Advanced Configuration Reference

D Advanced Configuration Reference

This appendix describes advanced post-installation configuration and administration procedures that aren't specific to analyses, agents, dashboards, or the catalog.

Directions for configuring these components are in earlier chapters. Most administrators don't need to change the configuration settings that are described in this appendix.

Topics:

Make Advanced Configuration Changes for Presentation Services

The Oracle Analytics Server process hosts most of the business logic of the web server and provides the framework and interface for the presentation of business intelligence data to web clients.

Under Windows, the process is sawserver.exe
Under Linux, the process is sawserver

The instanceconfig.xml file stores the configuration settings that affect Oracle Analytics Server. Many configuration settings are available in Fusion Middleware Control and that's the preferred method for making configuration changes. If a particular setting isn't available in Fusion Middleware Control, then you can change it using the instanceconfig.xml file. You can use the instanceconfig.xml file to customize various aspects of your deployment. Make changes directly in this file only to change default elements, such as the name of the Presentation Catalog, or override internal default settings, such as those related to caches.

Several entries are present in the instanceconfig.xml file by default, including the name of the data source used by Presentation Services to access Oracle Analytics Server.

Note:

If you've previously made configuration changes by modifying the Windows registry, then migrate those changes to the instanceconfig.xml. In the Windows registry, entries under the Common key remain valid.

The following procedure provides information about general configuration changes that you can make.

Open the instanceconfig.xml file for editing, located in:

BI_DOMAIN/config/fmwconfig/biconfig/OBIPS
Locate the section in which you must add the elements that are described the table below.

Include the elements and their ancestor elements as appropriate, as shown in the following example:

<ServerInstance>
  <ClientStorage>
    <Enabled>true</Enabled>
    <LocalStorage>true</LocalStorage>
    <SessionStorage>true</SessionStorage>
  </ClientStorage>

  <FavoritesSyncUpIdleSeconds>300</FavoritesSyncUpIdleSeconds>
  <BIClientInstallerURL32Bit>http://myhost:7777/my32bitfile</BIClientInstallerURL32Bit>
  <BIClientInstallerURL64Bit>http://myhost:7777/my64bitfile</BIClientInstallerURL64Bit>
 <Security>
    <AllowRememberPassword>false</AllowRememberPassword>
    <CookieDomain>value</CookieDomain>
    <CookiePath>/analytics</CookiePath>
    <InIFrameRenderingMode>prohibit</InIFrameRenderingMode>
   <Cursors>
      <NewCursorWaitSeconds>3</NewCursorWaitSeconds>
    </Cursors>    
  <LogonExpireMinutes>180</LogonExpireMinutes>
 </Security>   
 <ODBC>
   <UnaccessedRunningTimeoutMinutes>5</UnaccessedRunningTimeoutMinutes>
  </ODBC>   
 <UI>
    <MaxSearchResultItemsToReturn>300</MaxSearchResultItemsToReturn> 
  <UserPickerDialogMaxAccounts>300</UserPickerDialogMaxAccounts>
 </UI>
</ServerInstance>

Save your changes and close the file.
Restart the system.

Advanced Configuration Settings for Presentation Services

You can use configuration settings to make advanced Presentation Services changes.

The table describes the advanced configuration settings for Presentation Services.

