Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Broadcast Agent version 6.5 Windows and UNIX

2 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Copyright Trademarks Use restrictions Patents Copyright 2004 Business Objects. All rights reserved. If you find any problems with this documentation, please report them to Business Objects in writing at documentation@businessobjects.com. Business Objects, the Business Objects logo, Crystal Reports, and Crystal Enterprise are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects SA or its affiliated companies in the United States and other countries. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Contains IBM Runtime Environment for AIX(R), Java(TM) 2 Technology Edition Runtime Modules (c) Copyright IBM Corporation 1999, 2000. All Rights Reserved. This product includes code licensed from RSA Security, Inc. Some portions licensed from IBM are available at http://oss.software.ibm.com/icu4j. Contains ICU libraries (c) 1995-2003 International Business Machines Corporation and others. All rights reserved. This software and documentation is commercial computer software under Federal Acquisition regulations, and is provided only under the Restricted Rights of the Federal Acquisition Regulations applicable to commercial computer software provided at private expense. The use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions set forth in subdivision (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at 252.227-7013. Business Objects owns the following U.S. patents, which may cover products that are offered and sold by Business Objects: 5,555,403, 6,247,008 B1, 6,578,027 B2, 6,490,593 and 6,289,352. Part Number 312-50-650-01

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 3 Contents Contents 3 Preface Maximizing Your Information Resources 7 Information resources.......................................... 9 Services.................................................... 11 Useful addresses at a glance.................................... 12 About this guide.............................................. 14 Chapter 1 Introduction to Broadcast Agent 15 Structure of this guide......................................... 17 What you can do with Broadcast Agent............................ 18 Access and security........................................... 20 Chapter 2 How Broadcast Agent Works 21 Broadcast Agent server components.............................. 23 Workflow summary............................................ 26 Monitoring and controlling Tasks................................. 28 Broadcast Agent as a distributed solution.......................... 30 Chapter 3 Deploying Broadcast Agent 33 Sizing guidelines............................................. 35 Matching components with machines............................. 37 UNIX or Windows?............................................ 39 Optimizing performance........................................ 40 Server filenames, pathnames, and permissions..................... 43 Configuring database connections................................ 48 LDAP...................................................... 52 Contents

4 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Chapter 4 Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent 53 Installing Broadcast Agent...................................... 55 Creating a Broadcast Agent.................................... 57 Broadcast Agent Schedulers.................................... 61 Fine-tuning Broadcast Agent................................... 71 Report bursting.............................................. 81 International time zones....................................... 85 Custom macros and add-ins.................................... 86 Universes containing @script functions........................... 88 Upgrading from version 5.x..................................... 89 Chapter 5 The Broadcast Agent Console 93 Installing and launching the Console.............................. 96 Modifying the display.......................................... 98 Security features............................................ 101 Basic task management...................................... 103 Modifying task properties..................................... 108 Task scheduling............................................ 114 Chapter 6 Troubleshooting 121 Resolving database connection failure........................... 123 File Watcher cannot find files.................................. 125 Report bursting............................................. 126 InfoView doesn t display all documents........................... 127 Low printing performance..................................... 128 Problems with time zones..................................... 129 Add-ins causing errors....................................... 130 Documents with a Cartesian product............................ 131 Data disappears from user objects.............................. 132 Chapter 7 Solving Business Problems with Broadcast Agent 133 Typical Business Objects deployment............................ 135 Report bursting: a business scenario............................ 137 Custom macros for custom solutions............................ 138 Contents

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 5 Index 143 Contents

6 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Contents

Maximizing Your Information Resources preface

8 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Overview Information, services, and solutions The Business Objects business intelligence solution is supported by thousands of pages of documentation, available from the products, on the Internet, on CD, and by extensive online help systems and multimedia. Packed with in-depth technical information, business examples, and advice on troubleshooting and best practices, this comprehensive documentation set provides concrete solutions to your business problems. Business Objects also offers a complete range of support and services to help maximize the return on your business intelligence investment. See in the following sections how Business Objects can help you plan for and successfully meet your specific technical support, education, and consulting requirements.

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 9 Information resources Whatever your Business Objects profile, we can help you quickly access the documentation and other information you need. Where do I start? Below are a few suggested starting points; there is a summary of useful web addresses on page 12. Documentation Roadmap The Documentation Roadmap references all Business Objects guides and multimedia, and lets you see at a glance what information is available, from where, and in what format. View or download the Business Objects Documentation Roadmap at www.businessobjects.com/services/documentation.htm Documentation from the products You can access electronic documentation at any time from the product you are using. Online help, multimedia, and guides in Adobe PDF format are available from the product Help menus. Documentation on the web The full electronic documentation set is available to customers with a valid maintenance agreement on the Online Customer Support (OCS) website at www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htm Buy printed documentation You can order printed documentation through your local sales office, or from the online Business Objects Documentation Supply Store at www.businessobjects.com/services/documentation.htm Search the Documentation CD Search across the entire documentation set on the Business Objects Documentation CD shipped with our products. This CD brings together the full set of documentation, plus tips, tricks, multimedia tutorials, and demo materials. Order the Documentation CD online, from the Business Objects Documentation Supply Store, or from your local sales office. Information resources

10 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Multimedia Are you new to Business Objects? Are you upgrading from a previous release or expanding, for example, from our desktop to our web solution? Try one of our multimedia quick tours or Getting Started tutorials. All are available via the Online Customer Support (OCS) website or on the Documentation CD. How can I get the most recent documentation? You can get our most up-to-date documentation via the web. Regularly check the sites listed below for the latest documentation, samples, and tips. Tips & Tricks Open to everyone, this is a regularly updated source of creative solutions to any number of business questions. You can even contribute by sending us your own tips. www.businessobjects.com/forms/tipsandtricks_login.asp Product documentation We regularly update and expand our documentation and multimedia offerings. With a valid maintenance agreement, you can get the latest documentation in seven languages on the Online Customer Support (OCS) website. Developer Suite Online Developer Suite Online provides documentation, samples, and tips to those customers with a valid maintenance agreement and a Developer Suite license via the Online Customer Support (OCS) website. Send us your feedback Do you have a suggestion on how we can improve our documentation? Is there something you particularly like or have found useful? Drop us a line, and we will do our best to ensure that your suggestion is included in the next release of our documentation: documentation@businessobjects.com NOTE If your issue concerns a Business Objects product and not the documentation, please contact our Customer Support experts. For information about Customer Support visit: www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htm

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 11 Services A global network of Business Objects technology experts provides customer support, education, and consulting to ensure maximum business intelligence benefit to your business. How we can support you? Business Objects offers customer support plans to best suit the size and requirements of your deployment. We operate three global customer support centers: Americas: San Jose, California and Atlanta, Georgia Europe: Maidenhead, United Kingdom Asia: Tokyo, Japan and Sydney, Australia Online Customer Support Our Customer Support website is open to all direct customers with a current maintenance agreement, and provides the most up-to-date Business Objects product and technical information. You can log, update, and track cases from this site using the Business Objects Knowledge Base. Having an issue with the product? Have you exhausted the troubleshooting resources at your disposal and still not found a solution to a specific issue? For support in deploying Business Objects products, contact Worldwide Customer Support at: www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htm Looking for the best deployment solution for your company? Business Objects consultants can accompany you from the initial analysis stage to the delivery of your deployment project. Expertise is available in relational and multidimensional databases, in connectivities, database design tools, customized embedding technology, and more. For more information, contact your local sales office, or contact us at: www. businessobjects.com/services/consulting.htm Looking for training options? From traditional classroom learning to targeted e-learning seminars, we can offer a training package to suit your learning needs and preferred learning style. Find more information on the Business Objects Education website: www.businessobjects.com/services/education.htm Services

12 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Useful addresses at a glance Address Business Objects Documentation www.businessobjects.com/services/ documentation.htm Business Objects Documentation mailbox Content Overview of Business Objects documentation. Links to Online Customer Support, Documentation Supply Store, Documentation Roadmap, Tips & Tricks, Documentation mailbox. Feedback or questions about documentation. documentation@businessobjects. com Product documentation www.businessobjects.com/ services/support.htm Business Objects product information The latest Business Objects product documentation, to download or view online. Information about the full range of Business Objects products. www.businessobjects.com Developer Suite Online www.techsupport.businessobjects. com Knowledge Base (KB) www.techsupport.businessobjects. com Available to customers with a valid maintenance agreement and a Developer Suite license via the Online Customer Support (OCS) website. Provides all the documentation, latest samples, kits and tips. Technical articles, documents, case resolutions. Also, use the Knowledge Exchange to learn what challenges other users both customers and employees face and what strategies they find to address complex issues. From the Knowledge Base, click the Knowledge Exchange link.

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 13 Address Tips & Tricks Content Practical business-focused examples. www.businessobjects.com/forms/ tipsandtricks_login.asp Online Customer Support www.techsupport.businessobjects. com Starting point for answering questions, resolving issues. www.businessobjects.com/ services Business Objects Education Services Information about registering with Worldwide Customer Support. The range of Business Objects training options and modules. www.businessobjects.com/ services/education.htm Business Objects Consulting Services www.businessobjects.com/ services/consulting.htm Information on how Business Objects can help maximize your business intelligence investment. Useful addresses at a glance

14 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide About this guide This guide describes the architecture of Broadcast Agent Scheduler and explains the main administrative tasks required to set up and maintain a Broadcast Agent Scheduler system. Audience This guide is intended for systems administrators who already have a working knowledge of the following: The operating system(s) on which the system is running (Microsoft Windows or UNIX). The Business Objects product suite. Conventions used in this guide The conventions used in this guide are described in the table below. Convention Small capitals This font Some code more code $DIRECTORYPATHNAME Indicates The names of all products such as BusinessObjects, WebIntelligence, Supervisor, and Designer. Code, SQL syntax, computer programs. For example: @Select(Country\Country Id). This font is also used for all paths, directories, scripts, commands and files for UNIX. Placed at the end of a line of code, the symbol ( ) indicates that the next line should be entered continuously with no carriage return. The path to a directory in the Business Objects installation/configuration directory structure. For example: $INSTALLDIR refers to the Business Objects installation directory. $LOCDATADIR refers to a subdirectory of the BusinessObjects installation directory called locdata.

Introduction to Broadcast Agent chapter

16 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Overview Broadcast Agent enables WebIntelligence and BusinessObjects users to process and distribute documents, automatically and securely, at scheduled dates and times. For example, you can schedule a document to be refreshed from a corporate database on the first Monday of every month, and have the new information distributed automatically to user groups. Documents can be distributed via a secured Business Objects repository, a local file system, an intranet, or an extranet. Broadcast Agent effectively shields users from the complexity of the underlying system. Users schedule tasks by means of a simple graphical user interface. For systems administrators, the Business Objects Administration Console provides easy configuration and optimization of modules on all servers. Broadcast Agent is a server product, installed as a distributed solution across one or more servers on a CORBA network. This architecture enables Broadcast Agent to offer robust performance, scalability, load balancing, and failover. To use Broadcast Agent you must be familiar with Supervisor. Introduction to Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 17 Structure of this guide This guide is divided into the following chapters: Introduction to Broadcast Agent (this chapter) Provides an overview of the product and what you can do with it. How Broadcast Agent Works Introduces the components and tools that make up the complete Broadcast Agent system, and explains how these work together in a clustered deployment. Deploying Broadcast Agent Discusses issues related to deployment and sizing. Includes a number of tasks you need to perform before beginning the installation of Broadcast Agent. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent Reviews the tasks necessary to install and configure the product. Using the Broadcast Agent Console After Broadcast Agent is installed on your servers, and documents are scheduled, you can monitor and control Broadcast Agent activity with the Broadcast Agent Console. The Console displays information about all scheduled tasks, and can also be used to change task information. Troubleshooting Provides solutions to a number of possible issues, such as how to fix a failed connection to the repository. Problem-solving with Broadcast Agent Examines some advanced ways to use Broadcast Agent, focusing on how the product can dramatically improve the performance of an enterprise business intelligence solution. Structure of this guide

18 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide What you can do with Broadcast Agent You can use Broadcast Agent to schedule documents for processing and distribution at off-peak times. This cuts down on network traffic at peak times, and enables documents to be automatically printed or refreshed via the Internet at night or over the weekend. You can also set conditions, so that Broadcast Agent processes and distributes documents only when specified conditions occur. For example: increased revenue in a given region daily sales figures for a given product pass a certain value Automated document scheduling and distribution Broadcast Agent provides scheduled or batch processing of BusinessObjects and WebIntelligence documents. You send a document to Broadcast Agent using BusinessObjects or InfoView, specifying scheduling and distribution information. No understanding of the server configuration is required. You can publish documents on the repository, on a web server, or on the server file system. Users with access to the repository can view corporate documents that Broadcast Agent has processed. Adding VBA routines Broadcast Agent can automate BusinessObjects documents containing routines written in Microsoft VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) development language. By adding VBA routines to your BusinessObjects documents, you can customize the system to automate almost any task. For example, a scheduled report could: trigger a speech synthesizer call to a mobile telephone if a certain condition is met generate email messages or pager signals to alert individuals to a given situation Report bursting Power users with access rights to all documents and database connections might not want all the people who receive a document to see the same information. Report bursting answers this need by letting you automatically generate different versions of a document. Each version is sent to individuals with a given user profile. (See Report bursting on page 81.) Introduction to Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 19 BusinessObjects Supervisors set up these user profiles. Profiles define access rights, such as the data each user can view, which database connections are available, which universes, and so on. What you can do with Broadcast Agent

20 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Access and security You can deploy Broadcast Agent for any group of BusinessObjects or WebIntelligence users. Users can schedule operations on both WebIntelligence and BusinessObjects documents if they have the required access rights. The administrator that is, a supervisor-level user grants these access rights in Supervisor. The supervisor also defines Broadcast Agent properties, such as: the Broadcast Agent name the document domain in which documents are stored a password for the Broadcast Agent Console Broadcast Agent benefits from the access and security provided by the Business Objects repository: Pass-through database security Broadcast Agent can be configured to connect to the database using the user name and password of the user who scheduled the document. This allows the use of only one password, which simplifies administrative work. Multiple repositories Broadcast Agent asks for the security domain when a document is scheduled, then passes this information to the appropriate server at run time. Introduction to Broadcast Agent

