OBIEE 12c installation steps

As you probably already know from the blogosphere and twitter, Oracle released OBIEE12c today right before OOW15. This is a quick post to document the software installation in Windows 7 . The software is available on OTN:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-enterprise-edition/downloads/business-intelligence-2717951.html

As indicated on the OTN download page, the installation order is following:

A. Download and install JDK 1.8 from this link, the current release is JDK-8u65

B. Download and install the Web Logic server; installation will be covered in this post

• fmw_12.2.1.0.0_infrastructure_Disk1_1of1.zip

C. Download and install Oracle Business Intelligence 12c (12.2.1.0.0) consisting of 2 zip file

• fmw_12.2.1.0.0_bi_windows64_Disk1_1of2.zip
• fmw_12.2.1.0.0_bi_windows64_Disk1_2of2.zip

D. Download and Install Oracle Business Intelligence Developer Client Tool (12.2.1.0.0) for LINUX installations.

Install Fusion Middleware 12c Infrastructure

this can be accomplished in Windows from the command prompt by issuing:

a. Java –jar fmw_12.2.1.0.0_infrastructure.jar

 

Search for Fusion Middleware patches

 

2. Step 2: unzip the two zip file, you should end up with one executable and a folder named Disk2

Install OBIEE 12c by running the setup executable 

Following are few screen shots, one thing to note is that the installation has been simplified; in this release, one type of installation is available: Enterprise installation. Another major departure from 11g is the deprecation of the OPMN service.

Specify the previously created Oracle_Home

Configure OBIEE 12c

Navigate to Oracle_Home/bi/bin

and run the configuration script: config.cmd in Windows.

Create the BIPLATFORM schemas, the simplest option is to create new schemas on the fly; one can also using existing schemas created with the RCU.In 12c, the RCU is located in [ORACLE_HOME]\oracle_common\bin

 

Specify the applications port range

Specify that to install: sample application, existing BI application or a clean slate.

Confirmation window

The configuration process starts; there are fewer steps than in 11g and the process runs much faster. One thing to note is that the “Retry” and “Continue” buttons are not available; in OBIEE 12c, the configuration steps cannot be retried. In the event of a failure, one will have to go through the process again (run RCU, clean up domain directory [ORACLE_HOME]/user_projects/domains/bi similar to the 11g Software Only installation and run the configuration steps.

 

As mentioned previously, the configuration steps run much faster; once it reaches 100%, there is particular step (Start All Servers)  that take a relatively long time;

if all goes well

One thing to note at least on 2 similar Windows installation is that the “Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition” folder that we are accustomed to is not created in the “Program Folder”.

Here is the new exciting OBIEE 12c home page (technically the Oracle Visual Analyzer is the new home page), cleaner user interface based on Oracle Alta UI and dare I say Tableau-like!

 

With the changes introduced by the new OBIEE 12c version, certain paths have changed; following are new path details:

OBIEE new path to executables and scripts

Start|Stop|Status scripts

[ORACLE_HOME]/user_projects/domains/bi/bitools/bin - stop.sh | start.cmd | start.cmd |status.cmd

 

[ORACLE_HOME]/bi/lib/bi-bar.jar (CreateBIArchive java executable)

[ORACLE_HOME]/bi/bifoundation/server/bin/

[ORACLE_HOME]/bi/migration-tool/jlib/bi-migration-tool.jar  OBI11g to OBIEE12c migration tool.

OBI Server, Scheduler , ClusterController executables

Catalog manager

[ORACLE_HOME]/user_projects/domains/bi/bitools/bin/runcat.sh

Javahost

[ORACLE_HOME]/bi/modules/oracle.bi.cam.obijh/startOBIJH.cmd

Java applications (xmlpserver.ear, analytics.ear etc…)

[ORACLE_HOME]/bi/bifoundation/jee/

BI presentation service executable

[ORACLE_HOME]/bi/bifoundation/web/bin/ sawserver

Repository file and web catalog

[ORACLE_HOME]/user_projects/domains/bi/bidata/service_instances/ssi/metadata

Log files

• [ORACLE_HOME]/user_projects/domains/bi/servers/obis1/logs/

Weblogic

• Administration Server: [ORACLE_HOME]/user_projects/domains/bi/servers
• Managed Server: [ORACLE_HOME]/user_projects/domains/bi/servers

System Components

• OBI Server: [ORACLE_HOME]/user_projects/domains/bi/servers/obis1/logs Presentation Server: [ORACLE_HOME]/user_projects/domains/bi/servers/obips1/logs

• Catalog Manager: /ORACLE_HOME]/user_projects/domains/bi/servers/obips1/logs/catalogmanager

