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SAP Business Objects Enterprise XI 3.0 Deployment Planning Guide (2008)
SAP Business Objects Enterprise XI 3.0 Deployment Planning Guide (2008)
0
Deployment Planning Guide
Third-party Business Objects products in this release may contain redistributions of software
Contributors licensed from third-party contributors. Some of these individual components may
also be available under alternative licenses. A partial listing of third-party
contributors that have requested or permitted acknowledgments, as well as required
notices, can be found at: http://www.businessobjects.com/thirdparty
2008-06-02
Contents
Chapter 1 Getting Started 7
About this guide...........................................................................................8
What's new .................................................................................................8
Overview of BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.0........................................10
Deploying for the first time.........................................................................11
Changing your deployment's architecture.................................................12
BusinessObjects Enterprise guides...........................................................13
Cache servers......................................................................................45
Processing tier...........................................................................................45
Job servers...........................................................................................46
Report and Processing servers ...........................................................48
Crystal Reports page server ................................................................50
Multi-Dimensional Analysis Server (MDAS) ........................................51
Dashboard and Analytics servers .......................................................51
Data tier ....................................................................................................53
Semantic layers ...................................................................................53
Connection Server ...............................................................................54
Security management................................................................................54
Central Management Server (CMS) security.......................................55
Security plug-ins...................................................................................55
Information flow ........................................................................................56
What happens when you schedule an object?.....................................56
What happens when you view a report?..............................................57
Chapter 5 Glossary 93
Index 109
1
1 Getting Started
About this guide
What's new
BusinessObjects XI 3.0 is the first release where:
• New languages can be added to your installation using the stand-alone
language pack installer.
For more information and to get started, see Language Packs on Windows
in the BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.0 Installation and Configuration
Guide.
• InfoView can be deployed with fail-over support for web application
clusters.
For initial server configuration and user management tasks, see the
BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's Guide.
• Once you have formulated your deployment plan, proceed with your
installation using the BusinessObjects Enterprise Installation and
Configuration Guide.
• After you install, read the Managing and configuring servers chapter of
the BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's Guide for information
about configuring your BusinessObjects Enterprise server processes from
within the Central Management Console (CMC). The guide also includes
advanced topics such as configuring clustered environments, multi-homed
machines, and secure socket layer (SSL) configuration.
Guide Description
Guide Description
For a complete list of all of our product documentation please visit our support
site: http://support.businessobjects.com/documentation/product_guides/de
fault.asp
2
2 BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.0 Architecture
Architectural overview
Architectural overview
This section outlines the overall platform architecture, system tiers, and
individual services and components that make up the business intelligence
(BI) platform. This information will help administrators understand the
essentials of BusinessObjects Enterprise and how to plan the deployment,
management, and maintenance of the system.
Architecture basics
Developers can access the platform using a set of web services and Java
APIs to integrate BusinessObjects Enterprise into other enterprise systems,
and to share dynamically updated documents with users on separate
networks.
End users can access, create, edit, and interact with reports using specialized
tools and applications that include:
• Crystal Reports.
• Web Intelligence.
• Desktop Intelligence.
• Voyager.
IT departments can use data and system management tools that include:
• Central Management Console.
• Central Configuration Manager.
• Import Wizard.
• Publishing Wizard.
• Universe Designer.
• Repository Diagnostic Tool.
Server processes can be vertically scaled (where one computer runs several,
or all, server-side processes) to reduce cost, or horizontally scaled (where
server processes are distributed between two or more networked machines)
to improve performance. It is also possible to run duplicate instances of a
server process on the same machine, or across several networked machines.
Note: Server processes run as services on Windows machines, and as
daemons on UNIX machines. While it is possible to deploy a mixture of
Windows and UNIX platforms at the tier level (such as a UNIX web application
server with a Windows CMS), it is recommended that you do not mix operating
systems for server processes (such as a cluster of two CMS systems where
one runs Windows and the other runs UNIX).
Desktop applications
The second category is made up of locally installed, rich-client applications
installed on a supported Microsoft Windows operating system. This approach
allows you to offload BI processing from BusinessObjects Enterprise onto
individual client computers. Most desktop applications directly access your
organization's data through middleware drivers installed on the desktop, and
communicate with your BusinessObjects Enterprise deployment through
CORBA or encrypted CORBA SSL. Examples of this type of application
include Crystal Reports, Desktop Intelligence, and Live Office clients.
Note: Although Live Office is a desktop application, it communicates with
BusinessObjects Enterprise web services over HTTP. You can configure
BusinessObjects Enterprise so that Microsoft Office documents containing
Live Office components dynamically update, even when sent to recipients
outside your organization's secured network.
InfoView
InfoView can access, interact with, and export, any type of business
intelligence including reports, analytics, dashboards, scorecards, and strategy
maps.
InfoView allows users to manage:
• BI catalog browsing and searching.
• BI content access (creating, editing, and viewing).
• BI content scheduling and publishing.
All users can log on to the CMC to change their user preference settings.
Only members of the Administrators group can change management settings,
unless explicitly granted the rights to do so.
The CMC also demonstrates how you can use the administrative objects
and libraries in the BusinessObjects Enterprise software development kit
(SDK) to create custom web applications for administering BusinessObjects
Enterprise.
Server Intelligence
Server Intelligence is a component of the Central Management Console
(CMC) that simplifies administrative procedures previously carried out by
the Central Configuration Manager (CCM), such as the management of CMC
server processes. This includes the addition and removal of server processes,
server process configuration, and the automatic restart or shutdown of servers
that encounter unexpected conditions.
