Configuring BI Publisher for Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Communication

It is strongly recommended that you enable Secure Socket Layer (HTTPS) on the middle tier hosting the Web services because the trusted username/password that is passed can be intercepted.

This also pertains to Web services that are used for communication between BI Publisher and Oracle BI Presentation Services.

Tasks for enabling SSL with BI Publisher:

For information about configuring SSL for Oracle BI EE, see Enabling End-to-End SSL in the Security Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

Importing Certificates for Web Services Protected by SSL

If you make calls to Web services that are protected through Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), then you must export the certificate from the Web server hosting the Web service and import it into the Java keystore on the computer that is running BI Publisher.

To import certificates for Web services:

  1. Navigate to the HTTPS site where the WSDL resides.
  2. Download the certificate by following the prompts; the prompts that you see vary depending on the browser that you are using.
  3. Install the Certificate into your keystore using the Java keytool, as follows: 
    keytool -import -file <certfile> -alias <certalias> -keystore <keystore file>
  4. Restart the application server.

These steps should not be required if the server certificate is linked to some certificate authority (such as Verisign). But if the Web service server is using a self-generated certificate (for example, in a testing environment), then these steps are required.

Adding the Virtualize Property to the Identity Store Configuration

You must add the property "virtualize" to the Identity Store Configuration in Fusion Middleware Control to enable SSL for BI Publisher.

To add the virtualize property:

  1. Log in to Fusion Middleware Control 12c:

    https://<Host>/<SecureAdminPort>/em

  2. Select WebLogic Domain, Security, and then Security Provider Configuration.

  3. Expand the Security Store Provider segment.

  4. Expand the Identity Store Provider segment.

  5. Click Configure.

    1. Click Add (+) to add a new property.

    2. In the Add New Property dialog, enter

      Property Name — virtualize

      Value — true


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  6. On the Identity Store Provide page, click OK.


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  7. Confirm that the property is added to the jps-config.xml file:

    1. Open the jps-config.xml file located in

      <DomainHome>/config/fmwconfig/jps-config.xml

    2. Ensure that the file contains the line:

      <property name="virtualize" value="true"/>

Updating the JDBC Connection String to the Oracle BI EE Data Source

For BI Publisher to connect to Oracle BI EE as a data source when SSL is enabled, you must update the default connection string.

Follow the guidelines detailed in Setting Up a JDBC Connection to the Oracle BI Server.

Updating the JMS Configuration

You update the Scheduler JMS configuration to use the SSL URL.

To update the JMS configuration:

  1. On the BI Publisher Administration page, under System Maintenance, click Scheduler Configuration.

  2. Update the WebLogic JNDI URL to use SSL. For example,


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  3. Click Apply.

  4. Select the Scheduler Diagnostics tab.

  5. Verify that the connection passed diagnostics.

Configuring the Delivery Manager

If you want to use the default certificates built-in with BI Publisher, then no further configuration is required.

SSL works with the default certificate if the server uses the certificate signed by a trusted certificate authority such as Verisign.

If the user uses the SSL with a self-signed certificate, then the certificate information must be entered in the Delivery Configuration page, as described in Configuring Delivery Options. A self-signed certificate means that the certificate is signed by a non-trusted certificate authority (usually the user).