Catalog object schema validation failed

Catalog object schema validation failed

After Applying patch for OBI 11.1.1.6.0 to 11.1.1.6.7, Many reports in my dashboard didn't show up. I couldn't even view them. It was throwing  "Catalog object schema validation failed"

Seems it to be some bad xml issue.

Solution:

 Go to the corresponding folder

 D:\OBIHome\instances\instance1\bifoundation\OracleBIPresentationServicesComponent\coreapplication_obips1\catalog\SampleAppLite\root\shared\Dashboard1\_portal

2)  Edit the troublesome file in an editor. 

3) Check for the XML tag value

<saw:dataLabels abbreviation="default" display="default" label="default" valueAs="default" waterfallValueAs="diffprevbar">

Remove the waterfallValueAs attribute from the XML:

<saw:dataLabels abbreviation="default" display="default" label="default" valueAs="default">

You have to repeat this process for all the improper reports. 

OBIEE Patching

Patching OBIEE

Recently I patched OBI version 11.1.1.60 to 11.1.1.6.7. There are many blogs about patching. I liked the one from "peak Indicators" 

Check out the process to Patch in the link here : 

To Pass OBIEE Session Variable as a parameter to an Embedded content

To Pass OBIEE Session Variable as a parameter to an Embedded content

Embedded content is to display the java based or any other web page content in OBIEE. Sometimes its required to pass OBIEE variables info to the URL. 

This can be achieved by passing session variable @{USER} to the url :  

Example : http://in.search.yahoo.com/search?p=@{user}

Message WorkWrapper caught exception

Recently I got this below error

Issue:
User weblogic
Thread ID Thread-141
ECID 0000JIbKdOmFg4WFLzuHOA1F0y0G00001D
Message WorkWrapper caught exception: 

When I checked the opmnctl status , I can see the OBI Server is down.

Reason:

 When opmnctl is up and running and any of the services is failing. Then this is an issue with

1.  Configuration files like instanceconfig, NQSConfig  
2.  Check the RPD once. Might be an issue with RPD credentials

Solution:

1.  Try restarting the particular services in command line  like opmnctl startproc ias-component=coreappliaton_obis1 
2.  If the above step doesn't help check the log files and double-check your configuration files
3.  If this is an issue with RPD, Try re-deploying the RPD from the em url. And Restart all services.

After this, your OBI should be up & kicking now...... 

OPMNCTL: Commands ,Usage, Attributes

OPMNCTL is used to start & stop the services .

Opmnctl can be located at the following location in your BI Installed directory:

         <OBIHome>\instances\instance1\bin

To Check how an opmnctl command works give the below in a command line :

Opmnctl usage <command>

Ex:

opmnctl usage startall

Here is a list of attribute which can be used with OPMNCTL.

Attribute Name	Attribute Values
ias-component	Value should be the same as the value for the id attribute for the <ias-component> element in the opmn.xml file.
process-type	Value should be the same as the value for the id attribute for the <process-type> element in the opmn.xml file.
process-set	Value should be the same as the value for the id attribute for the <process-set> element in the opmn.xml file.
mode	Value can either be sync or async. The default value is "sync, meaning that this request operates synchronously, and waits for the operation to complete before returning. "async indicates that the request returns immediately, while OPMN continues to perform the request until the operation finishes.
timeout	This can only be specified in sync mode. The value is in seconds. After this timeout expires, OPMN does not continue to perform the request forstartproc operations. The request does continue for restartproc and stopproc operations.
uniqueid	This value is assigned by OPMN after starting up. You can use this value when you execute the opmnctl restartproc and opmnctl stopproccommands.