Web Intelligence
Web Intelligence is a scalable online query and analysis tool for knowledge
workers to build queries and analyze business information through a user
friendly drag-and-drop interface. The patented Business Objects semantic
layer hides the complexity of underlying data sources. Reports can be
published to the BusinessObjects Enterprise web portal, or to Microsoft Office
applications using BusinessObjects Live Office.
Voyager
Voyager is an AJAX-based online analytical processing (OLAP) web client
designed for business and financial analysts. It not only provides access to
a wide range of OLAP databases, but also allows users to combine
information from different systems within a single workspace. Voyager offers
a comprehensive range of business and time calculations, and includes
features such as time sliders to make the analysis of OLAP data as simple
as possible.
The Voyager OLAP feature set complements both Crystal Reports (for direct
data access to OLAP cubes for production reporting) and Web Intelligence
(for ad hoc analytic reporting with universes built on OLAP data sources).
Xcelsius
Xcelsius is a data visualization tool that transforms BI data into engaging
presentations and dashboards. It enables the integration of dynamically
updated data into Microsoft Office, PDF, and web documents with Business
Objects queries and reports. Xcelsius is comprised of designer and viewing
extensions leveraging Business Objects web services.
BusinessObjects Mobile
BusinessObjects Mobile allows your organization access to information from
any wireless device. Management and information workers can stay
up-to-date and make decisions with access to the latest information. Sales
and field service staff can provide the right customer, product, and work order
information, where and when it's needed, helping to shorten sales cycles,
and increasing customer satisfaction.
Report viewers
BusinessObjects Enterprise includes report viewers that support different
platforms and different browsers in the client tier, and which have different
report viewing functionality.
All report viewers help process requests for reports, and present report pages
that appear in the user's browser.
The CCM allows you to view and to modify server settings only while Business
Objects server processes are offline. The Central Management Console
(CMC) is used to stop server processes, then the CCM is used to modify
performance settings or change server port numbers.
Note: Most server management tasks are now handled through the CMC,
not in the CCM. The CCM was the primary tool for server management in
previous versions, but the CCM is now used only for troubleshooting and
node configuration.
Desktop Intelligence
Desktop Intelligence is an integrated query, reporting and analysis tool that
allows you to access data using familiar business terms, rather than using
technical database query methods, like SQL. The complexity of the underlying
data storage is abstracted in the semantic data layer known as the Business
Objects Universe.
You can migrate two types of objects: reports and data sources. The wizard
converts the data source of each report into an object that is usable in
BusinessObjects Enterprise, and then resets the data source location of the
report to point to the new object. The result is that you can use the new
RDT scans the CMS system database and identifies inconsistencies. It can
also repair the logged inconsistencies, and report the repair status and
completed actions. To determine synchronization between the file system
and database, RDT should be used after the user first completes a hot
back-up. Or the customer can use the RDT after a restoration and prior to
starting their BusinessObjects Enterprise services. The user can set a limit
for the number of errors the RDT will find and repair before stopping.
Import Wizard
The Import Wizard guides administrators through the process of importing
universes, reports, users, groups, and folders, from a previously released
version of BusinessObjects Enterprise to the latest version. It also allows
administrators to export to BIAR (Business Intelligence Archive Resource)
files.
The Import Wizard runs on Microsoft Windows platform, but can be used to
import information into BusinessObjects Enterprise systems running any
supported Windows or UNIX operating system.
Live Office
BusinessObjects Live Office integrates with the Microsoft Office environment,
allowing for dynamically updated data to be embedded within Microsoft
PowerPoint, Excel, and Word documents. Plus, you can share your
documents with others over the web for collaborative decision-making. From
within Microsoft Office, you can use intuitive wizards and toolbars to easily
connect to a Crystal report, Web Intelligence document, or use ad hoc data
selections. Then format your data using familiar Microsoft Office tools.
portal. Or, take it outside the firewall and email it to an off-site partner or
coworker.
Note: Web services applications are currently only supported with the
following load balancer configurations:
1. Source IP address persistence.
2. Source IP and destination port persistence (available only on a Cisco
Content Services Switch).
3. SSL persistence.
Note: SSL persistence may cause security and reliability issues on some
web browsers. Check with your network administrator to determine if SSL
persistence is appropriate for your organization.
For information on configuring web services to work with Live Office, see the
BusinessObjects Enterprise Web Services Administrator Guide.
Publishing Wizard
The Publishing Wizard enables both administrators and end users to create
and publish reports to BusinessObjects Enterprise. By assigning object rights
to individual folders on a given server, you control who can publish reports
and where they are published.
Use the Publishing Wizard if you have access to the application and you
want to add multiple objects or an entire directory of objects to
BusinessObjects Enterprise. Once an object is added, it appears in the folder
that you specified in InfoView (or your customized web desktop) and in the
Folders management area of the CMC.
For more information, see the Adding Objects to the Repository chapter of
BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's guide.
It retrieves reports from the CMS, in the Public, Favorites, or Inbox folders.
Once converted, you can publish to the same folder as the original Desktop
Intelligence report or to a different folder. The tool does not convert all
Desktop Intelligence features and reports. The level of conversion depends
on the features in the original report. Some features prevent the report from
being converted. Other features are modified, reimplemented, or removed
by the tool during conversion.
The Report Conversion Tool also lets you audit your converted reports. This
helps identify reports that cannot be fully converted by the Report Conversion
Tool and explains why.
Translation Manager
BusinessObjects Enterprise provides support for multilingual documents and
universes. A multilingual document contains localized versions of universe
metadata and document prompts. A user can create reports, for example,
from the same universe in their chosen languages.
