You can open a repository for editing in either online or offline mode. The tasks you can perform depend on the mode in which you opened the repository.
This section contains the following topics:
Use offline mode to view and modify a repository while it is not loaded into the Oracle BI Server.
If you attempt to open a repository in offline mode while it is loaded into the Oracle BI Server, the repository opens in read-only mode. Only one Administration Tool session at a time can edit a repository in offline mode. See About Read-Only Mode.
You do not need to enter a user name and password to open a repository in offline mode. You only need to enter the repository password.
This section contains the following topics:
Use these steps to open an RPD-format repository in offline mode.
In the Administration Tool, select File > Open > Offline.
Go to the repository you want to open, and then select Open.
In the Open Offline dialog, enter the repository password, and then click OK.
If the server is running and the repository you are trying to open is loaded, the repository opens in read-only mode. If you want to edit the repository while it is loaded, you must open it in online mode. Also, if you open a repository in offline mode and then start the server, the repository becomes available to users. Any changes you make become available only when the server is restarted.
When you open an RPD-format repository in the Administration Tool in offline mode, the title bar displays the name of the open repository, for example, SampleAppLite.
You can also open MDS XML format repositories in offline mode, as follows:
When you open an MDS XML format repository in the Administration Tool, the title bar displays the format and root folder location, for example, MDS XML C:\Root_Folder.
Use online mode to view and modify a repository while it is loaded into the Oracle BI Server.
The Oracle BI Server must be running to open a repository in online mode. There are certain things you can do in online mode that you cannot do in offline mode. In online mode, you can perform the following tasks:
Manage user sessions
Manage the query cache
Manage clustered servers
Use the Oracle BI Summary Advisor (Oracle Exalytics Machine deployments only)
This section contains the following topics:
Use these steps to open a repository in online mode.
The Oracle BI Server data source names (DSNs) that have been configured on your computer are displayed in the Open Online Repository dialog. If no additional DSNs have been configured for this version of the Oracle BI Server, you might see only the default DSN that is configured for you during installation.
See “Integrating Other Clients with Oracle Business Intelligence” in Integrator's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition for information about how to create an ODBC DSN for the Oracle BI Server.
When you open a repository in the Administration Tool in online mode, the title bar displays the DSN for the Oracle BI Server to which you are connected, not the name of the current repository.
When performing a single-node deployment, changes made using the Oracle BI Administration Tool, in online mode are available after reloading the metadata in Presentation Services.
In a clustered deployment, changes are published to the repository publishing directory, specified on the Repository tab of the Deployment page in Fusion Middleware Control. The source Oracle BI Server consumes these changes automatically, but you must restart all destination Oracle BI Servers for them to get the latest changes, and then reload metadata in Presentation Services by clicking the Reload Files and Metadata link from the Administration page.
See Using nqcmd to Test and Refine the Repository.
You can restart the destination Oracle BI Servers using the RollingRestart ODBC procedure, or you can restart the destination servers using Fusion Middleware Control:
Use the RollingRestart ODBC procedure, and enter the following in nqcmd:
call RollingRestart(timeout);
where timeout is the number of seconds to wait for each destinationOracle BI Server to restart before moving on to the next one.
For example:
call RollingRestart(300);
In this example, the system waits five minutes for each Oracle BI Server to restart. If the given Oracle BI Server restarts sooner, the system moves on to the next one immediately.
Note:
You must run the RollingRestart procedure directly against the source Oracle BI Server. Because the DSN created upon install for each Oracle BI Server is clustered by default, you must manually create a non-clustered DSN for the source Oracle BI Server to run the procedure against.
See “Integrating Other Clients with Oracle Business Intelligence” in Integrator's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition for how to create an ODBC DSN for the Oracle BI Server.
To restart the destination servers using Fusion Middleware Control, first use the Cluster Manager in the Oracle BI Administration Tool, in online mode, to determine which Oracle BI Server is the source, and which are the destination servers. Use the Process tab of the Availability page Fusion Middleware Control to restart the destination Oracle BI Servers. See Using Fusion Middleware Control to Start and Stop Oracle Business Intelligence System Component Processes in System Administrator's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.
