On a BusinessObjects XIR2 (SP3) Solaris installation, the following effects may be occurring:

1. The RAS server refuses to startup using ./ccm.sh -start ras or ./startservers commands.
2. Performing a ./ccm.sh -enable ras will complain that the RAS object does not exist, even though it is listed within ccm.config file.
3. When the RAS server instance is deleted from the CMC, restarting all the servers and performing ./ccm.sh -enable all or ./ccm.sh -display, the RAS entry does not show up at all.
4. When the RAS server instance is deleted and added using the ./serverconfig.sh tool, the RAS entry does not show up at all in CMC, ./ccm.sh -enable all or ./ccm.sh -display.
5. When the ./ccm.sh -start ras does performs successfully, related serverpid’s are created, RAS processes are running, but RAS entry does not show up in ./ccm.sh -display or CMC, and the RAS server’s tcp ports are not opened at all.

Note there is no single method to fix this and is case-by-case, and depends on the software/patch level your BO installation is on.  Here are my steps to get the RAS running again:

1. Stop all the servers.
2. Run the ./serverconfig.sh tool and delete the RAS server.
3. Run the ./setup/env.sh script to be safe
4. Run the server_patch_xir2.sh script. This is a patch provided by SAP support and is not available on the BusinessObjects installation. Uploaded here for convenience, but you should get it verified before using it (Disclaimer).
5. Run the ./serverconfig.sh tool and add the RAS server.
6. Optionally, custom edit the ccm.config file for the corresponding RAS entry that was automatically appended by the previous step.
7. Start the CMS: ./ccm.sh -start cms.
8. Run ./ccm.sh -enable all.  Hopefully the RAS entry gets listed and enabled here.
9. Try to start the RAS again: ./ccm.sh -start ras

Related Posts:

1. BusinessObjects – Internal Error when connecting Windows clients
2. BusinessObjects – Delete Universes in CMC

java -jar <BOBJE_HOME>/bobje/java/lib/InstallEntSdkWrapper.jar 'cms_name' 'admininistrator' 'admin_password' 'secEnterprise' <PATH_TO>/MyBiarFile.biar

[InstallEntSdkWrapper.main] Connecting to CMS Development as administrator
[InstallEntSdkWrapper.main] BIAR Imported Successfully

Related Posts:

1. BusinessObjects – Internal Error when connecting Windows clients
2. BusinessObjects – Insert Webi Report Images

Account Information  Not Recognized: The secLdap plugin failed to connect to the specified hosts.

However when logging into CMC via LDAP there were no problems.

The solution is to do with the cacerts file (and .keystore, if using mutual authentication).  Usually this is caused by an expired certificate.   Server authentication (or mutual authentication) does not verify the certificates when LDAP authentication is via CMC.

To fix the problem, obtain the valid certificates then recreate the necessary cacerts and .db files.  Go through the CMC LDAP configuration wizard to validate it, then restart the CMS for settings to take effect.

Related Posts:

1. BusinessObjects – Internal Error when connecting Windows clients
2. BusinessObjects Enterprise – Changing Tomcat Session Timeout
3. SSH Passwordless Authentication

$BOBJE_HOME/tomcat/webapps/businessobjects/WEB-INF/web.xml
$BOBJE_HOME/tomcat/webapps/businessobjects/enterprise115/desktoplaunch/WEB-INF/web.xml
$BOBJE_HOME/tomcat/webapps/businessobjects/enterprise115/adminlaunch/WEB-INF/web.xml
$BOBJE_HOME/tomcat/webapps/businessobjects/enterprise115/adhoc/WEB-INF/web.xml

Find the following setting within the web.xml file to change the timeout value in minutes.

<!-- Define the default session timeout for your application,
      in minutes.  From a servlet or JSP page, you can modify
      the timeout for a particular session dynamically by using
      HttpSession.getMaxInactiveInterval(). -->
<session-config>
      <session-timeout>20</session-timeout> <!-- 20 minutes for session objects -->
</session-config>

Then just restart the Apache Tomcat webserver to take effect.

