OBIEE11g SampleApp OID doesn’t start

Yep, I did again :-(.

After playing around with the new sampleapp107 I managed to crash the VM. After a reboot the OID refused to start up. It seemed that because there was still an active status record in the ODS schema, the OPMN couldn’t find anything to start.

Solution: truncate the "ODS"."ODS_PROCESS_STATUS" and  "ODS"."ODS_GUARDIAN" tables in your database repository.

(Not sure if the "ODS"."ODS_GUARDIAN"  is really necessary…. Please correct me if I’m wrong)

Till Next Time

OBIEE Killing the firewall on linux

I was trying to connect to the new SampleApp rpd on a remote machine and got this  error nqserror 12008 unable to connect to port 9703. The error says it all, port 9703 is blocked. First I killed the firewall on the linux VM (yep, the  security guy will beat me up tonight )

Open a terminal, make yourself root  > SU

next kill the firewall:

1. Stop the ipchains service. > # service ipchains stop
2. Stop the iptables service. > # service iptables stop
3. Stop the ipchains service from starting when you restart the server. > # chkconfig ipchains off
4. Stop the iptables service from starting when you restart the server. > # chkconfig iptables off

See: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E19140-01/821-0908/p52.html

On all router in between I checked that port 9703 was open.

Now I could make a ODBC for my windows 7 machine to the sample app.

Till Next Time

OBIEE Adding an application role (GROUP)

Adding a group or a role online in OBIEE 11g has moved to the WEBLOGIC server.

Open the enterprise manager and open the business intelligence core application:

goto the security tab:

Press lock and Edit configuration:

Click on Configure and manage Application Roles

Click Create:

Fill in the details:

Add Members:

Press OK

Press Activate Changes:

Restart the BISERVER:

Check the OBIEE Identity manager:

Till Next Time

OBIEE11g PROJECT_INACCESSIBLE_COLUMN_AS_NULL

The PROJECT_INACCESSIBLE_COLUMN_AS_NULL in the NQSConfig.ini file controls how security-sensitive columns are displayed to unauthorized users.

If this parameter is set to YES, then a NULL expression replaces the original column expression in the query and secured columns are hidden from unauthorized users in analyses.

If this parameter is set to NO, then when a user attempts to run a report that contains a secured column the user is not authorized to see, an unresolved column error occurs.

Till Next Time

OBIEE Which connection pool user NOT to use

Sometime ago I asked why you don’t want to see this:
http://obiee101.blogspot.com/2010/06/obiee-you-dont-want-to-see-this.html
RMN1978 and @lex where the firsts to answer:
If you are using “fixed” users in the connection pool, there are a couple of accounts you never ever should use and a couple you should try to avoid.
Users you should never ever use are the so called system users like SYS, SYSDBA, SYSTEM (Oracle), SA (mssql) etcetera. These users have a specific function on the database and shouldn’t have any operational data. If you really need data owned by these users use a view and ask your DBA to grant you selec only rights.
Users you should try to avoid are so called SCHEMA or OBJECT owners. These users have besides SELECT the right to execute DELETE, UPDATE and INSERT statements. (and sometimes even DROP and CREATE privileges). Always ask you DBA for a SELECT ONLY / READ ONLY account. If you need to execute any functions ask him to grant it to your user (preferably trough a ROLE).
Please Please Please consult your DBA on which Account to use !
Till Next Time

OBIEE Prompt based on groupmembership

Somebody on OTN claimed that you can’t make prompts available based on the security setting of the user (See: http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=943712). Here is a workaround based on guided navigation:

First create a report which filters results based on the group  (noprompt) membership:

SELECT TIMES.CALENDAR_YEAR saw_0 FROM BM_SALES WHERE LOCATE( 'noprompt',VALUEOF(NQ_SESSION.GROUP)) > 0 ORDER BY saw_0

Based on being a member of nogroup the prompt will be available:

User1:

User2:

Till Next Time

OBIEE Remember my ID and password

Page 196 of the Presentation Services Administration Guide (the example to change kmsgAuthenticateRemembermyIDandpassword) triggered me to look for the option to switch on this feature:

Of course the answer can be found the manual on page 18….. It is controlled by the value of :”AllowRememberPassword” in the instanceconfig.xml. set it to “true” between the serverinstance tags to switch it on:

Till Next Time

OBIEE Public Reports and Dashboards - Bypassing authentication

Have look at this entry in Venkatakrishnan's blog (a comprehesive blog for every OBIEE specialist!)

Till Next Times

OBIEE Restricting data based on User Group

One way of doing this is by making a “calculated measure”

FI:
CASE WHEN LOCATE('GROUP_NAME', VALUEOF(NQ_SESSION."GROUP")) > 0 THEN
MyBM.”SomeColumn” ELSE '-' END

The reason for using LOCATE is that
NQ_SESSION."GROUP" returns a comma separated string with all the groups a user belongs to fi: “Everyone;GROUP_NAME”Till Next Time

OBIEE Default security groups for BI Publisher

If you are using OBIEE and BI Publisher side by side using shared security model (XDO), you wil need to create some default users groups:



These groups are used by the XMLP server:

• XMLP_ADMIN
• XMLP_DEVELOPER
• XMLP_SCHEDULER
• XMLP_ANALYZER_EXCEL
• XMLP_ANALYZER_ONLINE
• XMLP_TEMPLATE_DESINGER

If you are working with multi user repository development remember to assign the groups at least to one project, or the group will be lost at check in.