groups.  It has been a bit of a challenge primarily because I was not familiar with the Active Directory terminology and parameters, and so I was initially doing some guess work – about what the various parameters should be set to, and it was not very easy to determine what was and what was not correct.

Anyway, thanks to a few Oracle documents and a few blog articles I have made significant progress and I think I have it working properly now, and testing it thoroughly.

Below are some of the documents and articles that I used…

Here you will find some Oracle documentation:

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E14571_01/bi.1111/e10543/toc.htm

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E23943_01/bi.1111/e10543/privileges.htm#BIESC6054

A great intro article:

http://www.rittmanmead.com/2012/03/obiee-11g-security-week-understanding-obiee-11g-security-application-roles-and-application-policies/

An article directly related to the topic:

http://www.rittmanmead.com/2012/03/obiee-11g-security-week-connecting-to-active-directory-and-obtaining-group-membership-from-database-tables/

These provided some more details that helped me to understand the parameters better and be in a better position to work with the Active Directory administrator:

http://bimetrics.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/integrating-ms-active-directory-with-obiee-11g-in-weblogic-server/

http://obieeelegant.blogspot.com/2012/01/obiee-11g-integration-with-ldap.html

http://paulcannon-bi.blogspot.com/2012/07/configuring-ldap-authentication-for.html

http://www.biztech.com/blog/2011/09/integrating-active-directory-with-obiee-11g/

Good luck!

BI Administration, Business Intelligence (BI) Development, Business Intelligence Platform

OBIEE 10g and OBIEE 11g directory structure comparisons

I got this chart from one of Oracle’s documents, and thought it would be handy to post for easy lookup and it might come in handy for someone searching for information on the directory parallels between OBIEE 10g and OBIEE 11g.

OBIEE 11g Key Directories and the corresponding 10g directories

Directory or Files 10g & 11g Locations
AdminTool.sh equalizerpds.sh/equalizerpds.exe JobManager.sh MigrateEUL.sh NQClient.sh nqcmd.sh/nqcmd.exe 10g: BI_ORACLE_HOME/server/Bin

 

11g: BI_ORACLE_HOME/bifoundation/server/bin
DBFeatures.INI NQSConfig.INI 10g: BI_ORACLE_HOME/server/Config

 

11g: ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/OracleBIServerComponent
/coreapplication_obisn
NQClusterConfig.INI 10g: BI_ORACLE_HOME/server/Config

 

11g: ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/OracleBIApplication
/coreapplication
NQQuery.log NQSAdminTool.log NQServer.log 10g: BI_ORACLE_HOME/server/Log

 

11g: ORACLE_INSTANCE/diagnostics/logs
/OracleBIServerComponent/coreapplication_obis1
Oracle BI Server repository directory:

  • SampleAppLite.rpd
  • paint.rpd
 10g: BI_ORACLE_HOME/server/Repository

 

11g: ORACLE_INSTANCE/bifoundation
/OracleBIServerComponent/coreapplication_obisn/repository
Samples:

  • order.xml
  • Product.xml
  • samplesales.udml
 10g: BI_ORACLE_HOME/server/Sample/samplesales

 

11g: ORACLE_INSTANCE/bifoundation/OracleBIServerComponent
/coreapplication_obisn/sample/SampleAppFiles
Usage Tracking:

  • SQL_Server_Time
  • UsageTracking.rpd
  • UsageTracking.zip
 10g: BI_ORACLE_HOME/server/Sample/usagetracking

 

11g: ORACLE_INSTANCE/bifoundation/OracleBIServerComponent
/coreapplication_obisn/sample/usagetracking
Other Schemas (for example):

  • Oracle_alter_nq_acct.sql
  • SAACCT.DB2.sql
  • SAACCT.MSSQL.sql
  • SAACCT.Oracle.sql

Note: Use the Repository Creation Utility to install the Oracle BI Schema

 10g: BI_ORACLE_HOME/server/Sample/Schema

 

11g: ORACLE_INSTANCE/bifoundation/OracleBIServerComponent
/coreapplication_obisn/schema
  • credentialstore.xml
  • instanceconfig.xml (for Presentation Services)
  • userpref_currencies.xml
 10g: OracleBIData/web/config

 

11g: ORACLE_INSTANCE/config
/OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent/coreapplication_obipsn
  • JavaHost
  • sawlog0.log
 10g: OracleBIData/web/log

 