For more about OPMNCTL check the link below:

Oracle Process Managerand Notification Server Administrator's Guide 

Ping failed in Ready callback for proc:

Ping failed in Ready callback for proc

The reason might be the any or all of the following : 

1) Windows hosts file - Improper IP Configuration
2) Orphan OPMN Services

Ping failed in Ready callback for proc might happen even during OBI 11g installation.
In such case check for both the issues

Solution:

1) Windows hosts file fix:
   Please make sure there is only one entry for each ip-address in the windows hosts file.
2) Orphan OPMN Services: 

   
   Follow the steps to rectify this issue: 

1. Stop all BI Services & also OPMN service
2. Under <MW_HOME>/instances/instance1/config/OPMN/Opmn/states.Check whether any file is present in this folder. This folder contains the running state of the OPMN & BI services. 
3. After closing all BI & OPMN services, if any file is present in the 'STATES' folder. Remove them. And double check whether the OPMN service is closed. 
4. Re-Start the OPMN Services. 

This should fix the issue.

Environment Variables for OBI 11g

Environment Variables for OBI 11g

$MW_HOME = <OBI INSTALLED DIR>

$JAVA_HOME=$MW_HOME/Oracle_BI1/jdk
OR Java Installed home prior installing say, C:\java\Jdk


DOMAIN_HOME=$MW_HOME/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain

WLS_HOME=$MW_HOME/wlserver_10.3

INSTANCE_HOME=$MW_HOME/instances/instance1

ORACLE_INSTANCE=$MW_HOME/instances/instance1

ORACLE_BI_HOME=$MW_HOME/Oracle_BI1

ANT_HOME=$MW_HOME/modules/org.apache.ant_1.7.1

INST-07094: ports 7010, 8714, 8814, 6710, 6711, 6712, 8712, 8711, 8720, 8715, 8718, 8717, 8716, 8710,8820 are not free or not valid

INST-07094: ports 7010, 8714, 8814, 6710, 6711, 6712, 8712, 8711, 8720, 8715, 8718, 8717, 8716, 8710,8820 are not free or not valid

This is an issue with the configuration of HOSTS file.

Check the following and retry : 

1) Make sure the port you entered is not associated with any other programs. You can try with static ports.ini.  More about Auto Configuring

2) Check the HOSTS file under C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

•            The hosts file showld not have any extension like .txt
•    Make sure the ip address is not starting with #. # means the line is a comment
•    Check whether your system is a work-group or in a domain. Most of the system will be in a work-group, if it's domain add domain name accordingly.
•    There should be only one IP address associated with a hostname

 

      Wrong 1: 

           10.10.10.10 localhost
          172.16.136.20 prakash-pc

        Wrong 2: 

            10.10.10.10 localhost prakash-pc
   172.16.136.20  localhost prakash-pc

       Wrong 3: 

      10.10.10.10  prakash-pc
   172.16.136.20 prakash-pc
   10.10.10.10 localhost
   172.16.136.20  localhost

        Correct: 

           10.10.10.10 prakash-pc
  172.16.136.20 prakash-pc

Oracle Business Intelligence certification 1z0-591

 The below links has sample questions(120 questions) for Oracle BI 11g certification, 1z0-591.

 You can view all the questions in the links:  Link 1    Link 2




Other post containing explanation for the correct answers:

Part 1

Part 2

DML operations with Evaluate

DML operations with Evaluate

Is it possible to do a DML operations, Insert/Update/Delete with Evaluate function?

Yes, We can do it. 


If we issue an Evaluate function in the report, the BI query will be something like :

 Select Evaluate('f1(%1)',Table_Name.Column_Name ) from "Subject Area" 

In Oracle, its not possible to do an Insert/Update/Delete from a select clause.

So in order to achieve this We need to have a Clause 'Pragma Autonomous_transaction;' in the underlying function called in the Evaluate.

Pragma Autonomous Transaction: 

Definition : 

An autonomous transaction is an independent transaction that is initiated by another transaction, and
executes without interfering with the parent transaction. When an autonomous transaction is called, the
originating transaction gets suspended. Control is returned when the autonomous
transaction does a COMMIT or ROLLBACK.

