4 Managing OracleBI Discoverer connections

Note: This chapter only applies if the Discoverer installation is associated with an OracleAS Infrastructure. For more information, see Section 2.1, "About installing Oracle Business Intelligence".

If Discoverer is not associated with an OracleAS Infrastructure, Discoverer connections are not available to end users. For more information about associating Discoverer with an Oracle Infrastructure install, see Chapter 2, "About Oracle Business Intelligence installations and OracleAS Infrastructures".

This chapter explains how to create and manage OracleBI Discoverer connections, and includes the following topics:

• Section 4.1, "What is an OracleBI Discoverer connection?"

• Section 4.2, "What are the different types of Discoverer connection?"

• Section 4.3, "About managing Discoverer connections?"

• Section 4.4, "About the Discoverer connections page"

• Section 4.5, "About specifying whether Discoverer end users can create their own private connections"

• Section 4.6, "How to create public connections"

• Section 4.7, "How to delete public connections"

• Section 4.8, "How to specify whether Discoverer end users can create private connections"

4.1 What is an OracleBI Discoverer connection?

An OracleBI Discoverer connection is a stored set of database login details, comprising:

• a database user name - to identify the Discoverer end user

• a database password - to authenticate the Discoverer end user

• a database name - to specify the database containing the information that the Discoverer end user wants to analyze

• (optional) an Oracle Applications Responsibility - to specify a Discoverer end user's responsibility when using Discoverer with Oracle Applications

• (relational data source only) an EUL - to specify the End User Layer to be used

• a language - to specify the language that should be used in Discoverer

Discoverer connections enable Discoverer end users to start Discoverer without having to re-enter database login details each time they start Discoverer.

In the example below, a connection called Customer Reports has been created that contains login information to connect to the database containing the reports, without having to enter login details.

Figure 4-1 Connections page in OracleBI Discoverer Plus

Description of "Figure 4-1 Connections page in OracleBI Discoverer Plus"

Notes

• A connection is visible to both Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer end users.

• If end users do not want to store login details in a connection, they can start Discoverer by entering login details directly using the Connect Directly area of the Discoverer connections page.

4.1.1 About Discoverer private connections and OracleAS Single Sign-On

If OracleAS Single Sign-On is enabled, Discoverer private connections work as follows:

• when Discoverer end users select a Discoverer private connection for the first time, they are prompted to enter their OracleAS Single Sign-On details (if they have not already been authenticated)

• once Discoverer end users have been authenticated by OracleAS Single Sign-On, they can select a Discoverer private connection without confirming the Discoverer password

For more information about OracleAS Single Sign-On, see Section 14.7.1, "Using Discoverer with OracleAS Single Sign-On".

4.2 What are the different types of Discoverer connection?

There are two types of Discoverer connection:

• a private connection - see Section 4.2.1, "About private connections"

• a public connection - see Section 4.2.2, "About public connections"

4.2.1 About private connections

Private connections are created and maintained by Discoverer end users.

Private connections have the following characteristics:

• A private connection is private to the Discoverer end user that created it.

• Discoverer end users create and maintain their own private connections.

  For more information about controlling what types of connection Discoverer end users can use, see Section 4.5, "About specifying whether Discoverer end users can create their own private connections".

• If Single Sign-On is enabled, Discoverer end users can use their private connections from any client machine. If Single Sign-On is not enabled, private connections are stored as cookies, and are accessible only on the machine and browser on which they were created. For more information about Single Sign-On, see Section 4.1.1, "About Discoverer private connections and OracleAS Single Sign-On".

• For more information about how to create private connections, see Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Plus User's Guide.

4.2.2 About public connections

Public connections are created and maintained by Discoverer middle tier managers.

Note: Public connections are not available to Discoverer Plus OLAP users.

For example, if you want to provide Discoverer end users with access to the Discoverer sample workbooks, you might create a public connection called 'Sample workbooks'.

