BusinessObjects Board

BCA Publisher 6.1a Install Tips

I just went through the pain of installing Broadcast Agent Publisher 6.1a on Windows 2000 SP3 server and would like to share the problems I encountered along the way and how they were resolved. Hopefully, this posting can save somebody time and/or a call to BO Tech Support. Corrections and additions are certainly welcome.

Before you touch Publisher, install and configure Webi server with InfoView/Webintelligence and Broadcast Agent. Make sure InfoView web site is operational and that you can refresh documents. Configure a Broadcast Agent and try scheduling a document on it to make sure it works.

BusinessObjects node/ORB and InfoView need to be configured before Publisher is installed. If the cluster is reconfigured, Publisher needs to be reinstalled. This particular piece of information was received from BO Technical Support.

Publisher 6.1a only works with ASP. Supposedly, full JSP support is coming in 6.5

For simplicity, I assume that BusinessObjects is installed to D:\BusObj and that Webi service account is called domainname\busobjserv

  1. Log on to the server as the service account that Webi is using (domainname\busobjserv)

  2. Install the prerequisites from the Publisher CD: windows_scripting_v51.exe and msxml3.exe

  3. Stop Webi

  4. Copy the Publisher XML license file to a folder on the server

  5. Run setup.exe

  6. Reboot

  7. After the install you should have two new services in your Services panel. One is called ‘BCA Publisher Web Application’ and the other one is called ‘BCA Publisher Web Support’. You might be missing one of them (happened to me more than once). If you are missing ‘BCA Publisher Web Application’, run ‘BCAPublisherService.exe /Service’. If you are missing ‘BCA Publisher Web Support’, run ‘BCAPSupportMgr.exe -i’. Both programs are located in D:\BusObj\broadcast agent publisher\Shared\bin (remember I assume that BusinessObjects server and Publisher are installed in D:\BusObj). I got that piece of information from Technical Support only to later find out that it was also in the readme file.

  8. Configure the Publisher services. You need to set the ‘BCA Publisher Web Application’ and ‘BCA Publisher Web Support’ services to start automatically and to log in as the service account (domainname\busobjserv). Also, you need to set the recovery to ‘Restart the Service’ on the first, second and third failures. This is for the server start-up. The ‘BCA Publisher Web Application’ service will not start (or to be exact, it will start and stop) until Webi is fully started. The Webi service takes a while to start up. Because the publisher service does not know it needs to wait until Webi is fully started, it starts, sees that Webi is not there and stops. Setting the recovery to ‘Restart the Service’ works around this issue. This tip is from BO Technical Support.

  9. Run Repository Manager. I believe you need to do that even if your repository already has Publisher tables, which will be the case if Publisher was installed previously on this or some other box. This will create the bomain.mkey file, which I believe Publisher is using instead of the bomain.key file. This is kind of like Safe Recovery in Supervisor.

  10. If this is the first time you install Publisher, you’ll need to create the ‘Broadcast Agent Publisher’ group in the repository, export the Publisher universe and document. These steps supposedly can be done automatically with Repository Manager, but I could never make it work. I always get an Active X error if I try to use Repository Manager to automatically export the universe and the document. Besides to create the group, you’d need to have Supervisor installed on the server. And to export the universe, you’ll need Designer set up on the server. I normally do not install these on servers. To me, it is much easier to do create the group and export the universe and the document manually. Refer to the ‘Broadcast Agent Publisher Installation and Configuration Guide’ for exact steps (there is probably a reason why the manual steps are thoroughly documented in the manual :smiley: )

  11. Turn off Windows Integrated Authentication (leave only Anonymous access) on BCAPublisher, BCAPublisherWILink, wiBCAPublisher, wiBCAEndUser and BCAExtUser virtual folders in IIS Administrator. My experience has been that you only need to adjust the first two (BCAPublisher and BCAPublisherWILink), the latter three are set correctly. I believe this step contradicts the install guide, but it is from BO Tech Support