Example: 

Create or replace function test_proc( param IN VARCHAR2 )
return INTEGER as
PRAGMA AUTONOMOUS_TRANSACTION;
Begin
  update <table> set <column1> = param ;
    commit;
 end test_Proc;
-------------------------------------

As per the definition, we can make this Insert/Update/Delete as an independent transaction from the main report and can perform DML operation.

Evaluate with procedures

Evaluate with Procedures

Evaluate can be used only with function. Since Evaluate is expected a value to be returned.

Workaround:  Now to use Evaluate with a Procedure; we can have a wrapper function which calls this procedure.

Sample Function :

 Evaluate('function_1(%1)', Tab_Name.Col_Name);


Function function_1(PARAM_1 VARCHAR2) return NUMBER
 Begin
    proc_1(PARAM_1);
   return 1;
 end f1;

Procedure proc_1(Param_1 varchar2)
As
Begin
 /*
  Code to achieve some functionality
 */
end p1;

-----------------------

New version of OBI released : 11.1.1.7.0

New version of OBI is released : 11.1.1.7.0 

It can be downloaded from oracle site here.

Oracle has given a below list of Workarounds/Fixes/Issues for release 11.1.1.7.0

1. Specifying Folder Names for Data-Loading the Catalog
2. SSL Not Available when Using Full-Text Search with Oracle Endeca Server
3. Issue with Email Notifications on Data Loads for Searching
4. Stopping a Data Load for Full-Text Searching with Oracle Endeca Server
5. Out of Memory Error When Crawling the Catalog
6. Multibyte Characters Are Displayed as NCR When Using Attribute Categories
7. Unicode Not Supported with DataDirect Hadoop Hive Driver
8. Analysis State is not Maintained for Breadcrumbs
9. Financial Reporting Print Server Not Enabled
10. Issues Exporting Large Data Sets to Microsoft Excel
11. Managed Server for Oracle BI Encounters Issues After Upgrade from Release 11.1.1.3
12. Configuration Assistant for Update BI Domain Steps Incorrectly Reports an OCM Configuration Error at 91% Complete when Moving from Earlier 11g Releases
13. SSL Configured in Oracle BI EE 11.1.1.5.x or 11.1.1.6.x Fails After Upgrading to 11.1.1.7.0
14. Characters in Trellis Title Display Incorrectly in Certain Languages
15. Export to Excel 2007+ and Export to PDF Do Not Support Custom CSS Styles
16. Items Not Supported When Using Custom Print Layouts
17. Column Data in Section Edge Is Not Obtained
18. Empty Prompts Section Appears in BI Mobile Dashboards with Prompts
19. Logical Display Folders Are Deleted During MUD Publish
20. Ensure that Your Installation Uses a JDK Installed into a Folder that Does Not Contain Spaces
21. Essbase SQL Interface Using Oracle Call Interface (OCI) to Connect to Oracle Requires Oracle Instant Client
22. Options to Set Accessibility Preferences When Using Workspace Are Not Available
23. Merant 6.1 ODBC Drivers Are Not Configured on Linux
24. Misinformation About Oracle Endeca Server and Full-Text Search
25. Breadcrumbs Disabled for Embedded Objects in ADF
26. Note on Fixed Headers with Scrolling Content Is Incorrect
27. Misinformation About Adding HTML Code in Prompt Labels
28. Enable on Totals for Action Links Not Described
29. Issue Copying a Jar File when Registering with EPM Workspace Release 11.2.3.00
30. Parameter Descriptions Missing or Inaccurate in NQSConfig.INI File 
31. Removal of Invalid LDAP Configuration Properties when Setting Up SSL
32. Error in Code Example for Configuring the WebLogic Server Environment
33. Excel Analyzer and Online Analyzer Deprecated in Release 11.1.1.7

Auto-Configure ports in Oracle BI

Auto-Configure ports in Oracle BI

Static ports is located at installation directory

Path:  \bishiphome\Disk1\stage\Response\statisports.ini

This is how your staticports.ini file looks like. We can configure the ports as per our convenience.
If by mistake, we gave 2 port as same, Oracle BI will automatically find out the conflict and throw error.