Public connections have the following characteristics:

• A public connection is available to Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer end users.

  Note: When you create a public (OLAP) connection (i.e. a public connection to a multidimensional data source) the public connection will only be available to Discoverer Viewer and Discoverer Portlet Provider users. Public OLAP connections are not available to Discoverer Plus OLAP users.

• Public connections enable Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer end users to access data to which the PUBLIC role has access.

• Discoverer Plus and Viewer users cannot add, edit, or delete public connections.

  For more information about how to create public connections, see Section 4.6, "How to create public connections".

4.3 About managing Discoverer connections?

As a middle tier manager, you use Application Server Control to manage Discoverer connections, as follows:

• to provide public connections to enable Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer users to start Discoverer (for more information, see Section 4.6, "How to create public connections")

• to enable Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer users to create their own (i.e. private) connections to start Discoverer (for more information, see Section 4.5, "About specifying whether Discoverer end users can create their own private connections")

Notes

• For information about how to migrate Discoverer connections from one Oracle Business Intelligence installation to another, see Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Publishing Workbooks in Oracle Application Server Portal.

4.4 About the Discoverer connections page

There are two Discoverer connections pages:

• Connect to Discoverer Viewer, which is used to start Discoverer Viewer using a set of stored login details or by connecting directly.

• Connect to Discoverer Plus, which is used to start Discoverer Plus using a set of stored login details or by connecting directly.

The figure below shows the Connect to Discoverer Plus page.

Figure 4-2 Connect to OracleBI Discoverer page

Description of "Figure 4-2 Connect to OracleBI Discoverer page"

4.5 About specifying whether Discoverer end users can create their own private connections

You can specify whether Discoverer end users can create their own private connections (for more information, see Section 4.8, "How to specify whether Discoverer end users can create private connections").

Note: Public connections are not available to Discoverer Plus OLAP users. If you disallow private connections, Discoverer Plus OLAP users will always have to connect to Discoverer directly.

If you enable Discoverer end users to create their own private connections:

• end users will be able to specify any login details (e.g. user name, password, database, EUL) for the new connections that they create

• end users will be able to open any workbooks in any EULs that they successfully connect to (providing that they have sufficient database privileges)

Notes

• When end users create private connections, note the following:

  • if they specify a database using an alias, they can connect to databases that have an entry in the tnsnames.ora file

  • if they specify a database using the full tnsnames entry for the database (e.g. SID, address, port), they can connect to databases that do not have an entry in the tnsnames.ora file on the Discoverer middle tier

    For example, you might enter the following string in the Database field:

    (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS_LIST=(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=machine_a.company.com)(PORT=1521)))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=database1)))

    Hint: Make sure that you remove spaces from the TNS string.

  For more information about the location of the tnsnames.ora file, see Section A.1, "List of Discoverer file locations".

4.6 How to create public connections

You create a public connection when you want to provide pre-defined login details to Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer users. For example, you might create a public connection called Start tutorial, which connects to the tutorial database as a tutorial user. You delete public connections when you no longer require them.

Note: When you create a public Discoverer Plus OLAP connection (i.e. a public connection to a multidimensional data source) the public connection will only be available to Discoverer Viewer and Discoverer Portlet Provider users. Public OLAP connections are not available to Discoverer Plus OLAP users.

Hint: In a secure Discoverer environment you might want to use only public connections, so that you can restrict database access to login details that you specify. In other words, you might also disallow Discoverer end users from creating private connections (for more information, see Section 4.5, "About specifying whether Discoverer end users can create their own private connections").

To create a public connection:

1. Display Application Server Control (for more information, see Section 5.1.2, "How to start Application Server Control and display the System Components page").