How Broadcast Agent Works chapter

22 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Overview This chapter presents the components and tools that make up the complete Broadcast Agent system, and explains how these work together in a clustered deployment to provide a distributed solution. You can deploy Broadcast Agent on a UNIX cluster, a Windows cluster or a mixed (heterogeneous) cluster. A number of limitations and performance considerations are reviewed. In the next chapter, the issues involved in deploying Broadcast Agent are discussed, along with some server sizing guidelines and recommendations for configuring database connections. How Broadcast Agent Works

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 23 Broadcast Agent server components The Broadcast Agent system contains a number of interdependent server components. You configure and monitor these components in the Administration Console. The server components are summarized in the table below. Component Function Scheduler Initiates the processes required to perform scheduled tasks. Broadcast Starts and controls multiple Schedulers. Agent Manager BusObj Refreshes BusinessObjects (full-client) documents. BOManager Starts and controls multiple BusObj processes. Batch processing can be enabled or deactivated on each node, to allow or prevent Broadcast Agent tasks being scheduled on that node. WIQT WebIntelligence Query Technique. Refreshes WebIntelligence 2.x documents in interactive mode (documents on which a user is currently working) as well as in batch mode (scheduled tasks). WICDZServer The WebIntelligence 6.x server. This multi-threaded component processes requests for WebIntelligence 6.x documents. Schedulers There must be at least one Scheduler for each named Broadcast Agent. Each Scheduler periodically queries the repository to determine which documents are due for processing. In the Administration Console, you determine how frequently the Scheduler queries the repository by setting the Scanning Repository Delay parameter. By default, the scan occurs every ten minutes. When a scheduled task is due, the Scheduler sends the task to a BOManager process, for BusinessObjects documents, or a wiqt_batch process, for WebIntelligence documents. There may be several of these processes running on machines in your cluster, in which case a load-balancing algorithm is used to send the task to the least busy machine. If a task fails, the Scheduler automatically retries it after a certain delay. This delay is set using the Delay between retry parameter. Broadcast Agent server components

24 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide What happens if a Scheduler shuts down or fails? You can provide Scheduler failover functionality by deploying two or more Schedulers on separate servers. If one machine fails, the other Scheduler automatically takes over the failed Scheduler s jobs. The multiple schedules can be in the same cluster or on separate ones. As long as they reference the same repository they can pick up the same jobs. To provide further failover, you can run two separate clusters on the same repository, both with Schedulers for your mission-critical Broadcast Agent tasks. With this configuration, even if an entire cluster fails, the tasks are processed correctly. BOManager BOManager receives instructions from the Scheduler to process full-client documents that are due. BOManager launches one BusinessObjects session, or re-uses an existing loaded process, per document. BusinessObjects then extracts the documents from the repository s document domain, and processes them according to actions set by the user at submission time. Normally, the document is refreshed, and then published as a corporate document, via either the file system, through a web server, or sent to one or more users via the repository. EXAMPLE Scheduling a document for automatic refresh A user requests that Broadcast Agent refresh a document named Sales.rep at 8:00 pm on Friday: The first time the Scheduler queries the repository after 8:00 pm, it retrieves the information that Sales.rep is due for processing, and passes this on to the BOManager. BOManager launches a BusinessObjects process. BusinessObjects extracts Sales.rep from the repository. BusinessObjects on the server runs the Refresh command, saves the updated document, and then returns it to the repository. How Broadcast Agent Works

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 25 BusinessObjects on UNIX and Windows On UNIX nodes, the executables started by the BOManager to process BusinessObjects documents are called bolight whereas on Windows nodes the executables are called busobj.exe. The functionality of these two components is the same except for certain Windows-specific features, such as VBA macros or certain database connectivities. WIQT The Scheduler scans the repository for scheduling jobs that are due. When a WebIntelligence 2.x document is due, the Scheduler requests a wiqt process to refresh the document. In turn, wiqt calls a wiqt_batch process, which fetches the document, and then processes the task according to the actions set by the user. For example, the document could be refreshed and then published as a corporate document, or sent to a list of users via the repository. WICDZServer WICDZServer receives instructions from the Scheduler to process WebIntelligence 6.x documents that are due. It then launches one WebIntelligence session per document. WebIntelligence then extracts the documents from the repository s document domain, and processes them according to actions set by the user at submission time. Normally, the document is refreshed, and then published as a corporate document, or sent to one or more users via the repository. Broadcast Agent server components

26 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Workflow summary Using BusinessObjects or InfoView, users send documents to Broadcast Agent. They set the actions they want Broadcast Agent to perform, along with options for scheduling, categories, and distribution. The documents that users send to Broadcast Agent are stored in the repository s document domain that has been allocated to that Broadcast Agent. The Scheduler periodically scans the domain and extracts documents that are due for processing. The Scheduler passes due BusinessObjects documents to the BOManager, which launches one instance of BusinessObjects on the server per document. Similarly, WebIntelligence documents are passed to a wiqt process (via the WICDZServer in the case of a WebIntelligence 6.x document). On the server, BusinessObjects or WIQT performs the actions the user requested on the document. How Broadcast Agent Works

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 27 The diagram below summarizes this workflow. WebIntelligence or BusinessObjects user Corporate database Repository Documents refreshed WebIntelligence or BusinessObjects users wiqt instance busobj instance wiqt instance Broadcast Agent BOManager WICDZServer Task 1 Scheduler Task 2 Task 3 Workflow summary

28 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Monitoring and controlling Tasks Broadcast Agent Console When Broadcast Agent is functioning, users can begin scheduling documents. You monitor the processing activity by viewing the list of sent documents and their characteristics. This is done in the Broadcast Agent Console. (The Console is fully described in The Broadcast Agent Console on page 93.) The Console enables you to: monitor the status of all processed and pending tasks modify tasks reschedule tasks that have either failed or expired execute actions such as deleting a task or running a task immediately The Console has direct access to both the Scheduler and the repository, and can be located on any machine that has access to the repository and is on the same subnet as the CORBA network. For more information, refer to Broadcast Agent as a distributed solution on page 30. The Console is also available in BusinessObjects and InfoView, so that BusinessObjects users can monitor the documents they send to Broadcast Agent. How Broadcast Agent Works

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 29 Administration Console The Administration Console is a utility that allows you enable, deactivate, and control the Broadcast Agent Managers and Schedulers on your cluster, as well as all the other modules on your BusinessObjects and Broadcast Agent systems. You must install the Administration Console before you deploy Broadcast Agent. For a full description of the modules, see the Administrator s Guide. Monitoring and controlling Tasks

30 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Broadcast Agent as a distributed solution Broadcast Agent is a collection of server components that can be deployed over a distributed CORBA network. You can also install all Broadcast Agent components on a single server, in a Windows environment. In this case, the only connection you require is to the repository. (Deployment is fully explained in Deploying Broadcast Agent on page 33.) Setting up Broadcast Agent as a distributed solution, however, provides the following advantages: Scalability CORBA enables server solutions to be deployed on multiple server machines. As the document scheduling and distribution needs of your organization grow, you can manage the extra workload by adding Broadcast Agent machines to your network. Load balancing Broadcast Agent allows you to distribute your document processing over several different machines, in order to balance the workload. When one server is busy, jobs are processed by the next server. Failover Failover ensures that Broadcast Agent automatically restarts tasks that fail, in the event of a server crash. Broadcast Agent provides two types of failover: - When a task fails, the Scheduler automatically starts the task again on another server, if necessary. - If the Scheduler itself fails, Broadcast Agent automatically restarts it. Server optimization via caches The Business Objects product line includes several cache mechanisms to improve server performance, especially in large deployments. Because of these advantages, Business Objects recommends that you deploy Broadcast Agent as a distributed solution, that is, in a cluster. The Broadcast Agent cluster A Broadcast Agent cluster contains one or more server machines, each hosting one or more nodes that run Broadcast Agent server processes. Clusters contain the following types of nodes: Primary node The primary node serves as the central coordinator between all the nodes in the cluster. There is only one primary node per cluster; if the cluster contains How Broadcast Agent Works

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 31 only one node, it is the primary node. Secondary node Client node A client node can be used to access the Broadcast Agent through the Broadcast Agent Console, and to use the Administration Console without being on the server itself. A CORBA connection is required. Under Windows, only one node can be configured per server machine. Under UNIX, multiple nodes can be hosted on a single machine, if each of them belongs to a different cluster. In a heterogeneous cluster, that is, mixed UNIX and Windows servers, you can make the file systems visible to each type of server. You can do this with thirdparty tools such as Microsoft UNIX Services for NT, or the Open Source product, Samba. For details, see the documentation for these products. Broadcast Agent as a distributed solution

32 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide How Broadcast Agent Works

Deploying Broadcast Agent chapter

34 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Overview This chapter discusses issues related to deployment and sizing. These issues include: Sizing guidelines Looks at the factors that impact the size and number of machines you need for Broadcast Agent. Matching components to machines Which Broadcast Agent component should you run on which machine? UNIX vs. Windows You can deploy Broadcast Agent in a UNIX cluster, a Windows cluster or in a mixed, or heterogeneous, cluster. A number of limitations and performance considerations are reviewed. Optimizing performance For example, optimizing your servers by using caches. Server filenames, pathnames, and permissions The proper formats are discussed. Configuring database connections Using Broadcast Agent with Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) The chapter also includes a number of tasks you need to perform before starting to install Broadcast Agent. Deploying Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 35 Sizing guidelines The size and number of machines you need for Broadcast Agent varies depending on a number of factors, including the: quantity of documents to be scheduled complexity of the documents refresh frequency speed of the connection between the repository and the Broadcast Agent server speed of the underlying database number of users simultaneously accessing the data In general, a document being processed by Broadcast Agent requires the same amount of RAM and CPU time as if it were processed in the same way by an interactive user. If 100 documents are scheduled for refresh at the same time, it is the equivalent of 100 concurrent users all logged in and running simultaneous queries. If your system is unable to cope with the level of activity requested, then some tasks may fail or be delayed until the system is less busy. Take this into account when making decisions about server sizing, as well as when scheduling your documents. If you use multiple-refresh report bursting (see Report bursting on page 81) with options set to refresh each user s copy of a report according to that user s profile, a separate refresh is carried out for each recipient. In other words, if you burst a document according to the profile of 100 recipients, it carries the same load as refreshing the document 100 times. Memory requirements by document type The amount of RAM required for each document to be processed depends on its length and complexity. Typical requirements are as follows: WebIntelligence version 2.x documents: 6-40 MB; average size 12 MB WebIntelligence version 6.x documents: 2-40 MB; average size 10 MB BusinessObjects documents: 12-40 MB; average size 16 MB The document size is the same whether the server is UNIX- or Windows-based. The best way to ensure the memory requirements for your deployment is to build the reports on a test system and find out how large they actually are. You can then size your servers accordingly. Sizing guidelines

36 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Number of Broadcast Agents and Schedulers You can configure multiple Broadcast Agents in your deployment, and multiple Schedulers for each Broadcast Agent. The advantage of having several Broadcast Agents is that you can have one for each user group for example, Sales and Finance, defined in each repository. One advantage of having two or more Schedulers for each Broadcast Agent is for failover. Without a working Scheduler, no jobs are processed. Because an additional Scheduler does not use significant resources, many configurations include two Schedulers on different machines for each Broadcast Agent. In this way, even if one node fails, the tasks are still processed. A typical cluster configuration has one or more Schedulers, plus either a BOManager or WIQT, on every secondary node. Deploying Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 37 Matching components with machines This section explains which Broadcast Agent components to run on which machines. (For information on components, see Broadcast Agent server components on page 23.) You are not obliged to set up your Broadcast Agent cluster over multiple servers. If you decided to install all components on one machine, you must declare the machine as the primary node when you install Broadcast Agent. Running Broadcast Agent server software and BusinessObjects client software on the same machine is not recommended. When Broadcast Agent or WebIntelligence services are running, they automatically launch and stop BusinessObjects instances. On the same machine, these system sessions can interfere with the interactive BusinessObjects user session. The machine running the Scheduler does not need exceptional processing power or disk space. However, machines running BOManager and WIQT require much more processing power. NOTE You can limit the number of processes that are run concurrently on each machine by using the parameter settings in the WIQT and Scheduler modules. (See Report bursting on page 81.) Any machine that runs the BOManager or WIQT processes must be equipped with at least 256MB of RAM, but Business Objects recommends more if possible. You must have an additional 16 MB for each job that it is configured to run concurrently. We recommend that you also configure sufficient swapping space to allow for peak conditions. Keep in mind that: if a job cannot be handled with the available RAM, swapping occurs and processing slows down. if swapping occurs and the swapping space is exceeded, performance is greatly affected, and eventually the system may become unstable. NOTE Do not install Broadcast Agent on the same machine as the repository database server. Matching components with machines

38 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide A WebIntelligence session use the BOManager located on the same node as the other processes involved in the session (WISessionManager, WIApiBroker, WIQT, WIReportServer, WIDispatcher). A Scheduler on any machine can process documents (using WIQT or BOManager) on any machine in the same cluster, if the component is enabled and its Enable Batch Processing parameter is set to On. The Scheduler itself uses very little CPU time or RAM, and can easily reside on the same machine as a BOManager or wiqt process without significantly impacting performance. The Broadcast Agent Console and the Administration Console are relatively lightweight user interfaces, and do not consume significant resources. They can be installed on any machine on the subnet, not necessarily a server node, but they must be installed on a client node at least. If your system is processing both WebIntelligence 2.x and 6.x documents, you can set the Max No WebI 2.x jobs running and Max No WebI 6.x jobs running parameters to proportionally balance the load between the two types. For example, if you have 80% of your scheduled documents in WebIntelligence 2.x format, and only 20% in 6.x, then set the Max No WebI 2.x jobs running to four times the Max No WebI 6.x jobs running. Deploying Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 39 UNIX or Windows? You can deploy Broadcast Agent on either a UNIX cluster, a Windows cluster, or a mixed, or heterogeneous, cluster. Using a heterogeneous cluster, you can utilize the additional functionality of Windows for some tasks, while still using your UNIX machines for other tasks. In this environment, the BOManagers in a given cluster that are used for interactive processing (Enable Interactive Processing set to On) must be all on UNIX or all on Windows. When used for batch processing (Enable Batch Process set to On), BOManager can run on both UNIX and Windows systems. Broadcast Agent redirects tasks as needed. In general, UNIX nodes can be used to process the majority of tasks, while Windows nodes provide some additional connectivities and functionalities, such as access to OLAP data sources The following Broadcast Agent functionalities are available on Windows only: Direct access to some OLAP data sources Contact Business Objects customer support for the current list of supported OLAP servers. Visual Basic procedures used as data providers Personal data files Custom macros in VBA These macros depend on Microsoft proprietary technologies that are not currently supported under UNIX. Some RDBMS data sources Contact Business Objects customer support for current information. If your users need to access any of the above functionalities via Broadcast Agent, you must use Windows nodes for executing Broadcast Agent tasks that is, with a BOManager process enabled. You can set up multiple Broadcast Agent Schedulers and BOManager processes, on either UNIX or Windows nodes, in the same cluster. NOTE For a full, up-to-date list of supported tools on both Windows and UNIX, contact Business Objects customer support. UNIX or Windows?

