How may I help you on OBIEE/Analytics

pdf download error

2011-06-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

one of the ibots in Oracle BI EE 10.1.3.4.0 was sending a report which had table view and filter view.
The ibot was erroring out and created hude *pdf* temp file in profile folder. the pdf is getting cleared up during service recycle.

I run the report manually and try to download and i got the following error:
Sax parser returned an exception. Message: Expected entity name for reference, Entity publicId: , Entity systemId: , Line number: 958, Column number: 90 Error Details Error Codes: UH6MBRBC

On Analysis, i found a special character & in the filter.

Fixed the error by removing the filter view.

This bug is fixed in 10.1.3.4.1 .

Informatica 8.1 Domain and repository migration

2011-06-18T03:54:00.000-07:00

there was a need to migrate our application server and DB to new location which necessitated Informatica Domain and repository migration: The steps as follows:

1. Take back of informatica repository

2. Copy the existing Informatica schema with tables to new DB

3. Update the TNS entry for new Repository DB, Domain in tnsnames.ora

4. Login to admin console.

Select the integration service -> go to properties tab -> EDIT database properties and enter the DB connection details.

Eg: enter connection string as

User id as

Password as ____

5. Stop the informatica services.

6. Update nodemeta.xml with new DB details. this contains Domain information.

Cd \PowerCenter8.1.1\server

infasetup.bat updateGatewayNode -da xx.nam.nsroot.net:1522 -du infarep -dp xxxx -ds bisd -dn Domain_XXX -nn node01_XXX

Recycle informatica services.

RESTORE the informatica repository from back up

Cheers

Auto Signature in iBots OBIEE 10.1.3.4.x

2011-06-18T03:31:00.000-07:00

Month back my Client wanted to send automated mails with same signature( eg: ** prepared and distributed by XXX) in Delivers in OBI EE. I went thro' javascript delivery conteneditor.js and found that it's possible while sending attachment. slightly modifying the script( delivery conteneditor.js ) will help in achieving the same. for this i am using the attachment message object in delivery content tab:

DeliversDeliveryContentEditor.prototype.apply = function() if (this.form.elements.EnableAttachmentText.checked) { var attachMsg = XUIForceSingleNode(this.dcTrue, saw.xml.kSawNamespace, 'attachmentMessage'); var tAttachCapParent = new XUICaptionParent(attachMsg); var x = this.form.elements.AttachmentCaption.value; if(x.indexOf('**** Prepared and distributed BY XXX') <0) tAttachCapParent.setCaptionText(this.form.elements.AttachmentCaption.value+'\n\n'+ ''+'**** Prepared and distributed BY XXX'+'');tAttachCapParent. } else {/* --*/ XUIRemoveChild(this.dcTrue, 'saw:attachmentMessage');var attachMsg = XUIForceSingleNode(this.dcTrue, saw.xml.kSawNamespace, 'attachmentMessage'); var tAttachCapParent = new XUICaptionParent(attachMsg); var x = this.form.elements.AttachmentCaption.value; if(x.indexOf('**** Prepared and distributed BY XXX') <0) tAttachCapParent.setCaptionText('\n\n' + ''+'**** Prepared and distributed BY XXX'+''); /* --*/ /* XUIRemoveChild(this.dcTrue, 'saw:attachmentMessage');*/ }

Cheers

Catalog folders growing in size

2010-09-19T01:12:00.000-07:00

We are using OBI EE 10.1.3.4. The catalog folder in our environments is keep growing and it almost reached 4GB. On analysis, we found that this unusual growth is linked to Alerts in dashboard. We raised SR with oracle and there is no config settings / workaround for deleting old files.
We found that all files under \_delivers or \_deliveries are taking lot of space. Finally we came with a simple vb script which deletes all the file (except _deliveries.atr) of 60 day old.