---------------------------------------staticports.ini-----------------------

[WEBLOGIC]

#The Domain port no. This is the listen port of Weblogic Adminserver for the domain.
#Domain Port No = 7001

#The "content" port for the BIEE apps. This is the Weblogic Managed Server port on which BIEE applications are deployed.
#Oracle WLS BIEE Managed Server Port No = 9704

#The SSL port for the Weblogic Managed Server
#Oracle WLS BIEE Managed Server SSL Port No = 9804

[OPMN]

#Process Manager Local port no
#Oracle Process Manager Local Port No = 6700

#Process Manager Remote port no
#Oracle Process Manager Remote Port No = 6701

#Process Manager Request port no
#Oracle Process Manager Request Port No = 6702

[BIFOUNDATION]

#The listen port for OracleBIServer component 
#Oracle BI Server Port No = 9703

#The monitor port for OracleBIServer component 
#Oracle BI Server Monitor Port No = 9701

#The listen port for OracleBIPresentationServices component 
#Oracle BI Presentation Services Port No = 9710

#The listen port for OracleBIScheduler component 
#Oracle BI Scheduler Port No = 9705

#The monitor port for OracleBIScheduler component 
#Oracle BI Scheduler Monitor Port No = 9708

#The script RPC port for OracleBIScheduler component 
#Oracle BI Scheduler Script RPC Port No = 9707

#The listen port for OracleBIClusterController component 
#Oracle BI ClusterController Port No = 9706

#The monitor port for OracleBIClusterController component 
#Oracle BI ClusterController Monitor Port No = 9700

#The listen port for OracleBIJavaHost component
#Oracle BI JavaHost Port No = 9810

[ESSBASE]

#The listen port for Essbase Agent
#Essbase Agent Port No = 1423

#The listen port for Essbase Studio
#Essbase Studio Port No = 5300

Oracle BI dashboard design guidelines

Oracle has provided guidelines for designing OBI dashboards.

Please follow the link below to check out the design guidelines :

OBI Dashboard Guideline


With Oracle, there is always information redundancy and sometimes its difficult to figure out few process/guidelines/help from oracle portal.
So its good to take a copy of these guidelines and keep it aside for your reference ;)

[38083] The Attribute ..... defines a measure using an obsolete method.

[38083] The Attribute '<Column Name>' defines a measure using an obsolete method.

This error occurs whenever there is an obsolete method used in BMM layer esp aggregate function like SUM, COUNT, MIN, MAX etc.

Since version 10.1.3.2, Aggregate functions in logical column definitions which use other logical columns are not supported anymore.

Solution 1:

    You can change this behaviour by setting the parameter SUPPORT_OBSOLETE_MEASURES to YES
    This parameter is not found in NQSConfig.ini file. We need to add this in the 'General' section.

Solution 2: 

  We can use Evaluate, Evaluate_aggr, Evaluate_Predicate, Evaluate_Analytic functions to achieve the respective obsolete functionality.

ToolTip in OBIEE reports onMouseOver

 ToolTip in OBIEE Reports

When we hover on any report, we can show a tool tip to the user. Not only the same column text, we can show other column values as a hovering text. 

In 'Column Properties' we use 'Custom' or 'HTML' data format to achieve this,and, in 'Edit Formula' you can write HTML codes. 

How to do it :

To demonstrate this,  I am choosing 2 columns, LOB & Product. When I roll over my mouse on 'Product' I want to get 'Brand' as my tool tip.

Step 1: In the 'Edit Formula', I am introducing HTML codes. 