Element	Description	Default Value
`<ClientStorage>`	Specifies the parent element for maintaining client state across sessions and within a session. See also the Enabled, LocalStorage, and SessionStorage elements.	No default value
`<ClientStorage> <Enabled> </ClientStorage>`	Specifies whether to maintain client state across sessions and within a session. State isn't maintained across browser sessions. The following items maintain state: Dashboard menu — Stores whether the menu is collapsed or expanded. Folders — Stores whether folders are expanded for the Catalog page and the Open dialog. Favorites menu — Stores the name of the last expanded item. Catalog Page Toolbar — Stores various details about the state of the toolbar, including the settings of the Type, Sort, and Show More Details options. See also the LocalStorage and SessionStorage elements.	true
`<ClientStorage> <LocalStorage> </ClientStorage>`	Specifies whether the local storage of the browser is used to maintain state. If the browser doesn't support local storage, then no state is maintained.	true
`<ClientStorage> <SessionStorage> </ClientStorage>`	Specifies whether the local storage of the browser is used to maintain state for sessions. If the browser doesn't support local storage, then no state is maintained.	true
`<FavoritesSyncUpIdleSeconds>`	Specifies the number of seconds of idle time before synchronizing data from a mobile application and favorites from the Presentation Catalog.	300
`<BIClientInstallerURL64Bit>`	Specifies that you want to override the default download location for the Installer when the user selects to download the Installer from the Oracle Analytics Server Home page. The file for the 64-bit Installer is named biee_client_install64.exe.	No default value
`<Security> <AllowRememberPassword> </Security>`	Specifies whether to allow the browser to save the password, using browser-specific password management software. If set to true, prompts the user to specify whether to save the password for future sign-ins.	false
`<Security> <CookieDomain> </Security>`	Specifies the domain information for a cookie that is sent to the browser.	No default value
`<Security> <CookiePath> </Security>`	Specifies the domain path to which cookies apply.	/analytics
`<Security> <InIFrameRenderingMode> </Security>`	See Protect Pages in Oracle Analytics Server from Attack for information.	sameDomainOnly
`<Security> <cursors> <NewCursorWaitSeconds> </cursors> </Security>`	Specifies how long the server waits for results after the initial request before returning the search page to the browser. It may be useful to set this value higher (such as 3 seconds) to avoid page refreshes if the majority of queries aren't returning in 1 second.	No default value
`<ODBC> <UnaccessedRunningTimeoutMinutes> </ODBC>`	Specifies the time to elapse, in minutes, before an unattended analysis is canceled. An unattended analysis is one that has not been accessed in the number of minutes specified by this setting. The minimum value is 2. This element addresses the case where a user is editing an analysis and browses elsewhere, abandoning the analysis, at least temporarily. Don't set the value too small, however, as the user might return to the analysis. Use this element only for Presentation Services queries that run against the BI Server. The element doesn't apply to any other type of connection.	5
`<UI> <MaxSearchResultItemsToReturn> </UI>`	Specifies the maximum number of items to display within a directory listing of the catalog within Presentation Services. The minimum value is 0. Use care when setting this element to a high value as the performance of the user interface might decrease.	300
`<UI> <UserPickerDialogMaxAccounts> </UI>`	Specifies the maximum number of users and roles to include in the selection list based on the specified search criteria. For example, if this element is set to 300 and more than 300 users and roles match the search criteria, then only the first 300 of those are included in the list. Use care when setting this element to a high value, because the performance of the user interface might decrease.	300

Protect Pages in Oracle Analytics Server from Attack

As the administrator, you must be aware of a security concern that is known as clickjacking. Clickjacking refers to the ability of attackers to subvert clicks and send the user's clicks to web pages that permit them to be framed with or without JavaScript.

For example, suppose an attacker develops a website that uses an inline frame for an Oracle Analytics Server Console application. When you visit this site, you're unknowingly clicking buttons on the inline-framed Console application. This vulnerability is very serious, because the attacker isn't stopped by the same origin policy principles that apply to other Oracle Analytics Server applications. You can find many examples of clickjacking documented on the Worldwide Web.

The term that describes preventing attackers from framing an application in an inline frame is frame busting. To affect frame busting, you use the InIFrameRenderingMode element in the instanceconfig.xml file. You can set the element to the following three values:

prohibit = Never permit content from Presentation Services to be rendered in an inline frame.
sameDomainOnly = (Default) Enable rendering of pages in an inline frame if the enclosing page was generated by the server in the same domain. By default, pages have the same domain if they were generated by the same server. See the Worldwide Web for information on the "same origin policy."
allow = Always allow content from Presentation Services to be rendered in an inline frame.

Use the JavaHost Service for Presentation Services

Java library functionality can be achieved using the JavaHost service.

The JavaHost service gives Presentation Services the ability to use functionality that's provided in Java libraries to support the following components:

Graph generation
SVG renderer (Apache Batik)
Actions that require Java actions, for example, calling web services
Printing to PDF and exporting to Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint
Advanced reporting
URL Connect iIssues an HTTP request to another component
Integration Service Call used by the Oracle Analytics Server to run Java code

Note:

The JavaHost service uses the core libraries of Oracle Analytics Server Publisher to export the contents of analyses into various formats such as PDF, Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint, and images. Oracle Analytics Server Publisher libraries are embedded within the JavaHost service and don't depend on Oracle Analytics Server Publisher running or being deployed in a J2EE container.

In the configuration file for the JavaHost Service, elements related to the Oracle Analytics Server Publisher libraries are located within the XMLP element.

To configure the JavaHost service, you can manually edit the configuration elements for the service in its configuration file (config.xml), located in the BI_DOMAIN/config/fmwconfig/biconfig/OBIJH directory. See the next table for a description of the elements. The elements are identified by their relative path starting from the JavaHost element.

The common subelements, such as InputStreamLimitInKB, don't apply to the MessageProcessor, Listener, or SSL loaders.