  12. Copy servlet.jar to D:\BusObj\classes (see resolution 15012). Resolution 15012 says to take the file from a Tomcat installation ($TOMCAT_ROOT\common\lib for Tomcat 4.0.6), I however extracted mine from the _or29446.cab file from the BusinessObjects 6.1a (not Publisher) installation CD. There is only one file with a long a weird name inside this CAB file. You need to extract it, for example with WinZip, and rename to servlet.jar (Note: this is true for BusinessObjects 6.1a, other versions might store servlet.jar in a different CAB file. You can always use Orca (a tool from Microsoft, for details and to obtain please see MS Knowledge Base article 255905) to open the BusinessObjects.msi file and search for servlet.jar). If you miss this step, you’ll see the “Cannot find the required information in the database reply. (Error: BAW 0018)”

  13. Run Parameter Administrator. In [Global Parameters] make sure that ‘PubDocDomain’ points to an existing document domain. Add a host. Use the server name as the host name. Notice that by default directories specified in [PublishedOutputDirectory] and [TempReportOutputDirectory] point to non-existing folders. Make sure you create them or change the values to existing locations.

  14. If you get a ‘BAW 0011: Internal Error’, review resolution 14103. It is for an older version (5.6) and did not resolve my problem, but maybe it will help you. I was able to resolve my BAW 0011 by reinstalling everything, including the OS, from scratch.

Sergei


Sergei Ryabkov :us: (BOB member since 2003-03-11)

Excellent guide :!:
Just one thing though, what happens if the BCA Publisher Web Application Service still does not appear in the services list after running the exe?
I can see it in the processes window though :confused:


MikeD :south_africa: (BOB member since 2002-06-18)

Mike,
This is probably stupid, but have you refreshed the list of services or rebooted the machine? Also, if you see the process in Task Manager, is Publisher operational?
Publisher is funky: when I had problems, even after I talked to a very knowledgable guy at BO Tech Support who specializes on Publisher, the only way I could resolve my problem was to format C:, reinstall the OS and do a fresh install of Webi, BCA and Publisher.
Also, I had problems with Windows 2000 SP4, but I made it work on SP3.
Keep us posted.


Sergei Ryabkov :us: (BOB member since 2003-03-11)

Hi Sergei - this has actually happened to me before & I managed to somehow resolve it.
I installed Hotfix 103 which messed quite a few things up, so ended up re-installing all products!
I have BCA Pub spread across a cluster with the Web App on the Primary node & Web Support on the Secondary node. I must have installed this product 20 times previously, until i had it working, and now cannot remember what i did to resolve the Web App not appearing the last time around :reallymad:

I generally always refresh/reboot, but will probably try again this evening. Although the Addin only requires installation on the secondary where the BCA is, i will probably try & drop everything onto the Primary to see if it makes a difference.
Thanks for the comments.
Regrds


MikeD :south_africa: (BOB member since 2002-06-18)

Would you happen to have any good tips on installing 6.1a? We just abandoned our upgrade. We had too many issues. We’d get one thing to work and then something else would go wrong. We’ve got WIN2K SP3, Ora 9.2 etc.


rxv21 :us: (BOB member since 2003-09-08)

Are you referring to 6.1a BCA Publisher or Scheduler or WEBI :?:
WHat version are you currently on :?:


MikeD :south_africa: (BOB member since 2002-06-18)

We are currently on version 5. We tried upgrading to version 6 of BCA, WebI, Publisher etc…


rxv21 :us: (BOB member since 2003-09-08)

Apol for the delay - i’m currently trying to get my own installation running again. Sergei’s notes below are prob best to follow …
U might want to try an Install as opposed to an upgrade …
As soon as this is all working again, ill feed back my experiences …
Rgrds
MikeD


MikeD :south_africa: (BOB member since 2002-06-18)

Great guide Sergei!

