BO XI 3.1 cluster install and configuration issues + audit

[system]

Hi there to All of You.
I’m in a need of BO XI 3.1 cluster configuration.

My platform is Windows 2008 R2 servers
CMS DB and audit on ORACLE 11g r2
BO 3.1 sp3 integrated

I’m Reading SAP documents and this forum for two weeks or more right now and I’ve found some inforamtion that concerned me, but there are still some questions and I can’t find a resolution.

I know that for cluster purposes I need:
1.Ensure that the CMS DB server ahve to be able to process small queries
2.BO servers have to be the same CPU, memory
3.Configuration has to be the same: operating system, service packs, the same BO version in this case W2k8 BO 3.1 with sp3 integrated,
that the each CMS connects to CMS DB in the same manner - I use native driver Oracle 11.1 Client 32bit
CMS use the same DB user account,
Also I plan to use a technical domain account for SIA to run, this is important for me to authorise both nodes on a network share for FRS.
the time is synchronised within a domain,
I use WACS based on IIS - do not use Tomcat or any other
both nodes are in the same area network, can ping telnet or so to each other
And I want to start Audit for them - I know that this must be cofigured exact way on both nodes.

What I have right now Is One node with BO installed, as I mentioned I use native Oracle client to connect to DB, I have configured connection to the cms and Audit DB while installataion, also I used IIS for applications, there is no tomcat or so. Enterprise authentication.
port for CMS is 6400
port for SIA is 6410
SIA is running with technical domain account made for this purpose only, and it is authorising well on a network share wich will host my FRS files

I want to install second node with Extended installation option,
but Can I use the same SIA and CMS port on the second machine ?
I didn’t find any thing in the documentation that states that I can’t but I have found that some ppl here had some problems and used other ports for nodes for example node1: ports 6400 6410 node2: ports 6500 6510?

Do i need a single sign on with clusters ?
I have found this article/blog with this information for XI r2

Configuring a Clustered Server on Business Objects XI-R2

there is also this link with a quick info about clustering, but there are no informations that I ask:
http://www.findsol.com/blog/business-objects-31-cluster/

What concerns me next is the Auditing.
I hoped that when I install a fresh BO on a fresh machine with fresh CMS and aduit DB, the reports will work fine… but it seems I was wrong… nothing seems to work out of the box …
Even if i start auditing on the only one machine I have right now I am not able to see reports.
As I mentioned i use Oracle DB, and client. I have configured a new conecction, to the audit DB in designer using native oracle driver and same credentials as for audit db when installing BO, changed it in audit universe to use the new connection, it seems to work OK… but webi reports still doesnt work…
Is there any problem with Oracle Audit DB?
maybe I need to configure ODBC connection for reports, but I dind’t find any info about it in the documentation that it cannot be a native connection?
I have found this topic, but it didn’t do the trick

BO XI 3.1 Auditing

Hi BO Gurus, I would like to know the information about universes and the corresponding reports, report access/ refresh dates by the users. I am not sure whether Auditor is installed/ configured in the system. We are using SQL server 2005 for BO repository. And also I didn’t find DSN for Audit database. Can anyone please help me: How to find out whether is installed and configured. XI 3.1 is already installed and running. Is Auditor a seperate tool to be installed or can it be configured us…

Maybe there is someone that will help me with this issue ?

Also is there simple way that I can configure BO to use Cluster name instead of cluster nodes names for Webi at least?
It will help a lot for users when they need to know One http path instead of two nodes…

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Adam924 (BOB member since 2011-01-13)

[JohnBClark]

@Adam924

Can I use the same SIA and CMS port on the second machine ?

You should be able to do this. We have four clustered environments and use the same ports for all of them.

@Adam924

Do i need a single sign on with clusters ?

No, but I think it helps to simplify user access. Details on how to set this up are in the Administrator’s Guide. You don’t say if you use AD or LDAP. Since you don’t use Tomcat, you can use the NTLM option for single sign on with AD.

@Adam924

Even if i start auditing on the only one machine I have right now I am not able to see reports.

I’m not sure what you mean by this. The auditing reports are provided with Business Objects. If they were not installed in your environment when you ran the install, they are located in a biar file on your server. On our servers the file name is auditing_rpt_en.biar and is located in %InstallDir%\Business Objects Enterprise 12.0\Samples. You just need to import them into your system. They will be in a folder called Activity.
There is also an Activity universe that these reports use. You will need to update the connection for it to connect to your audit database.

@Adam924

Is there any problem with Oracle Audit DB? maybe I need to configure ODBC connection for reports, but I dind’t find any info about it in the documentation that it cannot be a native connection?

I don’t know, we have always used SQL Server.

@Adam924

Also is there simple way that I can configure BO to use Cluster name instead of cluster nodes names for Webi at least?
It will help a lot for users when they need to know One http path instead of two nodes…

I didn’t set this up for our system but my understanding is that you need some kind of load balancer in front of your cluster. You can set up whatever URL you want to use at the load balancer and have it point to whichever of your server clusters are available. Talk to your internet support people, they should be able to help you get this set up.

