Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher User's Guide Release 10.1.3.2 Part Number B40017-01

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Using the Admin Functions

This chapter covers the following topics:

• Overview
• Setting Up Data Sources
• Setting Up Integration with Oracle BI Presentation Services
• Setting System Maintenance Options
• Setting Up Delivery Options
• Setting Runtime Properties
• Defining Font Mappings
• Managing Reports and Folders

Overview

Use the Admin interface to set up the following:

• Data Sources

• Security Center Options

  Note: For the description of the Security Center options, see Defining a Security Model.

• System Maintenance Options, including Server and Scheduler Configuration

• Delivery Options

• Runtime Configuration

• Integration with BI Presentation Services

Setting Up Data Sources

BI Publisher supports three types of data sources:

• JDBC driver database connections

• JNDI datasource connections

• Files

  The files data source option enables you to define a directory to which BI Publisher can connect. You can then place XML files in this directory to use as data input to your reports.

When you set up data sources, you can also define security for the data source by selecting which BI Publisher roles can access the data source.

This security mechanism is intended for use with the BI Publisher Developer role to restrict developer use of data sources. For example, suppose you have two datasources: a database containing Financials data and a database containing Human Resources data. The Financials developers should only have access to the Financials data. You can create a role called Financials Developer and assign it the BI Publisher Developer role. You can then assign the Financials Developer to the Financials data source. When the user assigned this role logs in to create reports, he can only see the Financials data source.

By default, BI Publisher Administrators can access all data sources.

If you have not set up the user roles yet, you can assign data sources to a role from the Create Role interface. See Understanding Users and Roles for more information.

Adding a JDBC Data Source

1. From the Admin page select JDBC Connection. This will display the list of existing JDBC connections.

2. Select the Add Data Source button.

3. Enter the following fields for the new connection:

   • Data Source Name - enter a display name for the data source.

   • Connection String - enter the database connect string.

     For an Oracle database the connect string will have the following format:

     jdbc:oracle:thin@server:port:sid

     For example: jdbc:oracle:thin@myserver.mycompany.com:1521:prod

     For a Microsoft SQL Server, the connect string will have the following format:

     jdbc:sqlserver://server

     For example:

     jdbc:sqlserver://myserver.mycompany.com

     Note that if your Oracle BI Server is SSL-enabled, you must copy the keystore to the BI Publisher server and provide it in the connection string.

   • User Name - enter the user name required to access the data source on the database.

   • Password - enter the password associated with the user name for access to the data source on the database.

   • Database Driver Class - enter the database driver class for the connection.

     For example: oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver or

     com.microsoft.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver

     Important: The JDBC connection library must be placed under [JRE_TOP]/lib. If you are using OC4J, the Oracle driver library will be present with your OC4J install. For other JDBC database libraries you must place them there manually, and restart the server to make them available.

   • Use Proxy Authentication - select this box to enable Proxy Authentication. This applies to Oracle 10g deployments only. For more information, see Oracle Database Security Guide 10g.

4. If you would like to test the connection, select Test Connection. If the test is successful, the confirmation message, "Connection established successfully" will display. If connection error occurs, the message "Could not establish connection," will display.

5. Define security for this data source. Use the shuttle buttons to move roles from the Available Roles list to the Allowed Roles list. Only users assigned the roles on the Allowed Roles list will be able to create reports from this the data source.

Adding the Oracle BI Server as a JDBC Data Source

Note: If you included BI Publisher Enterprise in your Oracle BI Enterprise Edition installation, this data source will be automatically added. You must configure the settings appropriately for your deployment.

To add the Oracle BI Enterprise Edition server as a JDBC data source, follow the guidelines in Adding a JDBC Data Source.

Note that if your Oracle BI Server is SSL-enabled, you must copy the keystore to the BI Publisher server and provide it in the connection string. If your Oracle BI servers are set up in a clustered configuration, the connection string must use the appropriate syntax described in this section.

The entries for Database Driver Class and Connection String must be as follows:

Database Driver Class: oracle.bi.jdbc.AnaJdbcDriver

Connection String: The appropriate connection string depends on your specific deployment. For example, if your BI Servers are clustered and/or SSL is enabled, you must construct the URL to include the required properties. For more information on SSL and on clustered configurations, see the Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Deployment Guide.