2. Display the Application Server Control Discoverer Home page (for more information, see Section 5.1.3, "How to display the Application Server Control Discoverer Home page").
   Description of the illustration em_main.gif
   
   

3. Display the Administration tab.

   
   Description of the illustration em_admin.gif
   
   

4. Select the Public Connections link to display the Discoverer Public Connections area.

   
   Description of the illustration oem3.gif
   
   

   Note: If the Public Connections link is not displayed, the Oracle Business Intelligence installation is not associated with an OracleAS Infrastructure. For information about how to associate an Oracle Business Intelligence installation with an OracleAS Infrastructure, see Section 2.2, "How to associate an OracleBI installation with an OracleAS Infrastructure".

5. Click Create Connection to display the Create Public Connection page.

   
   Description of the illustration oem5.gif
   
   

6. Enter the connection details, then click OK to save the details.

   The new connection that you created is displayed in the Discoverer Public Connections list.

   When Discoverer end users connect to Discoverer Plus or Discoverer Viewer, they will be able to select the connection that you have just created.

Notes

• For information about how to find out the unique ID of a connection, see Section 13.4.3, "How to find out the connection ID of a connection".

• If you specify a database using the full tnsnames entry for the database (e.g. SID, address, port), you can connect databases that do not have an entry in the tnsnames.ora file. For example, you might enter the following string in the Database field:

  (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS_LIST=(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=machine_a.company.com)(PORT=1521)))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=database1)))

  Hint: Make sure that you remove spaces from the TNS string.

4.7 How to delete public connections

You delete a public connection when you no longer want to provide pre-defined login details to Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer users.

To delete a public connection:

1. Display Application Server Control (for more information, see Section 5.1.2, "How to start Application Server Control and display the System Components page").

2. Display the Application Server Control Discoverer Home page (for more information, see Section 5.1.3, "How to display the Application Server Control Discoverer Home page").
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3. Display the Administration tab.

   
   Description of the illustration em_admin.gif
   
   

4. Select the Public Connections link to display the Discoverer Public Connections area.

   
   Description of the illustration oem3.gif
   
   

5. Click the trash can icon in the Delete column next to the name of the connection that you want to delete to display the Confirmation dialog.

6. Click Yes at the confirmation page to permanently delete the connection

   The connection that you deleted is removed from the Discoverer Public Connections list and will no longer be displayed on the Discoverer Connections page in Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer.

   When Discoverer end users connect to Discoverer Plus or Discoverer Viewer, they will no longer be able to select the public connection that you have just deleted.

4.8 How to specify whether Discoverer end users can create private connections

To specify whether Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer users can create private connections:

1. Display Application Server Control (for more information, see Section 5.1.2, "How to start Application Server Control and display the System Components page").

2. Display the Application Server Control Discoverer Home page (for more information, see Section 5.1.3, "How to display the Application Server Control Discoverer Home page").
   Description of the illustration em_main.gif
   
   

3. Display the Administration tab.

   
   Description of the illustration em_admin.gif
   
   

4. Select the Private Connections link to display the Discoverer Private Connections area.

5. Specify whether users can create private connections, as follows:

   • Select the Allow users to define and use their own private connections in Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer check box if you want Discoverer end users to be able to create their own private connections.

   • Clear the Allow users to define and use their own private connections in Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer check box if you want to restrict Discoverer end users to only using public connections that you specify.

6. Click OK to save the details.

   If you enable Discoverer end users to create private connections, they will see a Create Connection button on the Discoverer Connections page. For example, in the figure below the Create Connection button is available.

   Figure 4-3 Connections page in OracleBI Discoverer Plus

   
   Description of "Figure 4-3 Connections page in OracleBI Discoverer Plus"
   
   

Notes

• If you clear the Allow users to define and use their own private connections in Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer check box:

  • Discoverer end users cannot start Discoverer using URL parameters, unless they specify the connection ID for a public connection using the cn= URL parameter (for more information, see Section 13.7, "List of URL parameters common to Discoverer Plus and Viewer").

• The Details column on the Discoverer connections page is only visible in Internet Explorer.