Configuring Settings that Affect Agents

You configure settings for agents by changing values for Oracle BI Presentation Services or Oracle BI Scheduler.

You configure delivery options for agents using the SA System subject area. This section contains the following topics:

Manually Configuring Presentation Services Settings that Affect Agents

Use various elements in the instanceconfig.xml file for Presentation Services to change these settings. You must apply changes to both the primary and secondary scheduler's instanceconfig.xml in a cluster.

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

    BI_DOMAIN/config/fmwconfig/biconfig/OBIPS

  2. Locate the section in which you must add the elements that are described in the table below.
  3. Include the elements and their ancestor elements as appropriate, as shown in the following example: 
    

    <ServerInstance>
  <Alerts>
     <Enabled>false</Enabled>
     <DefaultDeliveryFormat>pdf</DefaultDeliveryFormat>
  </Alerts>
</ServerInstance>

    

    4. 

  4. Save your changes and close the file.
    5. 

  5. Restart Presentation Services.
    6. 











Element
Description
Default Value








Enabled




Specifies whether Oracle BI Delivers is enabled. Possible values are true or false.


Delivers is an optional component of Presentation Services that is enabled by default for organizations that have purchased the appropriate license. You use the Delivers component to create agents.




true








DefaultDeliveryFormat




Specifies the default format for sending emailed reports through an agent.


For example, a content designer can create an agent to send a report every day to a development team to share how many bugs have been fixed in the past day. When the content designer creates the agent, he can specify the format of the email. As the administrator, you can specify the default format that is used for such emails, using one of the following values:


    

  • html
    • 

  • pdf
    • 

  • excel
    • 

  • text
    • 





html



















Manually Changing Additional Scheduler Settings that Affect Agents




In addition to the scheduler settings that you can change in Fusion Middleware Control, you can change other settings manually. Use various elements in the instanceconfig.xml file to change these settings. You must apply changes to both the primary and secondary scheduler's instanceconfig.xml in a cluster.





    

  1. Open the Oracle BI Scheduler version of the instanceconfig.xml file for editing, located in:

    

    BI_DOMAIN/config/fmwconfig/biconfig/OBISCH
    

    

    2. 

  2. Locate the sections in which you must add or update the elements described in What Additional Scheduler Configuration Settings Affect Agents?
    3. 

  3. Include the elements and their ancestor elements as appropriate. The entry for Log_Dir is shown in the following example:

    

    <xs:element name="Log_Dir" type="xs:string" default="ibots" minOccurs="0">
   <xs:annotation>
      <xs:documentation>
         The directory where Agent logs are stored.
      </xs:documentation>
   </xs:annotation>
</xs:element>

    

    

    Note:
    

    You cannot specify values for user name and password in the instanceconfig.xml file. Instead you specify values in Fusion Middleware Control that are stored securely within the central credentials wallet, along with all other user names and passwords.
    

    

    

    4. 

  4. Save your changes and close the file.
    5. 

  5. Restart Oracle Business Intelligence.
    6. 










What Additional Scheduler Configuration Settings Affect Agents?




Agents can be changed by scheduler configuration settings.


You can change the following additional Oracle BI Scheduler configuration settings that affect agents:








General Scheduler Configuration Settings that Affect Agents




General configuration settings include access to, and configuration of, the Scheduler back-end database, some behavior settings, and settings for secure sockets and clustering configuration.




The table below describes the settings.











Element
Description
Default Value








PoolTimeout




Specifies the amount of time in minutes that a connection to the data source remains open after an operation completes.


During this time, new operations use this connection rather than open a new one, up to the number specified for Maximum Connections. The time is reset after each completed connection request.


Specify a value of 1 or greater.




60








NumDbConnections




Specifies the maximum number of database connections that Oracle BI Scheduler can open concurrently. Specify a value of 1 or greater. When this limit is reached, the connection request waits until a connection becomes available.




5








TABLE_JOBS




Specifies the name of a database table used to store information about scheduled jobs.


For information about modifying the database table names, see Changing Oracle BI Scheduler Table Names in Scheduling Jobs Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition and see Oracle Business Intelligence Applications Installation and Configuration Guide.




S_NQ_JOB








TABLE_INSTANCES




Specifies the name of a database table used to store information about job instances.




S_NQ_INSTANCE








TABLE_PARAMS




Specifies the name of a database table used to store information about job parameters.