Step 2: In the 'Column Properties' , under 'Data Format' tab, I am choosing HTML 

Note:

1) I have used <HTML><B><SPAN> instead we can use <SPAN>, no need to mention <HTML> tags, just for this demo I have used <HTML> tags in column properties
.
2) For Numeric columns, use Cast functions to convert the Numeric data to Char, like , cast ( year as char(4) ) 

3) Under Column Properties, Data Format Tab: We can either select 'CUSTOM' or 'HTML'

Oracle BI 11g Sample Certification Questions - II

Oracle BI 11g Sample Certification Questions - II

Please find sample oracle BI questions with explanation, Please click on the link for Part -1

 You can view all the questions in the links below  Link 1    Link 2

1)      There are two aggregate tables that are available for query. How would they be mapped into the logical data model so queries can use them?

A. By creating two new logical tables sources

B. By opening the two logical Table Source dialog boxes and mapping the appropriate levels in

 the  Content tab

C. Both A and  B

D. By creating one new LogicalTableSource

Answer: B

Explanation:  

1.Configure the new source table to have the 'logical level' under the content set to 'Countries' (the

summarized level)

2.Do the similiar setting for dimension table

Now when user query the data at 'Counties' level, the query will be redirected to these summary

table instead of the more detail fact table

Note: Aggregate tables are Physical tables that store Aggregates of measures across multiple

levels of a Hierarchy.

 2)      Which Oracle Partner is the supplier of map-based content to provide background maps, boundary information, and points of interest?

A. Navteq

B. TeleAtlas

C. Google

D. ESRI

Answer: C

Explanation: There exists an integration between OBIEE and Google Maps.

 3)      The Consistency Checker check is______.

A. The validity of objects outside the metadata using the connection

B. Mappings to the physical objects

C. For objects deleted from the database

D. Syntax errors in derived logical columns

Answer: B

Explanation: Consistency check is one of the process to check whether a repository is yielding

proper results in Answer reports. It checks whether;

   * All logical columns are mapped correctly to  physical columns (B).

   * All logical dimension tables have a logical key.

   * There are at least two logical tables in the business model; one is a logical fact table, the other is logical dimension table  with join condition.

  * There are no circular logical join relationships.

  * A presentation catalog exists  for the business model.

  

4)      A company's Database Administrator has divided the region table into two tables so that the

region "West" is in one table and all the other regions are in another single table. What kind of

partition is being used?

A. Fact-based

B. Time-based

C. Mixed

D. Complex

Answer: C 

Explanation: You have three sort of fragmentation:

Fact-based / Dimension-based fragmentation

Content-based / Value-based fragmentation

Level-based fragmentation / aggregate navigation

You can combine the techniques above to construct powerful design that are known as Complex

partitioning / fragmentation. When you fragment a dimension, you are automatically in a complex

fragmentation.

5)      Where is Cache in OBIEE located?

A. In relational database

B. It is local disk-based.

C. In dynamic aggregate

D. In memory cache

Answer: B 

Explanation: In OBIEE cache will be stored as files on the Hard Disk of the OBIEE Server in the

form of files.

6)      A customer always wants Aggregate Table l to be looked at first to see if it can answer the query. What should be done to make sure this happens?

A. Make AggregateTable 1 the first table in the list ofLogical TableSources.

B. Do not map the logical level in the Content tab.

C. Set the Priority Group to 0.

D. Set the Priority Croup to5.

Answer: C

  

7)      Which OBIEE capability enables developers to build Aggregate tables?

A. Aggregate Persistence Wizard

B. Expression Builder

C. Table Builder

D. Query Analyzer

Answer: A 

Explanation: Aggregate Persistence Wizard automates the creation and initial population of

aggregates, persists them in a back-end database and configures the BI Server metadata layer so

that they’re used when appropriate.

8)      When creating a new dimensional hierarchy in the BI Administration tool, right click the dimension, then select "New Object" What must be selected next?

A. Logical Key

B. ParentLevel

C. ChildLevel

D. Dynamic Key

Answer: B

9)      What are the two types of Repository Variables?