11g: ORACLE_INSTANCE/diagnostics/logs
/OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent/coreapplication_obipsn
catalogmanager.exe 10g: BI_ORACLE_HOMEwebcatalogmanager

 

11g: ORACLE_INSTANCEbifoundation
OracleBIPresentationServicesComponentcoreapplication_obipsn

catalogmanagerruncat.cmd
instanceconfig.xml (for Oracle BI Scheduler) 10g: OracleBIDatawebconfig

 

11g: ORACLE_INSTANCEconfigOracleBISchedulerComponent
coreapplication_obischn
  • odbc.ini
  • user.sh
 10g: BI_ORACLE_HOME/setup

 

11g: ORACLE_INSTANCE/bifoundation/OracleBIApplication
/coreapplication/setup
BI Administration, Business Intelligence (BI) Development, Business Intelligence Platform

Troubleshooting OBIEE 11g

A couple tips on how to resolve some OBIEE 11g errors. When you receive an error such as …

“Supplementary information regarding operation: PROCESS:instance1:coreapplication_obisch1;FAILED_TO_START;
Operation Failed: start; OracleInstance: instance1; Component: coreapplication_obisch1; msg: 0 of 1 processes
started.”

or this …

“Error 500–Internal Server Error
From RFC 2068 Hypertext Transfer Protocol — HTTP/1.1:
10.5.1 500 Internal Server Error
The server encountered an unexpected condition which prevented it from fulfilling the request.”

1. First check to make sure your database instance and Listener are up and running.
You can do this through Enterprise Manager by connecting to the server/port.
https://hostname:1158/em/

If they are not running, then start them.
On Windows, you may need to make sure that the following Services are running:
. OracleServiceORCL
. OracleOraDb11g_home1ClrAgent
. OracleOraDb11g_home1TNSListener

2. Then check the status of other OBIEE components.
You can do this through the OBIEE Enterprise Manager.
http://hostname:7001/em/ then navigating to Business Intelligence -> coreapplication -> Availability tab.

or by running the opmnctl command as below
[Drive][FMW_HOME_DIR]instancesinstance1bin>opmnctl status
for example C:obiee11ginstancesinstance1bin> opmnctl status

In the example below, the BI Scheduler (coreapplication_obisch1) and the BI Presentation Server (coreapplication_obips1) are down.

Processes in Instance: instance1
———————————+——————–+———+———
ias-component | process-type | pid | status
———————————+——————–+———+———
coreapplication_obiccs1 | OracleBIClusterCo~ | 10136 | Alive
coreapplication_obisch1 | OracleBIScheduler~ | N/A | Down
coreapplication_obijh1 | OracleBIJavaHostC~ | 8396 | Alive
coreapplication_obips1 | OracleBIPresentat~ | N/A | Down
coreapplication_obis1 | OracleBIServerCom~ | 6736 | Alive

You can start the individual components using Enterprise Manager interface, or you may Stop BI Services and then Start BI Services from the Windows Start button
(Start -> All Programs -> Oracle Business Intelligence -> Stop/Start BI Services).

BI Administration, Business Intelligence Platform

Error Message when try to perform actions in Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g on Windows XP

If you get the following error when attempting to perform database actions in Oracle 11g Enterprise Manager on Windows XP …

RemoteOperationException: ERROR: Invalid username and/or password

… then, assuming your Username/password combination is correct … and you can verify this by logging into SQLPLUS … follow these steps to resolve:

1. Open Control Panel
2. Administrative Tools -> Local Security Policy (Local Security Setting window opens)
3. Local Policies -> User Rights Assignment
4. Double click ‘Log on as a batch job’ (Properties window opens)
5. Click on ‘Add user or group’ (Select user/group window opens)
6. Add the username(s) including the domain name
7. Click ‘Check names’ to verify what you have added
8. Save (click OK, click OK)

Hope this helps.

BI Administration, Business Intelligence Platform

Installing OBIEE 11g on Windows XP

I recently installed OBIEE 11g on a Windows XP box.  I followed instructions I found on the deliverbi.blogspot.com Blog site … thank you Shahed Munir.

I would like to add some details to 2 of the steps, in case it helps clarify those steps for others:

 

– The detailed instructions I got from Shahed’s blog can be found here …

http://deliverbi.blogspot.com/2010/11/obiee-11g-windows-xp-installation.html

 

– And the details I would like to add are below …

1. Step 4 (Install Oracle Database 11g). 

Download your Oracle database software to, and run from, a directory without spaces. 

