Hello,
In XIR2, if the servers are running in UNIX can we report off Microsoft SQL Server.
I know that in previous versions 6x and below, if the BO enterprise servers were running on UNIX, then it would need to add a WINDOWS node to the cluster to run jobs with VB Macros and reports off Microsoft SQL Servers.
Is it still true for BO XIR2? If not how is this achieved in this version.
Any insight in this regard would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
edyl
edyl (BOB member since 2005-10-03)
Are you wondering if XIR2 on Unix can access the data on MS SQL Server or if you can run VBA macros on a Unix platform?
There are no nodes in the XIR2 architecture. However, you may have a combined platform of Unix and Windows (where certain servers are put on the Windows platform) to satisfy your reporting needs.
Mitra
Mitra Moini (BOB member since 2002-09-01)
Hello Mitra,
Sorry for the late reply. I was out of town.
I am at the time being more focussed on running reports off MS SQL Server. Almost all of our data resides in Oracle with a very few exceptions like SQL Server. Its par important for us to run BO XI R2 in Unix . However we also need to fetch the data off SQL Server. (We are not looking into merging the Oracle and SQL Server data in one report or universe just to pull data from SQL Server while running the servers in UNIX)
Thanks in Advance
edyl
edyl (BOB member since 2005-10-03)
To access MS SQL Server from Unix you will need some kind of UNIX ODBC driver as database middelware.
You will have to look for that ODBC middleware, I believe a company by the name of MERANT used to sell something like that with a hefty price tag though. You might want to search for alternatives. This has nothing to do with BusinessObjects by the way.
It is a problem of how to access MS SQL server data from Unix.
Andreas 
(BOB member since 2002-06-20)
Hi Andreas,
Thanks for the information. After i read your reply did some Google search and found out that a company named DataDirect Technologies provide such middle-wares. They were probably a part of MERANT before.
Anyways apart from scores of questions I have in mind about these types of middlewares that I hope to clear it out once we decide to purchase it, one question I have is, once we install this third party middle-ware do we still need Oracle Client to connect to Oracle Databases, or pretty much this middle ware pretty much takes care for all dbs. Any insight from your knowledge would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in Advance
edyl
edyl (BOB member since 2005-10-03)
The ODBC connection will only work if you have the appropriate middleware installed as well. So yes - you need the Oracle client.
Also, all the databases that XI R2 can connect to are listed on the ‘Supported Platforms’ document on the tech support site (http://support.businessobjects.com/documentation/supported_platforms/default.asp) where it also states to use the “Datadirect ODBC Driver 5.1 for MS SQL” when using MS SQL server.
Orange 
(BOB member since 2006-09-18)
Hi,
I downloaded these odbc drivers for XIr2 odbc for Solaris from the BO tec support site:-http://www.businessobjects.com/products/downloadcenter/crystalreportsxi.asp
I have not yet installed these, but once installed, the odbc.ini file needs updating on Solaris.
Hope this helps.
bob_t 
(BOB member since 2006-07-10)
Thank you for all your replies.
I went to the site which Bob_t provided.
The note says they are only good for Crystal Reports XI and are not supported for use with any other Business Objects products. We are not using Crystal Reports but only Business Object XI R2 products, does that mean it is not supported for other Business Objects products?
edyl
edyl (BOB member since 2005-10-03)
they’ll be the same, but if you go to http://www.businessobjects.com/products/downloadcenter/boepremiumxi.asp#dd (which is really only a few clicks away from the main download page on http://www.businessobjects.com/downloadcenter) then you can see that those drivers are there as well.
With a statement saying “Additional data access drivers are available for using Crystal Reports as a standalone designer or as part of a BusinessObjects Enterprise XI deployment. These drivers are not supported for use with any other Business Objects products.” So, as it says it can be used for both Enterprise and CR.
Not sure if they’ll work connecting a webi document to SQL server through a Unix server, but hey…
Orange (BOB member since 2006-09-18)
Thank you guys for your replies, now i have considerable amount of information to move forward with, i really appreciate it.
edyl
edyl (BOB member since 2005-10-03)
Mitra,
Question:
Within a Unix XIR2 CMS env., is it possible to install a Windows based Deski server (in order to run scheduled Reports w/VBA)??
If so, how is it done & what problems can I expect to encounter?
Thanks!
Captspeed 
(BOB member since 2006-10-03)
You can install any selection of BO services on a Windows machine and a number of deamons on Unix. You will to configure the services/daemons that they are connecting to the same CMS. For windows this is done in the CCM (stop a service, go to ‘configure’ tab and under CMS you point to the right CMS name) under Windows you’d use the serverconfig.sh script, which will prompt you for the name of your CMS.
Now that all services/daemons are talking to the same CMS (which can be either on Windows or Unix) you now have a multi-OS environment.
Note that if you have a ‘server’ or ‘processor’ license, this would mean you would need additional licenses. And of course you will need the Windows media CD’s.
Orange (BOB member since 2006-09-18)
Catspeed,
I had a presentation on this topic at the Business Objects Insight a couple of weeks ago. You can download my presentation either from the Business Objects site or Integra Solutions (www.integrasolutions.net) site. It is called “Growing up Unix” and it might help you. If you still have questions, please feel free to contact me.
Mitra
Mitra Moini (BOB member since 2002-09-01)