1 Introduction to Oracle Business Intelligence System Administration

This chapter introduces system administration in Oracle Business Intelligence, explains what a system administrator does; describes where to get started with typical system administration tasks; describes the BI architecture; lists the tools that can help you complete system administration tasks, and provides links to system requirements and certification information.

This chapter contains the following topics:

• Section 1.1, "What are the Oracle Business Intelligence System Administration Tasks?"

• Section 1.2, "Getting Started with Managing Oracle Business Intelligence"

• Section 1.3, "What is the Oracle Business Intelligence System Logical Architecture?"

• Section 1.4, "About Oracle BI Java Components and System Components"

• Section 1.5, "What is the Administration Server?"

• Section 1.6, "What System Administration Tools are Available for Managing Oracle Business Intelligence?"

• Section 1.7, "Topics of Interest in Other Guides"

• Section 1.8, "System Requirements and Certification"

1.1 What are the Oracle Business Intelligence System Administration Tasks?

Administering an Oracle Business Intelligence system involves the following tasks:

• Configuring a system for deployment after installation

  Configuring metadata and content, general preferences, and default system settings.

• Starting and stopping the system when required

  Bringing the system up and down during system maintenance tasks.

• Configuring security

  Securing access to the Oracle Business Intelligence system, metadata, and data, configuring Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Single Sign On (SSO), and integration with identity management systems.

• Scaling out and configuring for high availability

  Configuring the Oracle Business Intelligence system for linear scale-out and identifying and removing single points of failure.

• Managing performance and availability

  Monitoring service levels and tuning performance.

• Managing and resolving issues

  Diagnosing errors and establishing resolutions.

• Moving a system from test to production

  Managing the steps for moving from a test to a production environment.

• Backing up and recovering data

  Preparing for and recovering from unexpected events.

For more information about these tasks, see Section 1.2, "Getting Started with Managing Oracle Business Intelligence."

1.2 Getting Started with Managing Oracle Business Intelligence

Use this section to identify a task to complete, then click the corresponding link to display the appropriate content.

Table 1-1 describes the typical system administration tasks that you perform in Oracle Business Intelligence and indicates where to find related information.

Table 1-1 Oracle Business Intelligence System Administration Tasks

System Administration Task	More Information
Learning about Oracle Business Intelligence system administration	For more information, see the topics in this section. Contains information about the system architecture, components, tools, links to other related topics, and certification information.
Viewing Oracle Business Intelligence status	Section 2.2.2, "Using Fusion Middleware Control to Manage Oracle Business Intelligence System Components" Also contains information about using Fusion Middleware Control and using WebLogic Server Administration Console.
Configuring Oracle Business Intelligence	Chapter 3, "Configuring the Oracle Business Intelligence System" Contains information about the available methods for updating configuration settings and where configuration files are located.
Starting and stopping Oracle Business Intelligence	Chapter 4, "Starting and Stopping Oracle Business Intelligence" Contains various topics on starting and stopping components, in addition to troubleshooting information.
Managing availability and capacity	Part III, "Scaling and Deploying for High Availability and Performance" Contains chapters about extending and scaling the environment, deploying for high availability, performance tuning, and query caching.
Diagnosing problems and resolving issues	Part IV, "Resolving Issues" Contains chapters about diagnosing and resolving issues and about usage tracking.
Configuring Oracle Business Intelligence	Part V, "Configuring Oracle Business Intelligence" Contains chapters about required configuration such as configuring repositories and connections to external systems.
Modifying advanced configuration settings	Part VI, "Advanced Configuration Settings" Contains chapters about advanced and optional configuration settings for features such as analyses, dashboards, and maps.
Configuring Oracle BI Scheduler	Part VII, "Configuring Oracle BI Scheduler"
Automating management of an Oracle Business Intelligence system	Part VIII, "Automating Management of Oracle Business Intelligence" Describes the Oracle BI Systems Management API.
Managing the life cycle.	Part IX, "Managing the Life Cycle" Contains chapters about life cycle management tasks such as patching, moving between environments, and backup and recovery.
Securing the system	Define administrative role membership Appendix C, "Managing Security for Dashboards and Analyses" Secure middle-tier communications Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Single Sign On (SSO) are not described in this guide. For information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Security Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

1.3 What is the Oracle Business Intelligence System Logical Architecture?

The Oracle Business Intelligence system logical architecture comprises a single integrated set of manageable components called the Oracle BI domain which can be installed and configured to work together on a single host or can be clustered across multiple hosts for performance and availability.

Oracle Business Intelligence on a single host

Figure 1-1 illustrates the Oracle Business Intelligence system architecture on a single host.

Figure 1-1 Oracle Business Intelligence System Logical Architecture (single host)

Description of "Figure 1-1 Oracle Business Intelligence System Logical Architecture (single host)"

BI Domain

A BI Domain consists of Java components that are deployed into one or more Java EE (JEE) containers within a single Weblogic domain; system (non-JEE) components and processes; and required configuration files, metadata repositories, and infrastructure.