40 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Optimizing performance Using the Administration Console, you can optimize Broadcast Agent performance by specifying: the number of documents per day that Broadcast Agent can process simultaneously how often the Scheduler checks the repository for waiting tasks how long Broadcast Agent waits before reloading a failed task For more information about the Administration Console, see Enabling and disabling components on page 73. Server optimization using caches The Business Objects product line includes several cache mechanisms to improve server performance, especially in large deployments. Login cache After users execute a task via Broadcast Agent, they do not have to log in again when submitting subsequent tasks. BOManager caches their login information for each Broadcast Agent task. If users have the appropriate access rights, the session context for the task is restored directly from the cache. The life span of cache entries is controlled by the Scheduler login cache duration parameter in BOManager. (See Report bursting on page 81.) The login cache is for BusinessObjects Full Client reports only. Presentation cache To help prevent overloads at peak transaction periods, you can preload the cache when you process a task. When you schedule a corporate document with Broadcast Agent from BusinessObjects, you can cache the document s presentation by using one of the following options: Enhanced Document Viewing Generates the document in metafile format, which is recognized by the ActiveX viewer in InfoView. The metafile is then stored in the server cache. Standard HTML Generates the HTML for scheduled corporate documents, suitable for the standard HTML document viewer in InfoView. PDF Available for other users without any need to regenerate the PDF, unless a change has occurred in the document. Deploying Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 41 To access these options in BusinessObjects: 1. From the File menu, select Publish To and Corporate Documents. The Send dialog box opens. 2. Click Schedule... The Schedule Corporate Documents dialog box opens. 3. Click the Actions tab. 4. Click Faster Document VIewing Over The Web, then click Options... The Select the document format dialog box opens with the available categories that correspond to the cache options. The first time an InfoView user asks to view the document in a certain format, BOManager retrieves the presentation and stores it in a cache on the Storage Manager machine. The generated files are then removed after the document is viewed for the first time, and the document itself is passed to the InfoView cache. When other users then access the document in InfoView, they access a pre generated file. This means that: InfoView requests for BusinessObjects documents do not require logging into BOManager there are fewer demands on available processes in your cluster the document s presentation doesn t have to be generated the document is displayed faster and more efficiently response time remains constant and doesn t depend on the document s size or complexity CPU power and busobj processes are made available for refreshing documents (ad hoc queries) Optimizing performance

42 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide In large organizations, where important documents are viewed regularly by thousands of users, caching can prevent critical system congestion and overload. Encourage users to preprocess all corporate documents that they expect will be viewed by multiple users particularly PDF documents, which may require substantial processor time to generate. Schedule documents to be refreshed often. If the cached presentation is always up-to-date, recipients won t need to refresh them. Cached documents take up only about 5 KB of disk space per document, plus 20 KB per metafile page. PDF and HTML documents, by contrast, often reach several megabytes. Do you need to install an HTTP server to use Broadcast Agent? An HTTP server is needed to run WebIntelligence, and also to use the Publish to Channel and Distribute via Web operations in Broadcast Agent. You don't need to install an HTTP server if you wish to use Broadcast Agent only in conjunction with full-client BusinessObjects. Broadcast Agent automatically detects the web server when InfoView is not installed. Deploying Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 43 Server filenames, pathnames, and permissions Broadcast Agent users specify a pathname and filename when using: the File Watcher option to schedule tasks to run only when a specific file is present (See File Watcher on page 118.) the Distribute via File System option to copy a scheduled document to a specific location the Distribute via Web Server option Save as RTF Save as TXT Save as PDF Save as XLS These functions are accessed via the Actions and Distribution tabs of the Send Document to Broadcast Agent dialogue box in BusinessObjects. The pathname relates to the server on which the process (BOManager) is running, not to the user s machine. For example, if the user selects Save as RTF with the filename C:\MyFile, Broadcast Agent attempts to save the file to that location on the server, not on the client. NOTE To specify a pathname or filename on a machine other than the server on which the Broadcast Agent is running, you must specify a full UNC (Universal Naming Convention) name; for example (under Windows): \\MyMachine\SharedFolder\MyFile. The BOManager executing the scheduled task must have the required permissions: to write to the file itself and its parent folder to access every folder in the path For example, if a Windows user specifies Save as TXT with the filename: \\MyMachine\MyFolder1\MyFolder2\MyFile then the BOManager must have permission to access MyMachine, MyFolder1, MyFolder2, and MyFile, and permission to write to MyFolder2 and MyFile. Server filenames, pathnames, and permissions

44 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Instead of specifying a filename, you can send a job through Broadcast Agent on a UNIX machine using the default location. The default location for all scheduled jobs in the $BO_FILE_PATH environment variable is defined in the following directory: $INSTALLDIR/nodes/servername/mycluster/MyWebIEnv.sh. UNIX and Windows pathname conversion Broadcast Agent automatically converts Windows pathnames (with backslash delimiters, \ ) to UNIX pathnames (with forward slash delimiters, / ) when needed. This conversion is transparent to the user. For example, if you specify the path: \usr\current it is interpreted by a Scheduler on a Windows server as c:\usr\current (where c: is the default drive), or on a UNIX scheduler as /usr/current. NOTE Encourage users to follow the Windows convention (with a backslash) as this is interpreted correctly on either system. UNIX format pathnames (with a / ) will be interpreted correctly only on UNIX servers. You can mount file systems on UNIX servers to map to file systems on another networked UNIX machine, so that users have the functionality they require without needing to know the physical location of the files. See your UNIX documentation for further information. Ensure that directories are mounted appropriately on UNIX machines so that any Windows files that users need to access from UNIX systems are in accessible folders. Inform users that Windows filenames are not case sensitive. UNIX filenames, however, are case sensitive. NOTE When you use a printer other than the default printer, you must enter its path in the Select the Printer box under Print Properties. The printer name entered here must be in exactly the same case (the combination of upper and lower case letters) as the printer name specified on the server. Deploying Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 45 Setting the $BO_FILE_PATH variable On a UNIX server, you can define the variable $BO_FILE_PATH to enable Windows filenames to map to UNIX file names correctly. For example, you can add the following line to the WebIEnv.sh file: BO_FILE_PATH=/opt/webidoc/ ; export BO_FILE_PATH and the following line to the WebIEnv.csh file: setenv BO_FILE_PATH /opt/webidoc/ This causes the pathnames specified to be mapped, as shown in the following table. NOTE The conversion results in lower-case UNIX pathnames, regardless of the case used in Windows. Windows path MyFile \\Server\MyFile D:\MyFolder\MyFile UNIX path on server /opt/webidoc/myfile /opt/webidoc/server/myfile /opt/webidoc/d/myfolder/myfile What users do The path that the BusinessObjects user enters in the Save As, Distribute via Web Server or Distribute via the Server File System boxes in the Send Document to Broadcast Agent dialog box depends on whether you, the administrator, define the BO_FILE_PATH variable. Path naming convention You can name paths in any of the following formats: UNC, which expresses the location on the network by giving a machine name as well as a path: \\<machinename>\<pathname>\<filename> Server filenames, pathnames, and permissions

46 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide NOTE Business Objects recommends using UNC. This avoids any confusion, and enables the process to succeed even if the Scheduler is running on a different machine. Mapped network drive, on the server running the Scheduler: <mapped drive letter>:\<pathname>\<filename> Local, relative Windows filename: \<pathname>\<filename> Local, absolute Windows filename (local to the server, not the client): C:\<pathname>\<filename> Local UNIX filename: /<pathname>/<filename> The table below summarizes the various formats. Path format UNIX Windows UNC Finds locally or remotely Finds locally or remotely Mapped network drive Fails Finds if mapped drive is set up on server Local relative Windows filename Finds locally Finds locally Local absolute Windows filename Fails Local UNIX filename Finds locally Fails Finds locally Shield users from these issues by mapping and mounting structures appropriately, and informing users what the best practice is. EXAMPLE Pathnames A user wants to use File Watcher to schedule a report called MyReport, to be refreshed whenever the file Update_Completed is present. The Update_Completed file is automatically created by a weekly update process, whenever the data warehouse is updated with new data. The file is stored on a UNIX server called Orion, located in /usr/datawarehouse/update_completed Deploying Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 47 If the Broadcast Agent Scheduler and BOManager are running on a UNIX server called Pluto, and the user specifies: /usr/datawarehouse/update_completed then the task will never be executed because the file cannot be found. However, if the Scheduler is running on the same server machine (Orion), the user can specify the path in File Watcher as: \usr\datawarehouse\update_completed or /usr/datawarehouse/update_completed To be safe, wherever the Broadcast Agent Scheduler is running (Windows or UNIX), specify: \\Orion\usr\datawarehouse\Update_Completed HTML and web server filenames When Broadcast Agent sends an HTML format file to a web server using the Distribute via Web server action, it automatically converts the following characters in the file name so that they conform to standard web usage: ampersand (&) empty space These characters are converted to an underscore. For example, a file named Alpha & Beta.rep becomes Alpha_Beta.rep when it is saved in HTML. Server filenames, pathnames, and permissions

48 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Configuring database connections Broadcast Agent may establish hundreds of database connections per day. The configuration of these connections is therefore critical to the efficiency of your deployment. Broadcast Agent connects to both the security and document domains: the Update repository delay transaction connects only to the security domain the Scanning repository delay transaction connects to both the security and the document domains Configuration guidelines When configuring your connections, you can choose from the following options in the Advanced tab of the Connections dialog box: Keep the connection active during the whole session Keep the connection active for X minutes Disconnect after each transaction Business Objects recommends using either Keep the connection active for X minutes or Disconnect after each transaction. The reason is that an internal module called SQLBO handles a pool of connections to the different domains involved. The connection can be physically closed (Disconnect after each transaction) or only logically closed (Keep the connection active during the whole session). Using shared and personal connections Most BusinessObjects documents access data through a secured connection that is stored in the repository. However, BusinessObjects users can also create documents that access data through personal connections or shared connections, which are not defined in the repository. These types of connection are defined in two locations: in the document itself in LSI (Local Security Information) files stored in the LocData folder on the user s machine: pdac.lsi for personal connections, and sdac.lsi for shared connections. When users send documents based on shared connections to Broadcast Agent, the connection information is obtained from within the document itself. However, if the document contains a VBA macro which directly accesses the shared connection, the sdac.lsi file on the server must contain the shared connection data. Deploying Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 49 LocData folder All Broadcast Agent servers and BusinessObjects client machines use a LocData folder, whose location is determined during the installation process using the Configuration Tool. In many deployments, a single LocData folder on the primary node is referenced by all the other machines over the network, in order to simplify administration. This folder contains files which define the database connections: bomain.key Defines the default connection to the repository. additional.key files These define connections to alternative repositories that the user can reference at login. sdac.lsi file Defines shared connections pdac.lsi Defines personal connections Recommended configuration If you want shared connections to be available to all users (rather than just to the user who created the connection), set all the cluster machines and client machines to use the LocData folder on the primary node. When the installer on each machine asks for the path of the LocData folder, give the network path of the LocData folder on the primary node. This folder must be under a mapped network drive on each Windows machine, or a mounted network path on each UNIX machine in the deployment. All machines then access the same.lsi and bomain.key files. Synchronizing sdac.lsi files If you do not set all the cluster machines and client machines to use the LocData folder on the primary node, you need to verify that all BusinessObjects client machines and Broadcast Agent servers have a copy of the same sdac.lsi file in their local LocData folder. When you install the secondary nodes, their sdac.lsi files are automatically replaced with a copy of the sdac.lsi file from the primary node. Configuring database connections