The Translation Manager is the tool that defines the multilingual universes
and manages translation of universes and their Web Intelligence documents
and prompts.
Translation Manager:
• Translates universe or a Web Intelligence documents for a multilingual
audience.
• Defines the metadata language parts of the document and the appropriate
translation. It generates external XLIFF format and imports XLIFF files to
get translated information.
• Lists the universe or Web Intelligence document structure to be translated.
• Lets you translate the metadata through the interface.
• Lets you translate the metadata using external translation tools by
exporting and importing XLIFF files.
• Creates a multilingual document where several languages can be saved.
Universe Builder
A universe is a semantic layer of abstraction that exists between
BusinessObjects Enterprise and the data in your organization's database.
Universe Builder allows you to create universes from XML metadata and
Oracle Analytic Services.
Once you start Universe Builder, you connect to a metadata source, then
using a universe creation wizard, map metadata structures to equivalent
classes, objects, dimensions, and details, used in a standard BusinessObjects
universe.
You can create universes from metadata sources with both Universe Builder
and Designer. Universe Builder is a stand-alone product that provides an
independent user interface for universe creation from metadata sources.
Designer is used for the universe generation at the end of the creation
process.
Universe Designer
Web Intelligence rich client can also be used when connected to a CMS.
The following third-party J2EE web application servers can be used with
BusinessObjects Enterprise.
• WebSphere 6.1.
• WebSphere Community Edition 2.0.
• WebLogic 10.
• WebLogic 9.2.
• Tomcat 5.5 (bundled with BusinessObjects Enterprise).
• SAP Application Server 7.0.
• Oracle 10G R3.
• JBoss 4.04.
Business Objects Web Services provide a Java and .NET API accessed by
rich clients in the user interaction tier, such as Live Office and Crystal Reports.
Business Objects web services uses standards such as XML, SOAP, AXIS
2.0 and WSDL. The platform follows WS-Interoperability Basic Profile
1.0 web services specification.
Note: Web Services applications are currently only supported with the
following load balancer configurations:
1. Source IP address persistence.
2. Source IP and destination port persistence (available only on a Cisco
Content Services Switch).
3. SSL persistence.
Note: SSL persistence may cause security and reliability issues on some
web browsers. Check with your network administrator to determine if SSL
persistence is appropriate for your organization.
Packaged applications
This section describes the tools that are installed with BusinessObjects
Enterprise.
The Dashboard and Analytics repository stores the metrics, goals, sets and
calendar definitions, used by Dashboard and Analytics users to create
dashboards and analytics. Each time users refresh a metric, the values for
the metric refresh are written to the Dashboard and Analytics repository.
Note: To use Dashboard and Analytics features, you must purchase a
BusinessObjects Enterprise license that includes Dashboard and Analytics
as part of the software license agreement.
Voyager
Voyager is an online analytical processing (OLAP) tool for working with
multi-dimensional data. Users access Voyager from within the
BusinessObjects Enterprise InfoView portal. Users can create new analysis
workspaces, and view and edit workspaces that have been saved to the
BusinessObjects Enterprise repository.
For more information about wdeploy, see the Post Installation Web
Application Deployment chapter of the BusinessObjects Enterprise Installation
guide.
Intelligence tier
The Intelligence tier manages the BusinessObjects Enterprise system. It
maintains all of the security information, sends requests to the appropriate
servers, manages audit information, and stores report instances.
Server classifications
The Central Management Console (CMC) web application provides the ability
to add, remove, enable, or disable, BusinessObjects Enterprise servers.
These processes are grouped into three categories: Framework servers,
Processing servers, and Performance Management servers. For more
information about server management , see Chapter 6: Managing and
Configuring Servers in the BusinessObjects Enterprise Adminstrator's Guide
.
Framework servers
Framework servers provide back-end core system services that form the
foundation of the BusinessObjects Enterprise Business Intelligence platform.
Processing servers
Processing servers are the back-end components that handle requests from
Web Intelligence, Desktop Intelligence, Crystal Reports, and Voyager.
CMS data includes information about users and groups, security levels,
content, and services. The CMS can also maintain an optional auditing
database of information about user actions, and files with the File Repository
Servers. This data allows the CMS to perform four main tasks:
• Maintaining security
The CMS enforces the application of rights at both the folder and object
level, and supports inheritance at the user and group level. It also supports
aggregation through a flexible, group-user membership model.
Server process are monitored by the CMS and allocates work to less
busy processes. It will also add or remove service instances as work
loads change or services become unavailable.
Note: It is strongly recommended that you back up and audit the CMS system
database frequently.
Caution: The CMS database should not be accessed directly. System
information should only be retrieved using the calls that are provided in the
BusinessObjects Enterprise software development kit (SDK).
Restriction: You may access the optional audit database in read-only mode
to create custom audit reports.
On Windows, the Setup program can install and configure its own MySQL
database if you do not already have a database server allocated for the
deployment. You can switch to a different database later if your deployment
needs change.
Event Server
The Event Server manages file-based events. When you set up a file-based
event within BusinessObjects Enterprise, the Event Server monitors the
directory that you specified. When the appropriate file appears in the
monitored directory, the Event Server triggers your file-based event: that is,
the Event Server notifies the CMS that the file-based event has occurred.
The CMS can then start any jobs that are dependent upon the file-based
event.
Note: Schedule-based and custom events are managed through the CMS.
Input and Output File Repository Server (FRS) processes run on each
BusinessObjects Enterprise server machine.
The Input FRS manages report and program objects that have been published
to the system by administrators or end users (using the Publishing Wizard,
the CMC, the Import Wizard, or a Business Objects designer component
such as Crystal Reports, or Web Intelligence report panels).
