Oracle Enterprise Repository is the entry point for all the reports. However, to host the reports, you must use the Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher. You must configure the BI Publisher and Oracle Enterprise Repository to interact with each other. For more information about installing and configuring BI Publisher, see "Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher Release 10.1.3.4" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle Enterprise Repository.
This chapter describes how to configure the Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher. This chapter contains the following sections:
Section 15.1, "Deploy Oracle Enterprise Repository Pre-configured BI Publisher Content"
Section 15.3, "Configuring the Oracle Enterprise Repository JDBC Data Source"
Section 15.4, "Configuring the BI Publisher Server - Cache Expiration"
Section 15.5, "Validating the Installation and Configuration of BI Publisher"
Section 15.6, "Configuring the Oracle Enterprise Repository System Settings to Enable Reporting"
There is a collection of pre-configured BI Publisher content, which includes a full BI Publisher repository and is specially developed for Oracle Enterprise Repository. It contains a set of seeded BI Publisher based reports for Oracle Enterprise Repository along with a set of BI Publisher sample reports. You can deploy these Oracle Enterprise Repository-BI Publisher repository reports so that it can be integrated with your Oracle Enterprise Repository instance. There are three sets of the BI Publisher content depending on which database is used as your Oracle Enterprise Repository database.
Note:
These instructions assume that a BI Publisher is installed, which is dedicated only for hosting the Oracle Enterprise Repository reports.BI Publisher uses a repository internal to BI Publisher to host the users, roles, reports, and configuration for BI Publisher. This repository is replaced by the BI Publisher content which has been specifically developed for the integration with Oracle Enterprise Repository.
To deploy the Oracle Enterprise Repository-BI Publisher content, perform the following steps:
Stop OC4J Server.
Find a packaged content archive for your database. You can find the reports in the Oracle Enterprise Repository Deployment in the <ORACLE_HOME>/repositoryXXX/core/tools/solutions/reports directory.
You will find three zip files, each of which contains a set of the reports prepared for each of the Oracle Enterprise Repository Deployment database types. The .zip file contains the following reports and requires configuration to make the Data Source for the reports in BI Publisher match the Data Source for the Oracle Enterprise Repository Deployment:
BIP-Oracle.zip
BIP-SQLServer.zip
BIP-UDB.zip
Copy the appropriate Oracle Enterprise Repository-BI Content .zip file to the server with BI Publisher installed. Copy it into a temporary directory on that server.
Extract the contents of the OER-BI Content zip file. Once you find the reports package for your database, you can unzip the above reports package file.
Register the Oracle Enterprise Repository-BI Publisher content as the BI Publisher repository. You can register the Oracle Enterprise Repository-BI Publisher repository as your BI Publisher Server's repository by following these steps:
Backup the a BI Publisher Server configuration file, which can be found at <application installation>/WEB-INF/ directory, where your application server unpacked the war or ear file.
For example (paths were constructed by using the built-in OCJ4 with BI Publisher):
In an OC4J 10.1.3 deployment, the location is <ORACLE_HOME>/oc4j_bi/j2ee/home/applications/xmlpserver/xmlpserver/WEB-INF/xmlp-server-config.xml
Open the BI Publisher Server Configuration file. If you are using BI Publisher version 10.1.3.4.1 or later, the file contains the following:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xmlpConfig xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/oxp/xmlp">
<resource>
<file path="${oracle.home}/xmlp/XMLP"/>
</resource>
</xmlpConfig>
Replace ${oracle.home}/xdo/repository with file path to the location where you copied the XMLP repository directory on your server.
For example, if you copied the Oracle Enterprise Repository-BI Publisher repository directory to /home/BIP/OER_BIP_Content/XMLP, update the xmlp-server-config.xml file as follows:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xmlpConfig xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/oxp/xmlp">
<resource>
<file path="/home/BIP/OER_BIP_Content/XMLP"/>
</resource>
</xmlpConfig>
Save xmlp-server-config.xml after updating.
Restart your application server.
Test your BI Publisher Server configuration by launching BI Publisher. Navigate to http://hostname:port/xmlpserver to open the browser. For example, http://localhost:9704/xmlpserver.
By default, BI Publisher uses its own security model. You can create users and groups within the BI Publisher's security model, which is stored in the BI Publisher repository. For more information about the other security models, see the Oracle BI Publisher Administrator's Guide at http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E12844_01/doc/bip.1013/e12188/toc.htm.
There is a default Oracle Enterprise Repository user, OER, provided in the OER-BIP repository. This is a proxy user for Oracle Enterprise Repository application and is used to access to all the Oracle Enterprise Repository reports. The default password is OER_PWD. This user has OER_REPORTS role to access to all the Oracle Enterprise Repository reports.
