This preface describes changes to system administration features for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 11g Release 1 (11.1.1). If you are upgrading to Oracle BI EE from a previous release, then read the following information carefully, because there are significant differences in features, tools, and procedures.
This preface contains the following topics:
New system administration features in Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.9) include:
New Properties for Full-Text Search
New properties have been added to enhance full-text searching. For information, see Section 17.13.4.1.1, "Creating Agents for Data Loading" and Section 17.14.5, "Configuring Properties Manually for Searching."
New or Enhanced Configuration Elements
New or enhanced configuration elements for the instanceconfig.xml file are available:
Configuring Export — The following elements are available to configure for export:
Orientation
DataValue
Configuring for Graphs and Gauges — The DefaultWebImageType element now supports the html5 format for rendering images. See Section 19.3.2, "Manually Configuring for Graphs and Gauges."
Configuring Settings for Fetching Data for Table Views, Pivot Table Views, and Trellis Views — The DefaultFreezeHeadersWidth and Default FreezeHeadersHeight elements are available to specify the default width and height of table views, pivot table views, and trellis views that use scrolling as the method to browse data. See Section 19.3.1.3, "Manually Configuring Settings for Fetching Data for Table Views, Pivot Table Views, and Trellis Views."
Enabling the Ability to Export Dashboard Pages to Oracle BI Publisher — The EnableDashPageExport element has been enhanced to include the ability to export dashboard pages to BI Publisher for custom export layouts as well custom print layouts. For more information, see Section 19.5.5, "Enabling the Ability to Export Dashboard Pages to Oracle BI Publisher."
The following configuration parameters have been added to the NQSconfig.INI file.
DEFAULT_JOBQUEUE_SIZE_PER_THREAD
ENDECA_SERVLET_URL
INIT_BLOCK_TABLE_NAME
INIT_BLOCK_CONNECTION_POOL
MEMORY_COMPACT_PERIOD_IN_SECONDS
NUM_INIT_BLOCK_THREADS_PER_USER
SUPPORT_ANALYTICAL_WORKSPACE_TARGETS
See Appendix A, "NQSConfig.INI File Configuration Settings" for information on these parameters.
Debugging Agents Using Fusion Middleware Control
Agent log entries are now written to the scheduler log file, and are visible using Fusion Middleware Control. For more information, see Section 8.5.7.1, "Debugging Agents Using Fusion Middleware Control."
This section describes new features for Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.7). It contains the following topics:
Note:
Information about Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.7.16 and later) is only applicable to Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.7) customers using Oracle Fusion Applications 11g Release 9 (11.1.9) and to some Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.7) customers using Oracle Fusion Applications 11g Release 8 (11.1.8).
A new configuration element, DefaultRowsDisplayedInDownloadCSV, is available in the instanceconfig.xml file to specify the default number of rows that can be included in a view when it is downloaded to a CSV file. See Section 19.3.1, "Manually Configuring for Data in Views.".
Note:
Information about Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.7.10) is only applicable to Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.7) customers using Oracle Fusion Applications 11g Release 8 (11.1.8).
New system administration features in Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.7.10) include:
Several new configuration parameters have been added to the NQSconfig.INI file.
A new configuration setting, MAX_AUTHENTICATION_TIME, is available. This setting controls the time that is provided for Oracle BI Server to execute initialization blocks when the user logs into Oracle BI Server. See Section A.6.4, "MAX_AUTHENTICATION_TIME" for more information.
New configuration settings are available to control or enforce query limits on logical SQL language elements.
New Style for Oracle BI Presentation Services and Oracle BI Publisher
You can control the way that the interface for Oracle BI EE is displayed to users by creating skins and styles. See Section 19.9, "Customizing the Oracle BI Web User Interface" for additional information.
New configuration elements for the instanceconfig.xml file have been added for:
Configuring for Export — The following elements are available to configure for export:
RepeatRows
Delimiter
KeepRowsTogether
Prompts — The ShowNullValueInPromptsWhenDatabaseColumnIsNullable element is available to specify whether to show the term "NULL" at runtime in the column prompt drop-down list when the database allows null values. See Section 19.4, "Configuring for Prompts."