The URL for the connection string requires the following format:

<URL>:= <Prefix>: [//<Host>:<Port>/][<Property Name>=<Property Value>;]* 

where

<Prefix>: is the string jdbc:oraclebi

<Host>: is the hostname of the analytics server. It can be an IP Address or hostname. The default is localhost.

<Port> is he port number that the server is listening on. The default is 9703.

<Property Name>:= <Catalog>|<User>|<Password>|<SSL>|<SSLKeyStoreFileName> |<SSLKeyStorePassword>|<TrustAnyServer>|<TrustStoreFileName >|<TrustStorePassword>|<LogLevel>|<LogFilePath>|<PrimaryCCS>|<PrimaryCCSPort>| <SecondaryCCS>|<SecondaryCCSPort> 

Valid property values are:

<Catalog> - can be any catalog name that is available on the server. If the catalog is not specified, then it will default to the default catalog specified by the server. If the catalog name is not found in the server, it will still use the default catalog and issue a warning during connect.

<User> - specifies the username for the BI Server. The default is "Administrator".

<Password> - specifies the password for the BI Server for the username. The password will be encrypted using 3DES.

<SSL> True|False - default is False. Specifies if the JDBC driver will use SSL or not. If true, the driver will check if SSLKeyStoreFileName is readable; if not, it will issue an error message.

<SSLKeyStoreFileName> - the name of the file that store the SSL Keys. This file must exist in the local file system and be readable by the driver.

<SSLKeyStorePassword> - the password to open the file pointed to by SSLKeyStoreFileName.

<TrustAnyServer> - True | False - the default is False. If SSL is set to "True" the property specifies whether to check the trust store for the server. If TrustAnyServer is set to "False", the driver will verify that TrustStoreFileName is readable.

<TrustStoreFileName> - if TrustAnyServer is set to false, this property is required to specify the trust store file name.

<TrustStorePassword> - if TrustAnyServer and TrustStoreFileName are specified, this property specifies the password to open up the file specified by TrustStoreFileName.

<LogLevel> - specify the log level. Valid values are

SEVERE | WARNING | INFO | CONFIG | FINE | FINER | FINEST

<LogFilePath> - specifies the file path of the desired logging destination. Default is %TEMP% on windows, $TMP on UNIX. Driver needs to have write permission on the file. It will create a new entry marked as _0, _1 if the same file name already exists.

<PrimaryCCS> -(For clustered configurations) specifies the primary CCS machine name instead of using the “host” to connect. If this property is specified, the “host” property value is ignored. The jdbc driver will try to connect to the CCS to obtain the load-balanced machine. Default is localhost.

<PrimaryCCSPort> - specifies the primary CCS port number running on the PrimaryCCS machine. Default is 9706.

<SecondaryCCS> - specifies the secondary CCS machine name instead of using the “host” to connect. If this property is specified, then the jdbc driver will try to connect to the CCS to obtain the load-balanced machine. Default is localhost.

<SecondaryCCSPort> - specifies the secondary CCS port number running on the secondary machine. Default is 9706.

Following is an example connection string for a clustered deployment with SSL enabled:

jdbc:oraclebi://machine01.domain:9706/PrimaryCCS=machine01;PrimaryCCSPort=9706;SecondaryCCS=machine02;SecondaryCCSPort=9706;user=admin;password=welcome;ssl=true;sslKeystorefilename=c:\mycompany\OracleBI\sslc\javahost.keystore;sslKeystorepassword=welcome;trustanyserver=true;

Adding a JNDI Data Source

1. From the Admin page select JNDI Connection. This will display the list of existing JNDI connections.

2. Select the Add Data Source button.

3. Enter the following fields for the new connection:

   • Data Source Name - enter a display name for the data source.

   • JNDI Name - enter the JNDI name of the data source.

   • Use Proxy Authentication - select this box to enable Proxy Authentication. This applies to Oracle 10g deployments only. For more information, see Oracle Database Security Guide 10g.

