Note:
If you have upgraded from a prior release of Enterprise Manager that was configured for multiple BI Publisher Servers, it is necessary to repeat the steps in this chapter. Please note that the existing shared storage, from the prior release of Enterprise Manager, will continue to be used.Note:
If you are running Enterprise Manager in a High Availability environment (behind a Server Load Balancer (SLB)) be aware of the following caveats:If you have configured a primary BI Publisher server, on the primary OMS system, then you need to insure that BI Publisher is also configured and running on the additional OMS systems that you have added. See the following sections in this chapter, on the different paths to configure additional BI Publisher servers on additional OMS systems.
If an Enterprise Manager system has a running OMS, and the corresponding BI Publisher server is not running, then running BI Publisher reports from Enterprise Manager will fail some of the time. In this case, either bring up BI Publisher on that system using:
emctl start oms -bip_only
or bring down that OMS on that system using:
emctl stop oms -all
Enterprise Manager 12c Release 4 (12.1.0.4) or greater allows you to configure Enterprise Manager to work with multiple BI Publisher servers.
Important:
Older versions of Enterprise Manager do not support the BI Publisher multi-server environment described in this chapter.This chapter covers the following:
Note:
BI Publisher software is automatically installed on all systems where Enterprise Manager 12.1.0.4 or greater was installed. This chapter covers steps to configure the BI Publisher Server to run on these systems.Enterprise Manager 12c Release 4 (12.1.0.4) or greater permits multiple BI Publisher servers to be integrated with Enterprise Manager.
Before additional BI Publisher servers can be added, the first BI Publisher must be configured. Refer to the chapter Integrating BI Publisher with Enterprise Manager in the Enterprise Manager Advanced Installation and Configuration guide for more information. This "first" BI Publisher server, called "BIP", will be referred to as the primary BI Publisher server.
Note:
BI Publisher multi-server deployments are not supported in Enterprise Manager 12c Release 4 (12.1.0.4) or greater on Microsoft Windows platforms.BI Publisher stores all configuration data and report definitions in an Operating System file system-based repository. Therefore, in order to support multiple BI Publisher servers, read/write permissions must be available to this file system from all the OMS systems in which you are to run BI Publisher. This is accomplished using standard Network file system technologies.
If you are implementing multiple BI Publisher servers you must also make the BI Publisher shared storage file system highly available. This file system needs to be periodically backed up (for example, daily or hourly) using standard Operating System commands, or a professional backup solution. It is also highly recommended that a high availability disk solution be used such as a RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives) storage device. At least RAID 1 (redundancy) should be used. Other RAID levels (such as RAID5 and RAID0+1) are also acceptable. Do not use RAID0, as this is intended for speed, and not redundancy. RAID1 is not by itself a backup solution. Raid 1 protects against disk drive failures, but periodic backups are still required. If the files stored on this network storage device are lost, all BI Publisher servers (both primary and secondary) will no longer be functional.
Once the RAID storage device is configured, it must be mounted on all systems where you intend to install BI Publisher. Standard Operating System commands can be used for this mount (for example, NFS). Two directories on the storage device must be dedicated for BI Publisher files. These are known as the "Cluster Volume" and "Config Volume".
Note:
The space requirements for configuring BI Publisher shared storage depends on the amount of space required for storing the report catalog and associated management information.At install time, the BI Publisher repository uses approximately 400 MB of storage. Initially, 10 G should be made available for the BI Publisher shared storage. This space requirement increases over a period of time as you install additional Enterprise Manager plug-ins and create more reports. Hence, you should ensure that this storage can easily be extended in future.
Before additional BI Publisher servers are added to Enterprise Manager, BI Publisher needs to be reconfigured to use this shared storage device. This is accomplished by running the following the command on the primary OMS system:
emctl config oms -bip_shared_storage -config_volume <vol1> -cluster_volume <vol2>
Once the primary BI Publisher server is configured, and shared storage has been configured, there are several paths that can be taken to enable secondary BI Publisher server(s), on additional OMS systems:
Using the standard "Add an Oracle Management Service" provisioning job. If this provisioning job is run after the primary BI Publisher server is configured, then the additional OMS system will automatically be configured with a secondary BI Publisher server.
Note:
If the primary BI Publisher server is configured, the "Add an Oracle Management Service" provisioning job will not be available until BI Publisher is reconfigured to use the shared storage device.If the "Add and Oracle Management Service" provisioning job has already been run, or an additional OMS system has been configured, a secondary BI Publisher can be added to an existing additional OMS system using the command:
configureBIP -addBIP
This command should be run on the system where the additional OMS resides.