S_NQ_JOB_PARAM








TABLE_ERRMSGS




Specifies the name of a database table used to store information about job instances that do not complete successfully.




S_NQ_ERR_MSG








SchedulerScriptPath




Refers to the path where Oracle BI Scheduler-created job scripts are stored. In general, do not add or remove scripts from this directory. By default, this field is set to:


BI_DOMAIN/servers/obisch1




scripts\scheduler








DefaultScriptPath




Specifies the path where user-created job scripts (not agents) are stored.


If a file name is entered in the Script field when adding or modifying a job, then Oracle BI Scheduler examines the contents of this directory for the specified file. However, if a full path is given in the Script field, then this directory is not examined. By default, this field is set to:


BI_DOMAIN/servers/obisch1




scripts\common








TempPath




Specifies the path where temporary files are stored during Oracle BI Scheduler execution.




No default value








BulkFetchBufferSize




Used in the database gateways. Specifies the maximum size in bytes of a bulk fetch page for retrieving data from a data source.




33,792








LogAllSqlStmts




Occasionally you might set up the Scheduler to point to a database using a generic protocol like ODBC. This is usually done when the Target Type is not specified. When this happens, and a SQL statement fails, you must be able to determine which statement failed. Turning this setting on places the SQL statements in the Scheduler log file. Do not set this to TRUE in production mode as the overhead for this is quite high.




false








ServerPortNumber




Specifies the port number for the server. Defaults to the Oracle BI Scheduler port number.




The port number set for the Scheduler.








PurgeInstDays




Specifies the number of days after which old job instances are deleted from the back-end database automatically.




7








PurgeIntervalMinutes




Specifies the number of minutes in which Oracle BI Scheduler updates the tables and flags the affected rows as deleted.


Note: Oracle BI Scheduler does not actually issue SQL DELETE statements when jobs or instances are removed, instead rows are flagged for deletion.


After every X minutes (where X is defined as the value of this field), the actual SQL DELETE statements are issued.




60








MinExecThreads




Specifies the minimum number of multiple threads in the Oracle BI Scheduler thread pool that executes jobs at runtime.




1








MaxExecThreads




Specifies the maximum number of multiple threads in the Oracle BI Scheduler thread pool that executes jobs at runtime.




100








PauseOnStartup




Specifies that no jobs are executed when Oracle BI Scheduler starts. While Oracle BI Scheduler pauses, users can add, modify, and remove jobs. However, no jobs execute. From the Service Management menu, select Continue Scheduling to continue with regular execution.




false








CertificateFileName




Specifies the SSL Certificate File Path.


This setting supports SSL.




No default value








CertPrivateKeyFileName




Specifies the SSL Certificate Private Key File.


This setting supports SSL.




No default value








PassphraseFileName




Specifies the SSL File Containing Passphrase.


This setting supports SSL.




No default value








PassphraseProgramName




Specifies the SSL Program Producing Passphrase.


This setting supports SSL.




No default value








CertificateVerifyDepth




Specifies the SSL Certificate Verification Depth.




No default value








CACertificateDir




Specifies the CA Certificate Directory.


This setting supports SSL.




No default value








CACertificateFile




Specifies the CA Certificate File.


This setting supports SSL.




No default value








TrustedPeerDNs




Specifies the SSL Trusted Peer DNs.




No default value








VerifyPeer




Specifies whether to verify the peer.


This setting supports SSL.




false








CipherList




Specifies the Cipher List.


This setting supports SSL.




No default value








ScriptRPCPort




Specifies the port used for interprocess communication between the script processes and the Oracle BI Scheduler process. This port accepts connections only from the same computer on which Oracle BI Scheduler is running.




9707

















Email Scheduler Configuration Settings that Affect Agents




Configure agents by specifying the following configuration settings.








Element
Description
Default Value








SmtpCipherList




Specifies the list of ciphers that match the cipher suite name that the SMTP server supports. For example, RSA+RC4+SHA. See Enabling SSL in a Configuration Template Configured System in Security Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.




No default value








UseStartTLS




Ignored unless UseSSL is true. If UseStartTls is true, then use the STARTTLS option (RFC 2487) for the SMTP session. Initial connection is through an unsecured link, usually port 25. The connection is then promoted to a secure link using the STARTTLS SMTP command. If UseStartTls is false, then a secured connection is created immediately, before the SMTP protocol is started. This is also known as SMTPS. SMTPS typically uses port 465.




true

















Agent Scheduler Configuration Settings




Agents are functionally a combination of data that is stored in Oracle BI Server and Oracle BI Scheduler.




