Configuring Oracle Business Intelligence System Settings

You configure the Oracle Business Intelligence system settings by changing values stored in domain-specific locations related to either functional behavior (for example, cache, thresholds), or environmental settings (for example, host names, ports, files or metadata locations).

You can use the following methods:

The table below shows which method to use when configuring Oracle Business Intelligence system settings. Each method updates settings in specific configuration files.

What Do You Want to Do?	What Methods Can You Use?	How Are Updates Made?
Change common configuration settings in an easy to use user interface.	Fusion Middleware Control See Using Fusion Middleware Control. Oracle recommends that you use this method. However, if a setting is not available, you can use a text editor.	Change values in specific Oracle Business Intelligence configuration pages in Fusion Middleware Control. For example, to enable the BI Server cache, you click the Cache Enabled check box (select/clear) in the Performance tab of the Configuration page.
Change configuration settings by manually editing a file.	Text editor See Using a Text Editor. Oracle recommends that you use this method when a setting is not available in Fusion Middleware Control Oracle Business Intelligence pages.	Change values in a configuration text file using a text editor.
Make more complex configuration changes using a scripting tool.	WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) See Using the WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST). Oracle recommends that you use this method when instructed by the documentation.	Make configuration changes by running commands using the WLST scripting tool.

What Do You Want to Do?

What Methods Can You Use?

How Are Updates Made?

Change common configuration settings in an easy to use user interface.

Fusion Middleware Control

See Using Fusion Middleware Control.

Oracle recommends that you use this method. However, if a setting is not available, you can use a text editor.

Change values in specific Oracle Business Intelligence configuration pages in Fusion Middleware Control.

For example, to enable the BI Server cache, you click the Cache Enabled check box (select/clear) in the Performance tab of the Configuration page.

Change configuration settings by manually editing a file.

Text editor

See Using a Text Editor.

Oracle recommends that you use this method when a setting is not available in Fusion Middleware Control Oracle Business Intelligence pages.

Change values in a configuration text file using a text editor.

Make more complex configuration changes using a scripting tool.

WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST)

See Using the WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST).

Oracle recommends that you use this method when instructed by the documentation.

Make configuration changes by running commands using the WLST scripting tool.

Using Fusion Middleware Control

You can use Fusion Middleware Control to update specific Oracle Business Intelligence configuration settings.

Configuration settings you can change include performance settings, dashboard and analysis default presentation settings, and mail server settings used by agents.

If an Oracle Business Intelligence configuration setting is not available in Fusion Middleware Control, you can use a text editor to update the setting in a configuration file. See Configuring Oracle Business Intelligence System Settings.

Go to the Business Intelligence Overview page, as described in Displaying Oracle Business Intelligence Pages in Fusion Middleware Control.
Select the appropriate page and tabs to display the settings to change.
Click Lock and Edit to enable changes to be made.

Caution:
Oracle recommends that multiple administrators do not share the same administrator account. They can unknowingly make concurrent updates to the same configuration settings.
Make the appropriate changes on each page.
Click Apply on each page after you have made your changes.
When you have finished making your changes, do one of the following:
- Click Activate Changes to execute your changes and release the lock to enable another system administrator to make changes.
- Click Release Configuration to undo all changes you made since clicking Lock and Edit and release the lock to enable another system administrator to make changes.
After you have activated your changes, go to the Overview page and click Restart.

Using a Text Editor

You can use a text editor to add or change a setting in a configuration file.

You would use text editor for the system configuration settings that are not available in Fusion Middleware Control.

Use the following procedure to update configuration files using a text editor.

Make a backup copy of the files that you plan to edit.
Open the appropriate configuration file in a text editor.

For information, see Configuration Files
In the configuration file, locate the element or create a new element if you must add a setting to the file.
Enter the appropriate changes.
Save your changes and close the configuration file.
Restart Oracle Business Intelligence in Fusion Middleware Control, go to the Process tab in the Availability page, and restart all components.

For information, see About Managing Oracle Business Intelligence Processes.

Using the WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST)

Oracle provides WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST) scripts to perform Oracle Business Intelligence WebLogic configuration tasks. For example, to create a domain during installation, or to add a machine for high availability.

You run WLST scripts commands from the following location:

ORACLE_HOME/oracle_common/common/bin/wlst.sh (wlst.cmd on Windows)

You can configure Oracle Business Intelligence system settings in online (system processes running) or offline (system processes stopped) mode. The following sections describe the different conditions that apply when making online and offline configuration changes.

Making Offline Configuration Changes

All offline configuration changes must be made on the master host, except those relating to node managers, and all Oracle BI EE processes must be stopped first.

To consume offline changes you must start the Administration server, Managed servers, and then system components (in that order). This is the general requirement for any configuration change as the command to start the managed server is the only process that replicates the configuration, from a running Administration Server.

Assumptions and pre-requisites:

You must have file system (offline) or Weblogic Administrator (online) permissions
When you start component(s) offline, the Administration server and node managers must be started first, see Starting Oracle Business Intelligence Component Processes in a Domain

Running WLST Offline

You run WLST scripts commands from the following location:

ORACLE_HOME/oracle_common/common/bin/wlst.sh

Before issuing offline commands you must select a domain using the readDomain(DOMAIN_HOME) command.

For example:
```
readDomain('/u01/bi')
```
After you have issued your offline commands you must commit the changes using the updateDomain() command.

For example:
```
updateDomain('/u01/bi')
```
De-select the domain using the closeDomain() command.

For example:
```
closeDomain('/u01/bi')
```

If you make a mistake or decide to abandon changes, you should use the closeDomain() command without using the updateDomain() command.

Making Online Configuration Changes

You can make online configuration changes from any computer where you have access to the Administration Server domain mbeans.

Assumptions and pre-requisites:

You must have Weblogic Administrator permissions.
The Administration Server must be running.
After making changes, you must restart the affected BI component(s), see Starting Oracle Business Intelligence Component Processes in a Domain.

Running WLST Online

You run WLST script commands from the following location:

ORACLE_HOME/oracle_common/common/bin/wlst.sh

Connect to Administration Server by issuing the following command:

./wlst.sh connect(<username>, <password>, <connect string>)

For example,
```
./wlst.sh connect('weblogic', 'mypassword', 't3://localhost:9500')
```
You must enter edit tree and start an edit session by issuing edit() and startEdit() commands before issuing commands.
Use the save() command to save all changes made during the edit session.
Use the activate() command to commit your changes.

If you attempt to issue a command outside an edit session, the command will fail and display a help message.

If you make a mistake or decide to abandon changes then you must use the undo() or cancelEdit() command.

Updating the Java Development Kit (JDK)

After you install and configure Oracle Business Intelligence, you might need to update the JDK for the instance; for example, if an update is required per the policy of your organization.

Before deciding to update the JDK, ensure that you consider an appropriate version, as described in the system requirements and certification documentation. See System Requirements and Certification.

Stop all services for Oracle Business Intelligence.
Download the appropriate JDK version from the Oracle Java web site and copy it to the ORACLE_HOME directory.
Rename the existing jdk directory to jdk.OLD.
Run the JDK Installer, which unzips the distribution into the jdkversion-num directory.
Rename the directory from jdkversion-num to jdk, to ensure that all existing configuration references remain valid.
Restart the services for Oracle Business Intelligence.

For information on installing with a specific JDK, see Installing and Configuring Oracle Business Intelligence.