It reduced catalog folder size from 4GB to 2.8 GB(almost 1.2 GB )
Here is the script..
'==========================================================================
Option Explicit
On Error Resume Next
'==========================================================================

'DECLARATION OF VARIABLES
'==========================================================================
Dim sDirectoryPath, objFSO, oLogFile
Public pLogFile, pTabspace, pDaysOld, pFolderName, pextndpath, pFilenamelen
'==========================================================================

'Setting of Arguments
'==========================================================================
If WScript.Arguments.Count = 3 then
sDirectoryPath = wscript.arguments(0)
pLogFile = wscript.arguments(1)
pDaysOld = wscript.arguments(2)
pFolderName = Ucase("_delivers")
pextndpath = Ucase("_deliveries")
pTabspace = chr(9) & chr(9)
pFilenamelen = 100
else
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
If not objFSO.fileexists( Replace(WScript.ScriptFullName, WScript.ScriptName, "") & "FileDeletionScript_ERROR.Log") Then
objFSO.CreateTextFile(Replace(WScript.ScriptFullName, WScript.ScriptName, "") & "FILEDELETIONSCRIPT_ERROR.Log")
End if
set oLogFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(Replace(WScript.ScriptFullName, WScript.ScriptName, "") & "FileDeletionScript_ERROR.Log",8,True)
oLogFile.WriteLine(now() & " " & "Error Executing script - Insufficient Arguments supplied(3 Needed, but " & WScript.Arguments.Count & " supplied)")
oLogFile.Close
wscript.quit
end if
'==========================================================================

'MAIN PROGRAM
'==========================================================================
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
If not objFSO.fileexists(pLogFile) Then
objFSO.CreateTextFile(pLogFile)
set oLogFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(pLogFile,8,True)
oLogFile.WriteLine("*****************" & ptabspace & "*********" & ptabspace & "******************" & pTabSpace & "****************")
oLogFile.WriteLine("Time of Execution" & ptabspace & "File Name" & ptabspace & "Last Modified Date" & pTabSpace & "Path Of the File")
oLogFile.WriteLine("*****************" & ptabspace & "*********" & ptabspace & "******************" & pTabSpace & "****************")
oLogFile.Close
End if
Call ShowFolderList (sDirectoryPath)
Wscript.Echo "End Of Execution"
WScript.Quit
'==========================================================================

'FUCTION TO ACCESS FOLDERS & ITS SUB FOLDERS (RECURSIVE)
'==========================================================================
Function ShowFolderList(sDirectoryPath)
on error resume next
'wscript.echo "Showfolderlist " & sDirectoryPath
Dim oFSO, oFolder, OSubfolders, folder
Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set oFolder = oFSO.GetFolder(sDirectoryPath)
Set OSubfolders = oFolder.SubFolders

For Each folder in OSubfolders
if strcomp(UCase(folder.name),pFolderName) = 0 Then
Call ATRFileList (folder.path)
if ofso.folderexists (folder.path & "\" & pextndpath) then
Call ShowFileList (folder.path & "\" & pextndpath)
end if
exit function
else
Call ShowFolderList (folder.path)
end if
Next

' GARBAGE COLLECTION OF VARIABLES
'==========================================================================
Set oFSO = Nothing
Set oFolder = Nothing
Set OSubfolders = Nothing
Set folder = Nothing
End Function
'==========================================================================

'FUNCTION DECLARATION TO ACCESS/DELETE FILES WITHIN _DELIVERIES FOLDER & TO LOG THE EVENT IN A LOG FILE
'==========================================================================
Function ShowFileList(sDirectoryPath)
on error resume next
'wscript.echo "show FILE list " & sDirectoryPath
Dim oFSO, oFolder, oFileCollection, oFile, oLogFile
Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set oFolder = oFSO.GetFolder(sDirectoryPath)
Set oFileCollection = oFolder.Files
If oFileCollection.Count > 0 Then
For each oFile in oFileCollection
If oFile.DateLastModified < (Date() - pDaysOld) Then set oLogFile = oFSO.OpenTextFile(pLogFile,8,True) oLogFile.WriteLine(now() & ptabspace & oFile.Name & Space(pFilenamelen-len(ofile.name)) & ptabspace & oFile.DateLastModified & pTabSpace & oFile.path) oLogFile.Close oFile.Delete(true) End If Next End If ' GARBAGE COLLECTION OF VARIABLES '========================================================================== Set oFSO = Nothing Set oFolder = Nothing Set oFileCollection = Nothing Set oFile = Nothing Set oLogfile = Nothing End Function '========================================================================== 'FUNCTION DECLARATION TO ACCESS/DELETE ATR FILES WITHIN _DELIVERS FOLDER & TO LOG THE EVENT IN A LOG FILE '========================================================================== Function ATRFileList(sDirectoryPath) 'wscript.echo "show FILE list " & sDirectoryPath Dim oFSO, oFolder, oFileCollection, oFile, oLogFile Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Set oFolder = oFSO.GetFolder(sDirectoryPath) Set oFileCollection = oFolder.Files If oFileCollection.Count > 0 Then
For each oFile in oFileCollection