50 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide When a user adds a new shared connection, the new sdac.lsi file must be copied to all other clients and to the servers. To update all the secondary nodes, copy the new sdac.lsi file to the primary node and click the Cluster files synchronization button in the Administration Console. This copies the.key files and the sdac.lsi file from the primary node to the secondary nodes. Enabling VBA custom macros to access shared connections If a user sends a document based on a shared connection to Broadcast Agent, and the document includes a VBA custom macro that directly accesses the shared connection, the sdac.lsi file in the LocData folder on the machine where the VBA code is running must contain the connection information for the shared connection. If the sdac.lsi file on the server does not include the shared connection, then the task will fail with the following error: (303) Error with no ErrorHandler with BreakOnVBAError =FALSE. If all machines in the deployment share the same LocData folder on the primary node, the task will be processed correctly because there is only one sdac.lsi file in the cluster and it includes all shared connections. Documents containing OLAP data providers In BusinessObjects, you can retrieve data from OLAP servers, if you have installed the BusinessObjects Access Pack for these products. This section covers what users can and cannot do when they schedule documents containing OLAP data providers. NOTE Broadcast Agent now refreshes WebIntelligence OLAP documents in Windows. Users can schedule documents containing data providers built on a Microsoft OLAP Services database, but must verify that the BOManager user account has permission to access the OLAP Services database. Microsoft OLAP Services authenticates users with Windows security information. The users Windows login, not their BusinessObjects login, allows access to the data in the OLAP Services database. When users manually refresh a BusinessObjects document containing an OLAP data provider, the database retrieves their Windows user name and password from the operating system. Deploying Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 51 If these are the same as the user name and password defined by your Windows administrator on the OLAP side, users gain access to their OLAP data, and successfully refresh the document. Broadcast Agent processes a document containing OLAP Services data providers as follows: A Windows user name and password, defined with the Configuration Tool, is used to start BusinessObjects on the Windows server. A user schedules a document containing a Microsoft OLAP Services data provider. At the scheduled time, Broadcast Agent launches BOManager on the server, using the user name and password that was defined with the Configuration Tool. To allow BusinessObjects to retrieve data from the database, OLAP Services checks the Windows user name and password defined on the server machine where BusinessObjects is active. If the Windows user name and password on the server machine running BusinessObjects are the same as those defined on the OLAP side, BusinessObjects gains access to the data, and refreshes the document. If the user account does not have OLAP permission, BusinessObjects cannot refresh the document, and Broadcast Agent returns a failed task. Repository sizing and Broadcast Agent transactions Broadcast Agent passes SQL transactions to the security and document domains of the repository. Transactions between Broadcast Agent and the security domain do not require significant repository resources. However, if you are using Broadcast Agent to publish documents on the repository, verify that the document domain is large enough to store the documents. You can also control the number of documents in the repository by advising users to switch on the Overwrite mode option when they send documents to Broadcast Agent. As the administrator, you can switch on this option in the Broadcast Agent Console (see Overwrite mode on page 110). Configuring database connections

52 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide LDAP The Business Objects Enterprise suite can use Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) to manage the identity of your Business Objects users in a corporate directory. LDAP enables you to store user information for all your enterprise applications on a single corporate directory. Business Objects users can be stored in LDAP, in the corporate repository, or in both. If your deployment makes use of LDAP, Broadcast Agent publishes to users and distributes to groups stored in LDAP in the same way as it does to users and groups in the Business Objects repository. The passwords of Broadcast Agent user in the repository must match those of the users in the LDAP directory. Configuring LDAP For Broadcast Agent Scheduler to work correctly with LDAP the Store Password in Reporting option must be activated in the Security Configuration Tool. You install this tool with the Administration Products. NOTE Broadcast Agent requires a Broadcast Agent user to execute tasks. This user must still be declared and authenticated through the repository. You cannot use an LDAP user to execute tasks. Users in the LDAP directory, who are not in the repository, must log into the system (for example, into InfoView before any document can be sent to them with the following option enabled: "Refresh with profile of each recipient. For more information about using LDAP with the Business Objects Enterprise suite, refer to the Installation and Configuration Guide for Windows and the Installation and Configuration Guide for UNIX. Deploying Broadcast Agent

Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent chapter

54 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Overview This chapter explains how to install and configure Broadcast Agent. Before you begin, make sure you review the deployment requirements outlined in the previous chapter (Deploying Broadcast Agent on page 33). Installation and configuration of Broadcast Agent involves the following tasks: Installing Broadcast Agent Assigning users to Broadcast Agents Enabling modules on the servers Enabling and deactivating Broadcast Agent components Setting BOManager parameters Starting Broadcast Agent processes on the server Starting Schedulers to monitor the Broadcast Agents Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 55 Installing Broadcast Agent Broadcast Agent is a server product. You install Broadcast Agent on your server machine(s) together with other Business Objects server products as shown below: You must also install: the Broadcast Agent Console Supervisor Configuration Tool Administration Console Installing Broadcast Agent

56 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide These components are located under the Administration Products For more information and detailed installation instructions, see the Installation and Configuration guide. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 57 Creating a Broadcast Agent Once you have installed Broadcast Agent, you are ready to begin the configuration process. The first step is to create a named Broadcast Agent for one or more user groups, using Supervisor. You must log in to Supervisor with a General Supervisor or Supervisor profile. You assign a Broadcast Agent as a property of a group, to which only users who are members of that group or sub-groups have access. A given user can belong to more than one group, and can therefore use more than one Broadcast Agent. To assign a Broadcast Agent to a group of users: 1. In Supervisor, right-click the user group to which you want to assign the Broadcast Agent, then select Properties from the shortcut menu. The Group Properties dialog box appears. 2. Click the Broadcast Agent tab. Creating a Broadcast Agent

58 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 3. Under User click Broadcast Agent. 4. In the Name box, type the name of the Broadcast Agent. 5. In the Password field, enter a password. 6. Clear the Disable Login check box. This enables the Broadcast Agent to log in and the Console to monitor tasks. 7. If you want to use only UNIX servers to process tasks sent to this Broadcast Agent, select the UNIX-Only Broadcast Agent checkbox. 8. Select a document repository domain from the drop-down list. 9. Click OK. Your Broadcast Agent is now defined, and users can now send documents to it for processing. Before the tasks can be processed, you must also start a Scheduler for the Broadcast Agent (see Starting a Scheduler on page 61). Each named Broadcast Agent services one document domain. In Supervisor, you can define multiple groups that have the same members, and use multiple named Broadcast Agents to service the different document domains. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 59 NOTE You can define multiple named Broadcast Agents without requiring an extra license. You need only one Broadcast Agent license per server in each cluster that runs Broadcast Agent tasks. Security commands Security commands in Supervisor must be correctly set to enable a BusinessObjects or WebIntelligence user to access Broadcast Agent functionality. By default, ordinary users do not have permission to access advanced functions such as report bursting or VBA macros, so you need to configure these settings for your users. However, remember that the more users that are given report bursting rights, the more resources may be consumed. See the Supervisor s Guide (appendix B) for a full description of the available security commands. You access the security commands in the Command Restriction dialog box in Supervisor. The information below gives a summary of the commands that are most relevant for Broadcast Agent users: Command Do not refresh with the reference profile of each recipient Run scripts/vba code Use Broadcast Agent Console Work with web server Retrieve documents from scheduled processing Setting Disable, for users to access the Report Bursting feature Enable, to allow users to access custom scripts Enable, to allow users to view and modify scheduled task status via the Console Enable, to allow users to use Broadcast Agent s Distribute via Web Server function Enable, to allow users to retrieve documents from Broadcast Agent Creating a Broadcast Agent

60 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Command Schedule corporate documents Enable, to allow users to send corporate documents to Broadcast Agent Send documents for scheduled processing Attach scripts to scheduled processing Setting Enable, to allow users to send documents to Broadcast Agent Enable, to allow users to send documents containing custom VBA macros to Broadcast Agent NOTE For InfoView users, the Schedule Documents command must be set to Enabled in order for users to send documents to Broadcast Agent. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 61 Broadcast Agent Schedulers You can create, start, or stop the Broadcast Agent Schedulers assigned to the various nodes on the system. You can also view and modify the parameters of each Scheduler. Starting a Scheduler You start a Scheduler using the Administration Console. REMINDER You must start the server first. The Administration Console is a Java applet that can be installed on any machine in the same subnet as the Broadcast Agent cluster. You can run it in any Javaenabled web browser, or from the Windows desktop. NOTE The Administration Console is not the same as the Broadcast Agent Console, a Windows-based tool that allows you to examine and modify the list of tasks scheduled by a Broadcast Agent. Accessing the Administration Console To access the Administration Console, you must have one of the following profiles: General Supervisor Supervisor Supervisor-designer Versatile user (with Supervisor rights) The actions that these profiles are permitted within the Administration Console can be restricted by applying certain security commands. By default, the General Supervisor profile can perform all operations in the Administration Console. With a General Supervisor profile, you can modify in Supervisor the access rights of a Supervisor, Supervisor-designer, and Versatile User. Broadcast Agent Schedulers

62 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide The table below shows the security commands that are relevant for the Administration Console. Security Command Log into Administration Console Administrate clusters and modules Administrate user sessions Administrate clusters, modules and Broadcast Agents What it allows Starting the Administration Console Stopping and starting clusters and modules (except Broadcast Agent) Changing cluster language Changing log file names Changing module parameters Enabling/disabling Broadcast Agent Manager Stopping user sessions Creating and removing Schedulers Stopping and starting Schedulers Modifying Scheduler parameters For more information on how to set these security commands in Supervisor, refer to the Supervisor s Guide. NOTE If the Log into Administration Console security command is disabled, all other security commands are automatically disabled, and the user will be denied access to the Administration Console. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 63 Starting and monitoring a scheduler Decide which machine in your cluster will run a Scheduler for the user group. You can also start Schedulers on several different machines, so that if one machine fails, the others will continue processing the tasks as normal (failover). To start a Scheduler: 1. Open the Administration Console. 2. From the list of modules on the left side, select Broadcast Agent Manager. The panel on the right side shows the Schedulers that are currently running on the machine selected in the left panel. If there are none, the panel is empty. The Schedulers are listed per named Broadcast Agent. If a Broadcast Agent has more than one Scheduler, all of the Schedulers appear in the Administration Console with the same Broadcast Agent name. Broadcast Agent Schedulers

64 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 3. Click Add. The Monitor one more BCA dialog box appears. 4. Click Refresh BCA List to generate a list of all the Broadcast Agents on the cluster that you can access. The Broadcast Agents that are defined on the repository but are not monitored on the cluster are indicated. 5. Select the Broadcast Agent that you want to monitor, then click OK. 6. Enter the password you created earlier for this Broadcast Agent, then click OK. The Broadcast Agent appears in the list of Schedulers as shown below: NOTE When the server is rebooted, the Scheduler restarts automatically by default. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 65 NOTE You can monitor as many Broadcast Agents as you want. Each Broadcast Agent must be defined in Supervisor (using the Group Properties dialog, Broadcast Agent tab) from the repository to which it refers. Backup Scheduler To start a backup Scheduler for a named Broadcast Agent on another server, follow the steps described above using the Broadcast Agent Manager on the other server. If one server fails, Broadcast Agent processing continues on the other. NOTE Using the Administration Console, you can start Schedulers and configure processes on any server in the cluster. You do not need to be at a workstation which is physically connected to the server.eters to it. This action starts a Scheduler process on the server. The Scheduler continuously monitors this Broadcast Agent s task list, and starts the tasks for processing at the required dates and times. Broadcast Agent Schedulers

66 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Scheduler parameters The table below summarizes the Scheduler parameters. The first three parameters relate to the named Broadcast Agent. The remainder relate to the Scheduler. Parameter Description Default Password The password assigned by the Supervisor to the Broadcast Agent. Domain name (key file) Scanning repository delay Update repository delay BusinessObjects documents WebIntelligence documents WebIntelligence OLAP documents The name of the.key file for the security domain. This name is needed in configurations that have multiple security domains. There must be a key file on the machine where the Scheduler is running. When the Scheduler tells BOManager to process a BusinessObjects Full Client document, it also transfers the.key file information. How frequently the Scheduler scans the security domain for pending tasks. When a process is complete, Broadcast Agent sends updated information to the repository to flag the process as Successful, Failed, etc. This parameter determines the delay between the end of the process and the transaction that updates the repository. For example, if you set it to 10 minutes, the scheduler updates the repository every 10 minutes with information on all processes that ended during that time. Whether Broadcast Agent can process BusinessObjects documents. Whether Broadcast Agent can process WebIntelligence documents. Whether Broadcast Agent can process WebIntelligence OLAP documents. bomain. key 600 sec. (10 min.) 300 sec. (5 min.) On On On Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 67 Parameter Description Default Max. duration Delay between retry Max. no. BusinessObjects jobs running Max no. WebIntelligence 2.x jobs running How long a task can run. 10 hrs. This parameter prevents runaway queries from holding a connection and blocking the server for long periods. Do not set this parameter for a longer period of time than that of the similar parameter for BOManager or WIQT. The frequency with which Broadcast Agent reloads failed tasks. The number of BusinessObjects documents that Broadcast Agent can process simultaneously. If this value is higher than the sum of the values set for the parameter Max. number of busy processes in all the BOManagers on your secondary nodes, the following occurs: When the maximum number of jobs is reached, some will fail because no BOManager will be available to process them (all the BOManagers are busy). Business Objects recommends that you set this parameter to a value lower than the sum of the values set for the parameter Max. number of busy processes in all the BOManagers on your secondary nodes. Maximum number of WebIntelligence version 2.x documents that Broadcast Agent will try to process simultaneously. Together with the next parameter (Max. no. WebIntelligence 6.x jobs running), this gives you more control over processing WebIntelligence 6.x and 2.x documents on the same node. Set it to zero to disable processing of version 2.x documents on the node. 600 sec. (10 min.) 10 10 Broadcast Agent Schedulers

68 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Parameter Description Default Max. no. WebIntelligence 6.x jobs running Max. no. WebIntelligence OLAP jobs running Nb. max retry jobs Purge jobs Period for purge Purge only successful jobs The maximum number of WebIntelligence version 6.x documents that Broadcast Agent will try to process simultaneously. Together with the previous parameter (Max. no. WebIntelligence 6.x jobs running), this gives you more control over processing WebIntelligence 6.x and 2.x documents on the same node. Set it to zero to disable processing of version 6.x documents on this node. The maximum number of WebIntelligence OLAP documents that Broadcast Agent will try to process simultaneously. The maximum number of times Broadcast Agent attempts to process failed jobs. Specifies that you want Broadcast Agent to purge all processed documents, successful or otherwise, from the repository s document domain. See also Purge only successful jobs. Purging the queue deletes all processed documents from the repository s document domain. This parameter lets you specify how often you want to purge the document domain. Note that you can also control queue purging by using the Purge the Queue command in the Broadcast Agent Console. Purges only the documents that Broadcast Agent has successfully processed. You must set both Purge jobs and Purge only successful jobs to On. 10 10 5 Off 100 days Off Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 69 Parameter Description Default Delay for auto shutdown Log file name Number of BOMgr to try Waiting time before bind How often the Scheduler is shut down and then restarted. Shutting down the Scheduler cleans up the active memory on the server machine. The Scheduler cannot shut down while a task is running. It waits until the end of a process, then applies this interval. The name of the log file in which information on the activities of Broadcast Agent is stored. By default, the value of this parameter is blank; however, a log file is still created. The default log file is BcsScdul_BCA_ID.log, where ID represents the ID of your scheduler (the same as BcsScdul_BCA_ID.ini, in which the values of the Scheduler s parameters are stored). Specifies the number of BOManagers in your secondary node to which the Scheduler tries to connect when a BOManager has reached its Max. number of busy processes. The optimal limit value is the number of BOManagers you have enabled on all your secondary nodes. The maximum time the Scheduler waits, after a task is started, before binding a BOManager or wiqt process to a scheduled task. If no bind is possible after this time elapses, the task fails, and an error message appears. 120 min. 5 5 sec. Viewing and modifying Scheduler parameters To view and then modify Scheduler parameters: 1. Open the Administration Console. 2. Click the Parameters button next to the Broadcast Agent scheduler you want Broadcast Agent Schedulers

