Showing posts with label install. Show all posts
Showing posts with label install. Show all posts

Monday, July 1, 2013

FYI: Troubleshooting Security with the Oracle BI Security Diagnostics Helper

The hundreds of BI Security notes on Oracle Support, the countless blogs dedicated to OBIEE 11g security configuration, the myriad of configuration scenarios, test conditions, and troubleshooting steps documented in Oracle's Fusion Middleware Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence - what does all of this mean? The configuration of security within the OBIEE 11g platform is easier said than done.

With the release of OBIEE 11g, Oracle has made efforts to mitigate (or at least rule out) the potential risks associated with security configuration in their new weblogic-centric model. This is achieved through a little known helper utility called the 'Oracle BI Security Diagnostics' tool. This tool gives developers the ability to:
  • Diagnose security configuration issues within OBIEE
  • Test BISystemUser configuration settings
  • Test authentication of users
This tool is included with OBIEE 11.1.1.6.4 and higher but the ear file still needs to be deployed to AdminServer.

Step 1: Install the Oracle BI Security Diagnostics helper via WLST

In your unix terminal, execute the following command:

MW_HOME/ORACLE_HOME/common/bin/wlst.sh addDiagnosticsCodeGrant.py t3://<WebLogic_host_name>:<WebLogic_port_number>
e.g.
mw_home/Oracle_BI1/common/bin/wlst.sh addDiagnosticsCodeGrant.py t3://localhost:7001
You're going to be taken through a series of terminal interactions starting with the initalization of WLST:
Followed by log-in credentials to connect to WLST:
 
And finally a success message "Added code grants to bidiagnostics" which really just means the EAR file is ready for deployment in AdminServer.

Step 2: Deploy bidiagnostics.ear to AdminServer

In Admin Console (default 7001/console), navigate to Deployments -> Control tab and look for a deployment called 'bidiagnostics (11.1.1)' . Check the corresponding box and click 'Install':


The deployment is a straight forward process, and after the installation is complete just make sure you set the bidiagnostic application to 'Active'.

Step 3: Access the BI Diagnostic Helper

 Once the installation is complete, you can navigate to the application by accessing the following url:
http://mycomputer:7001/bidiagnostics/security/diagnostics.jsp
You'll be taken to a very simple UI that will give you the opportunity to perform basic security diagnostics and (hopefully) resolve any OBIEE 11g security issues you may encounter!


Friday, January 11, 2013

How-to: Apply OBIEE 11g Bundle Patch Set (11.1.1.6.6)


Late last year (December 2012) Oracle gave us the pleasure of releasing their newest OBIEE 11g patchset - OBIEE 11.1.1.6.6 and just when you finished got comfortable with version 11.1.1.6.4!

The guide below will outline how to apply the new OBIEE 11g 11.1.1.6.6 patchset assuming your starting point is a prior version on the 11.1.1.6.x platform.

As a reminder, note that the OBIEE 11g patchsets are cumulative - meaning the 11.1.1.6.6 patchset includes all patches from 6.5, 6.4 and down.

Step 1) Make sure you have the latest OPatch installed on your machine

Oracle uses the Opatch tool to apply patches to OBIEE 11g, and if you attempt to apply a patch with an outdated Opatch version, you get the following error:

 "The OUI version is not applicable for current OPatch Version":

You can download the latest version of Opatch by searching http://support.oracle.com for 'How To Download And Install The Latest OPatch Version [ID 274526.1]' or by clicking here

Step 1.1) Extract the opatch folder to your FMW_HOME/Oracle_BI1 folder. There is most likely an Opatch folder already in there - that is the old version. Archive it then remove it from the Oracle_BI1 folder and replace it with the Opatch folder you just downloaded.