Related Posts:

1. How to Change Default Homepage in Tomcat
2. BusinessObjects – Insert Webi Report Images
3. BusinessObjects – Internal Error when connecting Windows clients

Creating SYSDATE value objects in a Universe (via Oracle connection) can simply be done as shown above.   I have simply created a single-value dimension object, which can be used anywhere within a query (result/condition/sort).  Having sysdate values allows the flexibility to create dynamic time-based reports.  For example you can schedule a weekly report to extract data from the past 7 days starting from the current time the report was run.

Note, when parsing the object against the database (Oracle), an error will appear. ORA-00903: Invalid table name.

You can just ignore this error and press ok.

Related Posts:

1. Oracle SQL Loader – Importing CSV files to a table
2. BusinessObjects – Delete Universes in CMC
3. BusinessObjects – Internal Error when connecting Windows clients

When deleting Universes in the Administrator Central Management Console (CMC), under a BOXIR2 Unix installation, i got the following error:

Error. Unable to reconnect to the CMS XXX:6400. The session has been logged off or has expired.

The solution is to make sure the timezone environment variable is set under the user’s Unix profile (the user which installed BO).

vi /opt/bo/.profile

Add the following example timezone and source the profile.

TZ=Australia/NSW export TZ
source /opt/bo/.profile

Then restart the BO servers.

Related Posts:

1. BusinessObjects – Internal Error when connecting Windows clients
2. BusinessObjects InfoView LDAP Authentication Error
3. BusinessObjects Universe Designer – Sysdate Value Object

To insert external images on BO Webi reports, create a blank cell from the Templates tab, go to Properties tab, and under ‘Background image’ put the following custom image URL:
boimg://<filename>.jpg
Then on the BO server (Windows), place the image file under

C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 11.5\Images

Or if you’re working under Unix system, its located at

/opt/bo/bobje/enterprise115/Images

Related Posts:

1. BusinessObjects Enterprise – Changing Tomcat Session Timeout
2. BIAR File Command Line Import – Bypassing Import Wizard
3. BusinessObjects – Internal Error when connecting Windows clients

Internal Error [repo_proxy 13] SessionFacade::openSessionLogon with user info has failed(Transport error: Communication failure.)

This error message (generally repo_proxy) is a very generic error message and doesnt tell you much what is going on. Your problem may be different to mine. However this post shows the steps I used to troubleshoot the problem and make my windows client to connect properly.

Since my BO Enterprise server (Unix Solaris) and my Windows client PC is between a firewall, 4 ‘holes’ must be punched out to allow the data communication. These ports are for the CMS server (6400 by default & 6401) and the Input/Output repository servers (6402, 6403).

Step 1

In the ccm.config file, the following entries (in bold) must be added to ‘concrete’ the ports that BO will use for these 3 servers, otherwise it will use random ports and your firewall will just block it. Ports 6401-6403 can be any arbitary port number for which the firewall port is opened. <FQDN> is the fully qualified domain name of the server. For me, I always use the short hostname which also works.

add to cmsLAUNCH line: -port <FQDN> -requestport 6401
add to inputLAUNCH line: -port <FQDN> -requestport 6402
add to outputLAUNCH line: -port <FQDN> -requestport 6403

Step 2

Restart the above 3 servers, and make sure the servers are running by checking the CMC administrator web console. On the windows client PC, open a command prompt to verify no issues with firewalled connectivity.

telnet <FQDN> 6400
telnet <FQDN> 6401
telnet <FQDN> 6402
telnet <FQDN> 6403

Step 3

Modify your windows hosts file <C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts> to include your BO server’s host. For example:

58.163.117.165 boserverhost01 boserverhost01.watashii.com

Step 4

Open your windows client PC’s list of Network Connections via Control Panel. Check how many LAN connections you have. Disable all of them except the one need to connect to BO. Or otherwise change your NIC binding order to the top of the list. Disable Windows firewall if you have to.

Related Posts:

1. BusinessObjects InfoView LDAP Authentication Error
2. BusinessObjects – Delete Universes in CMC
3. BusinessObjects – Insert Webi Report Images