I’m getting ready to convert between 50 and 100 existing full client users to Zabo. I’m making a checklist of things to do and consider and thought it might be helpful to others. I’m also going search up stuff in our archives and post links in this thread. I’d love for you all to add things you think need to be included. Here’s my start…
Users with full client must be deinstalled to allow automatic version updates via the web
Obtain a list of all full client users and deinstall in small groups to introduce additional server load in stages
Run the allow program or supposedly, W2K power users have the necessary permissions to do the installation
Test reports using ‘other data files’ as data providers (Thanks Scott!)
Be prepared that ZABO will usually cost you some performance when compared to BO Full Client Reporter (especially whenever a ZABO user is hitting the BO Repository - at least in our scenario with IBM DB2 UDB v7 on Unix hosting the BO Repository).
Be ready for new mainly ZABO related errors, for example DX0008 or unable to refresh because connection is not working/missing when refreshing/opening a BO document)
Console users since they cannot use the offline mode in ZABO.
Which version are you going to implement Cindy? I hope you are using 5.1.6.
Andreas - what do you mean by this please? I just tested this in my training room and offline mode works fine in ZABO. You can’t do anything other than read existing reports on your pc but . . .
load test webi server - I did this by accident in training when I used a new room and I thought it would be a great idea for everyone to experience the install procedure. And so, everyone hit the server at once. It was a good 30 minutes for webi to straighten that out and get everyone installed - It also happens in class when 12 people hit run in the query panel at the same time. Seems like there might be one or 2 that get connection errors because at that one moment, webi is maxed out.
I’ve followed this on the performance monitor on the server and watched the spikes in cpu usage.
For the most part, things are fine. Usually I have 10-20 people logged in at any time but most of those are sitting there until they timeout or exit or refresh a report. We are running at about 10% of capacity with jumps to 40-50% as people run reports. We are 4 cpu dell server, 4 gig ram, Win2000, and IIS 5 whcih seems like a basic setup
That’s what I mean… you cannot edit the data provider or create a new data provider when you are using ZABO in Offline mode (But in BO Full Client Reporter in Offline mode you can) - might be a big drawback for laptop users who want to create new BO documents when not connected to the network (therefore being in Offline mode).
I'd also remove the registry entries for "Business Objects" and "BusinessObjects".
Be sure to include in your instructions to the power users how to change from creating WebIntelligence reports to Business Objects reports. (Select Options from the left menu, go to the Create and Edit documents link, select the Business Objects radio button
It looks like W2K power users have the rights necessary to run the software. If you organization won’t let you use the ‘allow’ program this should work. See here for more info.
I posted this http://www.oti.fsu.edu/dba/BO/WinXP.html for my ZABO users that are on Win XP. I also found out this morning that Win2000 SP3 has the same trouble with these security settings in IE. And even if they use Netscape, the IE setting still rules. Without changing the security settings in IE, ZABO cannot be installed. Maybe someone has found another resolution.
And another gotcha I found this morning for a ZABO user trying to resolve an uninstallable ISAM error while using “other data providers”. This function in BO uses MS DAO 3.5. The patch provided on the install CD (microsoft folder) for this 9 year old driver does not work in Win 2000 and I assume XP. I’m still looking for another resolution.
In particular, this post near its end. My colleague, Kathy Mahler, was able to get the DAO 3.5 onto a Win2K machine – with an exception.
An old Listserv post talked about the need to manually register dao350.dll. To do that, go to Start - Run (or Cmd or whatever), navigate to the directory where regsvr32.exe exists, and register the dll:
(run) regsvr32 dao350.dll
or possibly:
(run) regsvr32 c:\winnt\System32\Msexcl35.dll (but she didn’t try this one.)
Copying the dll alone did not do the trick for Kathy – but then registering it did!
thanks Anita - I should have remembered that one especially since I posted in it too.
And are you ready for some baseball this weekend? FSU is as good as ever, but with a little better pitching this year. Stanford I assume is as good as ever. And while the universities up north are still plowing snow, our boys have been out playing all winter. It’s no wonder they get off to a fast start.
Oh, dear – I hate to say it, but I don’t follow sports much, whether this university’s, my Alma Mater’s (U. of Md.), nor the professionals – unless it’s a “big game” and one of them is in the semis or finals.
Let me know if there’s an occasion when I “should” have a little bit of competitive spirit!
This refers to the uninstallable ISAM error which is caused by not having DAO 3.5 installed. DOA 3.5 conficts with Win2000/XP. I was told that this problem is going away forever in SP 7.
We’ll see . . .
I am going to try the other resolution I saw about installing from CD to get the correct .dll and then deleting and installing ZABO. I don’t have much hope but I have to show this group of users I am making the attempt
then I can put them off with the next version story
Just to follow up on this, yesterday I installed from CD for the 2 ZABO users (Win2000) having trouble with this and instead of installing the middleware and BOMain.key, I logged into Webi and caught the webi key file from there. It worked fine. BO resolution suggested removing F/C and then downloading ZABO from server but since it was working, I didn’t try this - yet.
Another gotcha - since these 2 guys are only going to use personal data files and not any universe, I figured that they could “work offline” HA! In Offline mode, the queries would run but not return data; it was an empty result set (and query did not say “no data to fetch”). They had to be logged in to Webi server to see their data. - Not the way I thought it would work.
correct - and come version 6, I will have a lot of extra work to clear up the 2 dozen F/C that have popped up for one reason or another and get them into ZABO
But you could change the Windows registry (make a backup) after an install from CD, and then change the one value under BO in the registry (Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Business Objects\Business Objects\5.0\Install Mode) from “Cd” to "Web - of course this is unsupported, use at your own risk.
(BOB member since 2002-06-11)
(BOB member since 2002-06-20)
It also happens in class when 12 people hit run in the query panel at the same time. Seems like there might be one or 2 that get connection errors because at that one moment, webi is maxed out.
(BOB member since 2002-08-22)
- Not the way I thought it would work.
I’ve got about 60 people to deinstall and walk through a web installation 
. Thanks again Scott!