Prerequisites, troubleshooting, and parameter information
for the Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition import bridge.
About
this bridge
The Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise
Edition bridge imports BI models, BI reports, and related implemented
data resources such as database tables from Oracle Business Intelligence
Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) versions 10.1 to 11.g.
The bridge
uses a combination of direct import and file import. Analysis and
KPI reports are imported directly from Oracle Business Intelligence
Answers by connecting to the presentation server. OBIEE repository
models are imported from XML files or UDML files that are generated
by Oracle Business Intelligence Server.
Prerequisites
To use the latest version of this bridge, you must install the prerequisite software: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27038230.
Meet the following prerequisites
before you use the bridge to import metadata.
- Ensure that the user name that you specify to connect to the presentation
server has the necessary permissions to access the objects that you
want to import.
The Oracle BI Administration tool stores metadata in a Repository
RPD file that you must convert to XML format for version 11 and to
UDML format for version 10.
- For version 11, take these steps to prepare the XML file.
- Run bi-init.cmd on Microsoft Windows or bi-init.sh on
UNIX or Linux to open a command prompt or shell window that is initialized
to your Oracle instance. The files are in the following directory:
ORACLE_INSTANCE\bifoundation\OracleBIApplication\coreapplication\setup\bi-init.
- Use the biserverxmlgen command-line utility to generate XML: biserverxmlgen
-R file_path_and_name.rpd -P password -O file_path_and_name.xml
-8. The option -8 is required.
- The bridge uses the generated XML file as input.
- For version 10, prepare the UDML file by running the following
command with the nQUDMLGen command-line utility: $OracleBIHome$\server\Bin\nQUDMLGen.exe
-U Administrator -P Administrator -R file_path_and_name.rpd
-O file_path_and_name.udml -N -Q -8. The
options -N, -Q, and -8 are
required.
The bridge uses the generated XML file or UDML file as input.
You must upload the file to either the metadata interchange server
or the local client computer before you run the import.
- To import OBIEE metadata from a large Oracle Business Intelligence
Answers application, you must adjust the bridge for memory optimization:
- Use a 64-bit Java virtual machine with increased memory to 4 GB.
To the file MIRSetup.xml, add "-Xmx4G".
- Ensure that the bridge parameter Optimize for large
models is selected when you run the import.
- To connect to OBIEE presentation server over SSL link, the bridge
must trust the server certificate. Extract the root certificate that
is used by the Oracle WebLogic managed servers into the local keystore
of the computer where the bridge is installed. For detailed instructions,
see the following technical document: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27044940.
Troubleshooting
To provide information
to help the support team reproduce an issue, provide the following
information:
- Repository RPD file and the user ID and password that are necessary
to open it. By default this file is in the \OracleBI\server\Repository directory.
Alternately, you can connect to a live online repository by using
the Oracle BI Administration tool and copy the local RPD file.
- Report metadata that is contained inside the OBIEE catalog. Reports
are called requests in version 10 and analyses in version 11. To collect
the report metadata, take the following steps:
- In OBIEE Catalog Manager, click .
- Take one of the following actions to specify the path to the catalog,
selecting Read Only in each case:
- In offline mode in version 10, specify OracleBIData/web/catalog/MyCatalog as
the path, where MyCatalog is the name of the catalog.
- In offline mode in version 11, point to Offline mode, v11.x: specify instance/bifoundation/OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent/coreapplication_obips1/catalog/MyCatalog as
the path, where instance is the name of the instance
and MyCatalog is the name of the catalog.
- In online mode, type in the OBI server URL, for example http://OBIServer:9704/analytics/saw.dll,
where OBIServer is the name of your OBI computer.
- Click OK.
- Select the root folder in the tree and click to
create the archive file.
Send the RPD file, the XML file that you converted from the RPD
file, and the report archive file to the support team.
Import parameters
The
Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition bridge uses the following
import configuration parameters.
- Version
- Select the version of OBIEE presentation server
that you want to import repository models from, either version 10
or 11. If you are unsure of the version, choose Auto-detect and
the bridge will attempt to detect the version.
- Server URL
- Required. Specify the URL for the presentation
server that you are importing metadata from.