Note: Objects with associated files, such as text files, Microsoft Word files,
or PDFs, are stored on the Input File Repository Server.
The Output FRS manages all of the report instances generated by the Report
Job Server or the Web Intelligence Processing Server, and the program
instances generated by the Program Job Server.
Tip: If you use the BusinessObjects Enterprise SDK, you can also publish
reports from within your own code.
The FRSes are responsible for listing files on the server, querying for the
size of a file, querying for the size of the entire file repository, adding files to
the repository, and removing files from the repository.
Caution: To avoid conflicts between input and output objects, the Input and
Output FRSes cannot share the same file system directory. In larger
deployments, there may be multiple Input and Output FRSes. However, only
Cache servers
Cache servers handle report view requests. A cache server intercepts report
requests and checks if it can fulfill the request with a cached report page
before requesting new data from the database. This avoids accessing the
database each time a report is requested, which accelerates viewing
performance and reduces network traffic.
A cache server intercepts report requests sent from clients to the page server.
If the cache server cannot fulfill the request with a cached report page, it
passes the request on to the page server, which runs the report and returns
the results. The cache server then caches the report page for future use,
and sends the report to the viewer.
BusinessObjects Enterprise also performs active data sharing to reduce
database access request. Reports that are different, but which use the same
data, can be rendered from the same cache.
Two different types of cache servers are:
• Crystal Reports cache server, which handles requests for Crystal Reports.
• Desktop Intelligence cache server, which handles requests for Desktop
Intelligence reports.
Processing tier
The BusinessObjects Enterprise processing tier accesses the data tier and
generates reports for clients. It is the only tier that directly interacts with the
reporting database.
Related Topics
• Job servers on page 46
• Report and Processing servers on page 48
• Crystal Reports page server on page 50
Job servers
The Destination job server can send objects and instances to destinations
inside the BusinessObjects Enterprise system, for example, a user’s inbox,
or outside the system. For example, by sending a file to an e-mail address.
The Destination job server does not run the actual report or program objects.
It only handles objects and instances that already exist in the Input or Output
File Repository Servers.
Note: The RAS is also used to resolve Dynamic Recipient Lists at runtime
or during the design phase when working with publications.
framework services like the CMS to list documents and universes, and
communicates with the Input File Repository Server (FRS) to open or save
Web Intelligence documents. It also processes scheduled Web Intelligence
documents for the Web Intelligence Job Server and generates new instances
of documents on the Output FRS. Depending on the user's access rights
and the refresh options of the document, the Web Intelligence Processing
Server will use cached information, or it will refresh the data in the document,
and then cache the new information.
The Crystal Report Designer also communicates with the Web Intelligence
Processing Server to create Crystal reports based on universes.
The EPF pages contain formatting information that defines report layout.
The page server retrieves data for the report from an instance or directly
from the database (depending on the user request and the rights he or she
has to the report object). When retrieving data from the database, the page
server automatically disconnects from the database after it fulfills its initial
The Cache Server and Page Server work closely together. Specifically, the
Page Server responds to page requests made by the Cache Server. The
Page Server and Cache Server also interact to ensure cached EPF pages
are reused as frequently as possible, and new pages are generated as
required. BusinessObjects Enterprise takes advantage of this behavior by
ensuring that the majority of report-viewing requests are made to the Cache
Server and Page Server. However, if a user’s default viewer is the DHTML
viewer, the report is processed by the Report Application Server.
The Multi-Dimensional Analysis Server (MDAS) registers itself with the Central
Management Server (CMS), and its services are available for consumption
by other servers or client applications that communicate via the
BusinessObjects Enterprise framework.
Note: OLAP single sign-on (SSO) is only supported for Microsoft Analysis
Services and SAP BW.
PM Metrics Server
Dashboard and Analytics server to populate metrics created using the Metric
Engine.
PM Repository Server
Dashboard and Analytics server to read and store performance information
from the Dashboard and Analytics repository.
PM Rules Server
Dashboard and Analytics server to create rules and alerts. Rules and alerts
automate the process of detecting and interpreting change, and delivering
relevant analysis. Rules enable you to proactively monitor your business and
take appropriate and timely action in response to specific events.
Dashboard Server
Server process used by the Dashboard Builder component to create and
manipute corporate and personal dashboards. Dashboard Builder offers
metric, alert, and dashboard management capabilities to help organizations
monitor and understand their business activities.
Semantic layers
Universes
The Universe abstracts the data complexity by using business language
rather than data language to access, manipulate, and organize data. This
business language is stored as objects in a universe file. Web Intelligence
and Crystal Reports use universes to simplify the user creation process
required for simple to complex end-user query and analysis.
Business Views
Business Views simplify report creation and interaction by abstracting the
complexity of data for report developers. Business Views help separate the
data connections, data access, business elements, and access control.
Business Views can only be used by Crystal Reports and are designed to
simplify the data access and view-time security required for Crystal report
creation. Business Views support the combination of multiple data sources
in a single view. Business Views are fully supported in BusinessObjects
Enterprise.
Connection Server
The Connection Server provides database access to the raw source data.
It supports relational databases (Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server,
DB2, Sybase) as well as OLAP (SAP BW, Microsoft Analysis Services,
Hyperion Essbase). The Connection Server is responsible for handling
connection and interaction with the various datasources and providing a
common feature set to its clients, by emulating the missing features if
necessary.
Security management
System security is managed by the Central Management Server (CMS),
security plug-ins, and third-party authentication tools, such as SiteMinder or
Kerberos. These components authenticate users and authorize user access
for BusinessObjects Enterprise, its folders, and other objects.
