About Clustering Essbase with Oracle Process Manager and Notification (OPMN) Server

Oracle Process Manager and Notification server (OPMN) enables you to monitor and control the Essbase Agent process. You add Essbase Agent information to opmn.xml to enable OPMN to start, stop, and restart the agent using the OPMN command line interface. OPMN can automatically restart the Essbase Agent when it becomes unresponsive, terminates unexpectedly, or becomes unreachable as determined by ping and notification operations. Additionally, you can use the failover functionality available in OPMN to provide high availability of Essbase clusters.

The following table describes an overview of the process of installing, configuring, and managing Essbase with OPMN.

Table 2. Installing, configuring, and managing Essbase with OPMN

Task	Reference
Install EPM System products, including Essbase. Install Essbase locally on each node. During installation, EPM System Installer also installs OPMN on the Essbase Server machine. Note: Oracle recommends that the Oracle Hyperion Shared Services Registry database be on a different machine than Essbase.	Installing EPM System Products
Configure EPM System products, including Essbase. By default EPM System Configurator sets up Essbase to be managed by OPMN. If you are implementing Essbase clustering (active-passive only), during configuration with EPM System Configurator, do the following: On the first machine, use EPM System Configurator to set up the cluster: On the Configure Essbase Server panel, for “Full path to application location (ARBORPATH),” the location you specify must be a shared drive. The location must reside on a file system that is reachable by all Essbase servers in the cluster. Click “Cluster Setup” to set up the cluster. On the second machine, use EPM System Configurator to make this Essbase Server join the cluster you created on the first machine: On the Configure Essbase Server page, for “Full path to application location (ARBORPATH),” the location must match the location you specified on the first machine in the cluster. Click “Cluster Setup” to make this Essbase Server join the cluster you created on the first machine. During cluster setup on the second machine, EPM System Configurator updates essbase.cfg to specify failovermode=true.	Configuring EPM System Products Configure Essbase Server
If you set up an active-passive Essbase cluster using EPM System Configurator, you must perform additional steps to set up Essbase failover on both nodes of the cluster.	Setting Up Active-Passive Essbase Clusters
If you configured more than one instance of Essbase Server on a single machine, each instance has its own OPMN, its own start scripts, and its own log files. You must update each instance's copy of opmn.xml so that each OPMN has unique ports for communication.	Modifying OPMN for an Additional Instance of Essbase
Start Essbase using OPMN. Note: EPM System Configurator also sets up start scripts to start Essbase without using OPMN. Note that if you use this method of starting Essbase, OPMN is not used for managing Essbase and active-passive failover clusters are not supported.	Essbase Server
Optionally, learn more about OPMN service failover and the required elements and attributes in opmn.xml for configuring Essbase for failover.	OPMN Service Failover for Essbase Server
Diagnose problems by reviewing the OPMN logs.	The “Essbase” chapter of Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management System Installation and Configuration Troubleshooting Guide
Manage Essbase using OPMN, which enables you to monitor and control the Essbase Agent process.	Oracle Essbase Database Administrator's Guide, “Managing Essbase Using OPMN.”