Step 2) Back Up Critical Folders

Make sure to save the following folders in the event of a failure when applying the patch set:
  • The ORACLE_HOME\bifoundation\server directory
  • The ORACLE_INSTANCE\bifoundation\OracleBIServerComponent\coreapplication_obis1\repository
  • The ORACLE_BI_HOME\bifoundation\jee\mapviewer.ear\web.war\WEB_INF\conf\mapViewerConfig.xml, if you have modified it
 Step 3) Shutdown Admin Server, Node Manager, Managed Server and OPMN

The entire weblogic domain must be shut down prior to applying the patch set


Step 4) Confirm Key Environment Variables are Set

On Windows: If the Oracle BI Home directory is C:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1, then set the environment variables by entering the following:
  • set ORACLE_HOME=C:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1
  • set PATH=%ORACLE_HOME%\bin;%PATH%
  • set JAVA_HOME=%ORACLE_HOME%\jdk
  • set PATH=%JAVA_HOME%\bin;%PATH%
  • set PATH=%ORACLE_HOME%\OPatch;%PATH%
Step 5) Download 11.1.1.6.6 Patch Set

The quickest way to do this is by navigating to the 'Patches & Updates' tab on support.oracle.com and using the 'Product or Family (advanced)' search feature to download the patch set for your specific OS:


Make sure you check 'Include all products in a family'!

Step 6) Unzip the patch set into  your $FMW_HOME/Oracle_BI1 folder

There should be 7 folders - one for each patch:

PatchAbstract
15844023 
Patch 11.1.1.6.6 (1 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence Installer
15844066 
Patch 11.1.1.6.6 (2 of 7) Oracle Real Time Decisions
14800665 
Patch 11.1.1.6.6 (3 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher
15843961 
Patch 11.1.1.6.6 (4 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence ADF Components
15844096 
Patch 11.1.1.6.6 (5 of 7) Enterprise Performance Management Components Installed from BI Installer 11.1.1.6.x
14791926 
Patch 11.1.1.6.6 (6 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence
15839347 
Patch 11.1.1.6.6 (7 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence Platform Client Installers and MapViewer

Step 7) Remove Catalog Manager Cache Files (if they exist)
  •  On Linux, AIX, or Solaris: If the Oracle BI Home directory is prod_mwhome/Oracle_BI1, then go to the following directory:prod_mwhome/Oracle_BI1/bifoundation/web/catalogmanager/configuration/
  • On Windows: If the Oracle Home directory is C:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1, then go to the following directory: c:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1\bifoundation\web\catalogmanager\configuration\
and remove the following files:

org.eclipse.osgi
org.eclipse.equinox.app

Step 8) Apply the 7 patches in the 11.1.1.6.6 patch set

It is important that you apply the patches in the following order:

PatchAbstract
15844023 
Patch 11.1.1.6.6 (1 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence Installer
15844066 
Patch 11.1.1.6.6 (2 of 7) Oracle Real Time Decisions
14800665 
Patch 11.1.1.6.6 (3 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher
15843961 
Patch 11.1.1.6.6 (4 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence ADF Components
15844096 
Patch 11.1.1.6.6 (5 of 7) Enterprise Performance Management Components Installed from BI Installer 11.1.1.6.x
14791926 
Patch 11.1.1.6.6 (6 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence
15839347 
Patch 11.1.1.6.6 (7 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence Platform Client Installers and MapViewer

Navigate into each folder and run the following command : opatch apply  . The command should execute without error as shown below:






























Step 9) Download the JDeveloper Patch

The  Oracle Reference Document '[ID 1488475.1] OBIEE 11g Required and Recommended Patch Sets' on http://support.oracle.com indicates that for 11.1.1.6.6 patch set you need to download and apply JDeveloper patch 13952743 which is not included in the core 7 patches.  Make sure to download 13952743 and unzip it to your $FMW_HOME/Oracle_BI1 folder as well.

Step 10) Update Environment Variables for the JDeveloper Patch

You'll need to change your environment variables for this patch as follows:

$ORACLE_HOME = FMW_HOME/oracle_common

Step 11) Apply the JDeveloper Patch

Using the same opatch apply command. Make sure you navigate to the 13952743 folder first!