4. If you would like to test the connection, select Test Connection. If the test is successful, the confirmation message, "Connection established successfully" will display. If connection error occurs, the message "Could not establish connection," will display.

5. Define security for this data source. Use the shuttle buttons to move roles from the Available Roles list to the Allowed Roles list. Only users assigned the roles on the Allowed Roles list will be able to create reports from this the data source.

Adding a File Data Source

1. From the Admin page select File. This will display the list of existing file sources.

2. Select the Add Data Source button.

3. Enter the following fields for the new data source:

   • Data Source Name - enter a display name for the data source.

   • Path - enter the full path to the top-level directory on your server.

4. Define security for this data source. Use the shuttle buttons to move roles from the Available Roles list to the Allowed Roles list. Only users assigned the roles on the Allowed Roles list will be able to create reports from this the data source.

Viewing or Updating a Data Source

1. From the Admin page select the Data Source type to update.

2. Select the name of the connection to view or update. All fields are updateable.

3. Select Apply to apply any changes or Cancel to exit the update page.

Setting Up Integration with Oracle BI Presentation Services

By setting up integration with Oracle BI Presentation Services you enable connection to Oracle BI Answers requests as data sources for your reports.

The Oracle BI installer when installing BI Publisher, performs integration with Presentation Services if Presentation Services is also installed with BI Publisher. This means that the Oracle BI installer sets the Presentation Services hostname, port, url values in BI Publisher configuration file xmlp-server-config.xml. But the user still needs to set the Presentation Services username and password in BI Publisher configuration since those are not known at install time.

Note: If you included BI Publisher Enterprise in your Oracle BI Enterprise Edition installation, the Oracle BI installer will set the Presentation Services hostname, port, and url values. However, you must manually enter the Presentation Services username and password here.

1. From the Admin page, under Integration, select Oracle BI Presentation Services.

2. Enter the following information about your BI Presentation Services server:

   • Server Protocol - select http or https

   • Server Version - select v4

   • Server - enter the server host name. For example: server01.mycompany.com

   • Port for the server

   • Administrator Username and Password

   • URL Suffix - default value is: analytics/saw.dll

     Note: If your deployment is configured for SSO, ensure that this suffix matches the non-SSO application you set up to allow the Web service between the BI Publisher and BI Presentation Services servers. For example: analyticsSOAP/saw.dll. For more information, see Setting Up Oracle Single Sign-On.

   • Session time out in minutes

Setting System Maintenance Options

Under System Maintenance, you can perform the following administration tasks:

• Set Server Configuration Options

• Set Scheduler Configuration Options

• Refresh Metadata

Setting Server Configuration Options

Use the Server Configuration tab to define

• Your report repository

• General properties for the server

• Caching specifications

Defining Your Report Repository

The report repository can be set up in either the file system or the database.

Defining a File System-Based Repository

1. Under Report Repository, select File System as the Repository Type.

2. Enter the absolute Path.

   For example: /home/bipublisher/repository

Defining a Database-Based Repository

Important: If you stop and start or restart the database that contains your BI Publisher repository, you must restart you BI Publisher Enterprise server.

1. Under Report Repository, select XML DB as the Repository Type.

2. Enter the absolute Path. For example: /public/Reports

3. Select the Connection Type: JDBC or JNDI.

   Important: Connection type JDBC is not recommended for the repository.

   • If you select JNDI, enter the JNDI connection pool Name

   • If you select JDBC (not recommended), enter the following:

     • URL

       Example: jdbc:oracle:thin:@rpts.mycompany.com:1525:ora10g

     • Username

     • Password

     • Database Driver Class

       Example: oracle.jdbc.driver.oracleDriver

Defining General Properties

• Debug Level - Controls the amount of debug information generated by the system. It set to Exception (the default setting), only error information is generated. If set to Debug, all system output is generated.

• Report Viewer Height - sets the size of the report viewing frame in your browser. Enter a value in pixels. The default is 600.

• Report Scalable Threshold - sets the threshold at which data is cached on the disk. When the data volume is very large, caching the data will save memory, but will result in slower processing. Enter a value in kilobytes. The default is 10000000 (10 megabytes).