Administration Server

A JEE container that runs in a dedicated Java virtual machine that contains Java components for administering the system.

For more information, see Section 1.5, "What is the Administration Server?".

Managed Server

A JEE container that runs in a dedicated Java virtual machine that provides the run-time environment for the Java-based services and applications within the system. An Oracle BI domain contains one or more Managed Servers that are distributed across one or more host computers.

Java Components

Java components are deployed as JEE applications to service SOAP, HTTP, and other forms of requests.

For more information about the Java components, see Chapter 1, "About Oracle BI Java Components and System Components".

Node Manager

Node Manager provides process management services for the Administration Server and Managed Server processes. For more information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Control Node Manager Administrator's Guide for Oracle WebLogic Server.

System Components

System components are deployed as server processes and provide the core services that enable Oracle Business Intelligence.

For more information about the system components, see Section 1.4, "About Oracle BI Java Components and System Components.".

OPMN

OPMN (Oracle Process Manager and Notification server) maintains the Oracle Business Intelligence system component processes. For more information, see Section 1.6.3, "Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN) Tool - Manage Oracle Business Intelligence System Components (for advanced users)"

Other Oracle BI Domain Contents

The Oracle BI domain also contains all the necessary software, metadata, configuration files, RPD files, Oracle BI Presentation Catalog, connection and database configuration information that are required to run an Oracle Business Intelligence system.

Oracle Business Intelligence on multiple hosts

Oracle Business Intelligence can be installed and configured on multiple hosts. Figure 1-2 illustrates the system architecture on two hosts.

Figure 1-2 Oracle Business Intelligence System Logical Architecture (two hosts)

Description of "Figure 1-2 Oracle Business Intelligence System Logical Architecture (two hosts)"

In Figure 1-2, the Java components (WebLogic domain) and the system components (BI instance) are clustered on each host as part of the single BI domain. The Administration Server exists on both hosts, but is only active on one host (in this example, Host 1).

1.4 About Oracle BI Java Components and System Components

The Oracle Business Intelligence Java and system components are listed as follows:

Java components — Deployed as one or more Java EE applications:

• Administrative Components — Enterprise Management applications and JMX MBeans for managing all configuration and run-time settings for Oracle Business Intelligence.

• Oracle BI Publisher — This component provides an enterprise reporting solution for authoring, managing, and delivering all types of highly formatted documents to employees, customers, and suppliers.

• Oracle BI Office — This component provides the integration between Oracle Business Intelligence and Microsoft Office products.

• Oracle BI Action Services — This component provides the dedicated Web services that are required by the Action Framework and that enable an administrator to manually configure which Web service directories can be browsed by users when they create actions.

• Oracle Real-Time Decisions (Oracle RTD) — This component provides enterprise analytics software solutions that enable companies to make better decisions in real time at key, high-value points in operational business processes.

• Oracle BI Security Services — This component provides dedicated Web services that enable the integration of the Oracle BI Server with the Oracle Fusion Middleware security platform.

• Oracle BI SOA Services — This component provides dedicated Web services for objects in the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog, to invoke analyses, agents, and conditions. They make it easy to invoke Oracle Business Intelligence functionality from Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) processes.

• Oracle BI Plugin — A JEE application that routes HTTP and SOAP requests to Oracle BI Presentation Services.

System components — Deployed as non-JEE components, such as processes and services written in C++ and J2SE:

• Oracle BI Server — This component provides the query and data access capabilities at the heart of Oracle Business Intelligence and provides services for accessing and managing the enterprise semantic model (stored in a file with a .RPD extension).

• Oracle BI Presentation Services — This component provides the framework and interface for the presentation of business intelligence data to Web clients. It maintains an Oracle BI Presentation Catalog service on the file system for the customization of this presentation framework.

• Oracle BI Scheduler — This component provides extensible scheduling for analyses to be delivered to users at specified times. (Oracle BI Publisher has its own scheduler.)

• Oracle BI JavaHost — This component provides component services that enable Oracle BI Presentation Services to support various components such as Java tasks for Oracle BI Scheduler, Oracle BI Publisher, and graph generation.

• Oracle BI Cluster Controller — This components distributes requests to the BI Server, ensuring requests are evenly load-balanced across all BI Server process instances in the BI domain.

For more information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

1.5 What is the Administration Server?

The Administration Server contains the administrative components that enable administration of a single or multi-node (that is, distributed) BI domain. Specifically the Administration Server contains the following

• JMX MBeans — Java components that provide programmatic access for managing a BI domain.

• Fusion Middleware Control — An administrative user interface that is used to manage the BI domain.

• WebLogic Server Administration Console — An adminstrative user interface that provides advanced management for Weblogic, JEE components, and security.