• Scheduler: [ORACLE_HOME]/user_projects/domains/bi/servers/obisch1/logs
• JavaHost: [ORACLE_HOME]/user_projects/domains/bi/servers/obijh1/logs
• ClusterController: [ORACLE_HOME]/user_projects/domains/bi/servers/obiccs1/logs

OBIEE 12c new features

The long awaited OBIEE 12c has been released by Oracle, 5 years after 11g was released. This is a major release for OBIEE with the intent to reposition Oracle BI as a big player in the already crowded field of BI, data discovery, self service. Other BI tools such as Tableau software in particular have been steadily gaining market share over Oracle BI as confirmed by the 2015 Gartner magic quadrant for BI and analytics platform. The main complaints about the Oracle BI product are: complexity, difficulty of use beside cost . One of the main features of OBIEE 12c is the visual analyzer, a web-based tool that allows the business user to explore Oracle analytics and simplify the creation of visualizations as well as data discovery and data staging and ingestion . This application is already available in the cloud version of Oracle BI: Oracle BI Cloud Service. Certain people have dubbed Oracle Visual Analyzer the “Tableau-killer”, very doubtful but only time will tell; one thing for sure is that Tableau has gained a lot of momentum lately. One of the core strength of the BI server has been the ability to federate disparate data sources; this however required configuration the BI back end metadata repository. In order to remediate that limitation, OBIEE 12c offers a new self service capability that allows users to upload their files (limited to Excel xlsx format at this point) and create analyses without having to modify the Oracle BI repository metadata.  The main features are listed below.

Oracle BI Metadata Repository

New Command Line Utilities

Download Repository Command: to download the repository used by the service instance.
Upload Repository Command: to upload the repository to Oracle BI Server
List Connection Pool Command: to create a list of connection pools in JSON format for a specific service instance: to upload a modified JSON file containing updated connection pool values to a specific server instance
Update Connection Pool Command:  to upload a modified JSON file containing updated connection pool values to a specific server instance
Rename Application Role Command: to rename application roles
Delete Application Role Command: to delete application roles
Rename Users Command:  upload a JSON file containing a list of application roles that you want to delete from a specific server instance
Delete Users Command: to upload a JSON file containing a list of users that you want to delete from a specific server instance
List Repository Variables Command: to create a list of repository variables in JSON format for a specific service instance
Update Repository Variables Command: to upload a JSON input file or a modified JSON file containing variable information to a specific server instance

DISPLAY | SORTKEY Syntax Supported in the SQL ORDER BY Expression

The Oracle BI Server now accepts the DISPLAY and SORTKEY keywords in the SQL ORDER BY expression.

Logical Level Sequence Numbers for Time Dimensions

The Sequence Numbers tab has been added to the Logical Level dialog. The new tab allows you to add absolute or relative sequence numbers to time dimensions.

Oracle Database Fast Application Notification and Fast Connection Failover Supported by Oracle BI Server

The Oracle BI Server supports the Fast Application Notification (FAN) event and Fast Connection Failover (FCF) Oracle Database configuration. Fast Connection Failover enables quick failover when the data source's Oracle database is not available. According to the documentation, This functionality will run in the background. When an Oracle Business Intelligence query initiated by an analysis user fails due to the Oracle database being unavailable, the query will fail quickly and the user can then retry the query rather than waiting for the database request to time out.

Oracle BI Publisher

Generate Explain Plan from SQL Data Set

You can now  generate an Explain plan at the data set level for a single query or at the report level for all queries in a report.

System Administration

Invoking WLST From a Single Location: Contrary to previous versions, WLST can only be invoked from the Oracle_common folder
Oracle Home Location Redefined and No Middleware Home: simplification of the folder hierarchy; there is no more a Middleware home only ORACLE_HOME.
OPMN is No Longer Used in Fusion Middleware:

OPMN has been deprecated; system components are managed by the Web Logic Management Framework. The WebLogic Management Framework provides heterogeneous management capabilities for Oracle Fusion Middleware products that require basic administrative capabilities. Its capabilities include start, stop, configuration settings, and other such basic product lifecycle operations through a common command line, API and user interface.
Moving From Test To Production is Carried Out in a Different Way: The migration process between environment has radically changed, we shall revisit this in future posts. This used to be a major pain point when working with Oracle BI.
New Commands For Process Control:  new capabilities that include start, stop, configuration settings, and other such basic product lifecycle operations through a common command line, API and user interface.
Managing Metadata In Business Intelligence Archive Files:  A compressed archive file that contains a cohesive set of BI metadata artifacts (data model, content model, and authorization model). Again one of the main pain points of Oracle BI; one can now get a compressed file containing a cohesive set of BI artifacts (web cat, repository, security etc…) that can be imported into a BI instance. This makes it much easier to take a backup of a BI instance.
Single Enterprise Install: The Oracle BI installation has been simplified by only offering a single install type for your Enterprise which provides an Administration server, and a Managed server doing away with the Simple Install and the Software Only install.
Changes to Scaling Out: Scale out procedures for Oracle Business Intelligence have changed
Simplified Configuration: Configuration files are no longer duplicated.
Managing System Component Instances Using Commands: OBIS (BI Server) system component instances are separately managed in BI 12.2.1 using service instance commands
Collecting Diagnostic Bundles: A new script enables you to collect the diagnostic bundles Synchronizing Mid-Tier Database Connection Details Command needed by Oracle Support or Development to help resolve issues