[system]

No problems with Oracle for the audit db, we use it here. As John said, verify the configuration of the universe connection, most likely it will need to be updated to point to your audit database.

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jwhite9 (BOB member since 2006-07-28)

[system]

Hi again,
Thanks for all the comments

Maybe I will explain what is going on with Auditing.
As I said it is based on an Oracle databse,
I have configured the connection for audit DB while Installing BO server on my windows 2008 machine- this is the same installation screen as for CMS DB configuration.
I ve got 2 different DB and users for this purpose - I mean CMS DB and Audit DB so there shouldn’t be any problems.

When Installation of BO finished I have run Designer, and I did a new connection for Audit DB which is based on an Oracle Native driver.
Test goes OK,
Business Objects Configuration:
version: 2.2.0.47
Build 12.3.0.601
Network Layer: Oracle OCI
DBMS Engine : Oracle 11
Language: en
Charset: CP1252

Next I did import activity Universe
Changed the connection in the File> Parameters
Accepted change for my new Connection, changed name for Activity1, saved on my drive and then Exported it to the repository.

The universe looks Ok in some kind of way.
There is table called WA_Session and its not connected with any thing.

So I did run Tools> check integrity
whit option “check universe structure”

The process starts and when commes to WA_Session it stops with:
Check integrity interrupted by the user - checked many times and I do not interrupt it any way.

When I rune Check integrity with option “Parse Objects”
I get:
Action Time/Action YYYY-WW Parse failed: Exception: DBD, ORA-00936
Action Time/Action Hour AM/PM Parse Failed: Exception: DBD, ORA-00909
Action Time/ Action YYYY-MM Parse Failed: Exception: DBD, ORA-00911
and many many more 56 Errors.

So I did left this Universe untouched and Did import the Activity universe from Samples (D:\Program Files (x86)\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\Samples) BO folder as Activity2
Changed the connection for My audit DB connection that I made at the start.
It is a bit better…
WA_Session table is not connected with any thing.
Check integrity works OK - no more “interrupted by the user” error
I only get:
Audit_event table has changed:
Object_type column has been added
object_id column has been added
Derived_universe_name is not linked to anything
wa_session is not linked to anything
derived_session_id is not linked to anything
derived_object_type is not linked to anything
derived_viewed_report_name is not linked to anything
derived_edited_report_name is not linked to anything
derived_object_name is not linked to anything
derived_document_name is not linked to anything

for check integrity with “parse objects” I only get
Actions/Sessions ID Parse Failed: the expression type is not compatible with the object type. - this should be easy to fix.

Parse Joins, Conditions, Loop, Context are all OK.

and than there are Cardinalities. 11 divergences.
But they Should be fixed with detect and I suppose they should work.

So i did the copy of this universe,
linked the unlinked as I thought and understood it should work,
changed the wrong expression type
and fixed the cardinalities

And now I have the universe that have no errors while checking integrity with all options checked Only 1 divergence:
Audit_event table has changed: - object_type column has been added and Object_id column has been added.

So next I wnet to .NET Info view,
found Auditor /My national language - Folder
took “most active users” webi report , than Edit, than Edit Query.
Than I go to Properities change the Universe for my Edited Activity Universe.
The Change source window shows,
and I see “!” by the Action Time.Action Time - Actions.Action Time Object.
So I did “clik” on the “…” and in the new Window named:
Map Object I did choose in the three Activity - Actions - Action Time
with checked “select a new object:” clicked Ok and the “!” has gone.

and I get No data to retrive Couse I did not start to collect data.
This report should work ok.

but If I take “Avarange Number of users logged in” webi report
try to do the same on the Change source - window i see
Session time with X insted of V and with comment “remove result object”
When I go to Map Object window I cant find Session time Object in the Session Time under my Activity Universe.

Removing the object will remove the Querry filter:
Session time beetween …and…
And it will destroy the report in consequence.

When I take an “avarange refresh time” again
have to chose the new Action Time object,
and the objects “Path” and “Document type” are about to be removed…

I didnt check all of the reports, but I think its preety much the same.

Any help what Can I do with this, or any suggestions where Did I go wrong ?

I did try to reinstall the BO with new DBs but it was the same.
Exactly same errors with audit universe, and reports.

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Adam924 (BOB member since 2011-01-13)

[system]

Ok, much more progres today

I did find a Activity universe here in this topic:
http://forumtopics.org/busobj/viewtopic.php?t=134455&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=wasession&start=15&sid=cc688ee6e98f55313e97dd0410148e95

post of forum member: ashfaq_haseeb

This Univere seems to work, no problems with parsing, with objects,
only some Joins to correct, and cardinalities.

And no more problems with missing objects.

I don’t understand why this doesn’t work out of a box, but once again this forum helped a lot.

I did find also what concerned me
I mean that WA_SESSION is not linked with any table and it stands by itself like Eric Vallo said:
http://forumtopics.org/busobj/viewtopic.php?t=153456&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=wasession&start=0&sid=cc688ee6e98f55313e97dd0410148e95

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Adam924 (BOB member since 2011-01-13)