1.6 What System Administration Tools are Available for Managing Oracle Business Intelligence?

The following system administration tools are available to help you to manage Oracle Business Intelligence:

• Section 1.6.1, "Fusion Middleware Control - Monitor, Manage, and Configure Oracle Business Intelligence System Components"

• Section 1.6.2, "Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console - Monitor and Manage Oracle Business Intelligence JEE Java Components"

• Section 1.6.3, "Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN) Tool - Manage Oracle Business Intelligence System Components (for advanced users)"

• Section 1.6.4, "Oracle Weblogic Scripting Tool (WLST) - Programmatically Administer Oracle Business Intelligence"

• Section 1.6.5, "Oracle BI Administration Tool - Manage the Metadata Repository"

1.6.1 Fusion Middleware Control - Monitor, Manage, and Configure Oracle Business Intelligence System Components

Fusion Middleware Control is a browser-based tool and the recommended method for monitoring, managing, and configuring Oracle Business Intelligence components.

Fusion Middleware Control is used principally for managing the system components of a BI domain and provides support for the following:

• Starting, stopping, and restarting all system components and Managed Servers

• Configuring preferences and defaults

• Scaling out of system components

• Providing high availability configuration and status of system components

• Managing performance and monitoring system metrics

• Performing diagnostics and logging

Fusion Middleware Control also provides access to Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console, where you monitor and manage Oracle Business Intelligence Java components.

Fusion Middleware Control is available only if the Administration Server is running, as described in Section 4.2, "Starting the Oracle Business Intelligence System."

For more information, see Chapter 2, "Managing Oracle Business Intelligence."

1.6.2 Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console - Monitor and Manage Oracle Business Intelligence JEE Java Components

Oracle WebLogic Server is a Java EE application server that supports the deployment of Oracle Business Intelligence Java components in a robust, secure, highly available, and scalable environment.

For more information, see Chapter 2, "Managing Oracle Business Intelligence".

Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console enables you to monitor and manage a WebLogic Server domain. Its capabilities include the following:

• Monitoring health and performance of JEE servers

• Configuring WebLogic domains

• Stopping and starting JEE servers

• Viewing JEE server logs

For more information, see Oracle Technology Network on http://www.oracle.com/technology/index.html.

1.6.3 Oracle Process Manager and Notification Server (OPMN) Tool - Manage Oracle Business Intelligence System Components (for advanced users)

OPMN is a process management tool that manages the Oracle Business Intelligence system components and supports both local and distributed process management, automatic process recycling, and the communication of process state (up, down, starting, stopping). OPMN detects process unavailability and automatically restarts processes).

Note:

Fusion Middleware Control is the recommended approach for starting, stopping, and viewing the status of components. However, following a reboot on Linux you must use the opmnctl start, or startall command. OPMN is suitable only for advanced users.

OPMN provides the following functionality to manage the Oracle Business Intelligence system components:

• A command-line interface for advanced users to control Oracle Fusion Middleware components.

  For information, see Section 4.5, "Alternative Methods For Starting and Stopping Oracle Business Intelligence System Components"

• Automatic restart of processes when they become unresponsive or terminate unexpectedly.

• An integrated way to manage Oracle Fusion Middleware components.

1.6.4 Oracle Weblogic Scripting Tool (WLST) - Programmatically Administer Oracle Business Intelligence

The Oracle Weblogic Scripting Tool (WLST) is a command-line scripting environment (for advanced administrator use), which enables you to programmatically administer Oracle Business Intelligence. The WLST scripting environment is based on the Java scripting interpreter Jython. You can use this tool interactively on the command line, in batch scripts that are supplied in a file (Script Mode, where scripts invoke a sequence of WLST commands without requiring your input), or embedded in Java code. You can extend the WebLogic scripting language by following the Jython language syntax.

For more information, see:

• Section 30.2, "Accessing Oracle BI Systems Management API Methods"

• Oracle Fusion Middleware WebLogic Scripting Tool Command Reference.

1.6.5 Oracle BI Administration Tool - Manage the Metadata Repository

The Oracle BI Administration Tool enables you to manage the metadata repository. For information, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Metadata Repository Builder's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

1.7 Topics of Interest in Other Guides

Some topics that might be of interest to system administrators are covered in other guides. Table 1-2 lists these topics and indicates where to go for more information.

Table 1-2 Topics Covered in Other Guides

Topic	Where to Go for More Information
Third-party tools and relational data source adapters	Section 1.8, "System Requirements and Certification"
Configuring data sources	Oracle Fusion Middleware Metadata Repository Builder's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition
Information about security, including configuring SSO and SSL	Oracle Fusion Middleware Security Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition
Installing and upgrading	Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence

1.8 System Requirements and Certification

Refer to the system requirements and certification documentation for information about hardware and software requirements, platforms, databases, and other information. Both of these documents are available on Oracle Technology Network (OTN).

The system requirements document covers information such as hardware and software requirements, minimum disk space and memory requirements, and required system libraries, packages, or patches:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/ias/files/fusion_requirements.htm

The certification document covers supported installation types, platforms, operating systems, databases, JDKs, and third-party products:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/ias/files/fusion_certification.html