I’ve screwed up the IIS virtual directorie security settings, are you aware of any docs that lay out the proper settings? This install has been a nightmare … ugh

Thanks,
Mark


mrb (BOB member since 2004-04-10)

Mark,

I have not seen the Publisher IIS virtual folder settings documented anywhere, but it does not mean this documentation does not exist. It might be faster to uninstall and reinstall Publisher to recreate the IIS virtual folders. Or you can check you system against what I found on mine (please see below).

I believe Publisher creates the following virtual folders in IIS

BCAPublisher
BCAPublisherWILink
wiBCAPublisher
wiBCAEndUser
BCAExtUser

All of them are configured as applications

BCAPublisher
Local Path: D:\BusObj\broadcast agent publisher\Web Component\websites\BCAPublisher\
Permissions: Read, Log Visits
Execute Permissions: Scripts and Executables
Application Protection: High (Isolated)
Default Document: BCAPController.dll?_nextView=CatalogueFra… [this is not complete, the remainder is hidden, I am not sure how to view it]
Directory Security/Authentication: Anonymous Access

Application Options
Enable Session State: OFF
ASP Script Timeout: 600 sec

BCAPublisherWILink
Local Path: D:\BusObj\broadcast agent publisher\Web Component\websites\BCAPublisherWILink
Permissions: Read, Log Visits
Execute Permissions: Scripts and Executables
Application Protection: High (Isolated)
Default Document: BCAPController.dll?_nextView=CatalogueFra… [this is not complete, the remainder is hidden, I am not sure how to view it]
Directory Security/Authentication: Anonymous Access

Application Options
Enable Session State: OFF
ASP Script Timeout: 600 sec

wiBCAPublisher
Local Path: D:\BusObj\broadcast agent publisher\Mail Component\http-server\Publisher
Permissions: Read, Log Visits
Execute Permissions: Scripts Only
Application Protection: Low (IIS Process)
Default Document: retry.asp
Directory Security/Authentication: Anonymous Access

Application Options
Enable Session State: ON
Session Timeout: 20 min
ASP Script Timeout: 600 sec

wiBCAEndUser
Local Path: D:\C:\BusObj\broadcast agent publisher\Mail Component\http-server\EndUser
Permissions: Read, Log Visits
Execute Permissions: Scripts Only
Application Protection: Low (IIS Process)
Default Document: retry.asp
Directory Security/Authentication: Anonymous Access

Application Options
Enable Session State: ON
Session Timeout: 20 min
ASP Script Timeout: 600 sec

BCAExtUser
Local Path: C:\BusObj\broadcast agent publisher\Mail Component\http-server\ExtUser
Permissions: Read, Log Visits
Execute Permissions: Scripts Only
Application Protection: Low (IIS Process)
Default Document: retry.asp
Directory Security/Authentication: Anonymous Access

Application Options
Enable Session State: ON
Session Timeout: 20 min
ASP Script Timeout: 600 sec

Hope this helps,


Sergei Ryabkov :us: (BOB member since 2003-03-11)

Sergei,

Thank You! That should help. Couple of things.

The BCAPController.dll files themselves have their own file security settings. There are two versions referred in both the BCAPublisher and BCAPublisherWiLink - what settings to you have for them. Anonymous?
Do you de-select NT auth or check both options?

What is the URL that external web users are supposed to be linked to?

Lastly , any special permissions need to be made for the temp, report directories referred to in ricipient mgr?

Thanks again!
-Mark


mrb (BOB member since 2004-04-10)

Not sure why you have 2 versions of BCAPController.dll in BCAPublisher and BCAPublisherWiLink?
You should allow Anonymous access. NT Auth depends on if you want to use this authentication feature.
The external site would be http://server/BCAPublisher.
The temp directories shoud be accessible for read/write permissions by the id that you use to run the publisher services.