• Output Formats - select the formats that you want displayed to the user by default for every RTF template-based report. This server-level setting is overridden by the Output Format types selected in the report definition. See Adding Layouts to the Report Definition.

Setting Cache Specifications

Set the following properties to configure the BI Publisher cache:

• Cache Expiration - Enter the expiration period for the dataset cache in minutes. The default is 30.

  For datasets returned by a SQL query, HTTP, or Oracle BI Answers, you have the option of caching the dataset returned by the query. The returned dataset will remain in cache for the period specified by this property. For more information about setting this property, see Defining the Data Model.

• Cache Size Limit - Enter the maximum number of datasets to maintain in the cache. The default is 1000.

• Maximum Cached Reports - Enter the maximum number of reports to maintain in the cache. The default is 50.

Setting Scheduler Configuration Options

Important: If you stop and start or restart the database that contains your BI Publisher Scheduler tables, you must restart you BI Publisher Enterprise server.

Select the Scheduler Configuration tab and enter the details for your scheduler database:

• Select the Database Type to be used for the BI Publisher scheduler from the list of supported databases.

• Enter the database Connection String. For example: jdbc:oracle:thin:@mydatabase:1525:ora10g

• Enter the Username and Password for the database.

• Enter the Database Driver Class. For example: oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver

Select Test Connection to ensure that BI Publisher can successfully connect to your scheduler database.

Select Install Schema to install the BI Publisher scheduler schema to your database.

Important: You must restart the application for changes in the Scheduler settings to take effect.

Scheduler Properties

If you have enabled clustering for your BI Publisher application, you must select Enable Clustering for the scheduler.

Refresh Metadata

If you copy reports as files or folders directly to the file system or XML database repository, you must refresh the metadata to make these reports available via the user interface.

Setting Up Delivery Options

Set Delivery Configuration Options

1. From the Admin page select Delivery Configuration.

2. Enter the following properties:

   • SSL Certificate File - if SSL is enabled for your installation, you can leave this field empty to use the default certificates built-in with BI Publisher. SSL will work with the default certificate if the server uses the certificate signed by a trusted certificate authority such as Verisign. This field is mandatory only if the user uses the SSL with a self-signed certificate. The self-signed certificate means the certificate is signed by a non-trusted certificate authority (usually the user).

   • Email From Address - enter the From address that you want to appear on email report deliveries from the BI Publisher server. The default value is bipublisher-report@oracle.com.

   • Delivery Notification Email From Address - enter the From address that you want to appear on notifications delivered from the BI Publisher server. The default value is bipublisher-notification@oracle.com.

   • Notification Subject - enter the subject line you want to appear on the email for each of the following delivery types: Success, Warning, and Failure.

Set Up Print or Fax Server

Printing is only supported through Internet Printing Protocol (IPP). You must set up CUPS or Windows Print Server for IPP. See Print Server Setup.

1. From the Admin page select Printer or Fax. Select Add Server.

2. Enter the required fields Server Name and URI for the new server.

   Important: You must enter a unique name for each server regardless of the type (printer, fax, email, WebDAV, or FTP).

3. Optionally enter a Filter.

   A filter enables you to call a conversion utility to convert PDF to Postscript or PDF to TIFF (for fax) for Windows-based print servers. To specify the filter, pass the native OS command string with the 2 placeholders for the input and output filename, {infile} and {outfile}.

   This is useful especially if you are trying to call IPP printers directly or IPP printers on Microsoft Internet Information Service (IIS). Unlike CUPS, those print servers do not translate the print file to a format the printer can understand, therefore only limited document formats are supported. With the filter functionality, you can call any of the native OS commands to transform the document to the format that the target printer can understand.

   For example, to transform a PDF document to a Postscript format, enter the following PDF to PS command in the Filter field:

   pdftops {infile} {outfile}

   To call an HP LaserJet printer setup on a Microsoft IIS from Linux, you can set Ghostscript as a filter to transform the PDF document into the format that the HP LaserJet can understand. To do this, enter the following Ghostscript command in the Filter field:

   gs -q -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=laserjet -sOutputFile={outfile} {infile} 

   For fax servers, you can use the filter to transform the file to Tag Image File Format (TIFF).

