Business objects ENTERPRISE 11.0 User Manual

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Administrator's Guide

■ SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise 4.0

2010-11-05

© 2010 SAP AG. All rights reserved.SAP, R/3, SAP NetWeaver, Duet, PartnerEdge, ByDesign, SAP Business ByDesign, and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and other countries. Business Objects and the Business Objects logo, BusinessObjects, Crystal Reports, Crystal Decisions, Web Intelligence, Xcelsius, and other Business Objects products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects S.A. in the United States and in other countries. Business Objects is an SAP company.All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Data contained in this document serves informational purposes only. National product specifications may vary.These materials are subject to change without notice. These materials are provided by SAP AG and its affiliated companies ("SAP Group") for informational purposes only, without representation or warranty of any kind, and SAP Group shall not be liable for errors or omissions with respect to the materials. The only warranties for SAP Group products and services are those that are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services, if any. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty.

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Introduction.............................................................................................................................5Chapter 1

1.1

1.2

1.3

2.1

2.1.1

2.1.2

2.2

2.3

3.1

3.2

3.2.1

3.2.2

3.2.3

3.3

3.3.1

3.4

3.4.1

3.4.2

3.4.3

3.5

3.5.1

3.6

3.6.1

3.6.2

3.6.3

3.7

3.7.1

About this guide.......................................................................................................................5

Important SAP Notes...............................................................................................................5

Related guides.........................................................................................................................5

Technical System Landscape..................................................................................................7Chapter 2

Overview..................................................................................................................................7

The Explorer servers................................................................................................................7

Supported data providers.........................................................................................................8

Distributed deployment scenarios............................................................................................8

Supported platforms for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer..........................................................9

System Management............................................................................................................11Chapter 3

Starting and stopping Explorer...............................................................................................11

Software Configuration..........................................................................................................11

Web Application settings........................................................................................................11

Explorer server settings.........................................................................................................13

Standardizing font usage across your deployment..................................................................19

Backup and Restore...............................................................................................................22

Backing up your Explorer System...........................................................................................22

Load Balancing.......................................................................................................................22

Loadbalancing........................................................................................................................22

Deploying Multiple Search Servers for Improved Information Space Exploration....................23

Deploying Multiple Index Servers for Improved Indexing.........................................................24

Periodic Tasks........................................................................................................................24

Verifying Information Space indexes.......................................................................................25

User Administration and Authentication..................................................................................25

User Management.................................................................................................................25

Authentication methods.........................................................................................................29

Single Sign On.......................................................................................................................31

Managing Information Spaces................................................................................................38

Authorization required for Information Spaces........................................................................38

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Contents

3.7.2

3.7.3

3.7.4

3.7.5

4.1

4.1.1

4.1.2

4.1.3

5.1

5.2

5.3

6.1

6.2

Controlling access rights to the Information Space folders.....................................................39

Indexing best practices...........................................................................................................39

Testing your Information Space..............................................................................................40

Information Space design best practices................................................................................40

Network and Communication Security.................................................................................43Chapter 4

Network security....................................................................................................................43

Firewall port usage for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer...........................................................44

Reverse proxies.....................................................................................................................45

Configuring servers for SSL...................................................................................................46

Data storage security............................................................................................................47Chapter 5

Data and metadata storage locations.....................................................................................47

Data protection......................................................................................................................47

Cookies.................................................................................................................................47

High Availability....................................................................................................................49Chapter 6

Ensuring system availability....................................................................................................49

Configuring failover between CMS servers............................................................................49

Troubleshooting....................................................................................................................51Chapter 7

7.1

Index 55

Understanding error messages..............................................................................................51

More Information...................................................................................................................53Appendix A

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Introduction

1.1 About this guide

This guide is for administrators who need to install SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 4.0.

Most of the server administration tasks that apply to the Explorer servers is described in the

BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's Guide

administration tasks are common tasks that can be affected to all servers in the CMS. This guide describes administration tasks specific to the Explorer servers in the CMS.

4.0 available at: http://help.sap.com. These

For information on how to use SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to explore corporate business intelligence data, see the Help.

For information relating to the resources available in the SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 release, refer to the installation, deployment, master, and administration guides available from the SAP Help Portal.

1.2 Important SAP Notes

It is recommended that IT and BI administrators managing an SAP BusinessObjects Explorer system read the following SAP notes:

1.3 Related guides

The following SAP documentation provides information for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 4.0:

Information about the architecture and technical landscape of SAP BusinessObjects XI 4.0 as well as links to required documentation and SAP notes.

SAP BusinessObjects Master Guide, Administration Guide, Installation Guide, and Web Application Deployment Guide .

LocationDocumentationInformation

SAP Help Portal:

http://help.sap.com

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Introduction

Information about the supported platforms and third party software.

Product Availablity Matrix

LocationDocumentationInformation

SAP Service Marketplace:

http://service.sap.com/pam

In the "Search" field, type: Explorer 4.0

Installation procedures for each supported operating system

Explorer server administration tasks

End-user information on creating, managing and exploring data using the Explorer application interface.

List of the new features introduced with the latest release.

List of known issues and workarounds.

Error messages explained

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Installation Guide

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Administrator's Guide

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Online Help

What's New in SAP BusinessObjects 4.0

SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 Release Notes

SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 Error Message Guide

SAP Service Marketplace:

http://service.sap.com/bosapinstguides

SAP Help Portal:

http://help.sap.com

Log into the application then click Help.

SAP Help Portal:

http://help.sap.com

http://service.sap.com/re leasenotes

SAP Help Portal:

http://help.sap.com

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Technical System Landscape

2.1 Overview

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is an add-on to SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise 4.0. The servers, Information Spaces, and users are managed by the BusinessObjects Enterprise Central Management Server (CMS) and Central Management Console (CMC).

The architecture of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is structured into three layers:

• clients

• web tier/gateway - includes the web server(s) and Web Application Server(s)

• backend - includes the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer servers and the SAP BusinessObjects

Enterprise servers.

2.1.1 The Explorer servers

When you install SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, the following servers are added to the BusinessObjects Enterprise Central Configuration Manager (CCM) and Central Management Console (CMC):

• Explorer Master Server

Manages all of the Explorer servers.

• Explorer Indexing Server

Provides and manages the indexing of Information Space data and metadata.

• Explorer Search Server

Processes search queries and returns search results.

• Explorer Exploration Server

Provides and manages the Information Space exploration and analysis capabilities including search on data, filtering and aggregation.

Each Explorer server manages its own index.

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Technical System Landscape

2.1.2 Supported data providers

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 4.0 can consume data from the following data providers:

• BusinessObjects universes (.UNX)

• Excel spreadsheets

Note:

In this release only universes in the new .UNX format are supported. The universes from previous releases in the .UNV format, and OLAP universes are not supported.

2.2 Distributed deployment scenarios

Implementing a distributed deployment scenario is recommended in the case of larger and critical production deployments

Security

To optimize security in deployments using single or multiple master servers, the following deployment practices are recomended:

RecommendationMaster server deployment in

Small deployments where there is

• only one master, and

• clients and servers all reside on the same

It is strongly recommended to activate SSL between all nodes .

network.

It is strongly recommended to connect Explorer Larger deployments where there are multiple masters

servers and clients to separate subnets intercon-

nected with the appropriate filtering device

(router).