70 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide to modify. The Settings dialog box appears. 3. Make the changes you want. 4. Click Apply. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 71 Fine-tuning Broadcast Agent After installing and configuring Broadcast Agent, you need to fine-tune it. This includes: enabling modules on specific nodes enabling or deactivating Broadcast Agent components on specific machines configuring the parameters of the BOManager and WIQT on each machine For example, you can set the maximum number of concurrent tasks of each type to be handled on each machine. starting Broadcast Agent processes on the server These procedures are performed in the Administration Console. Starting Broadcast Agent Before you can set up components such as Schedulers, you must start Broadcast Agent (and if installed, WebIntelligence) processes. First make sure that the server has been started. To start the Broadcast Agent processes: 1. Launch the Business Objects Administration Console. 2. In the Administration Console, from the Host tab, select Broadcast Agent Fine-tuning Broadcast Agent

72 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Manager. 3. In the right pane, click On next to the Broadcast Agent that you want to start. If you want to start all Broadcast Agents, click Start all. All the processes required by Broadcast Agent are now launched on the server. TIP With the exception of the initial startup, you don t need to start Broadcast Agent manually if you selected the Enable Automatic Start option in the Installation program. Enabling modules on nodes After installation, you must enable certain modules on specific nodes. This optimizes the performance of your Broadcast Agent system. In order for the system to function, all of its required modules must be running somewhere within the cluster. Certain modules can be enabled on one secondary node only. Others can be enabled on several nodes simultaneously. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 73 The modules you need to enable somewhere in the system are: WISessionManager WIStorageManager BOManager Used to process BusinessObjects documents. WIQT Used to process WebIntelligence documents. Broadcast Agent Manager Controls the Schedulers. Although you can enable the WIStorageManager on a secondary node, we highly recommend that you enable it on the primary node only. After you enable these two modules, do not disable and then enable them elsewhere. A WebIntelligence session use the BOManager located on the same node as the other processes involved in the session (WISessionManager, WIApiBroker, WIQT, WIReportServer, WIDispatcher). The following table summarizes the enabling of Broadcast Agent modules: Module Enable on primary node Enable on secondary node WISessionManager Required No No WIStorageManager Recommended Optional Yes BOManager Optional Recommended Yes WIQT Optional Recommended Yes Broadcast Agent Manager Optional Recommended Yes Enable on multiple machines Enabling and disabling components You can use the Administration Console to enable or disable components on a given server. By default, all processes except Broadcast Agent are enabled after installation. EXAMPLE Consider the following example: You have two Windows nodes with relatively low processing power, and one Fine-tuning Broadcast Agent

74 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide high-power multi-processor UNIX node in your cluster, along with a UNIX primary node. Your users are processing mainly WebIntelligence documents, with a small percentage also processing BusinessObjects documents. A small number of WebIntelligence documents are scheduled for regular refresh every hour, and it is crucial that they are kept up-to-date. You can enable WIQT on the UNIX node and one of the Windows nodes, and disable BOManager on these machines, so that they specialize in processing WebIntelligence documents. The remaining Windows node can have BOManager enabled and WIQT disabled, so that this machine runs only BOManager processes (for processing BusinessObjects documents). This configuration can provide faster processing than using all the machines to process both types of document. To disable a component: 1. Launch the Administration Console on any server machine in the CORBA cluster. 2. In the Host pane, click the machine whose components you want to disable. 3. Select the component, and then click Disable. A red cross next to the component name indicates that you have disabled it: 4. To enable a component that you previously disabled, click Enable. A green check mark next to the component name indicates that you have enabled it. NOTE This procedure is not valid for the WISite Log and the Broadcast Agent Manager. Configuring BOManager parameters BOManager is the process that calls instances of the BusinessObjects process (busobj.exe on Windows servers, or bolight on UNIX), which refreshes scheduled documents. There is only one BOManager per server machine, but each BOManager can have several BusinessObjects processes running simultaneously, processing different documents. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 75 NOTE The bolight process is designed specifically for batch processing with Broadcast Agent on UNIX. It does not include Windows-specific functionalities or a graphical user interface. To configure BOManager parameters: 1. Open the Administration Console. 2. In the Host pane, select the name of the machine whose BOManager parameters you want to set. 3. Click the BOManager entry in the Host pane. The BOManager parameters appear in the right pane. 4. Make the changes you want. 5. Click Apply. The following table describes the BOManager parameters you set in the Administration Console. Parameter Function Default Kill BusObj processes on startup Delete inactive session after Deletes all BusinessObjects processes (including those which may be running interactively) when Broadcast Agent or WebIntelligence is started. Deletes BOManager sessions that were inactive during the specified period. Prevents sessions from remaining open if the user closes the browser without using the WebIntelligence or InfoView logout. Business Objects recommends that you synchronize this parameter with the Session timeout parameter in the WISessionManager module. On 5 min. Fine-tuning Broadcast Agent

76 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Parameter Function Default Max. number of busy processes Max. number of loaded processes Min. number of loaded processes Maximum number of busy BusinessObjects processes allowed to run on the BOManager machine. A busy process is one that takes up CPU time. This parameter also specifies that only x processes (such as refresh, save, or computing data) can be active at the same time in terms of CORBA calls. The value must be greater than the value set for Min. number of loaded processes and less than the value set for Max. number of loaded processes. Maximum number of BusinessObjects processes allowed to run on the BOManager machine. The value must be greater than the Min. number of loaded processes. Number of BusinessObjects processes that are started immediately by BOManager, making these processes available when a user request occurs. Must always be less than the value of Max. number of loaded processes. Idle loop interval The interval between two iterations of BOManager s background thread. Each time the background thread runs, BOManager checks the values specified in the following parameters: Delete inactive session after Delete inactive process after Scheduler login cache duration Auto-shutdown BOManager after If any of the values have expired, the background thread performs the related clean-up task. 4 10 2 20 sec. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 77 Parameter Function Default Keep exclusive process Delete inactive process after The minimum interval during which a BusinessObjects process is dedicated exclusively to one user. If another user wants to open a session before this interval has expired, BOManager starts a new BusinessObjects process for this user. If, however, this interval has expired, BOManager assigns the same BusinessObjects process to another user. The parameter provides a benefit that is a trade-off between the response times of the current user and that of any other users: When the value is high, the process is dedicated to the current user and results in improved response times for each action carried out by this user throughout the interval. However, during the interval, BOManager must start new BusinessObjects processes for subsequent users, which results in more time-consuming operations. When the value is low, the process is not dedicated to the current user; BOManager has to restart another BusinessObjects process for every action other users perform after this interval expires. (This requires more time than for a simple action). However, all other users are able to reuse this process after the interval has expired, which leads to improved response times. Specifies how long BusinessObjects can remain open after it finishes processing a document. If there is no activity in the BusinessObjects process during this period, BOManager closes the process if there are more loaded processes than the value set for Min number of loaded processes. 60 sec. 5 min. Fine-tuning Broadcast Agent

78 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Parameter Function Default Recycle process Auto-shutdown BO Manager after Specifies the number of actions requiring intensive processing, such as opening or refreshing documents, that can occur before the active memory on the server machine is cleaned up. After this number has been reached, BOManager closes the BusinessObjects process. It is reopened after the next document is opened or the next user is logged in. Specifies how often BOManager is automatically shut down and then restarted after it has been inactive. Shutting down BOManager cleans up the active memory on the server machine. Business Objects recommends that you set this parameter to a value greater than the one set for the parameter Timeout for interactive and batch actions; otherwise, any batch actions requiring a greater value may be deleted. Important: Make sure there are no active users when this type of maintenance operation is performed. 40 60 min. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 79 Parameter Function Default Scheduler login cache duration Timeout for interactive actions Timeout for batch actions Enable macros for interactive users The interval during which a user s login details and security permissions are stored in the cache. After this interval has expired, the next login does not make use of the cache; instead, it reads the security permissions directly from the repository. This login cache is used only for Broadcast Agent tasks (scheduled documents). The value of this parameter provides a trade-off between improved performance and up-to-date real-time information. To disable the login cache, you must set it to 0. This is useful if you are testing a scheduled task immediately after changing a user s security permissions. For example, if you change a user s permissions, and immediately run a scheduled task, the task will normally reflect the old (cached) version of the user s permissions. However, if you set this parameter to 0, this forces Broadcast Agent to use the new permissions. The interval during which a BusinessObjects process running interactively (within WebIntelligence) can be busy without interruption for any single action. After this interval expires, the BusinessObjects process is recycled, or deleted, to stop the current action. The interval during which a BusinessObjects process running in batch mode (through Broadcast Agent) can be busy without interruption for any single action. After this interval expires, the BusinessObjects process is recycled (deleted) to stop the current action. Determines whether any VBA macros embedded in BusinessObjects documents will be run on the server when this document is viewed from InfoView. Note: This setting does not affect Broadcast Agent. 360 min. 10 min. 60 min. On Fine-tuning Broadcast Agent

80 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Parameter Function Default Enable Batch Processing Enable Interactive Processing Determines whether this BOManager can process batch tasks (scheduled with Broadcast Agent). Set this parameter to Off to prevent Broadcast Agent from using this BOManager. When this parameter is set to On, tasks will be automatically distributed if possible to other nodes. You may want to set Enable Batch Processing to Off on the BOManager on one or more nodes, so that the nodes are free for interactive users. Determines whether this BOManager can process interactive tasks (tasks started directly by an InfoView user attempting to refresh a full-client document). You may want to set Enable Interactive Processing to Off on the BOManager on one or more nodes, so that interactive users cannot run tasks on these nodes, leaving them free for Broadcast Agent tasks. This might be useful if you want to make sure that scheduled tasks continue to be processed no matter how many users attempt to log in to the system. On On Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 81 Report bursting Power users with rights to all types of documents and database connections might not want all the people on the distribution list for a document to see the same information. Report bursting answers this need by letting you automatically generate different versions of a document, which are sent to individuals with a given user profile. The following example of report bursting shows how you can distribute different information to different people from a single source document. EXAMPLE Report bursting Supervisors can place restrictions on the universes that BusinessObjects users work with. In this example, the Supervisor sets up a universe containing information about global sales, and gives different permissions to each user in a user group. Now: Maria can access the entire universe and retrieve any rows she wants. Tom can access the universe, but can retrieve rows only when the country is France. Janis and Frank can access the universe, but can retrieve rows only when the country is USA. Tom creates a document based on this universe, and then sends it to all four users via report bursting. Users receive a copy of the document containing only the data that each user has the right to see. This means that Maria sees all the information, Tom sees only the France-related data, and Janis and Frank see only the information about the U.S. Performance issues Report bursting generates a separate copy of the document for each recipient. If you have 100 recipients, you need 100 times as much processing power as when you send it to just one recipient. This may have a substantial impact on system performance. However, if you send a document to 100 recipients without report bursting, it takes very little extra time. The document is generated only once, then simply copied 100 times. Report bursting

82 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Consider these performance issues when deciding whether to use report bursting. Setting report bursting To set report bursting for a task: 1. Open the report you want to send using BusinessObjects. 2. From the File menu, select Send To > Broadcast Agent. The Send Document to Broadcast Agent dialog box appears. 3. Click the Actions tab. 4. Select the refresh option: Refresh with the profile of each recipient Report bursting to user groups If you want to use report bursting to send a document to every member of a group, you don t need to select every individual user. Instead, select Refresh with the reference profile of each group along with Refresh with the profile of each recipient in the Actions tab as shown below: You then select the user group: 1. Click the Distribution tab. 2. Select Distribute via the BusinessObjects Repository. 3. Click To... The Select Users and Groups dialog box opens. 4. Select the group or groups, then click Add to add them to the list of Document Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 83 Recipients. 5. Click OK. Broadcast Agent generates a separate copy of the document for every individual user within the group, based on each user s security profile. For standard BusinessObjects users, the default inherited security setting is Do not refresh with the reference profile of each recipient. To enable the report bursting feature for a user or group, you need to disable this security setting in Supervisor. (See Security commands on page 59 for more information on security commands that are relevant to Broadcast Agent.) Report bursting with OLAP data providers You can burst documents containing OLAP data providers built on Essbase or IBM DB2 for OLAP servers. You cannot, however, burst documents built on the other OLAP data providers available with BusinessObjects. When users build an OLAP data provider in BusinessObjects, they must enter the user name and password that provide access to the OLAP database itself. When users schedule documents containing an OLAP data provider, BusinessObjects prompts them to enter that same user name and password. It stores that information in the document, and then lets Broadcast Agent reuse the document. Broadcast Agent refreshes the document based on the profile of each recipient. Each profile is determined by a user name and password, which in the case of OLAP documents, is entered by users when they schedule documents. Therefore, Broadcast Agent processes the document once for each recipient, but in each case with the same profile in other words, the same user name and password that the user entered when scheduling the document. NOTE This feature is based on Multiple Refresh Report Bursting (MRRB) technology. For a large number of users, consider using Broadcast Agent Publisher, which offers better scalability by using Single Refresh Report Bursting (SRRB). Essbase and IBM DB2 for OLAP With Essbase and IBM DB2 for OLAP, users can connect to these servers by typing @variable( BOUSER ) and @variable( BOPASS ) instead of entering their full user name and password. Using these variables means that Broadcast Agent can retrieve the user name and password for each recipient when processing the document, and can use this information to generate a version of the document per recipient. Report bursting

