Posts Tagged ‘Administration’

A Favorite from Query Builder – Active User List

Sometimes you can’t get Business Objects’ Central Management Console (CMC) to return the “Metrics” page and you need to know how many users are logged in to the system. Other times the CMC “Metrics” page works, but in the case of system administration, you may want to know who is logged in to your Business Objects XI CMS InfoStore. In either case, your best bet is to turn to BO Query Builder for the information you need.

In an effort to avoid artificial suspense building let me give you the query first and then tell you a little about it if you still have the time to read further:


SELECT TOP 3000
*
FROM
CI_SystemObjects
WHERE
si_kind = 'Connection' AND
si_parent_folder = 41 AND
si_authen_method != 'server-token'
ORDER BY
si_name


About the Query

This query returns all of the information available in the CMS InfoStore for all users that are currently logged in. The results are presented alphabetically by user name. IMPORTANT NOTE: the results will not be filtered by distinct user; therefore if a user account is used by multiple people or multiple applications are used you can expect to see multiple logins. The field si_lastlogontime might be useful in making sense of multiple entries.

At the moment I am writing this I started to wonder if scheduled jobs created by a user result in a login returned by this query. I will look in to this and follow-up if someone doesn’t already test this out and leave a comment.

I invite you to play with this query and try to figure out what is so magical about “si_parent_folder = 41“. Please share your thoughts and discoveries by leaving a comment here. I also recommend that you take a look at our newly published “Business Objects Query Builder Guide“, it is most likely “The Most Complete Business Objects XI Query Builder Guide Ever Written” and it will help you to discover and master the secrets of Business Object’s Query Builder, such as the one discussed in this article.

Which Business Objects Auditing Activities or Events Capture BO Universe Name?

Some of us in the in the wide world of BO use universes as a method to segregate our reporting. This is logical since a universe is usually tied to a single database connection. Therefore little groups of reporting users tend to congregate around universes. Some of us have picked up on this little fact and we require a naming standard that allows us to identify those groups. Some may try to do this with report names, but most fail. Ok, let me get to the point…

In such a scenario you may want to track the activities of these groups. This is possible with Business Objects auditing services and the universe name recorded there; however, it does not work in every way you want it to. Universe is not a field in the auditing database tables as username or start_timestamp are. Universe will be found in the big melting pot that BO calls the Audit_Detail table. It is one of the many values that bless the detail_text field. Not bad news, but this will hurt your query performance.

So now that we know where to find the universe name in the auditing data, we need to talk about which Events or User Activities it accompanies. First the bad news: you won’t find it on any of the following BO Auditor event types: get page, edit document, or read document. This is bad news, but get over it, there is nothing you can do about it. So now for the good news: you will find it on Document Refresh and Generate SQL.

Just in case you are not already intimately familiar with these events let me tell you something about them:

Document Refresh: this is the interactive user refresh of a report, not the scheduled refresh

Generate SQL: this seems to be limited to saved changes to a query, or clicks on the “View SQL” button. Therefore, this may be an indicator of the amount of document editing and creation going on.

Please reply with your comments, I would love to hear them (especially if I have made a mistake).

The Best Way to Stop a Business Objects Server

Minimal Impact of Administrative Actions on BOXI

I would like to think that I am unique in many ways, but I think that I am very similar to others when it comes to my desire to minimize the impact of my administrative actions on my Business Objects XI instances. One way that I accomplish this is to carefully shutdown Business Objects servers in a very particular and simple manner.

Changes to Web Intelligence Report Server Require Restart

From time to time we all make changes to our Business Objects environment. Frequently I find myself making changes to the the Web Intelligence Report Servers (WIRS). Whether it is tweaking command-line parameters, CMC properties, logging status, making some obscure registry setting, or even patching DLLs; I am changing my WIRS and I need to restart it in order for the change to take effect. In some cases, my client runs 24/7 and has no real downtime and in other cases I need to make the change immediately and I need them to take effect yesterday.

The Cleanest Restart You Can Ever Perform

In most cases the changes I make will not take effect without a restart. However, if I go directly to the Central Configuration Manager (CCM) and just stop the server(s) and then restart it, any reports (edits, paging, refreshes, etc.) will fail on the user’s side (or for the scheduled job). So what can I do to guarantee this does not happen??? Disable the server. Wait. Stop server. Restart Server. Enable the server.

Detailed Cleanest BO Server Stopping Procedure

1. Disable the server: do this either in the Central Management Console (CMC) or in CCM, which ever you prefer, but I think that internally BO engineers prefer to use the CCM (its the icon with the cylinder and check mark).
2. Wait: there is no golden rule on how long to wait, any amount of waiting is still better than none. During this period the server is finishing whatever work it was assigned and the CMS is not assigning it any new requests. You can observe this on the metrics tab of the CMC page for the server (if your server has metrics). I generally wait 30 minutes and I watch the CPU utilization (CPU time) of the WIRS’s process (yes, in Windows) to see that it is dormant.
3. Stop the server: this one is easy. Just go to the CCM and stop the server you are targeting. You can do this from any server in the cluster. You should watch the executable to be certain that it goes away, disappears, or dies.
4. Restart the server: Again stay in CCM, allow for at least 15 seconds from the stop, but this will depend a lot on how long you waited since the disabling of the server, I mean if it still has any active threads it will take longer to stop (see previous step for proper shutdown before restart). Allow the server to get fully started and registered with the CMS.
5. Enable the server: again use CCM or CMC to do this. I suggest you make sure the server is started for a period of 30 seconds before you enable it and let the CMS have it back for abuse.

Note: I believe this same technique should work well for all Business Objects server, not just Web Intelligence Report Servers.