- User name
- Required. Type the user name to connect to
the presentation server. This user must have the necessary permissions
to access the objects that you want to import.
- Login password
- Type the password to connect to the presentation
server.
- File location
- Select whether the file that you specify in the File field
is on the metadata interchange server or on the local computer.
- File
-
Required. Browse the computer that you specified in the
File
location parameter to specify the name and path of the
file to import:
- For imports from version 11, specify an XML file.
- For imports from version 10, specify a UDML file.
The Oracle BI Administration tool natively stores BI model
metadata in a Repository RPD file. You import the BI model from the
file, and you import the BI reports by using the Assets
to import parameter, which accesses the presentation server
repository. The BI model in the file that you specify must match the
contents of the BI model in the repository. To enable data lineage,
the file must contain the models that are related to the reports that
you select by using the Assets to import parameter.
Follow
the directions in the bridge prerequisites to generate the correct
import format from the RPD file. Upload it to the computer that you
specify in the File location parameter.
- Variable values file
- Do not specify a value. Uploading a variable values file is not
supported.
- Assets to import
Required. Browse the presentation
server repository to select folders and BI reports.
Alternately,
you can specify list of folders and reports to import by path, with
each path separated by a semicolon (;).
- The path to the root folder is /.
- The path to a shared folder is /shared.
- The path to the administrator user folder is /users/administrator.
To enable data lineage, the file that you specify in the
File parameter
must contain the models that are related to the reports that you select
by using the
Assets to import parameter.
- Optimize for large models
By default, the option is selected to optimize the import for
large Oracle Business Intelligence repository models. When the option
is selected, the import ignores foreign keys, joins, relationships,
and logical foreign keys. Ignoring such objects results in a smaller
model, and require less memory at runtime. The default setting is
recommended for large UDML or XML input files.
To import the
entire repository model, remove the check mark. Importing the entire
repository, which requires more memory at runtime, is recommended
for small to medium UDML or XML input files.
- Incremental import
-
Keep this parameter selected. When you reimport from the same
source, the bridge uses cached information to determine which objects
did not change since the previous import. Only changed objects are
reimported. Using the cached information can increase performance
for large imports.
For new imports, or when the cache is deleted
or corrupted, the bridge imports all objects from the source regardless
of the selection that is specified.
- Worker threads
Specify the number of worker threads to retrieve metadata asynchronously
from the source. For the most reliable performance, leave the parameter
blank to have the bridge compute the default value, which is based
on JVM architecture and the number of available CPU cores.
If
you must experiment with increasing retrieval speed, specify a number
from 1 - 6 to provide the actual number of threads. If the value specified
is invalid, a warning is generated and the number 1 is used instead.
If you experience out-of-memory conditions when you are importing
metadata asynchronously, experiment with smaller numbers. If your
computer has a large amount of available memory, for example, 10 GB
or more, you can try larger numbers when you are retrieving many documents.
However, setting the number too high can decrease performance due
to resource contention.
- Import joins
- You can import joins that are defined in the BI model. By default,
joins are not imported.
- Import levels
- You can import levels and hierarchies. When the option is selected,
levels and hierarchies that are defined in the BI model are imported.
By default, they are not imported.
- Metadata consistency check
Perform a consistency check on the selected metadata before
it is imported into the metadata repository. It is possible to save
metadata in source tools in ways that cause problems when the assets
are imported into the metadata repository or used in other tools.
For example, a foreign key might have no connection to a primary key
or to an alternate key. In some cases, the metadata might be so semantically
inconsistent that the bridge cannot import it.
The metadata
consistency check returns warnings and errors in the log file.
- Basic check
- The default. Performs the minimum consistency checks necessary
to validate the metadata, including checking for missing relationships
and foreign keys that are not connected to primary or alternate keys.
- In some cases, the basic check might be more rigorous than necessary
and you can ignore certain errors or warnings.
- Detailed check
- Performs the basic check plus more advanced semantic checks specific
to the type of metadata that is imported. This level can be used when
the source tool cannot validate the metadata.
- No check
- Use with extreme caution. Selecting this option might result in
the import of duplicates or invalid identities and might cause serious
problems with your use of suite tools and the metadata repository.