84 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide NOTE The restriction on No Password Checking, described in International time zones on page 85, also applies here. You can only use report bursting as described above if Full Password Checking is enabled. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 85 International time zones In international operations, Broadcast Agent displays all dates and times according to the time zone on the client machine. Therefore, the difference between zones is transparent to the user. For example, if the server is in London and the user is in Paris (one hour later), then all times displayed to the user are in Paris time. If the user schedules a task to occur at 2:00 pm Paris time, the task will be processed on the server in London at 1:00 pm London time. If a user in New York (five hours earlier than London) views the same task, it will appear from New York to be scheduled at 8:00 am, and will be processed at 8:00 am New York time that is, 1:00 pm London time. International time zones

86 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Custom macros and add-ins There are two ways to use VBA custom macros with Broadcast Agent: You can include one or more VBA subroutines in any scheduled document. You (as the BCA administrator) can install one or more VBA subroutines as add-ins on the server machines. Users can then call these subroutines from their scheduled documents. BusinessObjects add-ins are VBA custom macros that are saved as.rea files. They must be installed on a Windows server machine to make them available to Broadcast Agent. To install an add-in, the.rea file must be copied into a folder on the server machine, and registered by adding a registry key on the server where the task is run. This process is described below. The scheduled task is run on a server node, under the account of the BOManager user. Because there is no way to predict which node will be used, you must register the add-in on every server node for the BOManager user. Alternatively, each add-in can be globally registered for all users on the machine. When installing the add-in you must use the same account as the one you used in defining the services in Configuration Tool under Account for Starting Business Objects server. NOTE This process involves making a modification to the system registry, using the Microsoft utility regedit. Do this with extreme care, because damage to the registry can render the machine unusable. Back up the registry before making any changes. A Broadcast Agent running on one node can call a BOManager on any other node, if the BOManager has its Enable Batch Processing parameter set to On. Therefore, if a task calls for a VBA custom macro (add-in), then that add-in must be added to the registry on every Windows server in the cluster that has a BOManager running. TIP To obtain the best performance from your system, use one large.rea file containing many subroutines, rather than using multiple.rea files. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 87 Installing add-ins To install an add-in: 1. Create the registry key, using either of the following methods: - For a specific user: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Business Objects\Suite 6.0\default\BusinessObjects\<user name> User Prefs\busobj\Options\AddIn\<add-in name> - For any BusinessObjects user on the machine: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Business Objects\ Suite 6.0\default\BusinessObjects\BusObj General Preferences\busobj\ Options\AddIn\<add-in name> 2. Within these keys, create three values, similar to the example given in the table below: Value name Type Sample data Description String <add-in name> Filename String $INSTALL_DIR\AddIns\My_Tools\ <add-in name>.rea Installed DWord 0x00000001 The Installed value determines whether or not the add-in is installed, and can have the following values: - Installed = 0: add-in is not installed - Installed = 1: add-in is installed - Installed = 2: add-in is installed and locked (See the BusinessObjects Software Developer Kit in the BusinessObjects Developer Suite 6.5 for more information about developing custom add-ins.) 3. Copy the.rea file containing the add-in into the folder specified in the registry entry. In the example from the table above, the file is copied into: $INSTALL_DIR\AddIns\ Productivity_Tools on each Windows server where BOManager is enabled. Custom macros and add-ins

88 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Universes containing @script functions Using BusinessObjects on a client machine, you can create and refresh reports based on a universe that contains an @script function. This feature is described in the Designer s Guide. The @script mechanism runs on the local client machine, and cannot be processed correctly on the server. To refresh this type of report via a serverbased component (Broadcast Agent, WebIntelligence, or 3-tier BusinessObjects), do one of the following: Copy the code from the VBA macro called by the @script function to a VBA custom macro within the document. The code will be accessed from within your documents. See Introduction to Developer Suite for more information about custom macros. Copy the code from the VBA macro called by the @script macro to a VBA add-in (.rea file). This enables all documents sent to the cluster to use the same code. Install the add-in on the Broadcast Agent, WebIntelligence, or 3-tier BusinessObjects server for all users. (For more information, see Custom macros and add-ins on page 86.) Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 89 Upgrading from version 5.x After upgrading to Broadcast Agent version 6.x, previously scheduled jobs are recovered and reprocessed by the new Scheduler. If the task is based on a WebIntelligence document or a 2-tier BusinessObjects document, the document is kept in 2.x/5.x format. Therefore, 2.x/5.x users can still open, edit, and save them. If you edit (and thus upgrade) a 2.x/5.x document and save it as a corporate document in a 6.x Business Objects product (such as InfoView), all previous scheduling information is lost, and 2.x/5.x users can no longer work on it. NOTE For general information on upgrading a Business Objects system from version 2.x/5.x to version 6.x, see Upgrading from a Previous Version. Broadcast Agent Scheduler A version 5.x Scheduler cannot process 6.x WebIntelligence and BusinessObjects documents. You can associate a version 5.x and a version 6.x Scheduler to the same Broadcast Agent, if there is a version 2.x cluster and a version 6.x cluster connected to the same repository. The version 6.x Scheduler can: create a new task with the same properties (except status) as a task that has failed A log of the failed task is maintained. extend expiration dates of expired tasks export a list of scheduled tasks in.csv format The list can then be printed from any.csv viewer. export scheduled documents to Excel perform batch processing of WebIntelligence 6.x (.wid) documents. handle documents with or without prompts (refresh and send to users or save as a corporate document) Upgrading from version 5.x

90 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Broadcast Agent Console There are only minor changes between version 5.x and 6.x Broadcast Agent Consoles. A version 6.x Console can connect to a 5.x repository and a 2.x cluster, but in this case it cannot execute Run Now, Interrupt Task, or Purge. A version 5.x Console can connect to a 6.x repository with a 2.x cluster, but in this case it cannot display the document type for 6.x tasks. Versions 5.x and 6.x Consoles cannot function together on the same machine, as version 6.x automatically uninstalls version 5.x. You can use both versions to access the same node, but they must be installed on different machines. Mixed-version deployments Mixed-version deployments (version 6.x desktop products alongside version 5.x) may cause problems for document exchange within a company. EXAMPLE For example, suppose a version 6.x user receives a version 5.x document. This user modifies the document, saving it in version 6.x, and then sends it to Broadcast Agent for further processing. Broadcast Agent processes the document and because it is now a version 6.x document saves it in version 6.x format. A version 5.x user who receives the document will not be able to open it. You can avoid this situation by creating two document domains for a mixed user population: one for version 5.x users, the other for version 6.x users. Users sending documents to the repository or to Broadcast Agent can select the document domain that corresponds to the Business Objects version they are working with. Channel tasks There is no Channel option in version 6.x, but previous tasks continue to be executed. In 6.x, the Channel option does not appear in the Available Actions list in the Schedule Corporate Documents dialog box. Hierarchical categories Hierarchical categories are a new feature in version 6.x. With hierarchical categories, you can create subcategories within categories, to any depth you want. You can then associate a document with one or more of these categories or subcategories. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 91 Every category can have zero, one, or several subcategories. The hierarchy of categories is a simple tree. The top-level categories are displayed in an area called Corporate Home. A version 5.x Broadcast Agent Console displays both version 5.x categories and hierarchical categories. The hierarchical category appears as a version 5.x name with special characters (such as a forward slash) in the Categories column. If there are no separators in the name, it is assumed that a hierarchical category was not created; they are interpreted as root categories in 6.x. A version 6.x Console can display both 5.x and 6.x categories. If you create a hierarchical structure in 6.x, the 6.x user sees the hierarchy but the version 5.x user sees a flat list of categories. Version 6.x ignores orphan categories. Version 6.x has a scan-and-repair feature to delete them. Upgrading from version 5.x

92 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent

The Broadcast Agent Console chapter

94 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Overview Once you have installed Broadcast Agent on your servers, and documents have been scheduled, you can monitor activity using the Broadcast Agent Console. You can install the Broadcast Agent Console anywhere on the same subnet as the server cluster. The Console displays information about all scheduled tasks. You can use the Console to: reschedule a task for a different time manage task status For example, you can cancel a task that is blocking the server. modify task properties customize the console display For example, you can remove from the display the documents that Broadcast Agent has successfully processed. NOTE The Broadcast Agent Console is not the same as the Administration Console, a Java-based tool that enables you to configure the various server modules involved in a Business Objects enterprise solution. Console features The Console offers the following features: fully customizable display You can set up your Console to display any task properties in any order, and then perform a sort operation on any of the fields. lazy refresh The Console display is refreshed only if the status of a scheduled task has changed, a task has been deleted, or a new task added. This frees connections and CPU power for other purposes. recent activity on the status bar The status bar at the bottom of the Console window displays the date and time of the last refresh. improved error logging Broadcast Agent logs error messages to the repository, which means that you The Broadcast Agent Console

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 95 can display the full error message text in the Console. additional task information The Console can display over two dozen properties of scheduled tasks and their documents, including document size, type, macro information, and the name of a document s HTML folder (when it is being published over the Internet). export to CSV You can export the information in the Console to a CSV (comma-separated value) file. This file can be read by any text editor and other standard tools.

96 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Installing and launching the Console You can install the Broadcast Agent Console on any Windows machine in the same subnet as the Broadcast Agent server cluster. For the Console to access the Business Objects repository, the appropriate database middleware must also be installed on the local machine. To access server components in the CORBA cluster, you must install and run the Configuration Tool, and then create a client node. For detailed installation instructions, and for information about the Configuration Tool, see the Installation and Configuration Guide. You can launch the Console from the Windows Start menu, or by using the Run command. Launching from the Start menu 1. From the Windows Start menu, select Programs > Business Objects > Broadcast Agent > Console. The User Identification dialog box appears. 2. Enter the following: - server name: name of the Broadcast Agent whose tasks you want to view - password: of this Broadcast Agent, as defined in Supervisor NOTE Make sure that you enter the name of the Broadcast Agent in the same case as that which was defined in Supervisor, for example BCA in upper case. 3. Click OK. The Broadcast Agent Console

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 97 The Broadcast Agent Console appears. You can modify the column headings in the Console (see Display options on page 98). Launching from the Run command 1. In the Run command line, type bcacons.exe. The User Identification dialog box appears. 2. Enter the server name and password, and then click OK. The Broadcast Agent Console appears. If you cannot log on to Broadcast Agent, check whether a bomain.key file exists. This file is located in the LocData folder of your installation files. TIP You can avoid typing the server name and password each time you log on by using the syntax: -user <username> -pass <password> in the Windows shortcut properties setup. Closing the Console To close the Broadcast Agent Console: From the Console menu, select Exit. Installing and launching the Console

98 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Modifying the display Display options You can choose the information columns you want to see in the Console. The table below summarizes the available options. This column... Actions BatchId Categories Displays this information in the Console: Description of the actions to be performed on the document, such as running a task immediately, or a refresh. Unique ID number that Broadcast Agent assigns to a task. Categories assigned to a document. Condition Formula the user sets when sending the document (Actions tab). For example, if the condition is =Revenue>100000 then Broadcast Agent processes the document if revenue is over $100,000. If revenue is less than or equal to $100,000, the document is not processed and the console displays the error: Condition not met Delete File Watcher Whether or not the user chose one of the delete file options (Scheduling tab). Description DocId Document type Ended at Error Expiration Date Description of the document that the user entered in the General tab. ID number that Broadcast Agent assigns to a document. One document can have multiple BatchIds and ProcessIds. Whether the document is a BusinessObjects or a WebIntelligence document. Date and time at which Broadcast Agent last finished processing the document. Error message the server returns if the task fails. Expiration date the user set in the Scheduling tab. The Broadcast Agent Console

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 99 This column... File System folder File Watcher Frequency Host Name HTML folder Next Schedule Overwrite Mode Owner Platform execution Priority ProcessId Size Start Date Started At Submission Date Displays this information in the Console: Folder specified for distributing the document via the server s file system. Path to the file specified in the File Watcher option (Scheduling tab). File Watcher enables the processing of tasks only when a given file is present in its specified location. For more information, see File Watcher on page 118. The intervals at which Broadcast Agent processes the document (hourly, monthly, etc.). Name of the machine on which Broadcast Agent will process or has processed the document. Folder specified for distributing the document via the Internet. Date and time at which Broadcast Agent will next process the document. Whether or not the newly processed document overwrites the previous version. Corresponds to the Overwrite Mode option in the Distribution tab. Name of the user who sent the document. Platform used to execute the tasks (Windows, UNIX, or All). Priority set by the user (Normal, High, Low). ID number that the server s operating system assigns to a task. Useful if you want to manage tasks at the server level. Document size, in kilobytes. The first date the task begins to run, as set by the user in the Scheduling tab. Date and time at which Broadcast Agent last started processing the document. Date the document was sent. Modifying the display

100 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Modifying the display To modify the display: 1. In the Console, click Options. The Broadcast Agent Options dialog box appears. 2. Select the columns you want to see in the Console. 3. Use the Move Up and Move Down keys to determine the order in which the columns will appear in the Console. NOTE You cannot remove or modify the columns Document Name and Status, which always remain the first and second column. 4. If you want to set the refresh interval, enter a value in the Refresh Every box. 5. Click OK to return to the Console. Modifying the language If you have installed multiple languages, you can change the language of the Console display: 1. From the Console menu, select Language. 2. From the dialog box that appears, select a language. 3. Click OK. The Broadcast Agent Console

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 101 Security features The Broadcast Agent Console offers a number of features that ensure the security of your work environment. You can: change the Broadcast Agent password lock the Broadcast Agent Console Modifying the password You can modify the password for the current named Broadcast Agent. There may be multiple Broadcast Agents, each with its own password set in Supervisor when the Broadcast Agent was originally defined. You need to know this password in order to start the Console. The password is case sensitive. To modify the password: 1. From the Console menu, select Change Password. 2. In the dialog box that appears, type the old password, and then type the new one. The password can contain up to 35 alphanumeric characters, including special characters or spaces. 3. Confirm the new password, and then click OK. The change takes effect immediately. Locking the Broadcast Agent Console If you plan to be away from your computer for any length of time, you might want to lock the Console to prevent anyone else from using it during your absence. To lock the console: Click the Lock Console icon on the toolbar. Locking and minimizing the Console If you do not want the contents of the Console to be visible on your screen while you are away, you can minimize the Console to an icon. To lock and minimize the Console: On the Console menu, select Lock Iconized. Security features

