B Advanced Configuration Reference

This appendix describes advanced postinstallation configuration and administration procedures that are not specific to analyses, agents, dashboards, or the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog. Directions for configuring these components of Oracle Business Intelligence are in earlier chapters. Most administrators need not change the configuration settings that are described in this appendix.

This appendix includes the following sections:

Making Advanced Configuration Changes for Presentation Services

The Oracle BI 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 UNIX, the process is sawserver

The instanceconfig.xml file stores the configuration settings that affect Oracle BI Server. Many configuration settings are available in Fusion Middleware Control and that is the preferred method for making configuration changes. If a particular setting is not 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 Oracle BI 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 path to the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog, and the name of the Oracle Business Intelligence Server data source used by Presentation Services to access Oracle BI Server.

Note:

If you have 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>
 <Catalog>
  <ServiceInstanceQuota>
   <Enabled>true</Enabled>
   <SizeLimitMB>8192</SizeLimitMB>
  </ServiceInstanceQuota>
 </Catalog>
  <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>
  <EnableSavingContentWithHTML>true</EnableSavingContentWithHTML>
  </Security>   
 <ODBC>
   <UnaccessedRunningTimeoutMinutes>5</UnaccessedRunningTimeoutMinutes>
  </ODBC>   
 <UI>
    <MaxSearchResultItemsToReturn>300</MaxSearchResultItemsToReturn> 
  <UserPickerDialogMaxAccounts>300</UserPickerDialogMaxAccounts>
 </UI>
</ServerInstance>

Save your changes and close the file.
Restart Oracle Business Intelligence.

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 is not 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 does not 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 does not 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 Oracle BI Presentation Catalog.	300
<BIClientInstallerURL64Bit>	Specifies that you want to override the default download location for the Oracle BI Client Installer when the user selects to download the Oracle BI Client Installer from the Oracle BI EE Home page. The file for the 64-bit Installer is named biee_client_install64.exe.	No default value
<Catalog> <ServiceInstanceQuota> </Catalog>	Specifies the catalog size limit. If you encounter an error similar to `Service instance quota has been exhausted`, you have exceeded the default limit of 5GB. You can use this parameter to either disable the size limit or to increase it. If you are migrating from 11g which had no size limit, you may encounter an error message similar to `Service instance hard quota has been exhausted` in the presentation server log. Increase the size limit or disable this parameter and then migrate your catalog again as described in support note 2079953.1 on My Oracle Support at https://support.oracle.com.	No default value
<Catalog> <ServiceInstanceQuota> <Enabled> </ServiceInstanceQuota> </Catalog>	Specifies that you want to enable a catalog size limit. If you set the parameter to false, then you remove the quota limit.	true
<Catalog> <ServiceInstanceQuota> <SizeLimitMB> </ServiceInstanceQuota> </Catalog>	Specifies the new size limit in MB for the catalog.	5000
<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 Protecting Pages in Oracle BI EE from Attack for information.	sameDomainOnly
<Security> <LogonExpireMinutes> </Security>	Specifies a time in minutes after which an inactive user is automatically logged off.	180
<Security> <EnableSavingContentWithHTML> </Security>	Setting this to true enables the Contains HTML Markup option to be displayed in several dialogs and editors across Presentation Services. You must also enable the corresponding privileges in the Manage Privileges page as described in EnableSavingContentWithHTML.	false
<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 are not 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. Do not 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 does not 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 items to display in the left picker within a directory listing of the catalog within Presentation Services. For example, a catalog folder with more than 300 items might not display them all unless you increase this value to greater than 300. 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

Protecting Pages in Oracle BI EE 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 victim'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 Business Intelligence Console application. When you visit this site, you are unknowingly clicking buttons on the inline-framed Console application. This vulnerability is very serious, because the attacker is not stopped by the same origin policy principles that apply to other Oracle Business Intelligence 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 Oracle BI 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 Oracle BI Presentation Services to be rendered in an inline frame.

Using the JavaHost Service for Oracle BI Presentation Services

Java library functionality can be achieved using the JavaHost service.

The JavaHost service gives Presentation Services the ability to use functionality that is 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 BI Server to execute Java code

Note:

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

In the configuration file for the JavaHost Service, elements related to the BI 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, do not 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 BI Publisherto 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 is 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 data sets. 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 in Oracle BI EE, it is 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 For information about SSL, see Security Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.
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 BI 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.