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Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Tips

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Oracle® Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) offers agile visual analytics and self-service discovery. This article is for those who know the basics of OBIEE and want to take their skills to the next level. It includes answers to frequently asked questions and provides best practices for OBIEE.

This article includes tips to perform the following tasks:

You might also be interested in the article Oracle Business Intelligence 12c release features.

For more information, contact us.

Upload the Repository in OBIEE 11g and 12c

The following procedure is for OBIEE administrators to follow to upload a repository .rpd file in both OBIEE 11g and 12c versions under Unix or Linux environments. This step-by-step approach helps OBIEE users and administrators
understand the main difference in the process between version 11g and version 12c.

OBIEE 11g Procedure

In version 11g, the Enterprise Manager (EM) URL https://localhost:7001/em was used for uploading the repository .rpd file. You use the following deployment path in a Business Intelligence Instance to upload the latest .rpd file: Deployment Upload > BI Server Repository > Upload New Files > Restart BI Services > Upload the latest RPD.

OBIEE 12 Procedure

In version 12c, the .rpd file is uploaded by using the WebLogic Scripting command uploadrpd. In Unix or Linux, get the data-model-cmd.sh script to execute at the following location:

<Oracle_Home>/user_projects/domains/bi/bitools/bin

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The Oracle Home <Oracle_Home> that you use in OBIEE 12c is referred to as Middleware Home <MW_HOME> in OBIEE 11c.

Use the following commands to upload the .rpd file, OBIEE12CBusinessIntelligence.rpd, in Unix and Linux environments:

[OSuser@LocalHostDetails bin]$ ./data-model-cmd.sh uploadrpd -I
/temp/OBIEE12CBusinessIntelligence.rpd -SI ssi -U Username -Password -S
LocalHostDetails.com -N PortNo9502
RPD Password: <Enter the RPD password>
Service Instance: <Enter the RPD password - the ssi>
Operation successful.
RPD upload completed successfully.
[OSuser@LocalHostDetails bin]$

The descriptions for arguments you can use with the script are as follows:

  • I specifies the name of the repository that you want to upload.

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For the preceding command, the uploaded OBIEE12C .rpd file OBIEE12CBusinessIntelligence.rpd) was copied into the /temp directory in the Unix environment. You can copy this .rpd file to a convenient location and provide the path details after -I in the script.

  • W is the repository’s password. If you do not supply the password, you will be prompted for the password when the command is run. For security purposes, Oracle recommends that you include a password in the command only if you are using automated scripting to run the command.
  • SI denotes the name of the service instance.
  • U specifies a valid user name to be used for OBIEE authentication.
  • P specifies the password corresponding to the user’s name that you specified for U. If you do not supply the password, you will be prompted for the password when the command is run. For security purposes, Oracle recommends that you include a password in the command only if you are using automated scripting to run the
    command.
  • S denotes the OBIEE host name. Include this option only when you are running the command from a client installation.
  • N specifies the OBIEE port number. Include this option only when you are running the command from a client installation.
  • SSL specifies to use SSL to connect to the WebLogic Server to run the command. Include this option only when you are running the command from a client installation.
  • H displays usage information and exits the command.

For additional information, see these references for the 12c procedure:

Fix Patch Application Issues

This section discusses several common issues that you might encounter as you apply patches in OBIEE and provides solutions for you to try.

Encountered Unrecognized Patch

You might encounter this error when you try to apply a patch in Solaris by using the Smart Update tool (BSU):

Encountered unrecognized patch ID: XXXX (ID based on patch)

To resolve the issue, change the name of the catalog xml file from the patch, such as patch-catalog_24474.xml, to the more generic file name, patch-catalog.xml.

Then, try to apply the patch again using BSU tool.

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The patch directory needs to have 777 permissions.

Exception Thread in Main

You might encounter this error when you try to apply a patch in Solaris by using the Smart Update tool (BSU):

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: GC overhead limit
exceeded at java.util.Arrays.copyOf(Arrays.java:2367)
at
java.lang.AbstractStringBuilder.expandCapacity(AbstractStringBuilder.java:130)
at
java.lang.AbstractStringBuilder.ensureCapacityInternal(AbstractStringBuilder.java:114)
at java.lang.AbstractStringBuilder.append(AbstractStringBuilder.java:415)
at java.lang.StringBuilder.append(StringBuilder.java:132)
at java.lang.Class.getMethod(Class.java:1665)

To resolve this issue, remove the Java path from the bsu.sh file and apply the path again.