There is a default BI Publisher administrator, Administrator, provided in the OER-BIP repository. This is used to administer BI Publisher and is required to setup the Data Sources in BI Publisher. The default password is Administrator.
Note:
In BI Publisher, the password is case sensitive.There is one pre-configured Role called OER_REPORTS provided in the OER-BIP repository. This role allows users to access to all the Oracle Enterprise Repository reports. The OER proxy user has this role as default. If you want to allow other users to access to the OER Oracle Enterprise Repository reports you need to add this OER_REPORTS role to the users.
There are three default Oracle Enterprise Repository JDBC data sources, each of which is for each database type, provided in the BI Publisher as sample. You need to pick one of the following based on your database type and update this JDBC data source to suit to your database environment:
OER - Oracle
OER_S - SQL Server
OER_U - UDB
To update the JDBC information, perform the following steps:
Log into BI Publisher as an administrator.
Click the Admin tab.
In the Data Sources section, select the JDBC Connection link.
Select one of the data sources from OER, OER_S, OER_U.
In the Update Data Source screen, change the connection string to point to the database for Oracle Enterprise Repository. Use the same ConnectString as what appears in the Oracle Enterprise Repository database.properties file. Use the same database authentication as Oracle Enterprise Repository.
Click the Test Connection button to confirm that BI Publisher can access the database.
Click Apply to save the changes.
This section describes the database configuration for the following databases:
You can select either of the following Driver types for Oracle Database depending on your Oracle database version. The JDBC library file (JAR) is installed as part of the BI Publisher Server installation therefore no extra Jar file is required.
Oracle 11g
Oracle 10g
Oracle 9i
Example for Oracle JDBC Connection:
| Database Driver Class | oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver |
|---|---|
| Connect String | jdbc:oracle:thin:@[HOST]:[PORT]:[DB_NAME] |
| Example | jdbc.oracle.thin:@machine.example.com:1521:oer |
You can select either of the following Driver types for SQL Server Database depending on your SQL Server database version. The JDBC library file (JAR) is installed as part of the BI Publisher Server installation therefore no extra Jar file is required.
Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Microsoft SQL Server 2000
Example for SQL Server JDBC Connection:
| Database Driver Class | hyperion.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver |
|---|---|
| Connect String | jdbc:hyperion:sqlserver://[HOST]:[PORT];DatabaseName=[DB_NAME] |
| Example | jdbc:hyperion:sqlserver://machine.example.com;databaseName=oer |
You can select either of the following Driver types for IBM DB2 Universal Database depending on your DB2 database version. The JDBC library file (JAR) is installed as part of the BI Publisher Server installation therefore no extra Jar file is required.
IBM DB2 Universal Database v9
IBM DB2 Universal Database v8
Example for UDB JDBC Connection:
| Database Driver Class | hyperion.jdbc.db2.DB2Driver |
|---|---|
| Connect String | jdbc:hyperion:db2://[hostHOST]:[portPORT];DatabaseName=[dbnameDB_NAME] |
| Example | jdbc:hyperion:db2://machine.example.com;DatabaseName=oer |
You can schedule the Oracle Enterprise Repository reports. For more information, see the Oracle BI Installation Guide at
By default, all Oracle Enterprise Repository reports uses Document Caching to reduce database roundtrips on the generation of report data. While the data is cached, the rendered report may not always show the most recent activities in Oracle Enterprise Repository. Setting the cache expiration changes depending on how frequently BI Publisher needs to refresh the data for the second and subsequent rendering of a report. The default value in BI Publisher for the cache expiration is 30. To change this value, follow the following steps:
Log into BI Publisher as an administrator.
Click the Admin tab.
In the System Maintenance section, select the Server Configuration link.
In the Caching section, specify a Cache Expiration (in minutes) and click Apply apply the changes.
Note:
When reports are rendered by BI Publisher, the result is dependent upon the data found for the report. Until data is present, the reports returned by BI Publisher may be inconsistent.Ensure that the reports, which have been configured to run within BI Publisher, are functional. It is also required that a link to the reports is provided to the Oracle Enterprise Repository System Settings to allow Oracle Enterprise Repository users to access and utilize the reports.
The Report Search Criteria is a good report for this validation. It is easy to generate data for the report by using Oracle Enterprise Repository.
To generate data for Search Criteria, perform the following steps:
Connect to the Oracle Enterprise Repository instance, which is functioning properly.
In the assets tab, enter a keyword into the search box, and then click Search.
To run the Search Criteria:
Log into BI Publisher as the OER user.
Browse the Shared Folders for OER.
Locate Search Criteria and click View to view the report.
Leave the From and To parameters as is. Click the View button to run the report.