Step 12) Validate all patches have been applied

Execute the following command: opatch lsinventory . All 8 patches should be listed.

Step 13) Validate Version in Answers

After starting your Admin Server, Node Manager, Managed Server and OPMN services. Navigate to your Administration tab in Answers to view the new version:


Potential Issue: Conflict with previous patches

In my earlier post I outlined how to apply an individual patch to resolve bug 1467168.1 (multiple pie charts error) by applying patch 14003822 .
If you've applied any individual patch and then later try to apply a bundle patch you'll get the following error:

 
indicating there is a conflict between the original patch and the 11.1.1.6.6 bundle patch. Go ahead and override the original patch with the new 11.1.1.6.6 patch set. This new patch set also includes any one off patches you've applied so it's safe to override.


keywords: obiee 11g upgrade, obiee upgrade, upgrade assistant, opatch, 11.1.1.6.6, how to install obiee 11g



Thursday, October 25, 2012

How-to: Apply OBIEE 11g Bundle Patch Set (11.1.1.6.4)

If you've been following the patch set history for Oracle Business Intelligence 11g, you'll notice that Oracle releases various OBIEE patches on a fairly regular basis - anywhere from every quarter to every month.

Unfortunately Oracle doesn't announce a new patch set via oracle.com or through any type of mass mailing. So to stay up to date you'll need to review the Oracle Reference Document '[ID 1488475.1] OBIEE 11g Required and Recommended Patch Sets' on http://support.oracle.com .

Today we'll cover how to apply Oracle's newest bundle patch (I call them mega patches!) 11.1.1.6.4. The bundle patches are actually a set of cumulative patches for Oracle Business Intelligence. Meaning, if you apply the 11.1.1.6.4 patch set, you do not need to apply 11.1.1.6.2 as it is already included.

Step 1) Make sure you have the latest OPatch installed on your machine

Oracle uses the Opatch tool to apply patches to OBIEE 11g, and if you attempt to apply a patch with an outdated Opatch version, you get the following error:

 "The OUI version is not applicable for current OPatch Version":

You can download the latest version of Opatch by searching http://support.oracle.com for 'How To Download And Install The Latest OPatch Version [ID 274526.1]' or by clicking here

Step 1.1) Extract the opatch folder to your FMW_HOME/Oracle_BI1 folder. There is most likely an Opatch folder already in there - that is the old version. Archive it then remove it from the Oracle_BI1 folder and replace it with the Opatch folder you just downloaded.


Step 2) Back Up Critical Folders


Make sure to save the following folders in the event of a failure when applying the patch set:
  • The ORACLE_HOME\bifoundation\server directory
  • The ORACLE_INSTANCE\bifoundation\OracleBIServerComponent\coreapplication_obis1\repository
  • The ORACLE_BI_HOME\bifoundation\jee\mapviewer.ear\web.war\WEB_INF\conf\mapViewerConfig.xml, if you have modified it
 Step 3) Shutdown Admin Server, Node Manager, Managed Server and OPMN

The entire weblogic domain must be shut down prior to applying the patch set


Step 4) Confirm Key Environment Variables are Set

On Windows: If the Oracle BI Home directory is C:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1, then set the environment variables by entering the following:
  • set ORACLE_HOME=C:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1
  • set PATH=%ORACLE_HOME%\bin;%PATH%
  • set JAVA_HOME=%ORACLE_HOME%\jdk
  • set PATH=%JAVA_HOME%\bin;%PATH%
  • set PATH=%ORACLE_HOME%\OPatch;%PATH%
Step 5) Download 11.1.6.4 Patch Set

The quickest way to do this is by navigating to the 'Patches & Updates' tab on support.oracle.com and using the 'Product or Family (advanced)' search feature to download the patch set for your specific OS:

















Make sure you check 'Include all products in a family'!