Change the WebLogic Password

Use the steps in this section to change your WebLogic password.

Log in and Change Your Password

To change the WebLogic password, first log in and provide a new password by using the following steps:

  1. Log in to the WebLogic console.

  2. In the left-hand navigation pane, click Security > My Realm.

  3. Click the Users and Groups tab.

  4. Scroll down to WebLogic user.

  5. Navigate to the Password tab.

  6. Enter the password into the New Password and Confirm Password boxes.

  7. Save the new password.

Remove or rename the boot.properties file

The next step is to rename or remove the boot.properties file in several locations:

  1. Navigate to the following location:

    OBIEE11g\product\fmw\user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\servers\ AdminServer\security

  2. Rename the boot.properties file to any name or remove the file.

  3. Navigate to the following location:

    OBIEE11g\product\fmw\user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\servers\ bi_server1\security

  4. Rename the boot.properties file to any name or remove the file.

Stop and Restart BI Services

  1. Stop Business Intelligence (BI) Services.

  2. When prompted for the WebLogic username and password, provide the username and modified password.

  3. Delete the tmp files for Admin and BI servers before starting the services.

  4. Start BI Services.

Fix OBIEE Report Errors

This section discusses several common OBIEE report errors that you might encounter and provides solutions for you to try.

Catalog Object Schema Validation Failed

When you try to access reports in OBIEE 12c, you might receive the following error message:

Catalog object schema validation failed

Some font values that are available in Oracle Discoverer are not supported in OBIEE 12c. If a Discoverer report uses the Dialog font, and you are migrating the report from Discoverer to OBIEE, this error might occur.

The following steps might provide a solution for the error:

  1. Go to the report folder.

  2. Edit the report.

  3. Go to the Advanced tab.

  4. Copy the XML code to a text editor for use.

Datatype Error: Type: Invalid Datatype Value Exception ...

When you try to access reports in OBIEE 12c, you might receive the following error message:

Datatype error: Type:InvalidDatatypeValueException,
Message: Value 'Dialog' is not in enumeration

A possible solution is to edit the XML code, remove the parameter fontFamily="Dialog" from the Advanced tab, and rerun the report.

If you want to display report with all of the default font values in OBIEE, remove the following parameters in the XML code:

<saw:displayFormat><saw:formatSpec suppress="default"
interaction="default" backgroundColor="\#FFFFFF" fontColor="\#000000"
fontStyle="regular" fontSize="11" fontEffects="none" hAlign="left"
vAlign="top" fontFamily="Dialog"><saw:dataFormat xsi:type="saw:custom"
customFormat="DD-MMM-YYYY"/></saw:formatSpec></saw:displayFormat>

Increase the Row Limit

When downloading reports in Microsoft® Excel® CSV file format, you might receive the following error message:

OBIEE Maximum total number of cells exceeded

When you download reports in CSV file format, you cannot exceed more than 65,000 rows by default. This is a common issue that you can fix by increasing the row limit in OBIEE 12c.

By adding the parameter DefaultRowsDisplayedInDownloadCSV in the instanceconfig.xml, you control the number of rows that can be downloaded in CSV format.

The instanceconfig.xml file is the parameter file for the Oracle BI Presentation Services and stores the configuration settings for the service. For more information, see this OBIEE Blog article.

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In the earlier versions of OBIEE, such as 1.1.1.6.x or 11.1.1.7.x, you could download more than 65,000 rows because there were no specific parameters that limited the number of rows that you could download to CSV format.

Use the following steps to increase the row limit:

  1. Take a backup copy of the instanceconfig.xml file.

    Use the following paths to the instanceconfig.xml file for the different versions of OBIEE:

    For OBIEE 12c:

    <obiee_home>/user_projects/domains/bi/config/fmwconfig/biconfig/OBIPS

    For OBIEE 11g:

    <obiee\home>/instances/instance1/config/OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent/coreapplication_obips1

  2. Open instanceconfig.xml for editing.

  3. Add the parameter DefaultRowsDisplayedInDownloadCVS under the <Table>...</Table definition.

    Before adding the parameter:

    <Table>
<MaxCells>65000000</MaxCells>
<MaxVisiblePages>10000</MaxVisiblePages>
<MaxVisibleRows>1000000</MaxVisibleRows>
<MaxVisibleSections>25000</MaxVisibleSections>
<DefaultRowsDisplayed>75</DefaultRowsDisplayed>
<!–This Configuration setting is managed by Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control–>
<DefaultRowsDisplayedInDelivery>250000</DefaultRowsDisplayedInDelivery>
<!–This Configuration setting is managed by Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control–>
<DefaultRowsDisplayedInDownload>250000</DefaultRowsDisplayedInDownload>
</Table>

    After adding the parameter just above </Table>:

    <Table>  
<MaxCells>65000000</MaxCells>
<MaxVisiblePages>10000</MaxVisiblePages>
<MaxVisibleRows>1000000</MaxVisibleRows>
<MaxVisibleSections>25000</MaxVisibleSections>
<DefaultRowsDisplayed>75</DefaultRowsDisplayed>
<!–This Configuration setting is managed by Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control–>
<DefaultRowsDisplayedInDelivery>250000</DefaultRowsDisplayedInDelivery>
<!–This Configuration setting is managed by Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control–>
<DefaultRowsDisplayedInDownload>250000</DefaultRowsDisplayedInDownload>
<DefaultRowsDisplayedInDownloadCSV>250000</DefaultRowsDisplayedInDownloadCSV>
</Table>

  4. Set the value of the DefaultRowsDisplayedInDownloadCSV parameter to a number that is appropriate for your application.

  5. Save your changes.

  6. Restart OBIEE services.

After you have completed all of the preceding steps, you should be able to export the reports in CSV format without any issues.

Resolve Stuck Threads

In WebLogic, you might receive the following warning:

ThreadPool has stuck threads

Stuck threads are Java Virtual Machine (JVM) threads that have been running for more than a configurable time (the default value is 600 seconds). The WebLogic Server automatically detects when a thread in an execution queue gets
stuck. When a stuck thread cannot complete its current work or accept new work, the server logs a message each time that it diagnoses a stuck thread. If all threads in an execution queue become stuck, the server changes its health
state to either Warning or Critical. As the number of stuck threads increase, your server might crash.

Use the following steps to resolve this problem:

  1. Log in to the Administration Console.

  2. Click Lock & Edit.

  3. In the left pane of the console, expand Environment > Servers.

  4. On the Summary of Servers page, select the server instance, bi_server1, that is noted with a state of RUNNING and with a health state of Warning.

  5. Click bi-server1 to check for the reason for the Warning state.

    If you see that the reason is ThreadPool has stuck threads, continue to the next step.

  6. Select the Configuration > Tuning tab and update the following parameters as necessary:

    a. Stuck Thread Max Time: The amount of time, in seconds, that a thread must be continually working before a server instance diagnoses a thread as being stuck. The default value is 600. Oracle recommends a value of 2400 for this parameter to resolve stuck threads.

    b. Stuck Thread Timer Interval: The amount of time, in seconds, after which a server instance periodically scans threads to see if they have been continually working for the configured Stuck Thread Max Time. The default value is 60. The range of this parameter is 0 to 2147483647. Oracle recommends a value of 2400 for this parameter to resolve stuck threads.

  7. Click Save.

  8. To activate these changes, in the Change Center of the Administration Console, click Activate Changes.

    Not all changes take effect immediately. Some require a restart (see Use the Change Center.

  9. After you finish the preceding steps, you must reboot the server to use the new stuck thread detection behavior values.

For more information about low memory detection properties, see Configuration Options.

Customize the OBIEE 11g Analytics Logo

After OBIEE finishes installing, you can see the Oracle logo on the OBIEE Analytics Home page as well as on the Login page. Administrators are often required to customize the OBIEE logo based on their application. The main advantage of this customization is that it personalizes the tool. The following procedure helps you understand the user interface (UI) elements in OBIEE 11g to reduce the time that you spend customizing your environment.

Use the following steps to customize the logo in OBIEE Analytics:

  1. Log in to the environment where OBIEE is installed.

  2. Use the following the path to go to the logo file for the Oracle Home page:

    $FMW_HOME/user_projects/domains/DR_domain/servers/
bi_server/tmp/\_WL_user/analytics_11.1.1/7dezjl/war/res/s_Skyros/master

    Here you see the oracle_logo.png file, which is based on the default skin style to help you quickly customize the logo.

    📘

    The default dimensions for the logo file is 119 x 25 pixels for OBIEE 11.1.1.7 and 104 x 14 pixels for OBIEE 11.1.1.9. Only OBIEE 11.1.1.9 allows changes to the entire screen (Login page, Home, dashboards, and logout page) in one pass of the change to the oracle_logo.png file.