Synchronizing Mid-Tier Database Connection Details Command: Synchronizing Mid-Tier Database Connection Details Command

Security features

BISystemUser and BISystem Removed: To simplify administration and configuration in this release Oracle Business Intelligence no longer requires a real user called BISystemUser (or equivalent) for internal communication. The system user concept is now deemed "virtual" and is represented by the credential oracle.bi.system/system.user, for which the values are securely randomly generated by the Configuration Assistant. Oracle BI components continue to use this credential for internal communication, backed by Oracle BI Security. The application role BISystem is also no longer present in the Policy Store, and will be removed from any upgraded 11g environment.
User GUIDs Removed: to simplify user administration, GUIDs have been replaced with user names.
Database Security Store:Security Store (Policy and Credential Stores) is configured in a relational database rather than in a file adding robustness; this file was prone to corruption.
Easier SSL Configuration: End to end SSL configuration has been simplified.
Migrating Catalog Groups to Application Roles: Introduction of a new process enables you to migrate Catalog groups to application roles

BI Presentation Services

Enhancements to Graphs: Ability to sort graph views by using a context menu (right-click).

Enhancements to Views: Introduction of a new type of view (heat matrix), ability to sort graph, heat matrix, pivot table, table, tree map, and trellis views by using a context menu

Enhancements to Analyses: specify whether to multiply data by a 100 to display it as a percentage when setting the properties of a column a long overdue feature

Overall the In Release 12c (12.2.1) the look and feel of the user interface has been refreshed and cleaned up.

Using the BI Server as a data source in OEID 3.1

In the previous post, we went through the OEID 3.1 installation and configuration using the new orchestration script. In this post we’re going to explore a new Oracle Endeca Information Discovery (OEID) 3.1 feature: the ability to specify Oracle BI as a data source and build an application using the Provisioning Service. Note than there was some level of integration between OBIEE and Endeca in version 3.0 and even in 2.4. This integration was done through the Oracle Endeca Integrator where you can define the BI server as a data source and create an ETL graph to load the data domain. The OEID 3.1 new integration gives the ability to directly connect to the BI server from the front end and report straight from the BI server, no need to run ETL graphs. I am using OEID 3.1 running under Windows 2008 R2 and I am using the OBIEE Sample Application v309R2.

We’ve already installed and configured OEID 3.1, the next task is to create a connection to the Provisioning Service in Studio. Log into Studio and Navigate to Control Panel->Information DiscoveryàProvisioning Service. Update the server name: “localhost”, having updated the default connection, we’re required to re-enter the caPassword (password for the truststore file for the SSL connection) and certPassword (password for the keystore file for the SSL connection). Save the connection.

Connect to Endeca Information Discovery portal->Control Panel->Data Source Library->New Data Source

Select Data Source type->Oracle BI and specify

• Oracle BI Server Host
• BI Server Port :9703
• Username and Password

->Next

The next screen allows you to select the Subject Area of Interest

I select A – Sample Sales and I am presented will a list of Presentation Tables

-> Select Base Facts for example and a list of the presentation fields are displayed. On this screen, one can select what attributes to include/filter by, change labels

The advanced tab enables more flexibilities for non-matching data types, missing values

Once you navigate to the New Discovery Application, you’ll notice the option to “Load Data from a Database”

A sample application is generated for us, but it’s basically useless because can only report based on a presentation table and typically a presentation table in OBIEE contains either attributes or facts. Presentation tables are just way of presenting tables and columns to the end-users for ad-hoc querying; as long as we have the proper modeling done in the BMM layer of OBIEE, you can create custom presentation with whatever column that you’re interested in. Given that fact, we’re going to create a new presentation table that contains both sales measures and product attributes to be used for Endeca Ad Hoc reporting and we called it Endeca Self-Service.

Then we create a new data source like before in Studio.

We can then create a dashboard with all the typical components such as a search box, a breadcrumb, a guided navigation and results table

The new self-service feature allowed by the Provisioning Service is a great step forward to a better tighter integration between OBIEE and OEID. One limitation is that you can only use one presentation table to report from; hopefully in the next release, you’ll be able to report using several presentation tables.