Failover

If failover is a key requirement, you can deploy more than one Explorer Master Server to manage the other Explorer servers. The Master Servers work together to maintain the consistency of critical data.

Load balancing

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer supports the clustering of your web application server. Hardware or software load balancers can be used as the entry-point for the web application servers to ensure that the processing is evenly distributed among servers.

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Technical System Landscape

Note:

The following persistence types are currently supported

• Source IP address persistence

Information:

For information about the use of supported load balancers for SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise, refer to the SAP Product Availability Matrix (PAM) at: http://service.sap.com/pam.

Related Topics

• Network security

• Configuring the workload update setting for load balancing

2.3 Supported platforms for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

For detailed information on supported operating systems and web application servers, refer to the SAP Product Availability Matrix (PAM) at: http://service.sap.com/pam.

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Technical System Landscape

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System Management

3.1 Starting and stopping Explorer

The following Explorer servers can be started, stopped, or restarted within the BusinessObjects Enterprise CMC:

• Explorer Master server

• Explorer Exploration server

• Explorer Indexing server

• Explorer Search server

Information:

For complete information on managing servers in the CMC, refer to the

Administrator's Guide

To start SAP BusinessObjects Explorer:

Start your Web Application server.

Start your CMS database.

Start your SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise system.

If the Explorer servers are set to start up automatically, they are enabled at startup.

If you need to start Explorer servers manually, log into the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise CMC, select the Servers option, navigate through the categories to Explorer, and then Start or Restart enable the appropriate Explorer servers.

The Explorer servers are listed.

XI 4.0 available at: http://help.sap.com.

3.2 Software Configuration

BusinessObjects Enterprise

3.2.1 Web Application settings

You can modify application settings from a single properties file:

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System Management

default.settings.properties

The file is stored under the web application server directory, for example: C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Tomcat6\webapps\explorer\WEB-INF\classes.

You set the following parameters specific to Explorer in the default.settings.properties file:

ExampleDescriptionSetting

For internal use only.product.name

default.locale

default.cms.name

show.cms.name

disable.cms.name

default.authentica tion.method

authentications

hide.authentication.method

disable.authentica tion.method

The default locale to use. For example, English.

The name and port number of your CMS.

Determines if the value stored in de fault.cms.name is displayed in the CMS Name field of the Log On page.

Disables the CMS name textbox within the Log On page. You cannot change the textbox value.

The default log on authentication to use. The value is displayed in the Authenti- cation list of the Log On page.

The values that populate the Authenti- cation list.

Determines if the Authentication list is displayed in the Log On page.

Disables the Authentication list within the Log On page. You cannot change the value.

myserver:6400

secEnterprise

sec Enterprise, secWindowsNT, se cLDAP

use.effects

request.timeout

help.url

Determines if graphical effects are to be used. For example, after clicking Log On the Log On box has a graphical effect applied to it.

The period of time in seconds before Explorer times out after an operation, such as logging into the system.

The root location for the Explorer documentation.

100

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System Management

ExampleDescriptionSetting

The root location for the Explorer tutorial.tutorial.url

disable.password.encryption

opendoc.url

Related Topics

• Configuring SAP BusinessObjects Explorer for SAP authentication

3.2.2 Explorer server settings

You can configure the following settings:

• The unit to use for validating bookmarks; possible values include: DAYS, MINUTES, HOURS, or WEEKS.

Determines if password encryption is to be used.

The OpenDocument URL of your BusinessObjects Enterprise deployment. It is used when a user exports Information Space data to a Web Intelligence query. Setting the value opens the query using OpenDocument. If you do not set the value, the query is not launched.

http://serv er:port/OpenDocu ment/opendoc/openDoc ument.jsp

• The period of time (based on the unit) that a bookmark is stored. For example 365.

• The period of time in milliseconds before a session object handled by an underlying watchdog is

deleted.

• The delay in milliseconds between each update of when slave servers inform the master server

about their workload to balance the load.

You can also configure the indexing path in order of priority using:

• A properties file for all servers on a single node.

• The BusinessObjects Enterprise CMC server properties for a single indexing server on a single

node.

Modifications you make to settings are implemented in the following order of priority:

• configurations made from the command line for each server within the CMC for a single server on

a single node

• configurations made directly in a properties file for all servers on a single node

• configurations made via the CMC application properties for all nodes within your deployment cluster

For example, if you configure the settings using a properties file on a node, the CCM settings are ignored for that node.

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3.2.2.1 Information Space indexes path

You can specify where you want the indexes to be stored. You can either set the indexing path from the BusinessObjects Enterprise CMC or create a properties file and specify the index path there.

Related Topics

• Configuring the index path using the CMC

3.2.2.1.1 Configuring the index path using the CMC

To change the indexing path for a single indexing server, edit the server properties within the CMC. The indexing path is dependent on your installation path and is defaulted to:

• %DefaultDataDir%/Explorer14.0/index

Logon to the CMC.

Navigate to the Explorer Indexing server you want to configure from Servers.

Right-click the server and click Properties.

From Index Files Directory, enter a path.

Click Save.

Note:

If you copy existing indexes to the new location, the Explorer Indexing Server has to be stopped.

Restart the server.

3.2.2.1.2 Configuring the index path using a properties file

You can change the indexing path for all servers on a single node, by creating or editing a properties file.

Create or edit a properties file named explorer.service.properties located under:

• C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Explorer14.0\

Add this entry:

• index.path=C:/Index

Amend the value accordingly and save the file.

Restart the servers.

Note:

If you copy existing indexes, the Explorer Indexing Server has to be stopped.

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System Management

3.2.2.2 Session timeout period

The Explorer Master Server ensures that useless resources are released efficiently. The session object is deleted when the associated peer stops operating or when the underlying network is lost. A watchdog service observes all network activity.

The watchdog.timeout parameter specifies the duration of time (in milliseconds) a live session is considered active even if the watchdog detected no activity.

Note:

It is necessary for the watchdog.timeout parameter value to be superior to the timeout value set for the http session. If this is not the case, the Explorer session can expire even though the http session is still valid.

To change the session timeout period, an administrator can either:

• Change a setting for a single node. Create or edit a properties file named polestar.service.prop

erties located under:

• C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Explorer14.0\

Add this entry: watchdog.timeout=30, amend the value accordingly and restart the servers.

• Add the following to the command line to configure a single server:

-watchdog.timeout 30

For example:

-loggingPath "C:/Program Files (x86)/SAP BusinessObjects/Explorer14.0/Log ging/" -serverkind polestarMaster -trace true -watchdog.timeout 30

Note:

The default value of watchdog.timeout is 300 000 milliseconds (5 minutes). Altering the setting (especially if the specified value is too low) can have an impact on stability and even delete a valid session. This value must be smaller than the value of workload.update.delay.

3.2.2.3 Request timeout limit

Timeouts may occur while using large datasets.

Workaround:

It is necessary to change the default request.timeout setting (in seconds) located within:

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System Management

C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Tomcat6\webapps\explorer\WEBINF\classes\default.settings.properties

To do this:

Open for edit the default.setting.properties file.

Locate the request.timeout setting.

Change the setting accordingly.

Caution:

Defining a large value affects the waiting time for users.