102 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide To unlock and maximize the Console: 1. From the Console menu, select Lock Console. The Password dialog box appears. 2. Enter the login password, and then click OK. The Broadcast Agent Console

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 103 Basic task management Task status Basic task management includes: Viewing tasks Suspending tasks Deleting tasks Purging a task from the queue Interrupting a task Rescheduling a failed or expired task Exporting the list of scheduled tasks Tasks displayed in the Broadcast Agent Console can have the following status: Successful Failed Expired Waiting Suspended Running Delayed execution Retrying Tasks are either processed or non-processed. Processed tasks in the Broadcast Agent Console can be Successful, Failed, or Expired. Non-processed tasks can have the following status: Waiting: scheduled for later processing Suspended: a task with Waiting status that is paused Delayed execution: the task has reached its scheduled processing date and is on standby to be processed when currently running tasks are completed Retrying: a failed task that is being reprocessed Basic task management

104 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Viewing tasks The Console has three filtering options for task display. To view tasks, you select the filtering option you want: View pending View Log (Failed) View Log (All) View Pending to view all pending tasks View Log (All) to view all tasks View Log (Failed) to view failed tasks only TIP To view a complete list of tasks and actions, you can export the Console display to a csv format file by selecting Export to from the Console menu. (See Exporting the list of scheduled tasks on page 107.) Suspending a task Suspending a task temporarily prevents the task from being processed. You can suspend a task only if its status is Waiting. To suspend a task: 1. Select the task in the Broadcast Agent Console. 2. Click the Suspend icon on the toolbar. The task status appears as Suspended in the Console. 3. To return the task to Waiting status, select the document name, and then click the Suspend icon again. The Broadcast Agent Console

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 105 Deleting a task You cannot delete a task that has a Running status. To delete a task from the task queue: 1. Click the name of the document in the Broadcast Agent Console. 2. Click Delete. 3. In the box that appears, click OK. If the task you selected is associated with a corporate document, a further dialog box appears: 4. Use the options to choose whether to delete only the schedule, or the document as well. Purging the queue Purging the queue deletes the processed documents from the list displayed in the Console. It does not delete them from the repository. You can also set purging automatic parameters in the Business Object Administration Console, as described in the BusinessObjects Administrator s Guide. The default value is every 100 days. Basic task management

106 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide To purge a task from the queue: 1. On the Console menu, select Purge the Queue. The Purge the Queue dialog box appears. Interrupting a task 2. Enter the number of days you want to set as the purge threshold. 3. To purge all tasks, including failed ones, clear the Purge Only Successful Tasks checkbox. By default, Broadcast Agent purges successful tasks only. 4. Click OK. You can interrupt a Running or Retrying task. Interrupting a task does not affect any further processing for which the task is scheduled. To interrupt a task: 1. From the Task menu, select Interrupt. 2. In the dialog box that appears, confirm that you want to interrupt the task. An error message appears, and the task status appears as Failed in the log. Rescheduling failed or expired tasks Broadcast Agent can create a new task with the same properties (except status) as a task that failed. A log of the failed task is maintained. You can also extend the expiration dates of expired tasks. These features allow you to save time when rescheduling documents. NOTE This applies only to tasks scheduled Once. The Broadcast Agent Console

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 107 To reschedule a failed or expired task: 1. Right click the task you want to edit. A contextual menu appears. 2. Click Task Properties. The Task Properties dialog box appears. 3. Click Scheduling. 4. Modify the expiration date and time to some point in the future. 5. Click OK. Exporting the list of scheduled tasks You can export the list of scheduled tasks in.csv (Comma Separated Value) format. Exporting the task list in this way makes the list printable and viewable from a standard text editor. You can then identify whether particular tasks have been scheduled. To export the list of scheduled tasks: 1. On the Console menu, select Export to. 2. Select the location you want. 3. Click Save. Basic task management

108 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Modifying task properties Task properties include: actions Broadcast Agent performs when it processes a document document processing priority: high, normal, or low scheduling information: once, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, at a monthly interval, at a user-defined interval, or using the File Watcher Scheduling is treated in a separate section below (for more information see Task scheduling on page 114) the list of users to receive the processed document the way the document is distributed: via the repository, a corporate intranet, extranet, Internet, or on the file server whether the newly-processed document overwrites the previous version categories, if any, to which the document is assigned In InfoView, users define these properties before they send the document to the server. As the administrator, you can modify many of these properties at any time, as explained in the sections below. Viewing task properties To view the properties of a task: 1. In the Broadcast Agent Console, select the task you want. 2. On the Task menu click Task Properties. The Broadcast Agent Console

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 109 The Task Properties dialog box appears: Modifying the priority of a task A task can have one of three priorities: high, normal, or low. If tasks have identical scheduling information, the status is Waiting, and the next scheduled processing date is in the past, Broadcast Agent first processes the tasks with high priority, then the tasks with normal priority, and finally those with low priority. To modify the priority of a task: 1. In the Task Properties dialog box, verify that the General page is displayed. 2. Select the priority you want, and then click OK. Modifying Actions You cannot modify actions from the Broadcast Agent Console. To modify actions, you must re-send the document to Broadcast Agent. Modifying task properties

110 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Modifying task distribution You can modify the distribution of a document by adding and removing users and groups: 1. In the Task Properties dialog box, click the Distribution tab. 2. Click To. The Select Users and Groups dialog box appears. Overwrite mode 3. Select the users and user groups you want to add to the distribution list, and then click Add. 4. To remove users or groups from the distribution list, select them in the Document recipients pane, and then click Remove. 5. Click OK. Overwrite mode, set by default, prevents the creation of too many processed documents in the repository. When this option is set, and Broadcast Agent processes a document, the new version overwrites the previous one. BusinessObjects users can switch Overwrite mode to On or Off when they send a document to Broadcast Agent or when they publish a document to Corporate Documents. To change the setting, select Overwrite Mode on the Distribution page of the Send Document to Broadcast Agent dialog box as shown below: The Broadcast Agent Console

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 111 If you do not want to overwrite the previous document, clear this option. When publishing a document to Corporate Documents select or clear Overwrite Mode under the Actions tab of the Schedule Corporate Documents dialog box: Modifying task properties

112 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide WebIntelligence users can select the overwrite mode when saving a document as a Corporate Document in InfoView as shown below: Assigning categories Users with sufficient rights can assign categories to documents when they publish to Corporate Documents, or send them to Broadcast Agent or to users. When retrieving documents, users can then filter their searches by category. NOTE Broadcast Agent, along with the entire Business Objects suite of products, now supports the use of hierarchical (nested) categories. Changing the task platform To change the platform for a scheduled task, the same Broadcast Agent must be running on both a Windows server and a UNIX server, and the Supervisor option UNIX-Only Broadcast Agent must be cleared. The Broadcast Agent Console

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 113 To change the platform: 1. In the Broadcast Agent Console, right-click the task you want. 2. Select Change platform, then the new platform (operating system) you want. If you select All, the task runs on the first available machine, regardless of the operating system. Modifying task properties

114 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Task scheduling The Scheduling page in the Task Properties dialog box displays the current scheduling information for a task. The time units displayed are based on the system time. Broadcast Agent automatically converts all time-related information in documents sent from a machine with a Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) format. You can modify task scheduling using the task s scheduling options, or the File Watcher feature. (See File Watcher on page 118.) To modify the scheduling of a task: 1. On the Scheduling page, click Change. The Change Schedule dialog box appears. 2. In the Run area on the left side of the window, select the option that corresponds to the schedule you want. The options are described in the sections below. 3. In the Start At area, type or select a new date and time, then click OK. The Task Properties dialog box reappears. 4. Click OK to close the Task Properties dialog box. The Broadcast Agent Console

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 115 Task scheduling options Broadcast Agent provides a number of task scheduling options: Once Hourly Daily Weekly Monthly Monthly interval User defined Once The Once option processes the task only once at a specified date and time. By default, the current date and time appear in the dialog box. Type or select the new date and time. Hourly The Hourly option causes the task to be executed once per hour during the interval specified. For example, if you set 30 in the Minutes after the hour field, 4:00 in From, and 6:00 in To, the task is processed twice: at 4:30 and 5:30. Task scheduling

116 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Daily The Daily option processes the task on one or more days of the week, at a given time, at weekly intervals. Weekly The Weekly option processes the task on a particular day of the week at a given time. Monthly The Monthly option processes the task on selected days of the month at a particular hour. The Broadcast Agent Console

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 117 Depending on the database used by the security domain, you cannot send a task if you select 1st Day of the month. Monthly Interval The Monthly Interval option processes the task on a given day and time, but only at the monthly interval you specify for example, every two months. User Defined The User Defined option processes the task at the interval you specify. When you schedule a report there may be a delay in the report s running time because of the Scanning Repository Delay. The next scheduled time of the report is based on the delayed time. The Calculate schedule from start date option launches the task at a time based on the original start date specified. Task scheduling

118 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide File Watcher File Watcher allows the processing of a task only when a given file is present in a particular location. It is assessed before the processing of each occurrence of the task. For example, a database administrator posts a text file to signal the successful reload of a data warehouse; when the text file is in the specified location, Broadcast Agent refreshes and distributes the documents. You can use any kind of file with File Watcher. The file can be located anywhere: on a server, on the client, or on a file system. The only restriction is that the Broadcast Agent machine must be able to access the file. With File Watcher, Broadcast Agent can work with all existing systems, including legacy systems, anywhere on the network. For example, a legacy system creates a file that Broadcast Agent is watching. Broadcast Agent then executes the scheduled task. This would create a new document that in turn triggers the creation of another document. This cascading chain of reactions and documents tied to predetermined conditions is called report chaining. Access rights In order to use File Watcher, the BOManager used for a particular task must have access rights to the specified file and location. When a Broadcast Agent Scheduler detects a document in the repository that is due to be processed, it contacts the least busy BOManager on the cluster. This launches a BusinessObjects session (busobj.exe), which extracts the document from the repository and processes it. Each BOManager is configured with the user name and password of a Windows or UNIX user, and therefore has specific access rights to machines, disks, and directories. For example, if you enter x:\temp\business Objects\file.txt in the File Watcher box on the Scheduling Options page, the BOManager associated with the Broadcast Agent you selected must have read rights for server x and for the directory Temp\Business Objects on that machine. See the Installation and Configuration guide for more information on configuring server rights. The Broadcast Agent Console

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 119 How to set File Watcher 1. In the Task Properties dialog box, click the Scheduling tab. 2. Select the File Watcher checkbox. 3. Enter the path or browse for the file you want. 4. Choose the delete option you want from the drop-down list-box. 5. Click OK. You can use either of two path naming conventions: A standard local or remote pathname, such as c:\program Files\Business Objects\Demo\file.txt - or - x:\temp\business Objects\file.txt A valid UNC UNC is a format for the location of resources on a LAN. UNC uses the following format: \\<server name>\<shared resource pathname> Business Objects recommends that you use a UNC because Broadcast Agent is distributed; therefore, a scheduled job may run on one of any number of servers. If you use a remote pathname, the drive must be properly configured on the BOManager server. When you use a UNC, however, the name of the server or machine on which the file is located is included, thereby ensuring that the Broadcast Agent server can find it. If the Broadcast Agent can t locate the file at task execution time, it will not run the task. However, Broadcast Agent will periodically try to refresh the document. How often it looks for the file is determined by the Scanning Repository Delay parameter, which you set when configuring the software on the server side. The default setting is 10 minutes. EXAMPLE Using File Watcher to control a task execution order You have five tasks that you want to send to Broadcast Agent. You submit Job1, Job2, Job3, Job4, and Job5 at the same time, and want them to finish in numerical order, Job1 first and Job5 last. Of course, Job1 may take more time than Job2, so you must make sure each begins only after the previous job is completed. Task scheduling

120 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide To make all jobs submitted at the same time finish in a specific order, you use File Watcher. When selecting the actions for each job, you save each one as a text file and then set each job to watch for the previous report s text file. For example, Job2 watches for job1.txt (which is then deleted to allow this solution to continue more than once) while Job3 watches for job2.txt, and so on. The Broadcast Agent Console

Troubleshooting chapter

122 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Overview This chapter provides solutions to a range of problems that may occur when using Broadcast Agent. Among the issues covered: Failed connection to the repository Not all documents displayed in InfoView Problems with printing performance Dates and times don t match during international operations Cartesian products Data from user-produced objects not appearing Where you can get more troubleshooting information If you receive an error message, the Error Message Guide can help you resolve the problem. This guide provides descriptions and solutions to the error messages returned by Business Objects products, including Broadcast Agent. For installation issues, see the Installation and Configuration Guide. See Maximizing Your Information Resources on page 7 for a list of other useful documentation and information sources. Troubleshooting

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 123 Resolving database connection failure Database connection password changes Between the time a BusinessObjects user sends a document to Broadcast Agent and the time Broadcast Agent starts processing the document, the database connection password might be changed (for example, by the database administrator). In this case, Broadcast Agent fails to process the document because this password is incorrect. With Broadcast Agent, you can reset the password so that the database connection can work: 1. Obtain the new database connection password. 2. Relaunch BusinessObjects and enter the new password in the Password field of the User Identification dialog box. 3. On the Tools menu, select Console. The Console appears. 4. Verify that View non-processed tasks is selected: 5. Select the failed task in the document list (ensure that the task's status is Waiting, not Failed). If you are not sure which document to select, then select all Waiting documents. 6. Click Resolve. BusinessObjects resets your password. This password is then used in the Resolving database connection failure