Dashboards — The EnableDelayExecution element is available to enable the ability to delay the execution of dashboard pages. See Section 19.5.1, "Manually Changing Presentation Setting Defaults."
Changing presentation setting defaults — The following elements are available to configure default values for the Analysis editor start tab and for accessibility mode:
AnalysisEditorStartTab
Enable508
See Section 19.5.1, "Manually Changing Presentation Setting Defaults."
Treemap — The MaxCells, MaxVisibleSections, MaxVisibleRows, and MaxVisiblePages elements affect the display of data in treemaps. See Section 19.3.1, "Manually Configuring for Data in Views."
Analyses and dashboard prompts — The ResultRowLimit element governs the number of records returned from the logical SQL for analyses and dashboard prompts. See Section 19.4, "Configuring for Prompts" for more information.
Using options on the Administration page, you can set the logging levels for Oracle BI Presentation Services. For more information, see Section 8.5.2, "Setting the Logging Levels for Oracle BI Presentation Services."
New system administration features in Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.7.0) include:
Support for Oracle Endeca Server
You can configure Oracle Endeca Server as a search engine for full-text searching. See Section 17.13, "Configuring for Searching with Oracle Endeca Server" for complete information.
You can configure Oracle BI EE so that it supports the use of multiple tenants. See Section 18, "Configuring for Multiple Tenants" for complete information.
Integration of Oracle BI EE with Essbase
Essbase functionality is closely integrated with Oracle BI EE. See Chapter 27, "Introduction to Using Oracle Essbase and Associated Components in Oracle Business Intelligence" for complete information.
New Configuration Required for Performance Tiles
To specify the scaling factor that accompanies a number in a performance tile view, you must manually edit the localedefinitions file, as described in Section 15.2.1.5, "Specifying the Scaling of Numbers in Performance Tiles."
New Configuration Element for Dashboards
A new configuration setting is available to enable the ability to export dashboard pages to Oracle BI Publisher, as described in Section 19.5.5, "Enabling the Ability to Export Dashboard Pages to Oracle BI Publisher."
New Configuration Element and New Default Values for Interactions in Views
A new configuration setting, InteractionPropertyHideColumns, is available to specify the default setting for the Hide Columns option in the Analysis Properties dialog: Interactions tab. In addition, only InteractionPropertyDrill, InteractionPropertyInclExclColumns, InteractionPropertyMoveColumns, and InteractionPropertySortColumns are set to true by default. For more information, see Section 19.3.4, "Manually Configuring for Interactions in Views."
This section describes new features for Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.6). It contains the following topics:
New system administration features in Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.6.2) include:
Configuration Settings for Trellis Views
Configuration settings have been added to the instanceconfig.xml file that affect the display of data in trellis views. See Section 19.3.1.2, "Manually Configuring Settings for Data in Views" for information.
ODBC/JDBC Procedures to Obtain Oracle BI Server Diagnostics
ODBC/JDBC procedures are now available to obtain diagnostic information for the Oracle BI Server. See Section 8.6, "Using ODBC/JDBC Procedures to Obtain Oracle BI Server Diagnostics" for more information.
New system administration features in Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.6.0) include:
New Configuration Elements for Prompts and Custom Links
You can use new configuration elements to affect the following:
How users work with prompts on dashboard pages, as described in Section 19.4, "Configuring for Prompts."
How you add custom links for users, as described in Section 19.5.2, "Providing Custom Links in Presentation Services."