A. System

B. Non System

C. Static

D. Dynamic

Answer: C,D

10)   Under what circumstances would you model within the BI environment to include transactional

data directly?

A. When the customer needs near real-time data to support decision making in a fast changing

environment

B. When the customer is not prepared to spend budget on data-warehousing

C. When the complexity of operational schema does not allow modeling in the BI repository

D. When it is not possible to query against a transactional system

Answer: A

Please click on the link for Part -1

 You can view all the questions in the links below  Link 1    Link 2

Oracle BI 11g Sample Certification Questions

 Oracle BI 11g Sample Certification Questions  - Part 1

Please click on the link for Part -2

 You can view all the questions in the links below  Link 1    Link 2 

 

1)      WLS Embedded LDAP Server is managed by the Admin Server Console and supports which

three options?

A. Creating and Maintaining Users

B. Authentication and Authorization

C. Basic Directory for storing user details

D. Subject area and row-level security, connection pool passwords

E. Application of SessionVariables as Data Filters

Answer:  A,C,D

Explanation: WLS Embedded LDAP Server

*By default, OBIEE 11g users and groups are now held in the WLS LDAP Server(C)

-More robust directory for storing user details

-Recommended for >1000 users

*WLS Admin Server Console now used for creating and maintaining users(A)

*BI Server “outsources” all authentication authorization to FMW11g(not B)

*BI Administration tool now used for  subject area and row-level security,   connection pool passwords only(D)

* WLS LDAP Server can be “swapped out”  for alternative directories (MS AD etc)

2)      Point-and-click generation of case statement logic can be accessed via which option?

A. Column Formula-> Bins tab

B. Compound Layout

C. Column Properties -> Conditional Format tab

D. Advanced Tab

E. Subject Area metrics

Answer: A

Explanation: The “Edit Column Formula” dialog box has a second, very tiny tab called, “Bins.” You can use this tab to have OBIEE build a CASE statement for you in a formula (you can also create

a CASE statement yourself by using one of the functions that appears under “Expressions” if you want). A CASE statement is a lot like an IF-THEN-ELSE statement, except that it’s a little easier

to read when you have multiple options. Basically, it puts values in different buckets that you define.

3)      Which task can be performed after the Administrator link has been reached through logging into OBIEE?

A. Associate map layers to columns

B. Manage access to Subject Areas

C. SSO enablement

D. Start or Stop BI Managed Servers

Answer: B,C,D

Explanation: B: BI Server Security Manager accessed through the BI Server Administration Tool.

* Set permission to business model, tables, columns and subject areas

* Specify filters to limit data accessible by users

* Set authentication options

C: Enable the SSO through the FMW Control.

D:You have three methods to start the managed server:

* with the console (recommended)

* with FMW control

* with the command line.

4)      Which three techniques are applied to support Failover?

A. WebLogic Clustering

B. Universal Installer > Scale Out BI System option

C. OBIEE Clustering

D. Vertical Scaleout

Answer: A,B,C

Explanation:  A:OBIEE 11g is centered on WebLogic Server as the underlying application server

architecture.  B: If you want to scale out this infrastructure, you would typically run the OBIEE 11g installer on a  second server, and instead of choosing to do a new install, you’d choose to instead scale out the  existing BI domain.

C: OBIEE Clustering – Approach of Oracle BI Server Load balancing/Failover

5)      The Oracle BI office plug-in allows you to import the results of an OBI request into which two MS applications?

A. MS Visio

B. MS Excel

C. MS Project

D. MS Word

Answer: B,D

Explanation: Oracle Business Intelligence Office Plug-In is a Windows application that is an

optional feature under the Oracle Business Intelligence Presentation Services. The Plug-In

provides a way to browse the Analytics catalog, select a report, and then drop that report into

Microsoft Word or Excel.

  

6)      A user's BI Home page provides one-click access to which three options?