Determining BI Publisher Shared Storage Locations
The BI Publisher shared storage locations are stored as Enterprise Manager OMS properties. You can query for the shared storage locations using the following emctl commands:
emctl get property -name oracle.sysman.core.eml.ip.bip.SharedStorageConfigVolume emctl get property -name oracle.sysman.core.eml.ip.bip.SharedStorageClusterVolume
Example:
-bash-3.2$ emctl get property -name oracle.sysman.core.eml.ip.bip.SharedStorageConfigVolume Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Release 4 Copyright (c) 1996, 2014 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. SYSMAN password: Value for property oracle.sysman.core.eml.ip.bip.SharedStorageConfigVolume at Global level is /oracle/BIP/config
Important:
If you decide to use the Unix Network File System (NFS) for the BI Publisher shared storage, do not use NFS volumes that are managed by the NFS automounter as it typically mounts the /net directory (non-fixed mount point). Instead, use NFS mounts that use a fixed mount point. For example: /oracle/em/BIP.As broadly outlined above, in order to support multiple BI Publisher servers, the following command must be run:
emctl config oms -bip_shared_storage -config_volume <vol1> -cluster_volume <vol2>
Be sure to keep the storage location for these volumes (for example, vol1 and vol2 shown in the previous section) available. Do not delete these files.
This command will prompt for the WebLogic Administration Server password as well as the Repository User (SYSMAN) Password.
The command executes the following steps:
The supplied credentials are validated.
Certain pre-requisite tests are run. These include:
The two volumes must not be the same as the previously configured shared storage volumes (if any).
The two volumes must be distinct
The file system mount points for the two volumes must exist.
The two volumes must be completely empty.
The two volumes must be writable.
The BI Publisher server on the local system (the primary BI Publisher server named "BIP") is stopped.
The existing BI Publisher file system-based repository, which was installed when the primary BI Publisher was configured, is copied to the Configuration Volume (-config_volume).
The primary BI Publisher server, named "BIP", is reconfigured to use WebLogic JMS Queues and WebLogic Persistence Stores (used by the BI Publisher scheduler) that are stored in the Cluster Volume (-cluster_volume).
The BI Publisher scheduler is reconfigured to support multiple BI Publisher servers and to use the new locations discussed previously.
The values for the two volumes are stored as OMS properties in the Enteprise Manager repository database.
The primary BI Publisher is configured to point at the new Configuration Volume.
BI Publisher is started.
An overall status is displayed.
The following example shows output generated by running the emctl config oms -bip_shared_storage command:
$ emctl config oms -bip_shared_storage -config_volume /BIP_STORAGE/config -cluster_volume /BIP_STORAGE/cluster Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Release 4 Copyright (c) 1996, 2014 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. Enter Admin User's Password : Enter Enterprise Manager Root (SYSMAN) Password : Stopping BI Publisher Server... BI Publisher Server Successfully Stopped BI Publisher Server is Down Copying The BI Publisher repository from the location '...........gc_inst/user_projects/domains/GCDomain/config/bipublisher/repository' to the location '/BIP_STORAGE/config/bipublisher/repository'. This can take some time. Do not interrupt this command while it is running. Copied BI Publisher repository to the location '/BIP_STORAGE/config/bipublisher/repository' Configuring BI Publisher server named 'BIP' for use in a High Availability environment. This operation can take some time. Do not interrupt this command while it is running. Updating BI Publisher Scheduler configuration ... Updating BI Publisher shared storage properties ... The BI Publisher properties have been updated. The BI Publisher storage for configuration data is in the location '/BIP_STORAGE/config' The BI Publisher storage for cluster data is '/BIP_STORAGE/cluster' BI Publisher has been configured to point to the BI Publisher repository in the location '/BIP_STORAGE/config' Starting BI Publisher Server ... BI Publisher Server Successfully Started BI Publisher Server is Up BI Publisher storage has been configured for the BI Publisher server named 'BIP' running at the URL: https://em.example.com:9702/xmlpserver Overall result of operations: SUCCESS
As discussed earlier, there are two methods to configure additional BI Publisher servers. The method used will depend on when the primary BI Publisher server is configured, in relation to when the additional OMS server(s) is created using the Add an OMS provisioning job (or other means). The following paths illustrate these methods:
Install Enterprise Manager
Configure the primary BI Publisher Server using configureBIP or configureBIP -upgrade.
Configure BI Publisher shared storage using emctl config oms -bip_shared_storage
Add OMS using the Add OMS provisioning job
A secondary BI Publisher server is automatically configured along with the additional OMS system.
Install Enterprise Manager
Add OMS's using Add OMS provisioning job or other means, such as a software-only install.
Configure primary BI Publisher server, using configureBIP or configureBIP -upgrade
Configure BI Publisher shared storage using emctl config oms -bip_shared_storage
Configure additional BI Publisher servers using configureBIP -addBIP on the additional OMS system where you wish to run multiple BI Publisher servers.
Note:
In order to run the configureBIP -addBIP command, the OMS for the current system must be up and running. This can be verified by running the emctl status oms command as shown in the following example:$ emctl status oms Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Release 4 Copyright (c) 1996, 2015 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. WebTier is Up Oracle Management Server is Up
As these two paths illustrate, you can see the necessary prerequisite to adding secondary BI Publisher server(s), depending on when you decide to configure the primary BI Publisher server.