If (oFile.DateLastModified < (Date() - pDaysOld)) AND (strcomp(UCase(oFile.name),UCase("_deliveries.atr"))<>0) Then
set oLogFile = oFSO.OpenTextFile(pLogFile,8,True)
oLogFile.WriteLine(now() & ptabspace & oFile.Name & Space(pFilenamelen-len(ofile.name)) & ptabspace & oFile.DateLastModified & pTabSpace & oFile.path)
'wscript.echo oFile.Name& pTabSpace & oFile.path
oLogFile.Close
oFile.Delete(true)
End If
Next
End If

' GARBAGE COLLECTION OF VARIABLES
'==========================================================================
Set oFSO = Nothing
Set oFolder = Nothing
Set oFileCollection = Nothing
Set oFile = Nothing
Set oLogfile = Nothing
End Function
'==========================================================================
Thanks

More products, My account link is not appearing answers

2009-11-26T11:22:00.000-08:00

I was facing a peculiar problem with Siebel- OBIEE integrated environment.

Even though I am administrator and I have admin privilege in Siebal , catalog I could not see dashboard, answers, more products, log out in answers.

I suspected it related to integrated environment. So launched answers link separately. That is, right click on Answers and open in new window.
Now pass your user id and password as parameter by
https:///Analytics/saw.dll?Answers&NQuser='userid'&NQPass='pwd'.
It worked wonder.

OBI Publisher with empty OBI catalog

2009-11-24T15:18:00.000-08:00

yesterday we installed OBI publisher in our development environment and today i was troubleshooting issue with config, integrating it with presentation service.
here is scenario:
1. creating report using BI answers as data source.
2. select the report you want to use. it gives empty BI Catqalog message.
on analysis, we found that it's calling saw_popup.jsp. for troubleshooting, we introduced few out.print statement. This inturn gave following error:
Bad envelop tag: HTML. this clearly indicates that it's related SSO.

siteminder is not supported by Oracle for marketing Integration. we suspected that it could be the same issue here as well. so we created a virtual path analytics_r which is unprotected by siteminder. at the same, it has access only to web, app server of analytics.

after making these changes, OBI worked fine.

Please note: virtual path unprotected is case sensitive.

Issues - runing DAC/OC4j as windows service

2009-11-24T00:06:00.000-08:00

i found some issues with DaC windows service. for some reason, it's not reading customsql folder.
i will update you when it's fixed

- jvm.dll from server folder didn't help

runing DAC/OC4j as windows service

2009-11-13T12:31:00.000-08:00

To install DAC server as a service, you need javaservice.exe. this is open source and you can down load from http://forge.ow2.org/projects/javaservice/. the latest version is 1.0.10.
after file download , extract it run the javaservice.exe from that folder.
now, create a batch file(dacservice.bat) with following content under oraclebi\dac

call config.bat
javaservice -install "Oracle BI DAC Server Service" "\jre\bin\client\jvm.dll" -Xms256m -Xmx1024m "-Djava.class.path=%DAC_CLASSPATH%"
"-Duser.dir=%DAC_HOME%"
-start com.siebel.etl.net.QServer -description "Oracle BI DAC Server Service"

--- config.bat consists of all the config setting for startserver.bat. we are just re-using it.

- prior to this i was running it under windows scheduled task.

let me know if you face any issues in installing

---
for oc4j, first ensure that bi publisher is installed.
javaservice -install "Oracle BI OC4J Service" "\bin\client\jvm.dll" -XX:MaxPermSize=128m "-Djava.class.path=\oc4j_bi\j2ee\home\oc4j.jar" -start oracle.oc4j.loader.boot.BootStrap -params -description "Oracle BI Publisher Server"

happy week end

how to create COB/stand by repository for Informatica

2009-09-11T23:45:00.000-07:00

In most of the corporates have Disater recovery or failover environments.
Practically,in Informatica 8.1 you can create only 1 domain per DB. For Disater Recovery, you may require to use same DB by informatica application in different server/ you will be using differnt db all together.

The very problem comes when you go for installation.

What we did..
for Stand by application, we installed it by pointing to dev db with same Domain name , node name, port as in live server.

after installation, we updated the repository so that it's pointing live informatica repository DB.

