Import the BIAR file

general discussion
1

Hi

When we try to import the Universe/Reports/connection from one envrirnoment to another enviroment, the import wizard showing 0 objects to import at the end.

We had a check while doing export and the export was success and also Verified the logfile for the specific BIAR file and its not having any failure in export.

Regards
Siva.M

looksmee :uk: (BOB member since 2006-02-08)

2

At the end of the promotion process using Import Wizard, there should be a list of item being promoted. Click on each item can tell you the status or error. Are you not seeing this list? The list is also shown on the log file.

Is it the first time you use Import Wizard? Has you used it successfully before?

substring :us: (BOB member since 2004-01-16)

3

Hi Substring,

Thanks for your reply, i have been using it for a long time, this is the first instance am getting the 0 object imported at the end of the process where it will show the details about the list of objects imported…

The real fact is that the BIAR file contain all the objects and the size of the file is 10MB and the exported object details was recorded in the log file when it was exported as BIAR.

XML version of BIAR also giving me the object details.

Regards
Siva.M

looksmee :uk: (BOB member since 2006-02-08)

4

I think this is related to service packs differs between two environments.

Arjun (BOB member since 2008-07-28)

5

Hi Arjun,

Thanks for your reply, its on the same environment, we just revert back the environment using BIAR due to some issues.

Regards
Siva.M

looksmee :uk: (BOB member since 2006-02-08)

6

I guess we forgot to ask. What version are you on? XIr2 or 3.x?

substring :us: (BOB member since 2004-01-16)

7

Its in XIR2

looksmee :uk: (BOB member since 2006-02-08)

8

What Service Pack? I know for the fact that the Import Wizard on SP1 is problematic.

Also, is there any recent change on the server?

substring :us: (BOB member since 2004-01-16)

9

I have seen the same behavior in my environment. I use the import wizard frequently and about 1% of the time I get no error but 0 objects are imported. My version is SP3, FP3.5 I have needed to re-create biar files several times because of this. Unfortunately I have not been able to identify the root-cause of this issue. My best guess is the .biar gets corrupted during its creation.

bension (BOB member since 2005-09-01)

10

Hi

I have the SP 3 with FP3.5 installed on my machine.

Regards
Siva.M

looksmee :uk: (BOB member since 2006-02-08)

11

siva, have you tried to promote again and did you receive the same result? If so, I would suggest you to reinstall Import Wizard.

substring :us: (BOB member since 2004-01-16)

12

I suspect the issue is related to the .biar file itself.

bension (BOB member since 2005-09-01)

13

Thanks Substring,

It was working fine for the other BIAR build…

Regards
Siva.M

looksmee :uk: (BOB member since 2006-02-08)

14

So the problem is on the BIAR file compilation process then. At least you are lucky to see the result at the time of compilation. I got burned before that I did not see any problem after compiling the BIAR file. But then a few weeks later when I need to use it, I cannot extract the report out of the BIAR.

Anyway, good to know that you are fine now. :smiley:

substring :us: (BOB member since 2004-01-16)

15

I’m having the same issue. I’ve made weekly backups for the last two years to biar files. I keep a rolling 6 months.

Same thing happened to me. When I opened the biar file yesterday to restore some deleted files, nothing showed up. Even though the biar file is 1.5GB in size, and no errors were produced at export time, nothing is available.

I opened the BusinessObjects.xml (25MB) file inside the biar to verify the contents, and I see all my report names, folders…

The last time I did an import was in January 2009 without any trouble. I canÂ’t import anything from the 20 bair files that I have available.

All servers are on same operating system and patch level.
WinServer2003R2SP2
XI R2 SP2 FP2.5

Luckily we have snapshot activated on our network filer were I have my fileStore.

  1. I ran an audit report to find out exactly when the files were deleted.
  2. Grabbed the before and after snapshot.
  3. Did a compare to see the differences.
  4. Made a dummy file in webi.
  5. Looked in CMC to find the location of the dummy file in the input fileStore.
  6. Save the file in step 3 as the dummy file in step 5 (within the same step 5 input filestore folder).
  7. Open the file in cms preview to get the display name
  8. In CMC rename and save it to a different location.
  9. Repeated steps 6-8

After 12 hours, I was able to recover all 21 deleted reports (had to go through almost all of 122 files that were deleted between the two snapshot times).

Uninstalling then installing Import Wizard did not work for me.

I have an open case with the vendor. No resolution to my biar issue yet. I will replay back with any findings.

tiger_eyed1 :us: (BOB member since 2006-06-13)

16

Server team applied the July Windows patches last weekend and magically the next Monday when I test the biar file everything worked.
Somewhere between Jan 2009 and June 2009 a patch cause a issue with the import wizard.

Have to add this to the testing of the monthly windows patches.

tiger_eyed1 :us: (BOB member since 2006-06-13)

17

Hi
Do you have any update to share with us.? We needs to record this as project risk in our process.

Regards
Siva.M

looksmee :uk: (BOB member since 2006-02-08)

18

After weeks of troublshooting SAP was not able to provide a resolution, other than to upgrade. In my case, It was the security patches causing the issue on the server and local desktop where the import wizard was installed. XI R2 SP2 FP 2.5

We are going live with 3.1 SP2 this weekend. We have not had any issues in 3.1. Our next windows security update is on the 22nd of November. Test in our 3.1 dev enviornment haven’t shown any issues.

tiger_eyed1 :us: (BOB member since 2006-06-13)

19

Am just concerned about our weekly back-up’s of BIAR files as we only taken it and we never deployed as there is no emergency…

looksmee :uk: (BOB member since 2006-02-08)

20

In my opinion, this is a serious issue. If you have a test/dev environment, I’d be sure that the content is updated just in case you have a production outage. I was able to push from environment to environment without any issue. It was just the restore from biar issue.
So long as the BIAR actually has data in it, SAP should be able to “support” you in the event of a outage.

Have you attempted a restore this month? Once you get to the screen for restoring the folders, you’ll know if it’ll work. If it does, have a talk with your security team explaining your situation. They may have options. My company is pretty strict about security updates so I had no option but to upgrade.

Yes, you should start the practice of verifying that you can restore. Yes, it takes some time but is worth it.

tiger_eyed1 :us: (BOB member since 2006-06-13)