DescriptionOption

-1

360

Save the file.

Restart the Explorer servers.

Deactivate timeout limit

Maximum value for timeout.

The timeout is changed according to the new value.

3.2.2.4 Bookmark validity

The bookmark validity period is the duration at which bookmarks of the exploration views (or filtered versions of Information Spaces) created by end users remain saved on the Explorer Application Server. Once this duration expires, the bookmark can no longer be opened. There are three methods to configure the validation duration for bookmarks. See Related Topics, below, for details.

Note:

Administrators are advised to communicate the duration of bookmarks to Explorer end users, so that users know how long any bookmarks they save will remain valid.

Related Topics

• Configuring the bookmark validity period via the CMC

• Configuring the bookmark validity period via the server command line within the CMC

• Configuring the bookmark validity period via a properties file

3.2.2.4.1 Configuring the bookmark validity period via the CMC

To change the bookmark validation period from the BusinessObjects Enterprise CMC, amend the value within the CMC administration page. In this case, the value is taken into account by all slave nodes.

Logon to the BusinessObjects Enterprise CMC.

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Navigate to Manage > Applications.

Right-click Explorer and click Properties.

Change the Bookmark validity values and click Save.

Restart the Explorer servers.

3.2.2.4.2 Configuring the bookmark validity period via the server command line within the CMC

To change the Explorer validity period for a single server, edit the server properties within the BusinessObjects Enterprise CMC.

Logon to the BusinessObjects Enterprise CMC.

Navigate to the Explorer server you want to configure via Servers.

Right-click the server and click Properties.

Within Command Line Parameters, add the following:

-bookmark.validity.time 365 -bookmark.validity.unit DAYS

For example:

-loggingPath "C:/Program Files (x86)/SAP BusinessObjects/Explorer14.0/Log ging/" -serverkind polestarIndexing -trace true -bookmark.validity.time 365 -bookmark.validity.unit DAYS

Click Save.

Restart the Explorer servers.

3.2.2.4.3 Configuring the bookmark validity period via a properties file

You can change the Explorer bookmark validity for all servers on a single node, by creating or editing a properties files.

Create or edit a properties file named explorer.service.properties located under:

• C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Explorer14.0\

Add the following entries.

bookmark.validity.time=365

bookmark.validity.unit=DAYS

Amend the value accordingly and save the file.

Restart the servers.

3.2.2.5 Increasing virtual memory on the Explorer servers

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The amount of virtual memory required by the Explorer servers depends on the size of the Information Spaces being explored and indexed across your deployment. You can increase the amount of virtual memory available on each server by changing the JVM heap size value as necessary:

• If a large number of end users need to explore large Information Spaces, it is recommended you

increase the JVM heap size value on your Exploration Server(s).

• If you have a lot of users indexing, it is also recommended you increase the JVM heap size value

on your Explorer Indexing Servers.

By default, the JVM heap size value is 1 GB. In most cases, this is sufficient for the Master server(s) and Search Server(s).

The JVM heap size has an influence on the following:

• Memory garbage collection

For example, having a large heap size for the Indexing Server(s) reduces the rate of garbage collection of memory during indexing, thus improving performance. If the heap size is small, scheduling spends more time to free (and retrieve) memory than executing the required task. A heap size of

1.6 GB decreases the rate of garbage collecting in most cases.

• Swapping memory to hard disk

The JVM heap size value you define should always be lower than the amount of physical memory available on the server. Having a low amount of physical memory and configuring large values for the heap size of each server results in the swapping of memory to the hard disk. For example, if there is 2 GB of RAM, it is not efficient to provide a heap size of 1024 MB for each Explorer server. SAP BusinessObjects Explorer functions correctly but memory swapping occurs, therefore having an impact on performance.

3.2.2.5.1 Configuring the JVM heap size value

Verify the memory limit you can configure for a server and the JVM. The heap size is dependent on the hardware and software used. For example, a Windows 32-Bit or a Windows 64-Bit operating system, the version of the JVM and the amount of physical memory installed.

Refer to the information on configuring memory size.

BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's Guide

4.0 available at: http://help.sap.com for

3.2.2.6 Concurrent Excel file uploads

As an administrator of Explorer you can configure how many concurrent upload operations of Excel files can be processed. By default the value is 30 concurrent Excel upload operations.

3.2.2.6.1 Configuring the number of possible concurrent Excel uploads

As an administrator of the Explorer you can configure how many concurrent upload operations of Excel files can be processed. By default the value is 30 concurrent Excel upload operations.

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Log into the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise CMC.

Navigate to: ApplicationsExplorerPropertiesAdvanced configuration

Enter the following parameter and specify the value of your choice.

com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.max_nb_parallel_indexing_tasks

For example:

com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.max_nb_parallel_indexing_tasks=50

The parameter change is taken into account immediately.

3.2.3 Standardizing font usage across your deployment

The fonts used to display character strings in Information Spaces are provided by the font libraries on the clients and servers across your SAP BusinessObjects Explorer deployment:

• The Exploration servers supply the fonts used to display the character strings on charts.

• The client machines logged into SAP BusinessObjects Explorer supply the fonts used to display the

character strings in the rest of the application GUI.

If the fonts installed on the Exploration servers do not match the fonts on the clients, the character strings in the charts and the rest of the application GUI display with different fonts.

3.2.3.1 Ensuring font compatibility across clients and servers

The Arial Unicode J font is matched by the Arial Unicode MS font on most Microsoft Windows client machines. This provides a standard display for character strings throughout the application GUI.

You can ensure font compatibility across your deployment as follows:

Verify that a font compatible with the Arial Unicode J font is installed on your client machines, and if you implement a distributed deployment architecture, on each Explorer server.

Note:

On most Microsoft Windows client machines, the Arial Unicode MS font is compatible with Arial Unicode J.

On each client machine or Explorer server that does not have a compatible font, install Arial Unicode J.

Note:

The Arial Unicode J font is available in the following directory of the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer server once you have installed the application: <BusinessObjects_Explorer_InstallDir>/Ex

plorer14.0/jre/lib/fonts

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System Management

3.2.3.2 Installing custom fonts

On some language versions fonts may appear too large, resulting in chart areas being hidden by axis labels or facet values being truncated, and some language-specific special characters may be missing. These types of font inconsistencies are more common on UNIX platforms than Windows. To solve these issues, you can install fonts of their choice on the servers and/or clients. Once the fonts are installed, you need to modify two files so that these fonts are used in both the charts and the rest of the application GUI.

Stop the Exploration servers.

Install and distribute the font of your choice to the Exploration servers and clients.

The location on the server is: <BusinessObjects_Explorer_InstallDir>/Explor er14.0/jre/lib/fonts.

3.2.3.3 Configuring custom fonts in charts

For SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to use custom fonts in charts, the fonts must first be installed on the servers and client machines.

Open the <BusinessObjects_Explorer_InstallDir>/Explorer14.0/chart-tem plate.sample file for edit.

Search for the following string: [Arial Unicode J, Arial Unicode MS, Arial]

Replace the three font names with the names of your installed fonts, as follows:

[FontFaceName 1;FontFaceName 2;Font FaceName 3]

Information:

The fonts are specified in order of preference. If the first font in the list is not available, the second font is used; if the second font is not available, the third font is used, and so on.