Step 6) Unzip the patch set into  your $FMW_HOME/Oracle_BI1 folder

There should be 7 folders - one for each patch:

PatchAbstract
14538078
Patch 11.1.1.6.4 (1 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence Installer
14538128
Patch 11.1.1.6.4 (2 of 7) Oracle Real Time Decisions
14285344
Patch 11.1.1.6.4 (3 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher
14538164
Patch 11.1.1.6.4 (4 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence ADF Components
14415773
Patch 11.1.1.6.4 (5 of 7) Enterprise Performance Management Components Installed from BI Installer 11.1.1.6.x
14405222
Patch 11.1.1.6.4 (6 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence
14409674
Patch 11.1.1.6.4 (7 of 7) Oracle Business Intelligence Platform Client Installers and MapViewer
Step 7) Remove Catalog Manager Cache Files (if they exist)

  •  On Linux, AIX, or Solaris: If the Oracle BI Home directory is prod_mwhome/Oracle_BI1, then go to the following directory:prod_mwhome/Oracle_BI1/bifoundation/web/catalogmanager/configuration/
  • On Windows: If the Oracle Home directory is C:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1, then go to the following directory: c:\prod_mwhome\Oracle_BI1\bifoundation\web\catalogmanager\configuration\
and remove the following files:

org.eclipse.osgi
org.eclipse.equinox.app

Step 8) Apply the 7 patches in the 11.1.1.6.4 patch set

It is important that you apply the patches in the following order:
  • 14538078
  • 14538128
  • 14285344
  • 14538164
  • 14415773
  • 14405222
  • 14409674
Navigate into each folder and run the following command : opatch apply  . The command should execute without error as shown below:
































Step 9) Download the JDeveloper Patch

The  Oracle Reference Document '[ID 1488475.1] OBIEE 11g Required and Recommended Patch Sets' on http://support.oracle.com indicates that for 11.1.1.6.4 patch set you need to download and apply JDeveloper patch 13952743 which is not included in the core 7 patches.  Make sure to download 13952743 and unzip it to your $FMW_HOME/Oracle_BI1 folder as well.

Step 10) Update Environment Variables for the JDeveloper Patch

You'll need to change your environment variables for this patch as follows:

$ORACLE_HOME = FMW_HOME/oracle_common

Step 11) Apply the JDeveloper Patch

Using the same opatch apply command. Make sure you navigate to the 13952743 folder first!

Step 12) Validate all patches have been applied

Execute the following command: opatch lsinventory . All 8 patches should be listed.

Step 13) Validate Version in Answers

After starting your Admin Server, Node Manager, Managed Server and OPMN services. Navigate to your Administration tab in Answers to view the new version:












Potential Issue: Conflict with previous patches

In my earlier post I outlined how to apply an individual patch to resolve bug 1467168.1 (multiple pie charts error) by applying patch 14003822 .
If you've applied any individual patch and then later try to apply a bundle patch you'll get the following error:

 
 
indicating there is a conflict between the original patch and the 11.1.1.6.4 bundle patch. Go ahead and override the original patch with the new 11.1.1.6.4 patch set. This new patch set also includes any one off patches you've applied so it's safe to override.


keywords: obiee 11g upgrade, obiee upgrade, upgrade assistant, opatch, 11.1.1.6.4, how to install obiee 11g


Thursday, August 30, 2012

FYI: OBIEE 10g to 11g Upgrade Process Validation Plan and bug 1467168.1 (Multiple Pie Charts Displayed for a Pivot Table)

So you've just completed your 10g repository and web catalog upgrade to Oracle's new 11g platform, congratulations! Per Oracle's Fusion Middleware Upgrade Guide for OBIEE 11g you're now ready to to perform, in my opinion, the most difficult task of the upgrade process : the validation of the upgraded environment (as pictured below):




A comprehensive OBIEE validation plan should include the following:

  1. A thorough comparison of functionality of existing reports in the web catalog
  2. Confirmation of customizations in the repository, including but not limited to:
    1. level based measures
    2. physical/bmm star schema
    3. complex joins
    4. derived measures
    5. hierarchies
    6. variables (session, static, dynamic)
  3. Security - the upgrade to 11g will require you to make security changes to your 10g model, so customization is required, but you'll want to confirm the following none the less:
    1. object level security in the web catalog
    2. data level security in the repository
      1. note* that any filters applied to your Groups in the 10g rpd will not be present in the 11g RPD as groups have been removed from the metadata layer completely
Security Manager 10g:


Security (Identity) Manager 11g:





Now as you complete step 1 of your validation plan ( A thorough comparison of functionality of existing reports in the web catalog)

You notice that all of your 10g pivot table pie charts are all being generated incorrectly! Rather than 1 pie with x slices, your 11g pivot table pie charts are x pies each with one slice.

10g pivot table pie chart:



11g pivot table pie chart:



Before you begin the process of estimating hours to manually re-configure every pie chart in your system, WAIT!

This is actually a known 11.1.1.6.0  bug [ID 1467168.1] which can be fixed using Oracle's oPatch software and Patch 14003822 via Oracle Support

The steps on how to apply this patch, or even utilizing oPatch in general, are hazy at best so below is a step by step outline on using oPatch w/ Patch 14003822 :

Step 1: Identify your oPatch directory

Normally located in your $ORACLE_HOME/opatch directory. After identifying your directory, add the oPatch path to your system PATH variable as you'll be running the 'opatch' application from command line.


Step 2:  Confirm core oPatch files exist 

By running the following via command line:

  - opatch lsinventory -jre $ORACLE_HOME/jdk/jre
Your output should be familiar to the screen below:


Step 3:  Install  Patch 14003822

Navigate to the directory that contains your unzipped Patch folder 14003822 and perform the following command:

   - opatch apply -jre $ORACLE_HOME/jdk/jre
Your screen should be similar to:




A successful patch will result in the following message:




Step 4: Validate Changes


BEFORE:



AFTER:




Original 10g chart for reference:



keywords: obiee 10g to 11g upgrade, 1467168.1, obiee 11g pie charts, obiee 11g upgrade, obiee 11g roadmap

Monday, June 4, 2012

How to: Complete OBIEE 10g installation Part 2 and 3 - Oracle Analytics Server & Presentation Services

In our last how-to post we covered the first step of installing OBIEE 10g on linux , Configuration of JDK for Oracle Business Intelligence

This post will focus on steps 2 and 3 below:


1) Configuration of JDK for Oracle Business Intelligence  - COMPLETE
2) Set up of the Oracle Business Intelligence Server
3) Set up of the Oracle Business Intelligence Presentation Services

4) Set up of the Oracle Business Intelligence Client Tool set

In Step 1 we:

1) configured JDK for our redhat linux box
2) created applicable usernames and groups
3) granted directory permissions to specific folders
4) created environmental variables needed for OBIEE 10g installation.


Do not continue unless you have completed the above steps, as they are pre-requisites for Steps 2 and 3.


Step 1 : Modification of bash shell script to include Oracle Environmental Variables


The OBIEE 10g installation is going to look for the following variables in your bash profile:

1) $JAVA_HOME
2) $PATH  - modified to include your OBI Set up folder

We created the $JAVA_HOME variable in step 1, so let's go ahead and modify our bash shell script to include the OBI Set up folder for the $PATH variable

For user account OBI, run the following command in terminal:

vi ~/.bash_profile
 
modify the bash shell start up script to include 

# OBI Setup Script
PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/OracleBI/setup
export PATH
 
Also, set the file descriptor limit to 10240 
 
# File Descriptor Limit
ulimit -n 10240 


Here is a VI review guide incase your VI skills are a little rusty: http://www.washington.edu/computing/unix/vi.html 