When you set up your system, the CMS allows you to create user accounts
and groups within BusinessObjects Enterprise, or reuse existing user
accounts and groups that are stored in a third-party system, such as LDAP
or Windows Active Directory (AD). The CMS supports third-party
authentication, so users can log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise with their
current LDAP, or Windows AD credentials.
When users log on, the CMS coordinates the authentication process with
security plug-ins; the CMS then grants the user a logon token and an active
session on the system. The CMS also responds to authorization requests
made by the rest of the system. When a user requests a list of reports in a
particular folder, the CMS authorizes the request only after it verifies the
user's account or group membership has sufficient privileges.
Security plug-ins
The security plug-ins dynamically maintain third-party user and group listings.
This means once you map an LDAP or Windows AD group into
BusinessObjects Enterprise, all users in group can log on to BusinessObjects
Information flow
The following workflow information describes what happens at the Enterprise
Framework or Architecture level when an Enterprise process is invoked.
These workflows provide a high-level view of the architecture and how
report-processing is performed. This section covers two different scenarios:
Related Topics
• What happens when you view a report? on page 57
• What happens when you schedule an object? on page 56
7. The job server retrieves the object from the Input File Repository Server
and runs the object against the database, thereby creating an instance
of the object.
8. The job server then saves the instance to the Output File Repository
Server, and tells the CMS that it has completed the job successfully.
If the job was for a Web Intelligence document, the Web Intelligence
Processing Server notifies the Web Intelligence Job Server. The Web
Intelligence Job Server then notifies the CMS that the job was completed
successfully.
Note:
• The Cache Server and the Page Server do not participate in scheduling
reports or in creating instances of scheduled reports. This can be an
important consideration when deciding how to configure BusinessObjects
Enterprise, especially in large installations. For more information, see the
BusinessObjects Enterprise Deployment Planning Guide.
• When you schedule program objects or object packages, the interaction
between servers follows the same pattern as it does for reports.
and the rights you have to the report. In addition, the processing flow for
custom applications may differ. In all cases, however, the request that begins
at the web server must be forwarded to the application server.
The actual request is constructed as a URL that includes the report's unique
ID. This ID is passed as a parameter to a server-side script that, when
evaluated by the application server, verifies the user's session and retrieves
the logon token from the browser. The script then checks the user's InfoView
preferences and redirects the request to the viewing mechanism that
corresponds to the user's default viewer.
If they haven't already done so, users are prompted to download and
install the appropriate viewer software.
Related Topics
• Report viewing with the Crystal Reports Cache Server and Page Server
on page 58
• Viewing Web Intelligence documents on page 60
Report viewing with the Crystal Reports Cache Server and Page
Server
This section describes the process for viewing a Crystal report when using
the zero-client DHTML, ActiveX, or Java viewer. This process uses the Crystal
Reports Cache Server and the Crystal Reports Page Server.
(.epf files) through the web server to the report viewer software in the
user's web browser.
This section describes the process for viewing a Web Intelligence document.
1. InfoView sends the request to the web application server.
2. The web application server sends the request to the application server,
which creates a new session with the Web Intelligence Report Server.
3. The Web Intelligence Report Server checks if the user has rights to use
the Web Intelligence application.
4. The web application server then sends the request to the Web Intelligence
Report Server.
5. The Web Intelligence Report Server contacts the CMS to check whether
the user has the right to view the document, and to check when the
document was last updated.
6. If the user has the right to view the document, the Web Intelligence Report
Server checks whether it has up-to-date cached content for the document.
7. If cached content is available, the Web Intelligence Report Server sends
the cached document information to the SDK.
If cached content is not available, the following happens:
a. The Web Intelligence Report Server obtains the document information
from the CMS and checks what rights the user has on the document.
b. The Web Intelligence Report Server obtains the Web Intelligence
document from either the Input or Output File Repository Server and
loads the document file.
Note: Which FRS is used depends on whether the request was for a
Web Intelligence document that was saved to BusinessObjects
Enterprise or for an instance of the document. Documents are stored
on the Input FRS. Instances are generated when an object is run
according to a schedule, and they are stored on the Output FRS.
c. If the document is set to “refresh on open” and the user has the View
on Demand Rights, the Web Intelligence Report Server refreshes the
data in the document with data from the dattabase.
Note: If the document is set to “refresh on open” but the user does
not have View On Demand rights, an error message is displayed.
3
3 Planning Your Deployment
Planning your BusinessObjects Enterprise deployment
Operating systems
Deployment on Windows
Ensure your hosts do not use any of the following characters in their name:
an underscore, a period, or a slash. You must have Administrator rights to
install BusinessObjects Enterprise on a Windows platform.
Deployment on UNIX
Ensure your hosts use none of the following characters in their name: an
underscore, a period, or a slash. You do not require root privileges in order
To run the setup program correctly, the following commands and utilities
must be installed on your UNIX system and available on the PATH for the
account being used to install BusinessObjects Enterprise:
Your operating system locale must be set to a UTF-8 encoding variant, such
as en_US.UTF-8 (for other languages, use the appropriate localized UTF-8
encoding, such as de_DE.UTF-8 for German UTF-8). See the online
BusinessObjects Enterprise supported platforms document for more
information about locales: http://support.businessobjects.com/documenta
tion/supported_platforms.
The following database systems, among others, are supported for the Central
Mangement System (CMS) database:
• IBM DB/2.
• Oracle Database.
• MySQL.
• Microsoft SQL Server.
• Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE).