If you are planning on building an Enterprise Manager HA installation that will leverage the reporting capabilities of BI Publisher, then path A will be more straightforward. All additional OMS systems that are added will automatically get secondary BI Publisher servers.
See the Advanced Installation and Configuration Guide " Integrating BI Publisher with Enterprise Manager".
After the primary BI Publisher server is installed, and you have verified it is operating correctly (as detailed in this chapter) you can proceed to reconfigure BI Publisher to use shared storage. See "Reconfiguring BI Publisher to Use a Shared Storage Device."
Once the BI Publisher shared storage is configured, the "add OMS Provisioning job" will be aware of the configured BI Publisher server. All that will be required is to enter the HTTP and HTTPS ports to use, on the additional OMS system, for the secondary BI Publisher server. The "add OMS provisioning job" performs pre-requisite steps to insure tha the BI Publisher shared storage has been configured. In the event of failure in automatically configuring the secondary BI Publisher server, you can fallback to Path B.
If the Enterprise Manager topology already includes additional OMS systems, and the primary BI Publisher server has not yet been configured, there are additional steps to follow to enable the primary BI Publisher server and one or more steps to configure secondary BI Publisher server(s) on additional OMS system(s).
See the "Integrating BI Publisher with Enterprise Manager" in the Enterprise Manager Advanced Installation and Configuration Guide.
After the primary BI Publisher server is installed (and you have verified it operates correctly as documented above) you can proceed to reconfigure BI Publisher to use shared storage.
For each additional OMS system on which you are also going to run a secondary BI Publisher server, the "configureBIP -addBIP" command must be run.
Note:
This command is run on the system that hosts the additional OMS system, and not the system on which the primary OMS system resides.The following example lists command output when configuring a secondary BI Publisher server on an additional OMS system.
$ configureBIP -addBIP Configuring BI Publisher Version "11.1.1.7.0" to work with Enterprise Manager Logging started at /oracle/Middleware/oms/cfgtoollogs/bip/bipca_20140221125351.log. A new BI Publisher server is going to be added. Do You really want to add a BI Publisher server (Y|N):y Enter sysdba user name (sys): Enter sysdba user password: Enter Administration Server user password: Configuring BI Publisher in Oracle Home located in /oracle/Middleware/Oracle_BI1 ... Enter an integer between 9701 and 49152 for the BI Publisher HTTP server port. (9701): Enter an integer between 9702 and 49152 for the BI Publisher HTTPS server port. (9702): Configuring BI publisher on additional OMS system. This operation can take some time. Do not interrupt this command while it is running... Locking Enterprise Manager ... OMS Console is locked. Access the console over HTTPS ports. Restart OMS. Restarting Enterprise Manager ... Stopping Enterprise Manager, this can take some time ... Starting Enterprise Manager. This operation can take some time. Do not interrupt this command while it is running. OMS Started Successfully Successfully configured additional BI Publisher server.
Regardless of whether Path A or B is chosen to configure a secondary BI Publisher server, the "emctl status oms" command can be used to confirm successful configuration.
$ emctl status oms Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Release 4 Copyright (c) 1996, 2014 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. WebTier is Up Oracle Management Server is Up BI Publisher Server is Up
To obtain information about secondary BI Publisher servers, run the following command
emctl status oms -details
Notice that secondary BI Publisher servers have the server name "BIPx", where "x" matches the server number of the OMS (for example, EMGC_OMS2 : BIP2, EMGC_OMS3 : BIP3).
$ emctl status oms -details Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Release 4 Copyright (c) 1996, 2014 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. Enter Enterprise Manager Root (SYSMAN) Password : Console Server Host : em.example.com HTTP Console Port : 7788 HTTPS Console Port : 7799 HTTP Upload Port : 4889 HTTPS Upload Port : 4900 EM Instance Home : /oracle/gc_inst/em/EMGC_OMS2 OMS Log Directory Location : /oracle/gc_inst/em/EMGC_OMS2/sysman/log OMS is not configured with SLB or virtual hostname Agent Upload is locked. OMS Console is locked. Active CA ID: 1 Console URL: https://em.example.com:7799/em Upload URL: https://em.example.com:4900/empbs/upload WLS Domain Information Domain Name : GCDomain Admin Server Host : emas.example.com Admin Server HTTPS Port: 7101 Oracle Management Server Information Managed Server Instance Name: EMGC_OMS2 Oracle Management Server Instance Host: em.example.com WebTier is Up Oracle Management Server is Up BI Publisher Server is Up BI Publisher Server named 'BIP2' running at local URL: https://em.example.com:7799/xmlpserver BI Publisher Server Logs: /oracle/gc_inst/user_projects/domains/GCDomain/servers/BIP2/logs/ BI Publisher Log : /oracle/gc_inst/user_projects/domains/GCDomain/servers/BIP2/logs/bipublisher/bipublisher.log