Element	Description
Loaders	Contains the ListOfEnabledLoaders and Loader elements. These elements specify the components for the JavaHost service. Avoid editing the elements in the Loaders section.
Loaders/ListOfEnabledLoaders	Specifies the list of components such as Oracle BI Scheduler and Oracle Analytics Server Publisher to enable. If this element is missing from the file, then all Loaders are enabled. If the element has an empty value, then all loaders are disabled. Each component has a corresponding Loader element. The name of the component listed here must match the name that's specified in the corresponding Loader/Name element.
Loaders/Loader	Contains the following elements, which specify configuration information for a specific component: Name Class ConfigNodePath ClassPath
Loaders/Loader/Name	Specifies the unique name of the component. Use this name in the ListOfEnabledLoaders element.
Loaders/Loader/Class	Specifies the main class for the component.
Loaders/Loader/ConfigNodePath	Specifies the XPath (starting from the JavaHost element) to the configuration information for the Loader.
Loaders/Loader/ClassPath	Specifies the paths for the JAR files of libraries that the JavaHost service can use.
InputStreamLimitInKB	A child element common to each loader that specifies, in kilobytes, the maximum input size for requests that are sent to JavaHost. A value of zero deactivates this limit. If the maximum size is exceeded, then an error message is displayed. Default: 8192 Set the InputStreamLimitInKB value to zero (the value is unlimited) only for testing purposes. Configuring the value too high allocates or consumes more resources than necessary for an individual request to the JavaHost, might cause the JavaHost to become unstable or crash, and must fit the context of all JavaHost requests, for example, graphs or export operations. Set the element to a reasonable value that works with large datasets. The default value is 8192 (8 MB), but you might need to increase it incrementally to 16384 (16 MB), 32768 (32 MB), and so on.
RequestResponseLogDirectory	A child element common to each loader that specifies the name of the directory for the response files of requests. Default: A default temp directory
LogLargeRequests	A child element common to each loader that specifies whether to create a response file when processing large requests. Default: true
ReadRequestBeforeProcessing	A child element common to each loader that specifies whether to wait to process the request until a file is completely read. If your organization uses the export feature, it's recommended that you set this child element to false. When set to false, data is streamed to JavaHost gradually rather than saved to a file first and then processed, thereby improving export performance. Default: true
LargeRequestThresholdInKB	A child element common to each loader that specifies, in kilobytes, the maximum size before using disk space for requests. For requests larger than this size, use disk space instead of memory to cache the requested data. The larger this value is the more memory that the JavaHost service might potentially use and the faster the request processing can occur. This setting also establishes the threshold for the LogLargeRequests element. Default: 200
MessageProcessor	Contains the SocketTimeout element.
MessageProcessor/SocketTimeout	Specifies the idle timeout (in milliseconds) for the socket, after which the socket is returned to the idle sockets pool. JavaHost uses a socket polling mechanism to wait for new data on the whole set of idle sockets in a single thread. Initial messages in the idle pool are handled through Java NIO channels. Default: 5000 (5 seconds)
Listener	Contains the following elements: PermittedClientList Port Address Secure
Listener/PermittedClientList	Specifies a list of IP addresses and host names from which JavaHost accepts incoming connections. Separate each client's IP address or host name by a comma. To accept all client connections, set this element to an asterisk (). Default:
Listener/Port	Identifies the JavaHost TCP/IP listening port. Default: 9810
Listener/Address	Specifies the network interface that JavaHost is to bind to. If this element has no value, then JavaHost binds to all available network interfaces.
Listener/Secure	Specifies whether to enable SSL encryption for the JavaHost service: Yes: Enables SSL encryption No: Disables SSL encryption Default: No
Batik	Contains only the common subelements such as InputStreamLimitInKB, as they relate to converting SVG images to rasterized image formats.
Scheduler	Contains the following elements: Enabled DefaultUserJarFilePath DefaultTempFilePath DefaultPurgingPeriod
Scheduler/Enabled	Specifies whether to enable the interaction of the JavaHost service with Oracle BI Scheduler to run Java jobs: true: Enables interaction with Oracle BI Scheduler false: Disables interaction with Oracle BI Scheduler Default: false
Scheduler/DefaultUserJarFilePath	Specifies the default directory for storing JAR files for the Java extension utility. The Jar file contains the implementation of the Java class to be run. When Oracle BI Scheduler is enabled, this element is required and accepts a single path.
Scheduler/DefaultTempFilePath	Specifies the default directory for storing temporary files for Oracle BI Scheduler requests. Default: the system temp directory
Scheduler/DefaultPurgingPeriod	Specifies the default period (in seconds) for Oracle BI Scheduler requests to remove failed jobs. Default: 300
XMLP	Contains only the common subelements such as `InputStreamLimitInKB` and `ReadRequestBeforeProcessing`, as they relate to Oracle Analytics Server Publisher.
URLConnect	Contains elements that relate to SSL. Avoid modifying these elements.
DVT	Contains only the common `InputStreamLimitInKB` child element by default, as they relate to graph generation. You can add other common child elements as necessary.