Optional: to specify the font size, search for the following string: [10.0];

Replace the "10.0" font size with the size of your choice, for example you would specify a choice of two size 14 Japanese fonts as follows:

</DefaultValues>

</GlobalValue>

Note:

If a different font size is specified for a particular chart zone, such as the legend, then the global font size is overridden in that particular chart zone.

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System Management

Rename the file chart-template.xml and save it to <BusinessObjects_Explorer_In stallDir>/Explorer14.0/.

3.2.3.4 Configuring custom fonts for the interface outside of charts

For SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to use custom fonts, the fonts must first be installed on the servers and client machines.

You can define a specific custom font or font size globally for all languages, and also for specific languages, to override the global setting.

Open the <install_dir>\webapps\explorer\schema\chinese.css.example\ file for edit.

Replace the default font name and size with the font and size of your choice:

global { font-family: Arial Unicode J, Arial Unicode MS, Arial, Sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; }

Information:

The fonts are specified in order of preference. If the first font in the list is not available, the second font is used; if the second font is not available, the third font is used, and so on.

Note:

If a different font size is specified for a particular interface label, such as ToolTips, then the global font size is overridden in that particular type of label.

Where you save the file depends on whether you want to apply these settings globally, to all languages, or just to a specific language:

• To apply the settings to all languages, rename the file as global.css and save it to: <in

stall_dir>\webapps\explorer\schemes\global\global.css\

• to apply the settings to a specific language, rename the file as <language>.css and save it to

a sub-folder named with the language code for that language as follows:

<install_dir>\webapps\explorer\schemes\global\ <language_code>\<language>.css\

For example, for Chinese, you would save the file as follows: <install_dir>\webapps\ex plorer\schemes\global\zh_CH\chinese.css\

Note:

As the css. files control all of the display properties, it is recommended you only modify the values for these specified parameters.

Restart the Exploration servers.

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3.3 Backup and Restore

3.3.1 Backing up your Explorer System

You can use the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Client Tools component the Import Wizard to backup Explorer objects (Information Spaces and user profiles), and then migrate those Information Spaces to a new BusinessObjects Enterprise CMS. You need to follow these steps:

• Use the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Import Wizard to create a Business Intelligence Archive

file (BIAR) that contains the Explorer objects on the CMS.

Note:

These objects include the user profiles and Information Spaces.

• Import the BIAR file to the new CMS.

For full details on how to use the Import Wizard, see:

Wizard Guide

1_bip_importwiz_en.pdf.

available at: http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir31/en/xi3-

3.4 Load Balancing

3.4.1 Loadbalancing

Information:

For information about load balancing for SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise, refer to the SAP Product Availability Matrix (PAM) at: http://service.sap.com/pam.

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 Import

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3.4.1.1 Configuring the workload update setting for load balancing

The workload is balanced by ensuring that servers with the least load have a higher job priority. Slave servers (within a cluster) ensure that the Explorer Master Server is periodically updated with their workload costs.

The workload.update.delay parameter specifies the duration of time (in milliseconds) between updates to the Explorer Master Server.

To change the workload update delay period, an administrator can either:

• Change a setting for a single node. Create or edit a properties file named explorer.service.prop

erties located under:

• <SAP BusinessObjects installdir>\Explorer14.0\

Add this entry: workload.update.delay=30, amend the value accordingly, and restart the servers.

• Add the following to the command line to configure a single server:

-workload.update.delay 30

For example:

-loggingPath "C:/Program Files (x86)/SAP BusinessObjects/Explorer14.0/Log ging/" -serverkind polestarMaster -trace true -workload.update.delay 30

Note:

The default value of workload.update.delay is 15 000 milliseconds. Altering the setting (especially if the specified value is too low) can have an impact on network traffic and performance. The value must be significantly smaller than the value of watchdog.timeout.

3.4.2 Deploying Multiple Search Servers for Improved Information Space Exploration

If the main activity of your user population is exploration, then it is recommended you deploy SAP BusinessObjects Explorer in a cluster with additional Explorer servers to ensure maximum performance when users navigate Information Spaces.

Deploying a high-end machine to the cluster improves the performance and lowers any server constraints.

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System Management

3.4.3 Deploying Multiple Index Servers for Improved Indexing

The indexing of Information Spaces is dependent on the following:

• the number of Explorer servers deployed and how they are deployed

• the hardware (CPU, memory, hard disk) used for Explorer servers

• the Java Virtual Machine heap

If your aim is to improve indexing performance, it is recommended you put one installation of all four Explorer servers (Master, Indexing, Search, and Exploration) on the machine where SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise is installed, and additional Explorer Indexing Servers on separate machines, ensuring they are directed to the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise installation. The indexing load is shared across all the indexing servers.

The number of servers required is dependent on the number of users expected to use SAP BusinessObjects Explorer. For example, if you expect a high number of users indexing the large Information Spaces at the same time (an extreme scenario), then an additional server is required. Indexing many Information Spaces has an impact on explorers while they are exploring. It is recommended you schedule Information Spaces for indexing when there is less activity, such as over night.

3.5 Periodic Tasks

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3.5.1 Verifying Information Space indexes

It is recommended that administrators verify that indexes are up to date at regular intervals. To do this:

Log into SAP BusinessObjects Explorer with a Space Creator or Administrator profile.

Select the "Manage Spaces" tab.

View the lists of Information Spaces and verify that the Index icon is green for all of the Information Spaces.

In the case of an "Index" icon being red, it is necessary to re-index the Information Space. You can either click Index Now or schedule indexing by selecting Edit next to the appropriate Information Spaces and then defining a schedule.

3.6 User Administration and Authentication

3.6.1 User Management

3.6.1.1 Managing users and groups

User profiles are managed and stored in the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Central Managment Server. The administration consol you use to manage the user profiles is the Central Management Console (CMC).

For information on creating users and groups, and assigning rights see the

Administrator's Guide

4.0 available at: http://help.sap.com.

BusinessObjects Enterprise

3.6.1.2 Explorer User Profiles

The SAP BusinessObjects Explorer users include the following profiles:

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Space Explorers

Space Explorers make up the majority of the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer user population. They search for Information Spaces, navigate and analyze the data within those Information Spaces, and save Information Spaces to other file formats. These users sometimes export Information Spaces to other applications to analyze the data further.

Space Creators

Space Creators make up a small percentage of the total SAP BusinessObjects Explorer user population. They understand the underlying data structures in the data providers consumed by the application and understand the business concerns of their Space Explorer collaborators. With this knowledge, Space Creators can build Information Spaces that contain contextually related sets of data, and so provide Space Explorers with a complete picture for a given business query.

Your system requirements and sizing parameters will depend on the percentage of Space Explorers and Space Creators across your SAP BusinessObjects Explorer deployment.

Administrators

Administrators are responsible for the following:

• Scheduling Information Space indexing, so that the load on the system can be kept to a minimum

during peak usage times.

• Managing SAP BusinessObjects Explorer user rights.

• Managing server settings.

3.6.1.3 Allocating rights to users and groups

Note:

It is important to ensure that end users have the appropriate rights to the specific universes, folders, and Web Intelligence functionality they require in order to be able to access the Information Spaces they want to explore. For more information, see the listed in Related Topics, below.