Step 2: Create installation folders & grant required access

Oracle Analytics Server uses /usr/local/setup/OracleBI and /usr/local/setup/OracleBIData for installation and execution. We need to create those folders and grant our user obi read write access:

Log into your root/super user account or have the sys admin execute the following commands:
 

mkdir -p /usr/local/OracleBIchown -R obi:oinstall /usr/local/OracleBIchmod -R 775 /usr/local/OracleBImkdir -p /usr/local/OracleBIDatachown -R obi:oinstall /usr/local/OracleBIDatachmod -R 775 /usr/local/OracleBIData

Step 3: Confirm /dev/random and /dev/urandom are available

Oracle BI  Presentation Services requires pseudo random number generation devices. Confirm your system has urandom and random installed:

In terminal, run the following command:

[cookjohn@local]/usr/local/OracleBI/setup% cd /dev
[cookjohn@local]/dev% ls *random


You should see the following output:

random  urandom


Step 4: Download Oracle BI Suite EE 10.1.3

Navigate to http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-enterprise-edition/downloads/business-intelligence-10g-165415.html 

and download x86 (Red Hat Linux / Oracle Enterprise Linux)

Then extract the file to your /tmp folder. You should have 2 folders:

drwxrwxr-x  3    59934 oinstall       4096 May 24 10:40 Server
drwxrwxr-x  5    59934 oinstall       4096 May 24 10:41 Server_Ancillary


Using your root/super user account, execute (or have the sys admin) the following commands:


chown -R obi:oinstall /tmp/Server
chmod -R 775 /tmp/Server
chown -R obi:oinstall /tmp/Server_Ancillary
chmod -R 775 /tmp/Server_Ancillary
 
Step 5: Run final compatibility check with UnixChk.sh

Oracle created a script which will determine if you've successfully completed all of the pre-work needed for installation.
In terminal, run the following command:

./UnixChk.sh -b /usr/local/OracleBI 
 
You should get the following output: 
 
SUCCESS!! - This machine is configured for Oracle BI EE 10.1.3.3.2 

Step 6: Proceed with installation

Congratulations, you've completed all of the required pre-work needed to install OBIEE! Let's get started! Navigate to your /usr/local/OracleBI/setup folder and run the following command:


./setup.sh -console

You will be asked to identify your java directory, installation type and installation folder.
Here are the details:

  • Installation Location: /usr/local/OracleBI
  • Data Location: /usr/local/OracleBIData
  • Installation Type: Basic
  • JDK Location: /usr/java/jdk1.5.0_22

     
 FYI: Basic vs Advanced Installation Primer:

Basic installation uses the J2EE Application Server rather than the Oracle Application Server. If you want to utilize single sign on, select Advanced.

In terminal, your summary should be as follows:

Oracle Business Intelligence 10.1.3.4.1 will be installed in the following
location:

/usr/local/OracleBI

with the following features:

Oracle Business Intelligence JDBC Driver
Oracle Business Intelligence Systems Management
Oracle Business Intelligence Server
Oracle Business Intelligence Cluster Controller
Oracle Business Intelligence Scheduler
Oracle Business Intelligence Client
Oracle Business Intelligence Presentation Services
Oracle Business Intelligence Presentation Services Plug-in and BI Office
Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher

for a total size:

 2626.9 MB

Press 1 for Next, 2 for Previous, 3 to Cancel or 4 to Redisplay [1] 


|-----------|-----------|-----------|------------|
0%         25%         50%         75%        100%
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Installing Oracle Business Intelligence 10.1.3.4.1. Please wait...
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

Creating uninstaller...

Please wait...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The InstallShield Wizard has successfully installed Oracle Business
Intelligence 10.1.3.4.1.
 