If you want to use the informatica application permanently by retiring the live server, then, you can update the hostname of 'PCSF%' and OPB_Reposit tables.

if you want to use it as stand by then update the hosts file with live server name and ip address of stand by server

obiee presentation service in hanging state - troubleshoot

2009-05-10T03:21:00.000-07:00

After starting obeii service it was hanging and never went to started state. On Analysis nothing notable found in SAWlog.log. On futher digging found following message in the event viewer..
" The description for Event ID[21] in source[oracle BI Utility ] cannot be found. The local computer may not have the neccessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. The following information is part of the event . Invalid error message catalog d:\Apps\OracleBI\server\Locale\NQErrorMsg.cat"

Troubleshooting : NQErrorMsg.cat is in corrupted state(instead of NQErrorMsg found NQErrorMsg_L_en.cat). Replace the files from install setup.

SBL-EAI-04308: Operation 'logon' of Webservice 'com.siebel.analytics.web/soap/v1.SAWSessionService'

2009-04-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

Whe i try to add a new segment by pick segment, i get follwing error message

SBL-EAI-04308: Operation 'logon' of Webservice 'com.siebel.analytics.web/soap/v1.SAWSessionService' at port 'SAWSessionServiceSoap' failed with the following explanation : "***kmsgSoapNotLicensed: message text not found ***".

please check ‘analyticsweblicnese.xml’ file,
and add SOAP license. once it's done try adding a new the Segment.

Unable to open Admin tool in OBIEE / siebal analytics

2009-04-23T00:58:00.000-07:00

I am unable to open Admin tool in OBIEE/ siebel analytics
- check the NQSConfig
- check with nqsconfig which came along with installation
- if it works fine with original config file, then the problem should be with your NQSConfig.
- in such scenarios, even your OBI server service won't start.

Failed to open SMTP server

2009-04-23T00:56:00.000-07:00

Failed to open SMTP server.
- ping the smtp server and see if ping is successful.
- You will also get this error if the smtp server recently configured. Meaning the configuration is wrong.
- select the oproperty of the smtp server and check if the ip address is perfect.

DAC Client using pmrep and pmcmd

2009-04-23T00:54:00.000-07:00

How to Verify that the DAC Client is able to use pmrep and pmcmd
From a Windows command prompt, execute pmrep and then pmcmd. The test is
successful if the pmrep and pmcmd prompts appear.
If pmrep and pmcmd are not recognized, then:
■ Ensure Service Pack 4 has been applied to Informatica PowerCenter 8.1.1.
■ Verify that the INFA_DOMAINS_FILE variable points to the domains.infa file
located in the Informatica directory.
■ Verify that the PATH variable includes the path to the Informatica binaries
(\Informatica\PowerCenter\client\bin), and that pmrep.exe and pmcmd.exe
exist in the \bin folder.

Error when selecting Shared folder for creating segment

2009-04-23T00:47:00.000-07:00

When I select the shared folder for creating segment, I am getting
following error
Getsubitems unable retrieve values

- this related timeout. Try to refresh / check for performance of
website.

connection for informatica failing in DAC

2009-04-23T00:40:00.000-07:00

when I check connection for informatica thro' DAC I get following
error
- Connection failed
- please whether you created INFA_DOMAINS_FILE environmental variable
(system variable) with value
Variable value: \domains.infa
The path should include the name of the file. For example,
'D:\Informatica\PowerCenter8.1.1\domains.infa'.
- check whether informatica client and server installation path is available in environmental vairiable. If not, add them in instance config file and reboot server

MS Sql not found - while check physical datasource connections in DAC

2009-04-23T00:37:00.000-07:00

- - Check whether the jar files listed in config.bat under DAC folder
available in folder\lib
- If not available, copy it from sql server for jdbc lib folder or
Download from web for 2000 and 2005

Oracle (oci 8) not found error - whiel connecting thro' DAC Client

2009-04-23T00:34:00.000-07:00

I am getting following when I try to login DAC client
Oracle (oci 8) not found error
- Check whether the jar files listed in config.bat under DAC folder
available in folder\lib
- If not available, copy it from oracle cilent install folder.
- also check if oracle bin folders is in environmental variables. if not add it in PATH environmental variable and reboot the server and check

Java host service is not kicking off

2009-04-12T05:14:00.000-07:00

Please check the instance config. check the java path.
Check if the jave version is supported for this analytics

Invalid username/Password OBIEE

2009-04-12T05:09:00.000-07:00

1. check if caps lock enabled
2. if you are using remote desk top, for the password field, use the left shift keys for entering special characters. Left key meant for user system and right key board for remote system
3. if the password validation against db, check if db connection.

if you still could not find out reason, bog me ..