Changes in the Interface for Fusion Middleware Control
Various changes were made in the user interface for Fusion Middleware Control, as described in the following sections:
Section 5.6.1, "Using Fusion Middleware Control to View System Component Availability"
Section 6.1.2, "Using Fusion Middleware Control to Identify Single Points of Failure"
Section 6.2.1, "Using Fusion Middleware Control to Configure Primary and Secondary Instances"
Section 8.2.1, "Using Fusion Middleware Control to View Log Information, Error Messages, and Alerts"
Section 8.2.2, "Configuring Log File Rotation Policy and Specifying Log Levels"
Language for the User Interface of the Administration Tool
See Section 15.4.4, "Modifying the Language of the User Interface for the Administration Tool" for details on changing the language for the Oracle BI Administration Tool.
Enhancements for Oracle BI Presentation Catalog
See the following sections that describe enhancements to working with objects in the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog:
Enhancements to Full-Text Search
The way that you configure for users to perform a full-text search has been enhanced, as described in Section 17.11, "Overview of Configuring for Full-Text Catalog Search."
Configuration Settings for Analyses and Dashboards
New configuration settings are available for working with analyses and dashboards, as described in Section 19.5.1, "Manually Changing Presentation Setting Defaults."
Configuration Settings in NQSConfig.INI
The NQSConfig.INI file for the Oracle BI Server now includes the settings that are described in the following sections. Some of these sections have enhanced documentation from the previous release:
New system administration features in Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.5) include:
Changes to the Simple Install Type
The Simple Install type has been changed. In this release, only an Administration server is configured as part of this type. The Managed Server and the Node Manager are not installed, which affects the way that certain administration tasks are performed. See "Installation Types" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence for more information.
Enhancements to Exporting Captions
The process of exporting captions from the catalog for translation has been enhanced to address duplicate captions. For information, see Section 15.2.2.4, "Step 4: Handling Duplicate Exported Text Strings."
You can use Catalog Manager to provision tenants. For information, see Section 17.6.7, "Working with Tenants."
New system administration features in Oracle BI EE 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.3) include:
Integrated Management Experience
This release introduces a fully integrated management experience for the administration of Java and non-Java components using Fusion Middleware Control and Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console. Because of this new integrated management experience, you no longer must manually change configuration files for most administration tasks.
Centralized System Administration
In this release, you can now perform most system administration tasks using centralized management capabilities, including the following:
Start and stop Oracle Business Intelligence components. See Chapter 4, "Starting and Stopping Oracle Business Intelligence" for more information.
Increase the capacity of your system by scaling Oracle Business Intelligence components. See Chapter 5, "Scaling Your Deployment" for more information.
Configure and monitor system availability. See Chapter 6, "Deploying Oracle Business Intelligence for High Availability" for more information.
View performance metrics and tune the system. See Chapter 7, "Managing Performance Tuning and Query Caching" for more information.
Diagnose and troubleshoot issues across all computers in your cluster. See Chapter 8, "Diagnosing and Resolving Issues in Oracle Business Intelligence" for more information.
Change configuration and system preferences. See Chapter 10, "Configuring Repositories" for more information.
For information, see Chapter 2, "Managing Oracle Business Intelligence."
Programmatic and Scripting Capabilities for Administrative Operations
This release enables the automation of configuration and system management. The new BI Systems Management API Java programming interface includes a rich set of standards-based JMX MBeans to enable developers to automate administrative operations using Java and scripting technologies such as WLST (WebLogic Scripting Tool) and JPython. For information, see Chapter 23, "Introducing the Oracle BI Systems Management API."
New Configuration Settings for Views
This release provides new configuration settings for table, pivot table, graph, and gauge views. The release also introduces a new type called map view. For information about configuring these views, see Chapter 19, "Configuring and Managing Analyses and Dashboards."
This release provides functionality that enables you to validate the catalog to address inconsistencies that have developed over time., For information, see Section 17.2.5.4, "Performing a Basic Validation of the Catalog."
Management of Users and Groups
This release introduces several enhancements and changes in how users and groups are managed. This release also uses application roles for organizing users. The Presentation Services groups from the previous release are now known as Catalog groups. For information, see "Working with Catalog Groups" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Security Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition
This release introduces several enhancements for localizing your system, including lookup tables and alias tables. For information, see Chapter 15, "Localizing Oracle Business Intelligence."