It is a best practice to avoid making other configuration changes in Fusion Middleware Control or the configuration files when using the RollingRestart ODBC procedure or when restarting the destination Oracle BI Servers in Fusion Middleware Control. Because only the destination servers are restarted, a situation might result where the source Oracle BI Server has a different set of configuration settings loaded than the destination Oracle BI Servers. If this occurs, restart the source Oracle BI Server.
Use online mode only for small changes that do not require running consistency checks.
Running consistency checks against the full online repository can take a long time. Instead, make more complex changes that require consistency checks in offline mode against a project extract of the repository.
The table provides guidelines for when to perform online and offline edits.
| Mode | Use This Mode For... | Example Use Cases |
|---|---|---|
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Online |
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Offline |
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In addition, you should limit the number of concurrent online users. The best practice is to have only one user working in online mode at a time. Even when users have different objects checked out, there might be dependencies between the objects that can cause conflicts when the changes are checked in. In general, only one user should make online changes in a single business model at a time.
If you must have multiple concurrent users in online mode, do not have more than five users. For situations where you need more than five users, use the multiuser development environment. See Setting Up and Using the Multiuser Development Environment.
Even with a single user making changes, be aware that online mode is riskier than offline mode because you are working against a running server. If you check in changes that are not consistent, it might cause the Oracle BI Server to shut down. When you work in online mode, make sure to have a backup of the latest repository so that you can revert to it if needed. You can also use File > Undo All Changes to roll back all changes made since the last check-in.
When you are working in a repository open in online mode, you are prompted to check out objects when you attempt to perform various operations.
When you are working in a repository that was opened in online mode, you are prompted to perform a consistency check before checking in the changes you make to a repository.
If you have made changes to a repository and then attempt to close the repository without first checking in your changes, a dialog opens automatically asking you to select an action to take. If you move an object from beneath its parent and then attempt to delete the parent, you are prompted to check in changes before the delete is allowed to proceed.
Use the Check in Changes dialog to make changes available immediately for use by other applications. Applications that query the Oracle BI Server after you have checked in the changes recognize the changes immediately. Applications that are currently querying the server recognize the changes the next time they access any items that have changed.
If the Administration Tool detects an invalid change, a message is displayed to alert you to the nature of the problem. Correct the problem and perform the check-in again. You can
In some cases, you might see error 97005 (Transaction Failed). This error occurs when the Oracle BI Server does not accept the changes. In most cases, you can check the server log files to determine the cause of the problem.
You must save changes to persist the changes to disk. You must check in changes before you can save, but you do not need to save to check in changes.
Only one component, the Oracle BI Server or a single Oracle BI Administration Tool client in offline mode can have a repository open in read/write mode at a time.
If a second component opens a repository that is already in use, the repository is opened in read-only mode.
For example, assume the Oracle BI Server loads a repository in read/write mode. Any Administration Tool clients connecting to that repository in online mode also get read/write mode because they are accessing the repository through the Oracle BI Server. However, Administration Tool clients opening that repository in offline mode get read-only mode because the repository is already open for read/write through the Oracle BI Server.
If theAdministration Tool client opens a repository offline in read/write mode, when theOracle BI Server starts, the server and any Administration Tool client are also opened in read-only mode.
To enable the server to load the repository in read/write mode, you must first close the Administration Tool client that has the repository locked, and then restart the Oracle BI Server.
The Administration Tool opens a repository in read-only mode when Oracle Business Intelligence has been clustered, and the Administration Tool is connected in online mode to a dependent server. The cluster’s controlling BI Server holds a lock on the repository. To avoid this lockout situation when running in a clustered environment, ensure that the Oracle BI Server ODBC data source name (DSN) used by the Administration Tool is configured to point to the cluster controllers rather than to a specificOracle BI Server.