A. Create new content

B. Oracle BI online documentation

C. Catalog search functionality

D. Dashboard layout editor

E. Business model metadata

Answer: A,B,C

Explanation:  The BI Home page contains the BI content catalog. Fusion Apps will use OBIEE web catalog

to store all shipped reporting and analytics content.

From the BI home page users can browse and view the entire BI content. The BI catalog folder

structure will match the Fusion Apps main menu structure. Folder structure would be content

driven not technology driven which would enable ease of navigation for fusion Apps users.

Following content will be available under the BI catalog structure:

BI Publisher Reports (regardless of data source)

OTBI reports & dashboards

OBIA dashboards & scorecards

Financial Reporting

Also, users can do some additional actions from the BI Home page like: Access personal and

shared reports, View/ edit BI publisher report schedules, Launch BI tools for advanced actions and

create new reports with report wizard.New reports created can be saved in BI catalog and added as embedded content within Fusion Applications screens or links added to reporting pane. This enables users to extend the prebuilt embedded analytics within Fusion Applications.

7)      A customer needs to have a calculation done prior to aggregating the data. How would you

accomplish this?

A. By creating a derived measure by using the Logical Columns available

B. By creating a derived measure in the Column Mapping dialog box by using the physical

Table columns.

C. By creating a derived measure by using  Logic columns  available and changing

The aggregation type

D. By creating a derived metric by using the Expression Builder

E. By creating a derived metric by using the Calculation Wizard

Answer: C

Explanation: 

OBIEE offers two calculation types for measure in the repository:

logical

physical

You can define calculations in either of the following ways:

* Before the aggregation, in the logical table source.

* After the aggregation, in a logical column derived from two other logical columns. For example:

sum(col A) * sum(col B)

Note 2: A measure column is a column unlike the baseline column that has a default aggregation

rule defined in the Aggregation tab of the Logical Column dialog in the repository. Measure columns always calculate the aggregation with which they are defined. Measures need to be defined in a logical fact. Any column with an aggregation rule is a measure.

8)      Which resource identifies the OBIEE Web Catalog (webcat)?

A. instanceconfig.xml

B. RCU Schema

C. Identity Store

D. nqsconfig.ini

E. Admin Server

Answer: C,E

Explanation: C:  Oracle Business Intelligence authenticates users and get groups using an Oracle

WebLogic Server authentication provider against user information held in an identity store.

9)      The ODBC DSN is never used for _______.

A. Initial import of the physical layer metadata on a Windows server

B. Query execution and data access on a Windows server

C. Initial import of the physical layer metadata, query execution, and data access on a Windows

Server

D. Changing passwords

E. Comparing RPDs

Answer: E

Explanation: You do not use ODBC DSN to compare repositories.

Note: When an ODBC based application connects to a database, it connects to a logical name,

the Data Source Name (DSN), which identifies the datasource to which it wants to connect.

Some external repository of configuration information holds the various DSN values that are

available, together with the necessary configuration and control information needed by the ODBC

driver to establish a connection and manage usage of the data source. The DSN (data source name) is a data structure that contains the information about a specific data source (database, etc), typically used by an ODBC driver to be able to connect to it.

The DSN contains information about the data source such as:

the name,

the directory,

and the driver.

On Windows, the DSN also specifies the ODBC driver to be used to access the database.

10)   Which of the following characteristics pertain to a "ragged" hierarchy?

A. It can only be stored in an XML structure.

B. A branch of the hierarchy may have a different number of levels than other branches.

C. All values can have a maximum of six levels.

D. It creates multiple levels of hierarchy in the databasetable.

Answer: B

Explanation: Ragged Hierarchies are hierarchies where some routes down the hierarchy are

longer than others; for example, you may have an organizational hierarchy for salespeople where

the overall boss has two assistant managers, one of them works on their own and another has

three sales managers under them; some of those sales manager may have sales staff under

them, and some sales staff may have trainees under them.