Please let us all know if you have any comments, suggestions, or anything else on your mind loosely related to this topic by leaving a comment.

BO InfoView WebI Session Timeout = Developer’s Worst Enemy

Business Objects has been encouraging report writers/developers to stop using the “full-client” and start using WebI. There are quite a few obstacles to overcome to be able to make the switch to WebI (training, functionality adjustment, server capacity planning, etc.), but perhaps the most difficult adjustment is learning to development under a timed session.

For many reasons Business Objects administrators configure their systems to timeout a web session and an InfoView session after a certain period of inactivity. With finite resources, which we all definitely have, this is always a good idea. However, this limiting concept has two problems. The first issue is that “full-client”, ZABO, or Desktop Intelligence developers are used to working in a virtually limitless development environment: their own desktop PC. The second problem is that system administrators need to find just the right balance between flexible the valid and acceptable dormant session limits and the obvious session abandonment.

Business Objects Administrator Settings

When Business Objects system admins find that magical median, which will be different for every user community, they need to set it at a few different places:

1. The web server “connection timeout” setting should be increased first. This one is usually stored in seconds, not minutes.
2. The InfoView application within the web server should also have its “Session Timeout” value increased.
3. The web.config file also needs an update to the “” section, setting “” (using the number of seconds in place of the “#” character.

BusinessObjects Report Developer Adjustments

Report developers or writers, including ad-hoc report writers, will need to adjust their methods and habits. Initially, business objects report developers will assume that as long as they save before any periods of inactivity they are safe. However, they will face the harsh facts of this assumption if they are working on the query the whole time.

In BO XIR2 editing the query of a Web Intelligence report does not reset the session timeout timer. Therefore it is entirely possible for a developer to be actively developing a report’s query and find that their session is lost, along with all of their work. In fact, in the WebI java editor panel there are many actions that are registered only on the client and they are not communicated to the server until a logging action takes place such as saving a document. Among these actions you may find general formatting, query editing, and even adding fields to a report.

The safest bet is to require all of your report developers to develop a habit of saving their report every 5 minutes. This will certainly reset the timeout timer and it will ensure that no report development work is lost. From my own personal experience I would say that I have probably lost about 10 to 20 hours of work because of lost session.

Enhancement Request for Business Objects XI R2

To be honest, I would like to see BO add some functionality to the report editor and even InfoView that would help avoid this issue. They could implement an auto-save function. Or perhaps a pop-up box prompt which warns the report developer that they are about to lose their session. Either one would be a wonderful improvement and would probably save BO users thousands of lost hours of work. Until then save every 5 minutes!

Business Objects XIR2 SP4 Bug: Schedules Pending, Job Server Scheduling Dead

Breaking News

I have some breaking news, a scoop perhaps, on a new bug that may only impact some (not all) innocent Business Objects XIR2 SP4 shops. Apparently, my contacts tell me that within the last week, Business Objects has internally identified and even resolved a bug that can wreak havoc on the unknowing BO XIR2 users out there who make the leap to Service Pack 4 (SP4).

Symptoms of the Bug: All Schedules Pending

It seems that the bug causes a loss of communication between the BO XIR2 CMS server(s) and the job server(s). The strange part is that the only detectable error or problem is that suddenly no scheduled jobs process; they all go to an eternal “Pending” status. Every Job Server’s scheduling function ceases to function. Even stranger is that fact that this bug does not effect all Business Objects XIR2 SP4 installations. Some experience the issue and others do not. Some assume that the SP4 install may have changed their configuration or their security and caused the issue; however, it seems that all settings stayed unchanged (good!), but the job servers just ceased to do their job (very bad!).

No Fix Until Fix Pack 4.5

BO just released Fix Pack 4.3 for SP4 and the fix to this issue was not included. My resources tell me that it is planned for inclusion in BO XIR2 Fix Pack 4.5. I am not certain what the due date is for FP4.5, but I would imagine that is not going to be available until after Columbus Day and probably not until after Halloween.

Rethink Your Planned BO XIR2 SP4 Upgrade

If you are thinking about installing SP4 on your Business Objects XIR2 system I would encourage you to rethink this plan. Could your users accept the new functionality of completely disabled scheduling? I doubt it. Of course, there may be fixes to other functionality in the SP4 upgrade for which you cannot wait. If this is true then you might want to test out the fixed DLL on a test environment. Yes, BusinessObjects has already corrected the issue and released a Limited Availability patch. I have managed to get my hands on the patch info and the patch that BO’s product development group has developed.

Download the BO XIR2 SP4 XIR2.LAFix4.3.3 patch directly from Business Objects

Get the Fix for the BO XIR2 SP4 Bug

On September 24th, BO released a Limited Availability patch. In truth the fix is still considered a “beta” fix and so it comes with the standard disclaimer. Basically the LA Fix hasn’t been through full regression testing and it may inadvertently introduce other issues. BO Customer Assurance still needs to confirm the issue is fixed by this patch.” That is a pretty big disclaimer, but it is the standard one on such “hot-off-the-press” fixes. If you need this fix then test it yourself.

Regardless, I recommend that you immediately contact your BusinessObjects Account Rep and/or BO Support. The more attention this issue gets the more likely it will be officially fixed sooner.

Download the BO XIR2 SP4 XIR2.LAFix4.3.3 patch directly from Business Objects

My disclaimer: I provide no guarantees or warranties with this patch, just take it as it is. I tested it and it seems to be fine. Others have claimed that it corrected their issue. That is all I can tell you. Good luck. Oh and one last thing… PLEASE backup your SchedulerSubsystem.dll before you install the patch!