 
Step 7: Start Services

Now that you've installed OBIEE Server & Presentation services, you need to activate it by running the following scripts from your /usr/local/OracleBI/setup folder:

./oc4j -start # starts Oracle Application Server
./run-sa.sh start # starts BI server
./run-saw.sh start # starts presentation server
./run-ccs.sh start  # Oracle BI Cluster Controller
 
 
To shutdown the server, you need to run the commands in the opposite order:
 
./run-ccs.sh stop
./run-saw.sh stop
./run-sa.sh stop
./oc4j -shutdown -port 23791 -password oc4jadmin 
 
Step 8: Log into Answers

Navigate to your web server's root directory and append :9704/analytics/saw.dll?Dashboard to it. For example, if your web server is http://www.example.com , your url would be : http://www.example.com:9704/analytics/saw.dll?Dashboard


















Default user/pass is : Administrator/Administrator
You can access Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g by appending :9704/em/ to your web server's root directory
In Summary, we :


1) Configured JDK for OBIEE
2) Created the appropriate installation folders
3) Created required environmental variables
4) Confirmed the system had appropriate random number generation scripts
5) Modified the file descriptor limit
6) Validated our configuration using Oracle's UnixChk script
7) Installed OBIEE 10G Server & Presentation Services using the basic installation method (Java instead of Oracle's Application Server)
8) Determined the process for starting and stopped services
9) Validated installation by navigation to the default Answers & Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g URLs.

Excellent job if you've made it this far. If you've been paying attention, you'll notice that only server side components have been installed. We still need to install the Client tools which allow us to modify the repository and remotely connect to the linux box. Stay tuned!
 
keywords : obiee 10g installation, obiee 10g linux, obiee 10g server installation process, obiee 10g configuration, obiee install linux


Thursday, May 24, 2012

How to: Complete OBIEE 10g installation Linux Part 1 of 4 - Configuration of JDK for Oracle Business Intelligence

Consider the following scenarios:

* You receive a request to demo  Oracle Business Intelligence on a firm's local network
* A new code migration process requires multiple environments for validation
* New security protocols are implemented which requires developers to use their local machine for all pre-UAT work

What is the commonality in the above scenarios? Each requires you install, configure, set up a complete OBIEE 11g stack.

The ability to do this is so critical to the success and self worth of an OBIEE practitioner, that I have decided to create a series of tutorials on how to set up, install and configure a complete OBIEE 10g solution, commonly referred to as a '10g stack'.

The installation of an OBIEE 10g stack can be summarized in the following steps:


1) Configuration of JDK for Oracle Business Intelligence 
2) Set up of the Oracle Business Intelligence Server
3) Set up of the Oracle Business Intelligence Presentation Services
4) Set up of the Oracle Business Intelligence Client Tool set

This post will focus on step 1 which is really a prerequisite to the installation of Oracle Business Intelligence Server. I made this its own step because it is critical to the success of the installation, and if done incorrectly, will make steps 2 through 4 a nightmare.

To successfully complete this how-to, you will need:

1) a basic understanding of fundamental unix commands specific to the redhat distribution (see: http://bsd.org/unixcmds.html )

2) a basic understanding of vi (see: http://www.washington.edu/computing/unix/vi.html )

3) ability to access root on your linux box  (or have your sys admin perform certain commands on your behalf)

4) a redhat RHEL 5.x box

5) the willpower to not give up when things go wrong, because if this is your first time doing this, you will mess up :)

--
Let's begin.
 

Step 1: Confirm JDK 1.5.0 or higher is not installed

Redhat RHEL 5.4 comes installed with JRE 1.6 which is not the same as JDK 1.5 . JRE contains the run time binaries needed to run java applets , JDK contains the APIs needed to execute java functions in your application.

We need JDK because in an OBIEE 10g basic installation, J2EE is the Application Server.

To start, open your terminal:

in terminal, run :

java -version

it will generate
java version "1.6.0_13"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_13-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 11.3-b02, mixed mode)

in terminal, run:

echo $JAVA_HOME

it will generate no result. $JAVA_HOME is an environmental variable that you configure during your JDK installation. Since neither java -version or echo $JAVA_HOME mention JDK,  we can confirm that you do not have JDK installed


Step 2: Download Java Development Kit 5.xx

Download the binary file :

http://download.oracle.com/otn/java/jdk/1.5.0_22/jdk-1_5_0_22-linux-i586-rpm.bin

You need to make this file executable. This can be done by changing the permissions.