4. Optionally enter the following fields if appropriate:

   • Security fields: Username and Password, Authentication Type (None, Basic, Digest) and Encryption Type (None, SSL).

   • Proxy Server fields: Host, Port, User Name, Password, Authentication Type (None, Basic, Digest)

Set Up WebDAV Server

1. From the Admin page select WebDAV. This will show the list of servers already added. Select Add Server.

2. Enter the Name and Host for the new server.

   Important: You must enter a unique name for each server regardless of the type (printer, fax, email, WebDAV, or FTP).

3. Optionally enter the following fields if appropriate:

   • General fields: Port

   • Security fields: Authentication Type (None, Basic, Digest) and Encryption Type (None, SSL).

   • Proxy Server fields: Host, Port, User Name, Password, Authentication Type (None, Basic, Digest)

Set Up Email or FTP Server

1. From the Admin page select Email or FTP. This will show the list of servers already added. Select Add Server.

2. Enter the Name and Host for the Email or FTP server.

   Important: You must enter a unique name for each server regardless of the type (printer, fax, email, WebDAV, or FTP).

3. Optionally enter the following fields if appropriate:

   • General fields: Port

   • Security fields: Username and Password.

Set Up Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) Server

1. From the Admin page select CUPS. This will show the list of servers already added. Select Add Server.

2. Enter the Server Name and Host and Port for the CUPS server.

   For more information see Setting Up Cups.

Setting Runtime Properties

The Runtime Configuration page enables you to set runtime properties at the server level. You can also set properties at the report level. If conflicting values are set for a property at each level, the report level will take precedence.

To set a property at the report level, select the report, and then select the Configure link. This will launch the Runtime Configuration page, displaying a column to enable update to the properties for the report and a column that displays the read-only values set for the server.

Note: In versions prior to 10.1.3.2 the Runtime Configuration properties administered through this page were set in a configuration file. This file is still used as a fallback if values are not set through this interface. However, please note that the file is not updated when you update the Runtime Configuration Properties page. For details about the file, see Configuration File Reference.

PDF Output Properties

The following properties are available for PDF output:

PDF Security

Use the following properties to control the security settings for your output PDF documents:

RTF Output

The following properties can be set to govern RTF output files:

HTML Output

The following properties can be set to govern HTML output files:

FO Processing Properties

The following properties can be set to govern FO processing:

RTF Template Properties

The following properties can be set to govern RTF templates:

PDF Form Template Properties

The following properties can be set to govern PDF templates:

Defining Font Mappings

BI Publisher's Font Mapping feature enables you to map base fonts in RTF or PDF templates to target fonts to be used in the published document. Font Mappings can be specified at the site or report level. Font mapping is performed only for PDF output.

There are two types of font mappings:

• RTF Templates - for mapping fonts from RTF templates and XSL-FO templates to PDF output fonts

• PDF Templates - for mapping fonts from PDF templates to different PDF output fonts.

Making Fonts Available to BI Publisher

BI Publisher provides a set of Type1 fonts and a set of TrueType fonts. You can select any of the fonts in these sets as a target font with no additional setup required. For a list of the predefined fonts see BI Publisher's Predefined Fonts.

The predefined fonts are located in $JAVA_HOME/jre/lib/fonts. If you wish to map to another font, you must place the font in this directory to make it available to BI Publisher at runtime. If your environment is clustered, you must place the font on every server.

Setting Font Mapping at the Site Level or Report Level

A font mapping can be defined at the site level or the report level:

• To set a mapping at the site level, select the Font Mappings link from the Admin page.

• To set a mapping at the report level, select the Configuration link for the report, then select the Font Mappings tab. These settings will apply to the selected report only.

The report-level settings will take precedence over the site-level settings.

Creating a Font Mapping

From the Admin page, under Runtime Configuration, select Font Mappings.

To create a Font Mapping

• Under RTF Templates or PDF Templates, select Add Font Mapping.