The elements in the Scheduler instanceconfig.xml file describe the behavior of all agents that run on a specific Oracle BI Scheduler. The table below describes each agent configuration element.











Element
Description
Default Value








Log_Dir




Agents can create log files if exceptional error conditions occur. Log_Dir specifies the directory where these files are saved. The directory must be accessible to the Oracle BI Scheduler server. In Windows, the default installation runs the service as a system account, which prevents Oracle BI Scheduler from writing to or reading from network directories. If you put script files on network shares, or your scripts access network shares, then Oracle BI Scheduler must be run as a network user.


For information about log files, see Diagnosing Issues with Agents.




ibots








LogPurgeDays




Specifies the number of days after which old agent logs are deleted automatically. To prevent old logs from being deleted automatically, set the value to 0 (zero).




7








NumGlobalRetries




A web or mail server that has too many people logged on might reject new connections, including connections from Oracle BI Scheduler. To cope with such overload, an agent retries the connection. This element sets the maximum number of retries to obtain global information about what to deliver and to whom before the agent gives up. If you set this value to 0 (zero), then no retries are attempted.




2








MinGlobalSleepSecs




Specifies the minimum number of seconds that the agent randomly sleeps after its connection is refused before it attempts to reconnect to the server to obtain global information about what to deliver and to whom.




3








MaxGlobalSleepSecs




Specifies the maximum number of seconds that the agent randomly sleeps after its connection is refused before it attempts to reconnect to the server to obtain global information about what to deliver and to whom.




10








NumRequestRetries




After an agent has received the global information, it issues a series of unique requests to the server for each user. This element specifies the number of times Oracle BI Scheduler retries its attempts to connect to the server to issue these requests. If you set this value to 0 (zero), then no retries are attempted.




3








MinRequestSleepSecs




Specifies the minimum number of seconds that the agent randomly sleeps after its connection is refused before it attempts to reconnect to the server to issue requests.




2








MaxRequestSleepSecs




Specifies the maximum number of seconds that the agent randomly sleeps after its connection is refused before it attempts to reconnect to the server to issue requests.




10








NumDeliveryRetries




After a unique request has executed, the agent tries to deliver the results to specified devices. This specifies the number of times that Oracle BI Scheduler attempts to retry to connect to the server to deliver the results. If you set this value to 0 (zero), then no retries are attempted.




4








MinDeliverySleepSecs




Specifies the minimum number of seconds that the agent randomly sleeps after its connection is refused before it attempts to reconnect to the server to deliver results.




5








MaxDeliverySleepSecs




Specifies the maximum number of seconds that the agent randomly sleeps after its connection is refused before it attempts to reconnect to the server to deliver results.




10








MaxRowsTimesColumns




When agents are chained, this value governs the size of filters passed between agents. When you pass a filter to another agent in a chain, Oracle BI Scheduler creates a union of the result sets for the Conditional Report for each personalized recipient. This report can grow very large in some cases (1000 users with 100 unique rows each with ten columns per report = 1,000,000 column values in the filter). The Oracle Business Intelligence servers might not be able to handle such a large filter, so this element specifies the maximum number of rows*columns in the filter.




10,000








Debug




Debug Enabled.


Set this element to have Oracle BI Scheduler generate a log file for each agent. This log file has useful logging messages when trying to diagnose a problem. This log file is stored in


BI_DOMAIN/servers/obisch1/logs


A new log file named Agent-<Job number>-<Instance number>.log is created for each job instance. The Job Manager can also be used to override the Debug setting for an individual job.


See Diagnosing Issues with Agents.




false








KeepErrorLogFiles




Set this element to true to generate an error log file for each agent. This log file is created only when an agent execution encounters errors and contains only error messages. The file is stored in:


BI_DOMAIN/bi/servers/obisch1/logs




true



















Controlling Delivery Options for Agents




Delivery options (that is, delivery devices and delivery profiles) determine how the contents of agents are delivered to users.


Delivery options can be configured by users, in the LDAP server (for email addresses), or in the SA System subject area. See Setting Up the SA System Subject Area in Scheduling Jobs Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition for information.