For a full list of database systems supported for each component of
BusinessObjects Enterprise, see the platform availability report (PAR):
http://support.businessobjects.com/documentation/supported_platforms.
You are free to use any supported database system with BusinessObjects
Enterprise. If you do not have a database system ready, the BusinessObjects
Enterprise installer can create and configure a MySQL database system as
part of the installation process.
Note:
• If you use your own database system, first it must be configured and
confirmed as operational, as the BusinessObjects Enterprise installer will
attempt to verify the database connection.
• Ensure that any third-party database servers and clients are set up to
use Unicode character encoding (UTF-8). Consult your database
documentation to determine how to enable Unicode support.
If you use a third-party server, it must be installed and configured before you
install BusinessObjects Enterprise, as the installer will attempt to verify the
location of your web application server, and can deploy your web applications
directly.
The following table shows some of main differences between supported web
application servers.
Note: wdeploy tool will not deploy web applications for the following web
application server.
• IBM WebSphere Community Edition.
The wdeploy tool can be used to deploy web applications on third-party web
application servers, as well as split tier web and web application servers,
where a dedicated web server serves static content, and the web application
server servers dynamic content. This is achieved by wdeploy separating the
static and dynamic content, so the static content can be copied to the web
server, and the dynamic content deployed to the web application server.
The wdeploy tool enables you to deploy WAR files to a web application
server in two distinct ways.
1. Standalone mode.
Web servers
Although web application servers come with built-in web server functionality,
BusinessObjects Enterprise also supports the separation of web and web
application servers into a de-paired configuration.
In a de-paired configuration, the web server will serve static and cached
content to offset a portion of the requests sent to the web application server.
A web server may also support a reverse proxy configuration to improve site
security. For more information on reverse proxy configuration, please see
Reverse proxy on page 76.
Multi-homed environment
For example, an environment may have web application servers and database
servers on separate subnets. The server tier can be configured to accept
requests from the web application servers on one subnet (e.g. 192.168.0.0),
and transmit database requests to database servers on another (e.g.
10.50.0.0). Multihomed environments use multiple physical or logical network
cards.
Security
Authentication
Firewalls
The Central Management Server (CMS) uses two ports: the request port
and the name server port. The request port is selected dynamically by default.
The name server port is 6400 by default.
must also allow outbound connections on any port to allow the CMS and
InfoView to reply to external clients on a dynamically chosen port.
Note: Static port numbers must be unique when using NATas firewalls
forward traffic based upon the port number used. If two different servers on
one side of a firewall attempt to use the same port number, the traffic will
merge and go to only one receiving server on the other side of the firewall.
Packet filtering
Your firewall may also provide packet filtering. This service allows or blocks
traffic across a firewall based upon the original or destination network
address. If your firewall uses packet filtering you must configure it so that
traffic from your BusinessObjects Enterprise system components is allowed
to pass through the firewall.
For detailed information on any of these topics, see the Working with firewalls
section of the BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's Guide.
Reverse proxy
If you have a de-paired web and web application server, you can configure
them to operate in a reverse proxy arrangement. The configuration of a
reverse proxy server is a post-installation task that involves configuring a
web server to forward client requests to the BusinessObjects Enterprise web
application server.
Note: When using Apache as your reverse proxy server, pay attention to
the ProxyPass paths mapped in the Apache httpd.conf configuration file.
Paths with similar beginnings must be mapped with the longest path first.
For example, map InfoViewAppActions/ before InfoViewApp/.
ProxyPass /bobj/InfoViewAppActions
http://192.168.57.169:8080/InfoViewAppActions
ProxyPassReverseCookiePath /InfoViewAppActions /bobj/InfoViewAp
pActions
HTTPS support
Note: To learn more about how to secure HTTP traffic between your web
application server and web clients, read HTTPS support on page 77.
Before deciding how to deploy your system, consider whether the demand
on the system may change after it has been installed. This could be an
increase in the number of concurrent users, the volume of business data,
report complexity, or any other factor that could cause your BusinessObjects
Enterprise system requirements to change.
Anticipate these changes before you deploy to save you time and money by
making architectural choices that will support a scalable solution. For
example, if you are expecting an increase in the number of concurrent users
accessing your system, you may consider deploying a small three-node
cluster that can be expanded to five-nodes when demand increases.
You may choose to split your web and web application server into two servers,
separated by a reverse proxy and firewall. This arrangement improves the
performance of your web applications by off-loading static content from the
web application server onto the web server, as well as shielding your web
application servers behind several network layers for improved security.
primary system goes down, a backup system is still available and becomes
the production system.
• Frequent data backups
Note: When you back up your primary system, you need to back up: the
Central Management Server system database; the content of the Input
and Output File Repository Servers; the user ID and password for the
Administrator account; the application code from the Web Application
Server; and the registry settings (if manual changes were made).
You may not have the resources to implement a high degree of availability,
but you can use best practices to provide the best possible availability for
your system. These include vertical scaling (adding redundant server
processes to a system in case the primary server process fails) and
maintaining a regular back-up schedule.
You can also cluster servers together so that transactions are processed
more quickly, and, in the event of a failure, an unaffected machine can
continue to process requests with minimal impact on the system's overall
ability to process requests.
For more information about CMS clustering, see Managing and configuring
servers in the BusinessObjects Enterprise Server Administrator's Guide.
• Active and passive File Repository Servers (FRS)
Your deployment can have multiple Input and Output FRSes. The first
File Repository Server pair to register with the CMS cluster becomes the
active FRS pair and the other FRS services are considered passive.