Cheers
Saaru

Unresolved column in OBIEE

2009-04-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

when i login with Administrator user, i could see all the columns in 'xxx' folder in answers under 'YY' subject area. But with my credentails, even though i am web administrator, i am not finding few columns.

On analysis, in RPD , in properties, i found the read option for everyone was disabled and it was enabled only for Administrator.
Upon selecting read option for everyone , the report is fine

How to overcome IN clause limitation in Analytics?

2009-03-31T09:27:00.000-07:00

In analytics, whever we use In caluse in filetr condition, the default
value is 8192.

If we expect thevalue be more than 8192 then we can increase it by
setting the parameter
MAX_EXPANDED_SUBQUERY_PREDICATES = 16384; in NQSConfig.ini file.

But this definetely impacts performance.

In obiee, you can use write back as work around for this issue.

I am getting 'no ocijdbc10 in java.library.path when I try to login thro' DAC client

2009-03-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

For DAC, Oracle client 10i is pre-requisite. You won't get this error once you
install 10i.

ibot not delivering mails

2009-03-29T05:07:00.000-07:00

this is one of the ibot issue which we face very often.
Scenario: The ibot was delivering mail if the report is in text format. it fails if it's in mhtml/pdf format.
on analysing we found it related to setting in SMTP server. the SMTP server was allowing only 3MB size of mail.

iBot running only one time upon scheduling

2009-03-29T05:03:00.000-07:00

Sometime back we come across an issue in ibot. the ibot was running only once.
on analysing, we found that the next schedule time is getting update with randon date.
on further digging we found that, one more scheduler in different time zone was accessing this nq_job table.

Upon fixing it, ibot started running without any issue.

how to run DAC server in background?

2009-03-29T04:27:00.000-07:00

DAC server is a program so as soon as you log off, the program also will be killed.
In order to run DAC server continuously, it should run in background.

this is achieble by running it under windows scheduler, using PSexec and running thro' remote login
In Unix , nohup can be used so that the program runs in back ground

Shared reports partially visible in analytics

2009-03-25T06:04:00.000-07:00

We have some shared reports in dasboard and one of the user complained
that he could not see his shared folder any more.

On checking this report with my profile, I was able to see the report.
And finally found the issue was releated permission.
The analysis was as follows:
I took the screen shot from user and found that only few reports were
visble to her.
Shared report
- Abi Report
- George Report
- Moni report

After moni report, no reports were visble. I checked all the reports
under moni report and found that one of the report was recently moved
from personal folder.while doing so, everyone user was not granted
access to read this folder. As soon as I granted that privilege, the
user was able to see his report

Excel Issue in Analytics

2009-03-22T06:43:00.000-07:00

This issue was reported by one of corporate user when he downloaded a report in siebel analytics in excel format. The issue is in the report he could see few values in date format but when he downloaded, all the values in date column become null.
This issue is only reproduced excel download.

On investigation, i found that the one of the column of the report was having values starting with'-' sign and whenever we have this value in the report, we were facing this issue. In excel, any value with '-' is treated for reference value.

So analytics could not identify the reference when it tried write the report in excel format.

it's resolved by truncating the '-' sign or users were asked to correct it while entering the decription.

let me know if you need more clarification.
- Nhanna

I am getting redirected to login page while connecting to analytics. What should i do?

2009-03-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

Ans:
1. Please check whether your application services are running.
2. If it's an integrated environment, please check if impersonator password is correct?

Let me know if doesn't resolve your issue.
- Nhanna

Write Back feature in OBIEE

2009-03-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

Write back is a new feature introduced by oracle for improving performance.
In this article i will take you thro' one of the use of write back functionality.

Scenario:
Consider a scenario where in you want to use the output of another report as filter condition to main report.
In analytics, it's passed as IN clause. Now, when i talk about IN cluse, in TOAD you can pass only 1000 values in IN clause In analytics it's handled thro' Global setting defined in NQSConfig file. Default is 2^13.
If i pass that many value in IN clause, analytics services will go for a toss and most of the time it goes in timeout state.
to over come this, you can use Write back feature in OBIEE and store the outputs in temp tables. Analytics drops this table when the transaction is complete. the advantage of this feature is that you can pass even a million value in filter condition.
This feature well utilised in Marketing part of OBIEE.

To implement this feature, the schema should have write access to it's space.

Bog me more info............
-Nhanna