In terminal, run:


chmod a+x jdk-1_5_0_22-linux-i586-rpm.bin
 
 
Step 3:  Create appropriate folders
We need to move the file to the folder that OBIEE utilizes during install - /usr/local/java. This folder doesn't exist by default so you will have to create it.

In terminal, run:

mkdir /usr/local/java/
cd /usr/local/java/ 
Note that your account may not have privileges to create a new folder in a system-wide directory, so you may need your sys admin to do this for you.

Now you need to move the  jdk-1_5_0_22-linux-i586-rpm.bin file you downloaded into the /usr/local/java folder.

In terminal, run:

mv /desktop/jdk-1_5_0_22-linux-i586-rpm.bin ./

The above statement assumes you downloaded the file to your /usr/home/username/Desktop folder.


Step 4: Install JDK 5.xx

Now that you've moved the file to the /usr/local/java/ folder, we can begin the install:

In terminal, run:

./jdk-1_5_0_22-linux-i586-rpm.bin
 
 
If successful, you will see the following:

Do you agree to the above license terms? [yes or no]
yes
Unpacking...
Checksumming...
0
0
Extracting...
  inflating: jdk-1_5_0_22-linux-i586.rpm
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:jdk                    ########################################### [100%]

Done.
 

Step 5: Create an account with read/write privilege to /usr/local/java 

If you've been paying attention, you'll notice that all of the above commands had to be executed by either 'root' or a super user. You cannot install OBI as root, nor should you attempt to run a server as root due to security concerns.

The appropriate solution is to create a new user with access to the folders needed for installation.

We are now going to create a new user which we will use for the rest of the installation.

Have your admin/root account run the following commands in terminal:

groupadd oinstall #create a group called oinstall
/usr/sbin/useradd obi -g oinstall  #create a user called obi, with membership to group oinstall
passwd obi #create a new password for user obi
 
Now give user obi read/write access to the /usr/local/java folder. This is necessary because during the start of BI presentation services, log files will be created and .jar files will be executed.

In terminal, run the following command:

chown -R obi:oinstall /usr/local/java
chmod -R 777 /usr/local/java
cd /usr/local
ls -l

Command ls -l should generate:
drwxrwxr-x  3 obi  oinstall 4096 May 23 13:42 java

User obi now has read/write access to /usr/local/java
 
Step 6: Update the bash profile for user obi

 Remember in step run, when we ran echo $JAVA_HOME , no results were returned? This is not ok because $JAVA_HOME is an environmental variable that OBIEE server uses during its install. We need to create this variable prior to installing OBIEE Server.
As I stated earlier, OBIEE Server cannot be installed on root. We created a user obi which we will utilize during installation. So we need to modify the bash profile for user obi.

Log out of your current user, and into user obi.

In your bash shell terminal, run the following command:

vi ~/.bash_profile
 
and modify it to include:
 
# Java Home
JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/jdk1.5.0_22
export JAVA_HOME
 
I assume you have a basic understanding of how to use vi, if not review http://www.washington.edu/computing/unix/vi.html prior to attempting this.

After you save your changes, restart your machine , log back into obi and in terminal , run:


echo $JAVA_HOME

you should get the following output:
 
/usr/local/java/jdk1.5.0_22 

 
--

You now have:
1) JDK installed
2) a user called obi
3) user obi has access to /usr/local/java folder
4) user obi has an environmental variable called JAVA_HOME

Notice how we haven't even downloaded or installed OBIEE yet. This is fundamental pre-work that must be done. Take the time to understand this and do not proceed until echo $JAVA_HOME is populated and obi user has read/write access to /usr/local/java.