• Enter the following on the Add Font Mapping page:

  • Base Font - enter the font family that will be mapped to a new font. Example: Arial

  • Select the Style: Normal or Italic (Not applicable to PDF Template font mappings)

  • Select the Weight: Normal or Bold (Not applicable to PDF Template font mappings)

  • Select the Target Font Type: Type 1 or TrueType

  • Enter the Target Font

    If you selected TrueType, you can enter a specific numbered font in the collection. Enter the TrueType Collection (TTC) Number of the desired font.

    For a list of the predefined fonts see BI Publisher's Predefined Fonts

BI Publisher's Predefined Fonts

BI Publisher provides a set of Type1 fonts and a set of TrueType fonts. You can select any of these fonts as a target font with no additional setup required.

The Type1 fonts are listed in the following table:

The TrueType fonts are listed in the following table. All TrueType fonts will be subsetted and embedded into PDF.

Managing Reports and Folders

Administration View

If you are assigned the BI Publisher Administrator role your Reports home will display an additional Users folder. This folder will contain all the "My Folders" folders of all the users in your system. Each user "My Folders" folder is named according to the User name. The Administrator can see and update all the user folders.

Folder and Report Tasks

The Folder and Report Tasks menu is available to users assigned the BI Publisher Administrator role or the BI Publisher Developer Role.

Report Tasks

Select the Report Actions icon to expand the menu of available report tasks. Report Tasks include:

• Rename this report

• Copy this report

• Delete this report

• Download this report

Note: The Report Actions menu can be viewed only by the BI Publisher Administrator role and the BI Publisher Developer role.

Rename a Report

1. Navigate to the report folder.

2. Select the Report Actions icon.

3. Select Rename this report from the Folder and Report Tasks region.

4. Enter the new name in the text box.

Upload a Report

You can upload a report definition directory as a zip file. The directory must include the report definition file (.xdo file). The zip file must have the same name as the .xdo file contained in the directory. You may also include template files (rtf, pdf, excel, and xsl-fo files), translation files (.xlf), PDF mapping files (.map files), and sample XML data files (.xml).

1. Navigate to the report folder.

2. Select the Report Actions icon.

3. Select Upload a Report from the Folder and Report Tasks region.

4. Browse to locate the report, then select Upload.

Copy a Report

1. Navigate to the report folder.

2. Select the Report Actions icon.

3. Select Copy this report from the Folder and Report Tasks region to copy the report to the clipboard.

4. Navigate to the location you want to copy the report to and select Paste from clipboard.

Download a Report

1. Navigate to the report folder.

2. Select the Report Actions icon.

3. Select Download this report from the Folder and Report Tasks region. You will be prompted to save the report definition zip file.

The report definition directory is downloaded to the specified location as a zip file. The report definition directory contains all the files associated with the report, this may include:

• The report definition file (.xdo file)

• All template files (rtf, pdf, and xls files)

• PDF mapping files (.map file)

• Sample data files (xml file)

• Translation files (.xlf files)

Delete a Report

Note: You must be assigned the BI Publisher Developer role or BI Publisher Administration Role to delete reports.

1. Navigate to the report folder.

2. Select the Report Actions icon.

3. Select Delete this report from the Folder and Report Tasks region.

Folder Tasks

Select the Folder Actions icon to expand the menu of available folder tasks. Folder Tasks include:

• Create a new folder

• Rename this folder

• Copy this folder

• Delete this folder

Note: The Report Actions menu can be viewed only by the BI Publisher Administrator role and the BI Publisher Developer role.

Create a New Folder

You can create folders in My Folder, or navigate to the Shared folder in which you want the new folder to reside.

1. From the Folder and Report Tasks menu, select Create a new folder

2. Enter the Folder Name in the text box that launches, and select Create.

Rename a Folder

1. Select the Folder icon to view all Folder Actions in the Folder and Report Tasks menu.

2. Select Rename this folder.

3. Enter the new report name in the text box that launches, and select Rename.

Delete a Folder

1. Select the Folder icon to view all Folder Actions in the Folder and Report Tasks menu.

2. Select Delete this folder.

3. Confirm the deletion at the prompt.

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