You configure SAP BusinessObjects Explorer user profiles within the BusinessObjects Enterprise CMC. You need to specify the following types of user authorization in the CMC:

• Define which Explorer features your users have access to, by granting or denying rights to the

appropriate objects

• Grant users application rights for the other SAP BusinessObjects applications leveraged by SAP

BusinessObjects Explorer

• Allocate the appropriate Access Level to users so they can perform Explorer scheduling and export

tasks as appropriate

• Verify users with a Space Creator or Administrator profile have the appropriate access rights to any

BusinessObjects universes on which they need to build Information Spaces

• Verify users have the necessary rights to folders where Information Spaces are stored on the

BusinessObjects Enterprise CMS

How Information Spaces map to data providers

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Related Topics

• Authorization required for Information Spaces

• Explorer User Profiles

3.6.1.3.1 Explorer user rights per user profile

Depending on the profiles you wish to allocate to your Explorer users, you need to grant specific permissions.

Table 3-2: Feature usage permissions for Explorer users

PermissionsUser Profile

Explore Information Spaces

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Bookmark/Email

Explore Information Spaces: Export to CSV

Space Explorer

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Image

Space Creator

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Web Intelligence

Log onto Polestar and view this object in the CMC

Explore Information Spaces

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Bookmark/Email

Explore Information Spaces: Export to CSV

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Image

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Web Intelligence

Manage Information Spaces

Manage Information Spaces: Create a new Space

Manage Information Spaces: Launch indexing

Manage Information Spaces: Modify a space

Manage Information Spaces: Schedule indexing

Delete objects

Edit this object

Log onto Polestar and view this object in the CMC

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PermissionsUser Profile

Explore Information Spaces

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Bookmark/Email

Explore Information Spaces: Export to CSV

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Image

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Web Intelligence

Manage Information Spaces

Manage Information Spaces: Create a new Space

Administrator

Manage Information Spaces: Launch indexing

Manage Information Spaces: Modify a space

Manage Information Spaces: Schedule indexing

Delete objects

Edit this object

Log onto Polestar and view this object in the CMC

Modify the rights users have to this object

Securely modify rights users have to objects

Because SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is an add-on to SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise and leverages the SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence and SAP BusinessObjects InfoView applications, some additional Application Rights are also required for each Explorer user profile

Table 3-3: Application Rights for Explorer users

BusinessObjects Enterprise Application RightsUser Profile

Application Right - InfoView: Log on to InfoView and view this object in the CMCSpace Explorer

Application Right - InfoView: Log on to InfoView and view this object in the CMC

Space Creator Application Right - CMC: Log on to the CMC and view this object in the CMC

Application Right - Web Intelligence: Create document

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Administrator Application Right - CMC: Log on to the CMC and view this object in the CMC

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise comes with predefined Access Levels. You need to allocate the appropriate Access Levels to your Explorer users so they can perform the scheduling and export tasks that match the needs of their user profile.

Table 3-4: Access Levels for Explorer users

BusinessObjects Enterprise Application RightsUser Profile

Application Right - InfoView: Log on to InfoView and view this object in the CMC

Application Right - Web Intelligence: Create document

User Profile

Space Explorer

BusinessObjects Enterprise Access Level(s)

View On Demand

Schedule

The user can explore Information Spaces and can export to Web Intelligence, CSV, or to an image.

The user can manage Information Spaces and schedule.

Space Creator

View On Demand

Full ControlAdministrator

The user can explore Information Spaces and can export to Web Intelligence, CSV, or to an image.

The user has full access and control to SAP BusinessObjects Explorer.

Note:

When configuring authorizations for Space Creators and Administrators, ensure that they have the correct access levels to Universes and Universe Connections. The access levels state the rights they have for Universes and Universe Connections. Having the right of Data Access for a Universe Connection allows the user to access the Universe for Information Space creation.

For full information on the user rights and security levels available at the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise level, refer to the

BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's Guide

4.0 available at: http://help.sap.com.

Related Topics

• Explorer User Profiles

3.6.2 Authentication methods

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SAP BusinessObjects Explorer supports the authentication methods supported by SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise:

• Enterprise

• Windows AD

• LDAP

• SAP Authentification

To enable SAP R/3 authentication on your SAP BusinessObjects Explorer deployment, you need to perform some manual configuration procedures on the Explorer server.

3.6.2.1 Configuring SAP BusinessObjects Explorer for SAP authentication

This table provides the settings you need to configure in order to make SAP authentication available to SAP BusinessObjects Explorer users.

Note:

Before configuring SAP BusinessObjects Explorer for SAP authentication, refer to the

Enterprise Administrator's Guide

4.0 available at: http://help.sap.com for further information on SAP

authentication.

The SAP authentication settings are stored within the Explorer settings properties file (default.set

tings.properties) in: <INSTALLDIR>/SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI

4.0/java/apps.

Table 3-5: SAP authentication web application settings

DescriptionSetting

default.sapsystem.name

tem.

show.sapsystem.name

tem name is shown within the Log On page.

disable.sapsystem.name

name text box within the Log On page. You cannot change the textbox value.

Example Configuration (without SAP Authentication)

BusinessObjects

Example Configuration (for SAP Authentication)

SAP_IDThe name of the SAP sys-

truefalseDetermines if the SAP sys-

falsetrueDisables the SAP system

100The SAP client ID.default.sapclient.name

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show.sapclient.name

disable.sapclient.name

default.authentica tion.method

authentications

Example: Properties file configured for SAP authentication

DescriptionSetting

name is shown within the Log On page.

name textbox within the Log On page. You cannot change the textbox value.

cation to use. The value is selected in the Authentica- tion list of the Log On page.

The values that populate the Authentication list.

Example Configuration (without SAP Authentication)

secEnter prise,secWinAD,se cLDAP

Example Configuration (for SAP Authentication)

truefalseDetermines if the SAP client

falsetrueDisables the SAP client

secSAPR3secEnterpriseThe default log on authenti-

secEnterprise secWinAD, se cLDAP,secSAPR3

default.sapsystem.name=SAP_ID show.sapsystem.name=true disable.sapsystem.name=false default.sapclient.name=100 show.sapclient.name=true disable.sapclient.name=false default.authentication.method=secSAPR3 authentications=secEnterprise,secWinAD,secLDAP,secSAPR3

3.6.3 Single Sign On

You can configure SAP BusinessObjects Explorer for Single Sign On (SSO) for the following authentication methods:

• Enterprise

• Windows AD

• LDAP

The following files are used to configure SSO:

• $<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/classes/sso.properties contains all of the SSO

options

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• $<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/web.xml contains a servlet filter that needs to be activated

for Vintela authentication (for Windows AD)

• $<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/default.settings.properties contains Explorer

startup options that can be overridden by the SSO in the sso.properties file

Related Topics

• Activating Single Sign On

• SSO for WinAD authentication using Vintela

• SSO for LDAP authentication using SiteMinder

• Enabling Trusted Authentication

3.6.3.1 Activating Single Sign On

SSO must already be configured on BusinessObjects Enterprise before you configure SSO on SAP BusinessObjects Explorer.

Information:

See the

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's Guide

for XI 4.0 at: http://help.sap.com.