  3. Rename your customized .png file to oracle_logo.png and place the file in the path given in Step 2. Your logo should be the same size as the Oracle logo.

  4. Restart Oracle Process Manager and Notification (OPMN) services.

  5. Clear the browser cache and check the changes to see your custom logo on the Login and Home page of Oracle Analytics.

After completing this procedure, your customized logo displays on the Login page and Home page for Oracle Analytics.

Customize the OBIEE 11g Analytics Banner Text

After OBIEE finishes installing, you can see the Oracle banner text (Business Intelligence) on the OBIEE Analytics Home page and Login page. The following procedure helps you understand the UI elements in OBIEE 11g to reduce the time that you spend customizing your environment.

Use the following steps to customize the banner text:

  1. Log in to the environment where OBIEE is installed.

  2. Use the following the path to go to the location of the default banner text file:

    /FMW_HOME/Oracle_BI1/bifoundation/web/msgdb/l-en/messages

  3. Search for the productmessages.xml file.

  4. Create a backup of the productmessages.xml file.

  5. Edit productmessages.xml. Go to:

    <WebMessage name="kmsgHeaderBIBrandName"><TEXT>Business Intelligence</TEXT></WebMessage>line

    Change the Business Intelligence text within <TEXT></TEXT> to the text that you want to display in your customized banner. For example, change the banner text to BI Dashboards.

  6. Save the file.

  7. Restart all of the OBIEE services.

  8. Clear the browser cache and check that the pages reflect your customized banner text.

After completing this procedure, your customized banner text displays on the Login page and Home page for Oracle
Analytics.

Start and stop servers in OBIEE 11g and 12c

In OBIEE, you can use the following procedures to start and stop servers in Unix or Linux environments. The step-by-step approach shows the main differences between the process in OBIEE 11g and OBIEE 12c. Oracle’s changes in OBIEE 12c have made the startup and shutdown of servers easier.

OBIEE 11g: Start servers

Use the following steps to start servers in OBIEE 11g:

  1. To start a WebLogic server, go to the Middleware home at the following path:

    <MW_HOME>/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/bin

  2. Execute the script ./startWebLogic.sh (space) & or use the nohup utility by using the following command:

    nohup ./startWebLogic.sh 2>&1 &

  3. Go to the Middleware home at the following path:

    <MW_HOME>/wlserver_10.3/server/bin

  4. Set up the Environment by using the following script:

      ./setWLSEnv.sh

    After the Environment is set, the following message displays:

    Your Environment has been set.

  5. Set up the Node Manager by using the following syntax:

    ./startNodeManager.sh (space) &

    After the Node Manager is up, the following message displays:

    Secure Socket Listener started on port No

  6. Start the Admin and Managed servers simultaneously though the console at https://localhost:7001/console by following these selections: Environments > Servers > Control.

    Then check the servers from the list and select Start.

  7. Start the OPMN services:

    a. Go to the following location in the Middleware Home:

        <MW_HOME>/instances/instance1/bin

    b. Enter the following syntax:

        ./opmnctl (space) startall

    c. Check the status by using the following syntax:

        ./opmnctl status

    All the services should show status as Alive.

OBIEE 11g: Stop Servers

Use the following steps to stop servers in OBIEE 11g:

  1. Go to the following location in the Middleware Home:

    <MW_HOME>/instances/instance1/bin

  2. Enter the following syntax:

    ./opmnctl (space) stopall

  3. Check the status by using the following syntax:

    ./opmnctl status

    All the services should be down.

  4. Stop the Admin and Managed servers simultaneously though the console at https://localhost:7001/console by following these selections: Environments > Servers > Control

    Then check the servers from the list and select Shutdown > Force shutdown.

OBIEE 12c: Start Servers

Use the following steps to start servers in OBIEE 12c:

  1. Go to the following path in Oracle Home:

    <ORACLE_HOME>/user_projects/domains/BIDomain/bitools/bin

  2. Start OBIEE 12c services with the following command:

    ./start.sh

  3. Check status with the following command:

    ./status

OBIEE 12c: Stop Servers

Use the following steps to stop servers in OBIEE 12c:

  1. Go to the following path in Oracle Home:

    <ORACLE_HOME>/user_projects/domains/BIDomain/bitools/bin

  2. Stop OBIEE 12c services with the following command:

    ./stop.sh

  3. Check status with the following command:

    ./status

Updated 12 months ago