If you get an error such as …

“Windows cannot find ‘C:Documents’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. ….”

then you have downloaded and are trying to run the RCU from a directory under ‘C:Documents and Settings…’ (for example)

As mentioned above, download to and install from a directory such as ‘C:Oracle_rcu…’ (no spaces)

2. In Step 7 (Create RCU Repository), it does not specify how to run the RCU.  Go to the [Extract Directory]rcuHomeBin and run rcu.bat from there  -or-  run it from a command prompt …

for example … C:[Extract Directory]rcuHomeBin> rcu.bat

3. If you get an error in Step 7, verify that the following services have been started and try again:

  • OracleServiceORCL
  • OracleOraDb11g_home1ClrAgent
  • OracleOraDb11g_home1TNSListener

The entire install process took about 90 minutes.  Good luck!

Business Intelligence (BI) Development, Business Intelligence Platform

Changing the name of a Subject Area in OBIEE 10g (in preparation for upgrade to 11g)

This article shares a few steps for renaming a “Subject Area” in OBIEE 10g.  OBIEE 10g allowed leading spaces in Subject Area names. You may have done this to alter the sort order of your Subject Areas without using leading numbers. This would result in only a Warning message when you checked the repository’s consistency.  However, leading spaces in Subject Area names is not allowed in OBIEE 11g, and will result in an Error.

So, if you are upgrading to OBIEE 11g then you will need to change the Subject Area name(s) to remove leading spaces or you may need to change Subject Area name(s) for other reasons.

Here are a few steps to consider but I recommend that you perform these steps for one subject area first, confirm all is well, then repeat steps for all subject areas.

  1. Stop the Presentation Server.
  2. In the Oracle BI Administration Tool, manually rename the Subject Area(s) in the Presentation Layer (and remove the leading spaces if that was the reason for the rename).
  3. Log into Catalog Manager in online mode, and navigate to Tools –> XML Search and Replace
  4. Carefully set the text you would like to replace with the new text – but make sure the text string is unique enough so that you do not inadvertently changed text that you don’t want to change.  Repeat for each name change that is required.
  5. You may need to manually open your prompts in Answers to change the Subject Area names in the custom SQLs used to generate defaults and drop down lists.
  6. Restart the Presentation Server and test your changes.
BI Administration, Business Intelligence Platform

Upgrading OBIEE 10g to 11g – Information Sources

I am in the process of planning an OBIEE 10g to 11g upgrade.  As you would expect, finding the appropriate documentation is the first step in the process.  Instead of rehashing what is already out there, this article simply shares some of the resources that I found along the way as I prepared for the upgrade.

Learn more about OBIEE 11g new features.

This link takes you to a “menu” of oracle documentation for Oracle Fusion Middleware Release 1 (11.1.1.6) – the latest release at the time of this writing. This is probably the most comprehensive source for information about this topic.

From the link above, click on “Business Intelligence” in the bottom-left and then locate the various documents – such as “Installation Guide”, “Upgrade Guide”, etc.

Specifically, click here for the System Requirements document; and click here for the Certification document.

I found this presentation by Rittman Mead on “Upgrading from OBIEE 10g to OBIEE 11g” useful – it provided a great overview of what’s involved in the upgrade process.   And another short article by Rittman Mead on “How, Why, Should I Upgrade to OBIEE 11.1.1.6?” added a few tidbits of information.

In this article from the howtobi blog, “Upgrading OBIEE 10g content to 11g”, you will find great step-by-step upgrade instructions.  Another step-by-step article, Upgrading OBIEE10g RPD and Web Catalog to OBIEE 11g, was found on the obieefans blog.

This is an article in Oracle Magazine covering the essentials of the upgrade process.

You may also want to view this tutorial on Oracle Learning Library:   Upgrading Oracle Business Intelligence from 10g to 11g

Although some of the information overlaps from article to article, it’s still a good idea to read various articles to pick up a few different bits of information from each.  I would recommend highlighting or capturing important content from each document, and start putting together a task list/project plan that you continuously enhance as you learn more.

When you are ready, the OBIEE 11g software can be downloaded here.

And to get a preview of what 11g looks like and some of the new features, you can check out these two tutorials on the Oracle Learning Library site:  Creating a Repository using Oracle BI 11g Administration Tool and Creating Analyses and Dashboards 11g

And of course, there is a lot more information out there.

Good luck with your upgrade!