Although all File Repository Server services run simultaneously, only the
active FRS pair handles requests. If an active FRS fails, a passive FRS
that is registered with the CMS cluster is changed to active status. When
the previously active FRS becomes operational again, it is registered as
a passive FRS with the CMS.
Deployment scenarios
After you determine the needs of your users and the resources required for
the deployment, you can develop an initial deployment plan for
BusinessObjects Enterprise.
The optimal configuration for your deployment will depend on many factors:
hardware configuration, database software, reporting requirements, operating
system, clock speed, hyperthreading, disk speed, application server
configuration, load frequency, and many more. Every deployment is unique,
and these examples are provided only as guidelines.
For information about assessing your system's unique needs and fine-tuning
performance, see the Improving Performance section of the BusinessObjects
Enterprise Administrator's guide.
As a baseline, this section assumes that you have not yet distributed the
BusinessObjects Enterprise server processes across multiple machines;
however, this section does assume familiarity with the BusinessObjects
Enterprise architecture, installation, and server configuration. For preliminary
installation information, see the BusinessObjects Enterprise Installation
Guide.
Tip: If you are deploying multi-processor machines, you may also want to
run one or more BusinessObjects Enterprise server processes in multiple
instances on that machine. For details, see Managing and deleting servers
in the BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's Guide.
System layers
• Data Tier: one machine with existing database server
• Server Tier: one machine for hosting the framework servers and another
for all other BusinessObjects servers
• Client Tier: one machine for installing and running Desktop Intelligence
Configuration details
• A firewall exists between client and server tiers
• Only the ports required for the communication between the desktop client
and the server tier are open on the firewall
• BusinessObjects servers are distributed over two machines.
Installation platform for BusinessObjects Enterprise Windows Server 2003 SP2 Enterprise
Edition
Database for Central Management Server (CMS) Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Web application server Not relevant
System layers
• Data Tier: One machine used to host the database server.
• Server Tier: Three machines hosting the framework, processing and
performance management (PMC) servers.
• Web Tier: One machine in hosting the web application server.
• Client Tier: One machine running the Live Office application.
Configuration details
Installation platform for BusinessObjects Enterprise Windows Server 2003 SP2 Enterprise
Edition
Database for Central Management Server (CMS) Oracle 10g R2
Web application server Oracle 10g R3
Firewall Linux iptables
System layers
• Data Tier: contains databases used by the CMS and File Repository
servers.
• Server Tier: all BusinessObjects Enterprise servers installed on two
machine running as a cluster.
• Web Tier: two web application servers installed on separate machines
running as a cluster with fail- over support through load balancer.
• Client Tier: a browser used to log into Central Management Console
(CMC).
Configuration details
Installation platform for BusinessObjects Enterprise Windows Server 2003 SP2 Enterprise
Edition
Database for Central Management Server (CMS) Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Web application server WebLogic 10
Load balancer Cisco CSS 11500 series load bal-
ancer
Firewall Linux iptables running on Red Hat
Linux with two network interface cards
(NIC)
4
4 Deployment Checklists
Deployment Checklist
Deployment Checklist
This section provides a checklist for the steps you need to perform when
planning a deployment of BusinessObjects Enterprise.
This section provides a checklist of the major tasks to be completed for the
planning phase of your BusinessObjects Enterprise deployment.
Installation order
The following table lists the recommended order that BusinessObjects
Enterprise system components should be installed. The actual order will vary
depending on whether your system included pre-existing systems that are
to be incorporated into the new BusinessObjects Enterprise deployment.
5
5 Glossary
access levels
A predefined group of rights which allow you to set common security
levels quickly. Using the predefined access levels whenever possible
can greatly reduce the complexity of your object security model.
Note: In developer documentation, access levels are referred to as
"roles".
advanced right
A tool which allows administrators more granular control when setting
rights in the CMC.
alias
A placeholder that allows administrators to link a user's multiple
BusinessObjects Enterprise accounts. This is useful when a user
has a third-party account that is mapped to Enterprise and an
Enterprise account. By assigning an alias to the user, the user can
log on using either a third-party user name and password or an
Enterprise user name and password. Thus, an alias enables a user
to log on via more than one authentication type.
Application foundation
See Dashboard and Analytics.
Auditing
A BusinessObjects Enterprise component that enables administrators
to monitor, analyze, and optimize their BI system. A set of pre-defined
reports are available. In addition, a BusinessObjects Universe is
provided for administrators to create their own custom reports and
analysis.
authentication
The process of verifying the identity of a user who attempts to access
the system. Authentication types include Enterprise, Windows AD,
Windows NT and LDAP authentication. Note that third-party user
accounts and groups must be mapped to BusinessObjects Enterprise
before you can use the latter three types of authentication.
authorization
The process of verifying that the user has been granted sufficient
rights to perform the requested action upon the specified object.
Automated Process Scheduler
See Central Management Console
Designer
A tool used to build universes.
Desktop Intelligence
A web-enabled integrated query, reporting, and analysis solution
that allows users to access data in their corporate databases directly
from their desktops. Desktop Intelligence makes it easy to access
this data, because users work with it in the business terms that are
familiar to them; they don't require knowledge of technical database
terms like those used in SQL.This product was previously known as
BusinessObjects in release 5.x/ 6.x.
destination
A place where scheduled objects are sent. Destinations include user
inboxes, email, and FTP.
