shared connections

What will be the impact of using the shared connections to the universe.Right now we are using security connections ,we are thinking to change those to shared ones(Ofcourse by creating new shared connections).If we use the shared connections I don’t think we can push it to the repository,if that is the case how a webi user can access the universe to create reports in webi?

Please advice


karen (BOB member since 2003-06-18)

Why do you want to use shared connections in the first place?

And, yes only universes using secured connections can be exported to the repository.


Andreas :de: (BOB member since 2002-06-20)

Its just a thought.Weare actually looking good and bad about shared connections.So if we use shared connections there is noway user can access it from webi.
If i create a universe withs hared connection and send it an other user can user access it with out any issues?


karen (BOB member since 2003-06-18)

Shared and personal connections only exist on the PC they are created on, so the other person would either have to set up the connection or take a copy of (I think) the .ssi file.

Hence one of the advantages of secured connections - you only have to create them once!


Paul Williams :uk: (BOB member since 2002-07-10)

I’m gonna put you on the spot. This is the 2nd tim in a week where you’ve asked a very odd question. Here is the other one.

In both cases, what you are asking is “possible”. In both cases, you are compromising the security of the environment and going against all best-practices.

So, my questions for you:
:?: What are you trying to do?
:?: What is the reason for these sorts of questions?
:?: Are you trying to solve a problem?

For this specific one. Shared connections will be a nightmare for you. You can’t export the universes. As a result, you’ll spend your life mailing them around. The repository is the heart of the BO suite. Why would you ever want to bypass it?


Steve Krandel :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-25)

Personal connections are stored locally on a workstation.
Shared connections are designed to be stored on a network shared device, thus the name. :slight_smile:
Secured connections are stored in the repository. If you have access to the repository, you have access to the connection.

Secured connections are the only real “enterprise” solution. Shared connections should be able to be used in Webi, but you have to do more manual configuration. Secured connections are automatic.

I can’t think of a single reason to use a shared connection in a production environment.


Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)

Oops, I thought it just meant that everyone using the PC could use the connection. I hadn’t thought of dumping it on the network somewhere :rotf:

The only time I’ve seen shared connections being used is when we (a consultancy) were sending a universe to a client with a single BO user, no repository and no Designer. We managed to get him working with the universe by sending a copy of the file with the shared connections in and getting him to set up the ODBC bits himself.


Paul Williams :uk: (BOB member since 2002-07-10)

As i told you before that iam just curious to know more about shared connections goods and bads.I agree bypassing repository is not standard way of doing .
But is there any way we can access the universe with shared connection in webi(Dave is saying we can accomplish this by some mannual configuration).


karen (BOB member since 2003-06-18)

Fair enough. Curiousity is a good thing. It’s just that there are so many other areas to learn about that would be valuable to you.

So, yes, it CAN be done. But, you’d never want to do it.


Steve Krandel :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-25)

I have never verified this, but you should be able to simply drop the UNV file in the proper location, ensure that the shared connection is accessable from the Webi server, and go from there. Personal connections (eFashion and whatnot) work just fine from Webi, so shared connections should not be any different.


Dave Rathbun :us: (BOB member since 2002-06-06)

Thanks Everybody.Thats a valuble info.


karen (BOB member since 2003-06-18)