Yup - Sergei’s notes certainly helped me thru my Pub installs.
I found a doc recently on the tech support site that has to do with IIS settings for ASP - a bit slim & outdated, but good to use as a template for your own site documentation purposes.
Rgrds
MikeD


MikeD :south_africa: (BOB member since 2002-06-18)

Sergei/Mike,

Your suggestions have helped tremendously.

I’m publishing via email properly.
I’ve turned anonymous access on for all virtual directory security (and file security for my two copies of BCApController.dl l - yes I hve two separate copies in the BCAPublisher and BCAPublisherWiLink directories)

Is the integrated Windows authentication box checked for any of your directory security settings? I can’thelp but think I screwed something up by unchecking the box for all directory settings…

I’m having major problems with web publishing. The web publication appears to run sucessfully but there is no output in the c:\publisher\reports directorys I specified or in the web subscriptions for any user.

The BCAP owner is an administrator, so rights to the report output directories should be an issue.

I didn’t install the sun jvm, so it’s possible the html storage service isn’t working - do you think that is the problem? If so I guess I’ll need to uninstall publisher and redo after installing the sun jvm.

Regards,
Mark


mrb (BOB member since 2004-04-10)

I only have one each.

Integrated authentication will only kick in if u disable Anonymous access - i do have mine set tho …

  1. Are u sure that BCA is running?
  2. Are you using that BCA log doc to see what errors are occuring - without that u will stumble around in the dark for days like moi :oops:

Unfortunately this is probably the case as it’s a pre-req …

Rgrds
MikeD


MikeD :south_africa: (BOB member since 2002-06-18)

I have one copy of BCAPController.dll in each of the two directories.

I uninstalled BCAPub, installed a JVM and reinstalled.

BCA scheduler works as always - I can refresh documents to the repository.

Email publishing works great - i can send docs, links to internal and external users.

Web Publication does not work. ugh …

The BCA says that the job is a sucess - but no output to directories and no web subscriptions appear in any of the users web subscription pages.

Everything is on one node -I have tried with and without the WebI DTS manager, makes no difference.

I have 4 services running
Webi Cluster service,
WebI DTS manager
BCA Publisher Web application
BCA Publisher Web Support

In parameter Admin:

I have set the html output directories to valid locations. Administrator is the account that runs all the services so writing to those directories should’nt be a problem.

I have specified that the server runs all services -

I’m stuck … :confused:

[/quote]


mrb (BOB member since 2004-04-10)

Did you create the Published & Temp directories yourself? The Parm Admin tool displays these 2 folders but does not create them!


MikeD :south_africa: (BOB member since 2002-06-18)

Mike,

Yep, I created the directories myself on c:

I believe the BCA Web publisher component isn’t kicking in when I schedule a document. THe BCA process runs OK, it just seem s like the Pub isn’t recognizing that it’s a web publishing job.

I had to install the BCA Publisher Web Support by hand (BCAPSupportMgr.exe -i) since it wasn’t installed automatically. I can’t help but think the install is incomplete …

-Mark


mrb (BOB member since 2004-04-10)

Have you created 2 Broadcast Agents as per the install doc (Publisher & Scheduler) and assigned them both?
Have you tried sending a normal FC doc to the Publisher BCA?


MikeD :south_africa: (BOB member since 2002-06-18)

Hmm, I’ll have to revisit the install docs …

But yes, I have multiple BCA agents running, and I can refresh the FC doc and distribute it to internal users.

I don’t think the web add-in is running at all (even tho i have 2 bca process running…)

Really frustrating …

-Mark


mrb (BOB member since 2004-04-10)

Hi Mark,
Were you able to publish documents thru Web Component…?.Did you get any solution to your issue…?.I’m strugling with same issue here,I could successfully send mails thru mail component…
But my web component is not working…I mean i can see success status after publish the document thru web comp…

My Config…
Single node
IIS
Win 2003

Your inputs are very helpfull to me ,greatly appreciated…
Thanks,
Nivas.


nivas (BOB member since 2003-09-04)