To activate SSO:

Stop the Explorer Web Application Server.

Open the following file for edit:

$<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/classes/sso.properties

Set the following parameters to the values specified:

ValuesSetting

truesso.global.enabled

<provider_name>sso.global.providers

Note:

By default, the sso.properties file contains a set of ready-to-use values for the sso.glob al.providers file. The property must only be set once in the entire file. However, you can specify

multiple providers using a comma-separated list of providers.

Optional: three additional parameters can be set:

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ValuesDescriptionSetting

sso.global.cms

tication. If no value is specified, the de

fault.cms.name value set in the de fault.settings.properties is used.

Controls the authentication method used.sso.global.authentication

sso.global.errorOnFailure

Controls how the SSO system behaves if

no credential has been found.

Example:

sso.global.enabled=true sso.global.authentication= sso.global.cms=hostname:port sso.global.providers=sso.vintela

trueControls the CMS used during the authen-

Possible values are:

• secEnterprise

• secLDAP

• secWinAD

Two possible values:

• false - the logon workflow continues

normally as it would if SSO was not enabled

• true - the logon dialog is not dis-

played

3.6.3.2 SSO for WinAD authentication using Vintela

The Vintela Authentication Services provider uses the credentials automatically passed from the browser to the web server to authenticate the user against an Active Directory server.

Note:

the authentication cannot be overriden and is implicitely set to secWinAD.

It works as follows:

• Retrieves the Windows credential from the current execution context using Vintela

• Logs on to the server with authentication using these credentials

To enable Vintela Authentication Services for SSO on WinAD, you need to make two additional modifications to $<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/web.xml.

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• uncomment the definition of the authFilter

• uncomment the mapping of the authFilter

You also need to set the following parameters:

ValuesDescriptionSetting

className

com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.sso.vintela.VintelaSSOProvider

cms

<cms_name>controls the CMS used for authentication. It can be

used to override the default CMS.

Example:

# # Vintela parameters (sso.vintela provider) # sso.vintela.className=com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.sso.vintela.VintelaSSOProvider sso.vintela.cms=

3.6.3.3 SSO for WinAD using Kerberos

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer supports WinAD using Kerberos. You need to set up WinAD authentication with Kerberos on your BusinessObjectst Enterprise system. No configuration is necessary on the Explorer servers.

Information:

See the

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's Guide

for XI 4.0 at: http://help.sap.com.

3.6.3.4 SSO for LDAP authentication using SiteMinder

The SiteMinder provider uses a cookie SMSESSION containing a unique session ID to be used as a user name to perform an authentication using secLDAP or secWinAD.

Note:

this provider is based on a generic provider with predefined values, as specified below.

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It works as follows:

• Retrieves the SiteMinder session cookie from the current execution context

• Logs on to the server with authentication using this cookie value

You need to set the following parameters:

ValuesDescriptionSetting

className

cms

authentication

user.retrieval

user.param

Example:

can be used to override the default CMS

the method to be used to retrieve the user name

specifies the parameter used by the user.retrieval method to retrieve the user name

com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.sso.generic.GenericSSOProvider

<cms_name>controls the CMS used for authentication. It

By default, this is set to: secLDAP. It can be changed to secWinAD

The value is set to COOKIE by default.

Note:

The default value should not be changed.

The value is set to SMSESSION by default.

Note:

The default value should not be changed.

# # SiteMinder parameters (sso.siteminder) # sso.siteminder.className=com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.sso.generic.GenericSSOProvider sso.siteminder.cms= sso.siteminder.authentication=secLDAP sso.siteminder.user.retrieval=COOKIE sso.siteminder.user.param=SMSESSION

3.6.3.5 Enabling Trusted Authentication

You need to configure the Business Objects Enterprise CMC for trusted authentication before you can enable trusted authentication on SAP BusinessObjects Explorer.

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Information:

See the section on enabling trusted authentication in the

Guide

To enable trusted authentication on SAP BusinessObjects Explorer:

Stop the Explorer Web Application Server.

Open the following file for edit:

$<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/classes/sso.properties

Set the following parameters:

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's

for XI 4.0 at: http://help.sap.com.

ValuesSetting

cms.default

Enter the CMS name and port number as follows: <servername.portnum-

ber >

truesso.enabled

falsesiteminder.enabled

Find the following string:

trusted.auth.user.retrieval

Enter the parameter value that corresponds to the user retrieval method you want to implement:

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quest object for the current request in a servlet or JSP.

Note:

For .NET the following properties need to be set on your InfoViewApp directory, using IIS Manager:

• disable Anonymous access checkbox

• enable the Windows Integrated Authentication checkbox

URL.

Note:

You define the query string parameter in the trusted.auth.user.param parameter in the web.xml file for BI launch pad .

ValueUser Retrieval Method

REMOTE_USERRetrieve the user name from a call to getRemoteUser ( ) on the HttpServletRe-

HTTP_HEADERRetrieve the user name from the contents of a specified parameter in the request

COOKIERetrieve the user name from the contents of a specified cookie.

Note:

You define the cookie in the trusted.auth.user.param parameter in the web.xml file for BI launch pad .

WEB_SESSIONRetrieve the user name from the contents of a specified session variable.

Note:

You define the web session variable in the trusted.auth.user.param parameter in the web.xml file for BI launch pad .

Retrieve the user name from a call to getUserPrincipal ( ) .getName ( ) on the HttpServletRequest object for the current request in a servlet or JSP.

Verify you have specified how to retrieve the shared secret for BusinessObjects Enterprise.

USER_PRINCIPAL

To retrieve the shared secret from a session variable, you need to configure the $<ExplorerWe bappRoot>/WEB-INF/classes/sso.properties file on SAP BusinessObjects Explorer.

Set the following parameter value in the $<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/classes/sso.prop erties file:

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ValueParameter

Enter the session variable name from which to retrieve the shared secret.trust-

ed.auth.shared.secret

Save and close the file.

Re-start the Explorer Web Application Server.

3.7 Managing Information Spaces

3.7.1 Authorization required for Information Spaces

The supported data providers for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 4.0 are:

• BusinessObjects universes (.unx files) created using the SAP BusinessObjects information design

tool. The universes are based on RDBMS.

• Excel spreadsheets (.xls, .xlsx files) created using Microsoft Excel

Building on BusinessObjects universes

To create an Information Space on a universe you need to have the following rights enabled for your in the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprse CMC:

• access rights to the universe

• access rights to the folder in which the universe is stored on the CMS.

3.7.1.1 Uploading Excel spreadsheets as data provider

The Excel files used by Explorer need to be flat files, that is simple data files with one record per row without structuring such as multiple tables, or crosstabs or charts.

How you select the Excel spreadsheet depends on where the file is stored:

• If the file is stored on the CMS, click the Manage Spaces tab and then select the file from within

the "Excel spreadsheets" folder.

• If the file is on your local machine, navigate to the" Upload a spreadsheet to explore" section on

the Home tab, click Browse and then select the file from your local directory.

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Optional: If the file is on your local machine, you can opt to explore it immediately in Explorer.

If you want to specify how each type of data should be translated when viewed as objects within Explorer, then you need to configure the new Information Space before you explore it. For example, if the Excel file contains more than one sheet, you can specify which sheet you want Explorer to use. You can also specify for each column whether the values are labels (that is, non-numerical characters) or if the values are measures. In the case of values being measures, you can select whether the measure is a SUM, MIN or MAX value.