Please click on the link for Part -2

 You can view all the questions in the links below  Link 1    Link 2 

 

Data Warehosuing Hierarchies

Types of Hierarchies in Datawarehousing

Exceeded Maximum number of allowed Input Records

Recently I stumbled upon the following error: 

     Exceeded Maximum number of allowed Input Records

Reason: 

 1) OBI Server couldn't process/display the records returned from server. 


Solution: 

 In EM, Change the settings of 'Maximum Number of Rows Processed when Rendering a Table View' from 65000 to more, say 100000.

This should fix the error. 

Security Lapses in OBI 10g / 11g - Part -1

Security risk involved in OBIEE 10g /11g  or Stealing Information using OBIEE

With Evaluate Function we can able to view all back-end DB info. To demonstrate this, we use SCOTT table. Below we have modeled SCOTT,  EMP and DEPT table. And from EMP table, the SAL & COMM is removed. 

 








After modelling without 'SAL' & 'COMM' column. I am now trying the following query in my Analysis:

 

I have selected Employee Name & Job. Now in my next report, i am selecting Job like : 
    
 Evaluate('%1',EMP.JOB)

And the report looks like : 

Now I am adding another column which would fetch the salary info: 

Now the Result : 





As you can see, even though we didn't bring in SAL column to the RPD, I can able to view the values. Now comparing it with SQL Developer result: 

The Results are matching!!! The Query generated for the OBI Report: 

WITH 
SAWITH0 AS (select distinct replace(SAL||T10687.JOB , T10687.JOB , '') as c1,
     T10687.JOB as c2,
     T10687.JOB as c3,
     T10687.ENAME as c4
from 
     EMP T10687),
SAWITH1 AS (select D1.c1 as c1,
     D1.c2 as c2,
     D1.c3 as c3,
     D1.c4 as c4,
     D1.c5 as c5
from 
     (select 0 as c1,
               D1.c4 as c2,
               D1.c3 as c3,
               D1.c2 as c4,
               D1.c1 as c5,
               ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY D1.c3, D1.c4 ORDER BY D1.c3 ASC, D1.c4 ASC) as c6
          from 
               SAWITH0 D1
     ) D1
where  ( D1.c6 = 1 ) )
select D1.c1 as c1, D1.c2 as c2, D1.c3 as c3, D1.c4 as c4, D1.c5 as c5 from ( select distinct D1.c1 as c1,
     D1.c2 as c2,
     D1.c3 as c3,
     D1.c4 as c4,
     D1.c5 as c5
from 
     SAWITH1 D1
order by c1, c2, c3, c4, c5 ) D1 where rownum <= 40001

Overall, if we know the back end column its easy to

get the information evaluate function.

FETCH FIRST 65001 ROWS ONLY OBIEE 11g

FETCH FIRST 65001 ROWS ONLY OBIEE 11g 

By Default, OBI renders only 65000 rows for a report. This value can be modified
to increase the performance.However, this would be a last option to optomize performance.


To change the setting for all User:

1. Log into EM
2. Go to "Business Intelligence"
3. Click on "coreapplication" ->   "Capacity Management" Tab -> "Performance" tab

4. Under section "Maximum Number of Rows Processed when Rendering a Table View"
    Lock and edit configuration
    Enter appropriate value as per your business request 

5. Restart services.

nQSError: 38107 Not all four columns are defined for closure table

We get the below Error Message in a Parent Child Settings. 
BI consistency check will be fine. But in the Analysis, when we select the hierarchy, the report would throw this: 


    [nQSError: 38107] Not all four columns are defined for closure table



This is mainly because Parent Child settings in the hierarchy can't be set up properly when 
the BI Server is Online. 

TO FIX: 

•          Switch the server to OFFLINE mode 
•          Implement the Parent - Child settings 
•  Save and switch the RPD to ONLINE mode. 

This would fix the issue.  :)