Click Link to the Report, and then select Current Page from that menu that appears. A dialog that contains a URL to the report running in BI Publisher is displayed.
The URL is of the format: http://HOSTNAME:PORT/xmlpserver/OER/Search+Criteria/Search+Criteria.xdo
A portion of the URL must be copied into the Oracle Enterprise Repository System Settings. The Portion is restricted to the folder containing the reports. This should be of the form: http://HOSTNAME:PORT/xmlpserver/OER
Copy this value to the System Setting Report Server URL (oracle.reports.server.url).
Oracle Enterprise Repository contains a report page with a series of links to a set of reports. These reports are hosted by a BI Publisher instance, which must be installed and configured to host the reports. All of the links in the Oracle Enterprise Repository Reports page are incomplete following an Oracle Enterprise Repository installation. There is a System Setting that provides the protocol, hostname, port, web application name, and parent directory for all of the report links. The System Setting must be configured prior to running any reports.
To configure the system settings, perform the following steps:
Log into Oracle Enterprise Repository as a user with the System Administrator or the Admin role.
In Oracle Enterprise Repository Adminsitration page, click System Settings.
In the Search text box, enter report to filter the list of System Settings.
In the Reports section, set the System Setting Enable Reports (cmee.reports.enabled) to True.
Set the System Setting Report Server URL (oracle.reports.server.url) to the value determined by the "Link to the report->Current Page" steps in section Section 15.5, "Validating the Installation and Configuration of BI Publisher".
If the Report Server URL property is not properly configured, then the Reports page displays the following message:
Please set the system setting for Report Server URL. Reports cannot be run until this has been properly set.
Save the System Settings.
Validate that the System Settings have been configured properly by navigating to the Reports section.
Run the Search Criteria report. It is the ninth report in the Asset Portfolio Management section of the reports.
If the browser does not retain an active session to BI Publisher, then the BI Publisher's Login screen is displayed. After you have successfully logged into BI Publisher, the report is displayed.
Running the report opens a new browser window to the URL for BI Publisher. Comparing the URL generated by Oracle Enterprise Repository to the URL generated by BI Publisher should be an aid in diagnosing any configuration errors of the Report Server URL System Setting.
Repeat the steps mentioned in this section, until the report runs successfully. If the report returns with "No Search Results Found", then run some keyword searches in the Assets tab of Oracle Enterprise Repository.
Note:
If Internet Explorer returns a different report than the one requested, then change the Temporary Internet Files to check for changes on Every Visit.Oracle Enterprise Repository is capable of connecting to BI Publisher and generating a BI Publisher authtoken, which allows all Oracle Enterprise Repository users to access reports without the requirement of a separate BI Publisher username/password pair. If Oracle Enterprise Repository does not proxy authentication, then each user of Oracle Enterprise Repository requires a second set of authentication credentials, one for Oracle Enterprise Repository and another for BI Publisher.
Access to the Reports page in Oracle Enterprise Repository is controlled by Role Based Access Controls through the Reports Basic Access Setting on the Admin page.
For organizations who choose to use Authentication Proxying for Oracle Enterprise Repository reports, there is a collection of System Settings that will need configuration.
To do this configuration, follow the following steps:
Log into Oracle Enterprise Repository as a user with the System Administrator or the Admin role.
In Oracle Enterprise Repository Administration page, click System Settings.
In the Search text box, enter report to filter the list of System Settings.
In the Reports section, set the System Setting Report Server Endpoint URL (oracle.reports.server.endpoint.url) property to the same value as the System Setting Report Server URL property. Then, replace the OER/Standard_Reports with services/PublicReportService.
If the Report Server URL is not properly configured, then the Reports page displayes the following message:
The system setting for Report Server Endpoint URL has not been set. This setting enables automatic login to the reports server. Without this, users must manually login.
Set the System Setting Report Server Username (oracle.reports.server.username) property to the value for the BI Publisher username.
If the Oracle Enterprise Repository pre-configured BI Publisher content is being used, then the pre-configured username is oer.
Set the System Setting Report Server Password (oracle.reports.server.password) property to the value for the BI Publisher password.
If the Oracle Enterprise Repository pre-configured BI Publisher content is being used, then the pre-configured password is OER_PWD.
Save the System Settings.
Validate that the System Settings have been configured properly by navigating to the Reports section. Close all browser windows, which are already connected to BI Publisher.
Run the Search Criteria report. It is the seventh report in the Asset Portfolio Management section of the reports.
In the browser window that opens, click the Sign Out link in the top-right to logout of any existing session which exists. Close the browser window.
Run the Search Criteria report again.
In the browser window that opens, confirm that user oer is logged into BI Publisher.