Note:

By default, Explorer interprets all numerical values as SUM, except for dates.

How you specify properties for the Information Space depends on where the Excel file is stored:

• click Preview and Configure.

• click Configure.

If the file contains multiple sheets, select which sheet you want to make explorable and then click the drop-down box above each column to specify whether Explorer should interpret the column values as a measure or label.

To verify that the Information Space contains no errors, click Validate.

If the Excel file is stored on the CMS, the Information Space remains available from within Explorer. If the Excel file is stored on your local machine, the Information Space is automatically deleted when you log out of Explorer. However, you can save the Information Space as a bookmark and so re-visit it.

Related Topics

• Configuring the number of possible concurrent Excel uploads

3.7.2 Controlling access rights to the Information Space folders

After creating and testing an Information Space, set security rights to the folder where the Information Space is located within the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise CMC. Security rights can prevent any unauthorized personnel accessing, viewing, or performing operations on the Information Space.

Alternatively, move the Information Space to a secure folder.

3.7.3 Indexing best practices

Performance during indexing is dependent upon the hardware (hard drive, memory and JVM heap size) number of concurrent users, number of Information Spaces being indexed concurrently, and the size of those Information Spaces.

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If users only access SAP BusinessObjects Explorer during working hours, schedule the indexing over night, users are not impacted by indexing. If you have medium sized Information Spaces and concurrent user access is not expected, then a single high-end machine is considered to be efficient.

However if you have many users indexing and exploring large Information Spaces constantly, ensure the following:

• SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is deployed in a cluster with additional machines each having extra

servers

The number of machines deployed is dependent on the number of expected concurrent users and the size of the Information Spaces.

• fast hard disk drives are installed on each machine

• there is a large amount of memory on each machine (especially on the host machine with the Master

Server)

• the JVM heap size for each server on each machine is configured correctly according to available

memory

Scheduling Information Spaces for indexing does not impact performance if you have deployed, installed, and configured everything correctly.

3.7.4 Testing your Information Space

After indexing your Information Space, perform a test to ensure it has been indexed correctly and it is what you expect:

• Ensure that the Information Space appears within the "Home" tab.

• Click Refresh to update the list.

• Click the Information Space to launch it.

• Check the facets to see if they represent the objects you selected during creation.

• Navigate through the data to ensure that the Information Space matches the original business needs

and user requirements.

3.7.5 Information Space design best practices

Before creating Information Spaces, gather the information requirements of your end users by asking the following questions:

• What exactly is the business need of the Information Space?

If you know what the Information Space is going to be used for, then you can simply identify the related data source objects. For example, the business need is for knowing the sales revenue last

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year for all of your European stores. You could select the Sales Revenue measure, the Country, City, and Store dimensions, and finally, the Last Year filter.

• How many users are expected to access and explore the Information Space?

If you know that the Information Space is for several users, select only necessary objects. If you select too many objects that can have little use for the user, exploration and indexing can be impacted. It can also cause confusion to users.

• What are the sizing limits?

Be aware of the sizing limits of your installation. Ask your administrator for further information.

• What are the security expectations?

Ensure that you select objects that are only meant to be in the Information Space.

• Is a single Information Space the best option?

Several small Information Spaces can often be better than a single Information Space.

• What is the best data provider to use?

Depending on the business need and user demand, choose a source data system and data provider that is the most efficient and most accurate.

• What is the context of the Information Space?

While choosing your data source objects, ensure that you know if any contexts are required. A context makes certain that the Information Space represents the desired perspective. For example: Sales or Reservations.

• If my Information Space is created on a BusinessObjects universe, what filters can be applied so

that only data of interest is retrieved?

By using filters, only the data necessary for a specific informaton need is included into the Information Space. For example, by including a filter called "Last Year,", only data from the previous year is retrieved into the Information Space when users explore it.

Note:

Filters are created at the data provider level when the BusinessObjects universe or BWA index is designed.

• Is the definition you want valid?

Validate the definition of your Information Space before indexing, by clicking the Validate button when you have selected the objects and filters you want to include.

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Network and Communication Security

4.1 Network security

You can deploy SAP BusinessObjects Explorer in a distributed scenario over multiple nodes, using firewalls and reverse proxies for your security to set up a complex environment that ensures security and failover.

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Network and Communication Security

4.1.1 Firewall port usage for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

When you deploy SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, you can protect your network with a firewall, however the firewall can block network communication between your deployment nodes. For example, if you have deployed the Explorer Web Application on one node, deployed the Explorer servers on another node and various BusinessObjects Enterprise servers are already deployed on a third node, you may have to open ports to allow the nodes to communicate.

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Network and Communication Security

Each server can be configured so that they use a specific port. The firewall can then be configured so that the specific ports are open.

It is necessary to choose a set of port numbers which do not interfere with other network services and it is necessary to ensure that the correct servers are configured. For example, the following servers are required to have their ports configured on a simple Explorer deployment:

• Central Management Server

• Explorer Master Server

• Explorer Indexing Server

• Explorer Search Server

• Explorer Exploration Server

• Web Intelligence Processing Server

Note:

If you allow access to the CMS, other services can connect and exchange information.

Example: Port configuration

This example demonstrates how you could configure servers on a simple deployment:

4.1.2 Reverse proxies

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer supports the same reverse proxy configuration as SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise. No specific reverse proxy configuration for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is required.

Information:

For information about reverse proxy configuration for SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise, refer to the

BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's Guide

at: http://help.sap.com.

PortServer

64002Central Management Server

64023Explorer Master Server

64022Explorer Indexing Server

64024Explorer Search Server

64021Explorer Exploration Server

64032Web Intelligence Processing Server

XI 4.0 available on the "SAP BusinessObjects" tab

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Network and Communication Security

4.1.3 Configuring servers for SSL

You can use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol for all network communication between clients and servers in your BusinessObjects Enterprise deployment. the SSL recommendation.

Refer to the section on distributed deployment scenarios referenced in Related Topics for security recommendations using SSL, and also the specific recommendations for multiple master server deployments.

Information:

For information about configuring SSL for SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise, refer to the

Enterprise Administrator's Guide

http://help.sap.com.

Related Topics

• Distributed deployment scenarios

BusinessObjects

XI 4.0 available on the "SAP BusinessObjects" tab at:

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Data storage security

5.1 Data and metadata storage locations

Data is stored in binary format in indexes. Where the data is stored depends on the data provider. If the data provider is a BusinessObjects universe or an Excel spreadsheet, the data is stored on the BusinessObjects Enterprise Central Management Server (CMS) file system.

Metadata is stored in the BusinessObjects Enterprise CMS. When indexing, multiple files called “indexes” are created. There are exploration indexes and global search indexes (leveraged by the Search on the Home tab of Explorer).

By default, indexes are located under InstallDir\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI

4.0\Data\Polestar\ on each node except the Explorer Master servers. As an administrator, you

can change the storage location per server. You do this from within the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise CMC, for each of the servers.

Note:

When users export their exploration views of Information Spaces to CSV or Excel files, temporary data is stored on the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise File Repository Service (FRS). This data is not human readable.