Destination Job Server
A server which can send objects and instances to destinations inside
the BusinessObjects Enterprise system (i.e. to a user's inbox) or
outside the system (i.e. to an email address). The Destination Job
Server does not run the actual report or program objects. It handles
only objects and instances that already exist in the Input or Output
File Repository Servers.
discussions
A feature which enables users to create notes for reports, hyperlinks,
programs, and other objects in InfoView. BusinessObjects Enterprise
users who have the appropriate rights can view the notes or add
their own comments to a discussion thread, which is a series of
related notes in a hierarchical format. Users can create a discussion
Java viewer
A client-side viewer which is downloaded and installed in the user's
browser.
Job Server
Any server which processes scheduled actions on objects at the
request of the CMS. Job servers can be configured to process either
report objects or program objects when you add the servers to
BusinessObjects Enterprise.
List of Values Job Server
A server which processes scheduled list-of-value objects.
List of Values object
An object that contains the values of specific fields in a Business
View. Lists of values are used to implement dynamic prompts and
cascading lists of values within Crystal Reports. List-of-value objects
do not appear in CMC or InfoView. For more information, see the
Business Views Administrator's Guide.
object
A generic term for items represented in the Repository.
BusinessObjects Enterprise supports many types of objects including
reports, Web Intelligence documents, programs, Microsoft Excel
files, Microsoft Word files, Microsoft PowerPoint files, Adobe Acrobat
PDFs, rich text format files, text files, hyperlinks, and object
packages.
object package
A type of object which functions as a folder for other objects, and
allows you to schedule the contents simultaneously. Object packages
can be composed of any combination of report and program objects
that are published to the BusinessObjects Enterprise system.
(Third-party objects, such as Excel, Word, Acrobat, Text, Rich Text,
PowerPoint, and Hyperlink objects, cannot be added to object
packages.)
OLAP Intelligence
A tool for creating reports based on multidimensional data. For more
information, see the OLAP Intelligence User's Guide. Also see
Voyager.
Page Server
A
A Get More Help
http://support.businessobjects.com/documentation/product_guides/
http://www.businessobjects.com/support/
For more information, contact your local sales office, or contact us at:
http://www.businessobjects.com/services/consulting/
http://www.businessobjects.com/services/training
mailto:documentation@businessobjects.com
Note: If your issue concerns a Business Objects product and not the
documentation, please contact our Customer Support experts. For information
about Customer Support visit: http://www.businessobjects.com/support/.
B C
basic web tier scenario Central Configuration Manager (CCM) 23
configuration details 83 Central Management Console (CMC) 19
diagram 83 Central Management Server (CMS) 42
overview 83 security 55
system layers 83 clustering 80
Business view 53 Connection server 54
Business Views Manager 23 CORBA SSL encryption 78
BusinessObjects Enterprise Crystal Reports .NET SDK 33
.NET SDK 33 Crystal Reports Cache Server 45
authentication 55 Crystal Reports Designer 23
browser clients 19 Crystal Reports Explorer 36
Central Management Server (CMS) 55 Crystal Reports job server 46
Crystal Reports page server 50 Crystal Reports page server 50
desktop clients 23 Crystal Reports processing server 48
documentation 13 Crystal Reports Viewer 23
Java SDK 30
job servers 46
packaged applications 36
D
Performance Management 51 Dashboard Analytics server 48
report and processing servers 48 Dashboard and Analytics 19, 36
security 54 Dashboard server 48
security plug-ins 55 Data Source Migration Tool 23
semantic layers 53 deployment
web application servers 30 architecture 16
workflows 56 checklist 88
BusinessObjects Enterprise Java SDK 30 clustering 80
database 67
deployment (continued) H
documentation 13
encryption 77, 78 high availability 79
firewalls 75 HTTPS encryption 77
high availability 79
inital 11
installation order 89
I
load balancers 73 Import Wizard 23
multi-homed 73 InfoView 19, 23
overview 10 Input File Repository Server 44
planning 64
reverse proxy 76
scalability 78 J
security 74
split tier 79 Java SDK 30
updating 12 JavaServer Faces Components SDK 30
web application servers 70
web servers 72 L
what's new 8
deployment scenario List of Values job server 46
complex 84 Live Office 23
diagram 84
deployment scenarios
desktop client to server 82
M
Desktop Intelligence 23 Multi-Dimensional Analysis Server (MDAS) 51
Desktop Intelligence report server 48
Desktop Intellignce job server 46
Destination job server 46 O
disaster recovery 79
OLAP 51
Output File Repository Server 44
E
Event Server 44 P
Performance Management 51
F Predictive Analytics server 48
Process Analysis server 48
fault tolerance 79 Program job server 46
File Repository Servers 44 Publishing Wizard 23
firewalls 75
Q U
Query as a Web Service 23, 35, 36 Universe 53
Universe Builder 23
UNIX
R deployment 65
Report Application Server .NET SDK 33
Report Application Server (RAS) 48 V
Report Application Server (RAS) Java SDK 30
Report Conversion Tool 23 Viewers Java SDK 30
Report Engine Java SDK 30 voyager 36
Report Viewers 19 Voyager 19
Repository Diagnostic Tool 23
reverse proxy 76
W
S wdeploy 36
web application servers 30
scenarios 81 Web Intelligence 19
SDK Web Intelligence job server 46
.NET 33 Web Intelligence processing server 48
Java 30 Web Intelligence report server 48
web services 34 Web Intelligence rich client 23
Server Intelligence 19 web services 34, 36
Software Inventory Tool 23 Query as a Web Service 35
split tiers 79 web services Java SDK 30
Windows
deployment
T operating systems 65
tiers workflows
application 29 report viewing 57
client 18 report viewing with cache and Crystal
data 53 Reports servers 58
intelligence 38 scheduling an object 56
processing 45 viewing web intelligence documents 60
Translation Manager 23
X
Xcelcius 19