5.2 Data protection

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer relies on database, and SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise platform security. Explorer itself does not store data except in the indexes leveraged by Explorer Information Spaces. These indexes are stored in a binary format that is not human readable. However, indexes may contain sensitive data. To ensure that the data is secured, the BusinessObjects Enterprise CMS file system folders, which host the indexes based on BusinessObjects universes and Excel spreadsheets, need to be set to restricted access.

5.3 Cookies

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Data storage security

The client-side cookies used by Explorer do not store business data; the only information maintained by the browser (using cookies) is the session token. Explorer cookies are not persistent. Users of shared computers simply need to make sure they close the browser before leaving the workstation.

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High Availability

6.1 Ensuring system availability

If you have a large or mission-critical implementation of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, you will want to ensure high availability for the following services:

• SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise CMS - deploy more than one BusinessObjects CMS to manage

your BusinessObjects Enterprise services. The two CMS servers work together to maintain consistency of critical data.

• SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Master server - deploy more than one Explorer Master Server to

manage the other Explorer servers. The Master Servers work together to maintain the consistency of critical data.

To do this, you need to install two SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise CMS servers and two SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Master servers, and cluster those servers so that the two CMS servers run together and the two Master servers run together. This "high availability" support helps to ensure that users can still access information when there is an equipment failure.

Related Topics

• Configuring failover between CMS servers

6.2 Configuring failover between CMS servers

To run several SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise CMS machines together, you need to create a cluster. A cluster consists of two or more CMS servers working together against a common CMS system database. If a machine that is running one CMS fails, a machine with another CMS will continue to service SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise requests.

Note:

For full details on how to cluster a CMS with an existing CMS, refer to the section on clustering Central Management Servers in the on the SAP Help portal at http://help.sap.com.

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0 Administrator's Guide

available

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High Availability

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Troubleshooting

7.1 Understanding error messages

Information about each error message generated by an Explorer service or component is provided in the

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Error Message Guid

e available at: http://help.sap.com.

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Troubleshooting

2010-11-0552

More Information

LocationInformation Resource

SAP BusinessObjects product information

SAP Help Portal

SAP Service Marketplace

http://www.sap.com

Navigate to http://help.sap.com/businessobjects and on the "SAP BusinessObjects Overview" side panel click All Products.

You can access the most up-to-date documentation covering all SAP BusinessObjects products and their deployment at the SAP Help Portal. You can download PDF versions or installable HTML libraries.

Certain guides are stored on the SAP Service Marketplace and are not available from the SAP Help Portal. These guides are listed on the Help Portal accompanied by a link to the SAP Service Marketplace. Customers with a maintenance agreement have an authorized user ID to access this site. To obtain an ID, contact your customer support representative.

http://service.sap.com/bosap-support > Documentation

• Installation guides: https://service.sap.com/bosap-instguides

• Release notes: http://service.sap.com/releasenotes

The SAP Service Marketplace stores certain installation guides, upgrade and migration guides, deployment guides, release notes and Supported Platforms documents. Customers with a maintenance agreement have an authorized user ID to access this site. Contact your customer support representative to obtain an ID. If you are redirected to the SAP Service Marketplace from the SAP Help Portal, use the menu in the navigation pane on the left to locate the category containing the documentation you want to access.

Docupedia

Developer resources

https://cw.sdn.sap.com/cw/community/docupedia

Docupedia provides additional documentation resources, a collaborative authoring environment, and an interactive feedback channel.

https://boc.sdn.sap.com/

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/businessobjects-sdklibrary

2010-11-0553

More Information

LocationInformation Resource

SAP BusinessObjects articles on the SAP Community Network

Notes

Forums on the SAP Community Network

Training

Online customer support

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc/businessobjects-articles

These articles were formerly known as technical papers.

https://service.sap.com/notes

These notes were formerly known as Knowledge Base articles.

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/forums

http://www.sap.com/services/education

From traditional classroom learning to targeted e-learning seminars, we can offer a training package to suit your learning needs and preferred learning style.

http://service.sap.com/bosap-support

The SAP Support Portal contains information about Customer Support programs and services. It also has links to a wide range of technical information and downloads. Customers with a maintenance agreement have an authorized user ID to access this site. To obtain an ID, contact your customer support representative.

Consulting

http://www.sap.com/services/bysubject/businessobjectsconsulting

Consultants can accompany you from the initial analysis stage to the delivery of your deployment project. Expertise is available in topics such as relational and multidimensional databases, connectivity, database design tools, and customized embedding technology.

2010-11-0554

Index

application servers 9 Arial Unicode J font 19 auditing 7 authentication

trusted 35

backing up system 22 BIAR archive files 22 bookmark validity period 16 BusinessObjects Enterprise 7 BWA indexes 39

CCM

servers 11

charts

fonts 20

CMC 7

configuring users 26, 27 profile permissions 27 server properties

bookmark validation period

configuration 16, 17

index path configuration 14 CMS 7 command-line options

SSL 46

configuration

bookmark validation 13 bookmark validation period 16 bookmark validity period 16 indexing path 13, 14 SAP authentication 30 server communication 13, 17 server memory 17, 18 session timeout period

watchdog.timeout 15

watchdog timeout

peer session 13

web application settings 11, 30 workload 23 workload update delay

load balancing 13 custom fonts 19

default.settings.properties 11, 30 deployment

complex environment 43 for improved exploration 23 for improved indexing 24

scheduling 39

documentation 5

Excel 8 explorer.service.properties file

index path configuration 14

facets

fonts 21 failover 8 fonts 19

guides 5

Import Wizard 22 indexing Information Spaces 25 Information Space

creation guidelines

security rights 39 testing 40 understanding user needs 40

Information Spaces

indexing 25

JVM heap size 17

Kerberos 34

LDAP 34 LDAP SSO

SiteMinder 34

load balancing 8, 23

master server

security recommendation 8

online help 5 operating systems 9

performance

optimized deployment architecture

polestar.service.properties file

bookmark validation period

configuration 17

request timeout 15 restarting servers 11

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) 46 security 8 security rights

folders on CMS 39

shared computers

security 48 SIA 43 SiteMinder 34 SSL 46

configuring servers 46 sslc.cnf 46 sslc.exe 46 SSO 31

activating 32

LDAP 34

2010-11-0555

Index

SSO

(continued)

WinAD 33, 34

starting servers

Exploration Server 11 Indexing Server 11 Master Server 11 Search Server 11

stopping servers

Exploration Server 11 Indexing Server 11 Master Server 11

Search Server 11 supported platforms 9 system backup 22

timeout

configure for large data sets 15

trusted authentication 35

universes

OLAP universes 8

UNIX

fonts 20

user profiles

Administrator 27 Space creator 27

user profiles

Space explorer 27 user rights 27

Vintela 33

WinAD 33, 34 WinAd SSO

Kerberos 34 Vintela 33

(continued)

2010-11-0556

Business objects ENTERPRISE 11.0 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

Introduction

Technical System Landscape

System Management

• Configuring the index path using the CMC

• Configuring the bookmark validity period via the CMC

• Activating Single Sign On

Network and Communication Security

Data storage security

High Availability

• Configuring failover between CMS servers

Troubleshooting

More Information

Index