124 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide database connection required to refresh the document. NOTE The Resolve button is available only when you run the Console in BusinessObjects. It is not available on the Broadcast Agent machine. Database connection timed out An internal module called SQLBO handles a pool of connections to the different domains involved. The connection can be physically closed (Disconnect after each transaction) or only logically closed (Keep the connection active during the whole session). The time-out may be caused by the Keep the connection active during the whole session option in the Advanced tab of the Connections dialog box. When it is selected, Broadcast Agent still treats the connection as open. This results in an error such as cannot fetch document. You can fix this situation as follows: 1. Open Supervisor, and perform a safe recovery on the security domain on the machine where Broadcast Agent is running. 2. Log in to Supervisor using an account with General Supervisor rights, and then edit the connection property on the document domain. NOTE It is not possible to modify the security domain connection from Supervisor. The only way to modify the connection is to perform a safe recovery. Troubleshooting

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 125 File Watcher cannot find files By default, on Windows servers, Scheduler processes are owned by the System account. This account does not have network access permissions. Therefore, File Watcher cannot find files over the network. The solution is to change the ownership of the WebIntelligence Orb and WebIntelligence Manager services from which Scheduler ownership is inherited. To do this: 1. Select or create a user account that has the necessary network access permissions. To give the Scheduler the same access permissions as the BusinessObjects processes it starts, use the same user account as for the BOManager processes (as specified during installation). 2. On the machine where the Scheduler is running, open the Control Panel and select Services. 3. Select WebIntelligence Orb, and then click Startup. 4. In the Log On As panel, select This Account, and then enter the name of the user from step 1. 5. Enter and confirm the password, and then click OK. 6. Select WebIntelligence Manager, and then repeat steps 4 and 5. 7. Restart the machine. NOTE On UNIX systems, Schedulers by default have the same owner as BusinessObjects processes. Therefore, they have the correct network permissions. File Watcher cannot find files

126 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Report bursting Report Bursting is unavailable From within BusinessObjects, there are two possible workflows to send a document to Broadcast Agent: File menu > Send To > Broadcast Agent File menu > Publish To > Corporate Documents, and then click Schedule. If you use the second option, report bursting is unavailable (grayed out). This is because Corporate Documents are available to all registered users, and so report bursting is not meaningful in this context. Instead, use the first workflow (File > Send To > Broadcast Agent). On the Distribution page, specify the users and groups you want to receive the document. Password to the OLAP server changes When BusinessObjects users schedule documents containing an OLAP data provider, they can select Refresh With The Profile of Each Recipient (report bursting). Broadcast Agent then bursts the documents. But if the server administrator changes the password for the OLAP server, the user s password is no longer the same as the one required to access the data. Broadcast Agent cannot process the document. In this case, the user has to change the password for the OLAP server, so that it is identical with the new password. The BusinessObjects Supervisor can do this, or users can do it themselves in BusinessObjects (Tools > Change Password) if they are working with a connection to the repository. Troubleshooting

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 127 InfoView doesn t display all documents The InfoView Scheduled Documents page, which displays the list of documents scheduled by the current user, can display a maximum of 1000 entries simultaneously. Therefore, if you schedule more than 1000 documents from a single user account, and you are using InfoView to monitor these tasks, some of the entries will not be displayed. There are several solutions: Use the Sort buttons at the top of the InfoView Scheduled Documents page to show either the first 1000 or the last 1000 items. This means you can control up to 2000 documents in this way. In Supervisor, create a new user account with the same privileges as your current account. Divide the scheduling of the documents between the two accounts. If you are on the same LAN as the Broadcast Agent cluster, you can install the Broadcast Agent Console, and use it instead of the InfoView Scheduled Documents page. The Console can display an unlimited number of scheduled items, and also gives a greater degree of control than the InfoView Scheduled Documents page. (See The Broadcast Agent Console on page 93.) InfoView doesn t display all documents

128 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Low printing performance Your users can schedule documents to print on any printer that is configured on the server machine where the task is processed. However, if the printer is connected to the server over a low bandwidth network connection, this can have an adverse effect on network performance. The PostScript file which is sent from the cluster to the printer is often quite large, especially for complex reports. Sending this over a slow network connection can impair performance. Instead, try sending the file to a client machine at the remote site in a more compact format, such as:.rep file BusinessObjects report format Allows all features, including refresh and analysis, subject to security permissions. This option requires a licensed BusinessObjects client machine at the remote site..rtf.txt.pdf.xls To do this: 1. In BusinessObjects, select File > Send To > Broadcast Agent. 2. Select the Actions page of the Send to Broadcast Agent dialog box. 3. Choose one of the following actions and click Add: Save as PDF, Save as text, or Save as RTF. 4. Click the action in the Selected actions column and click Properties. The Select Folder dialog box appears. 5. Enter the machine name and folder name on the remote site. For example: \\RemoteMachine\Mydocs 6. To send the.rep file to the remote machine, use the Distribute via server file system option in the Distribution page, specifying a location on the remote site such as: \\RemoteMachine\MyDocs Troubleshooting

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 129 Problems with time zones In international operations, Broadcast Agent displays all dates and times according to the time zone on the client machine. Therefore, the difference between zones is transparent to the user. In general, this system works effectively, and makes it easy for users to work across time zones. However, if the Broadcast Agent server has a different date than the client machine at the moment a document is submitted, then a repeated scheduled task may occur either 24 hours earlier or 24 hours later than intended. A similar situation may arise if the server and client machines are on the same date but in different time zones. This problem does not apply: to the first occurrence of any scheduled task if the client is in the same time zone as the server To solve the problem, when you schedule a document for repeated processing (every week, every month, etc.): 1. Verify that the date on the client machine is the same as the date on the server machine. 2. Set the time zone on the client machine to be the same as the one on the server cluster. 3. Schedule the task (send it to Broadcast Agent). 4. Set the time zone on the client machine back to its previous value. See your client machine s operating system documentation for more information on setting the time zone. Problems with time zones

130 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Add-ins causing errors BusinessObjects add-ins are VBA custom macros which are saved as.rea files. They must be installed on Windows server machines to make them available to Broadcast Agent. To install an add-in, the.rea file must be copied into a folder on the server machine, and registered by adding a registry key on the server where the task is run. (See Custom macros and add-ins on page 86.) If you have several nodes in your cluster, and register an add-in on one node, but forget to add it to the registry in the other nodes, an occasional problem may be caused. Sometimes the task runs, but sometimes it causes errors. The solution is to register the add-in on every server node where the BOManager process is enabled and has its Enable Batch Processing parameter set to On. Troubleshooting

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 131 Documents with a Cartesian product Documents that contain a Cartesian product can use up a significant amount of processing time. This usually results from a problem in query design, such as the failure to join two or more tables with a Where clause. In rare cases, however, a Cartesian product is a correct and necessary feature of a query. You can solve the problem by doing any of the following: Modify the document to include an extra join or Where clause Use Designer to change the universe parameters to allow Cartesian products Use Supervisor to grant the user permission to use Cartesian products. For more information about Cartesian products and how to prevent them, see the Designer s Guide. Documents with a Cartesian product

132 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Data disappears from user objects BusinessObjects users can create their own objects, called user objects, to provide data in addition to that provided by the universes (see the BusinessObjects User s Guide: Accessing Data and Data Analysis). Broadcast Agent processes documents containing user objects, but the user objects are ignored. The corresponding data is not contained in the document. Broadcast Agent returns an error message ( Some obsolete objects have been removed ) to the Console. What you can do User objects are designed for individual use. If you need them for wide distribution across your company or organization, use the universe designer to convert the user objects into regular universe objects. Then, in BusinessObjects: 1. Import the updated universe from the repository. 2. Remove the user object from the query. 3. Add the new, converted object. 4. Run the query. 5. Resend the document to Broadcast Agent. Another option is to define a new universe that contains the user objects. Then, you can allow access to the new objects only to users who have permission to access the new universe. For information on importing universes and editing documents, see the BusinessObjects User s Guide: Accessing Data and Data Analysis. Troubleshooting

Solving Business Problems with Broadcast Agent chapter

134 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Overview In this chapter, we examine some advanced ways to use Broadcast Agent, focusing on how Broadcast Agent can dramatically improve the performance of an enterprise business intelligence solution. The discussion involves real-world business scenarios. Solving Business Problems with Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 135 Typical Business Objects deployment In this example, we ll discuss a typical deployment of Business Objects products. The deployment includes both BusinessObjects and InfoView users. We ll see how Broadcast Agent can be introduced in order to improve the overall usability and performance of the deployment. Deployment overview In this typical deployment, the company s main site has 200 users of full-client BusinessObjects, each with a Windows machine and a direct connection via a high-speed LAN to two powerful database servers, one hosting the Business Objects repository and the other hosting the main corporate data warehouse. Additionally, 5,000 users worldwide have thin-client access, via the Internet, to a Business Objects server. This server in turn accesses the repository and corporate database servers. Users Users can be roughly divided into four main groups: Supervisors and universe designers 20 Power users who create reports 40 Report consumers who also perform some analysis 100 full-client; 100 thinclient Report consumers 40 full-client; 4,800 thin-client Documents Four complex documents are refreshed, on most working days, by certain designated power users. These reports represent summaries of the global operations of the company, and involve millions of rows of data. The documents are saved to the Corporate Documents area of the repository; users with the required access rights can view them. Additionally, the 40 power users have produced several documents of their own. Some are stored on their local disks, and some are published as Corporate Documents in the repository. Room for improvement In the scenario described above, the system s performance varies considerably. At times, a given document can be refreshed in twenty seconds; at other times, it can take twenty minutes. This is because the power users refresh the four Typical Business Objects deployment

136 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide complex documents at different times during the day. Because this requires the analysis of millions of rows of data, system performance is reduced significantly during these periods. Also, because the four documents are refreshed at unpredictable times during the day, it is not immediately clear to other users how current the information is. Sometimes users assume it is up-to-date when it is actually several days old. Realizing this, some users refresh the documents every time they access them. This is an additional drain on resources, because the same document can be refreshed by multiple users in the space of a few minutes. Although the underlying data may not have changed significantly, the database still needs to sift through all the figures every time the document is refreshed. Benefits of Broadcast Agent To improve this system s performance, you can: 1. Install and configure Broadcast Agent. 2. Grant power users the right to schedule documents. 3. Schedule each of the four major documents to run every night at off-peak processing times. For example, at 10:00 pm, 11:00, 12:00, and 1:00 am respectively. 4. Encourage the power users to schedule their own documents at off-peak times. Document refresh can be scheduled to occur at times when network traffic and user activity is low; for example, at night or over the weekend. With Broadcast Agent, users know that the major documents are always up-todate, even if the power user responsible for producing the documents is absent or busy. General users no longer need to refresh these documents every time they are accessed. The end result: users are pleased that the system is significantly faster and more reliable. Solving Business Problems with Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 137 Report bursting: a business scenario With report bursting in Broadcast Agent, you can simultaneously produce several different versions of the same document for different recipients, each version reflecting the recipient s different access rights. (See Report bursting on page 81.) Consider this scenario: An organization has employees in six different countries, each with its own separate management structure. World headquarters has asked for human resources reporting to be standardized across the company. To meet this requirement, you design a detailed BusinessObjects document containing complex tables, calculations, and graphs showing employee salaries and related human resources information across the organization. The document is refreshed each week via Broadcast Agent. World headquarters now wants the same report distributed to senior management in each country. However, you have been asked to restrict the information available, so that each local team sees only the data relevant to staff in their own country. The solution is report bursting. You need to do the following: 1. Modify the profile of each local recipient, as defined in Supervisor, to include a condition for access to the universe used as a basis for the report. For example, this condition might be "Where Country = France " for the French management team. 2. Schedule the document with Broadcast Agent, specifying the recipients, including the local teams in each country. 3. Verify that the Refresh with the profile of each recipient option is selected on the Actions tab. The recipients each receive only the data their permissions allow. Report bursting: a business scenario

138 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Custom macros for custom solutions Because BusinessObjects includes VBA as a built-in customization and development language, you can add almost limitless functionality to your scheduled tasks. (See Custom macros and add-ins on page 86.) To give you an idea of what can be achieved with this type of solution, this section presents two examples of custom deployments. Both of these solutions were developed on-site by Business Objects consultants. Because of the easy-to-use debugging and development tools built into the product, both systems needed only a very short lead time to be implemented, tested, and released as live production systems. Automatically distributing documents to email recipients The company needs to send WebIntelligence and BusinessObjects documents to a long list of recipients, including suppliers, customers, and extranet partners. These recipients are not necessarily BusinessObjects users and not necessarily listed in the repository, but each must have a carefully-tailored selection of reports delivered regularly. The names and contact details of these recipients, together with the list of documents and format required by each of them, are stored in an Oracle database. Some users can access a secure website to update this database automatically. For example, they can unsubscribe a particular document, or send notification of a change of email address. One solution is to use Broadcast Agent to refresh the reports as needed, then call a VBA custom add-in to provide a distribution and conversion mechanism. The reports can easily be converted into a range of formats, including HTML, RTF, XLS, and plain text, as well as BusinessObjects and WebIntelligence reports. Then they can be distributed to the correct recipients, via any of a range of distribution methods that include email, fax, and SMS (mobile phone or pager) messaging. This can be implemented using a fairly simple piece of VBA code with the following functionality: Read parameter values for reports from a separate database Read distribution destinations from a separate database Refresh the report with the specified parameter values Save the reports with new report names (for example, adding the system date Solving Business Problems with Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 139 to the name) Distribute the reports to a specified destination folder on the network in any of the following formats: HTML, RTF, PDF, XLS, or TXT Distribute via SMTP (email) in any of the following formats: REP, RTF, PDF, or zipped HTML This solution offers a low cost of ownership because the distribution list can easily be changed using a simple Oracle query. This makes it ideal for a self-service, web-based interface. Any number of new mass-distribution documents can also be added, simply by including a call to the VBA function when sending the documents to Broadcast Agent. Managing database resource calculations In this business case, the company wants to make sure that the back-end database is never overloaded by simultaneous requests from Broadcast Agent. If several documents each based on a huge quantity of underlying data are all refreshed simultaneously, this can severely impact the response time of the database for other users. To prevent this, a custom solution was developed by Business Objects consultants. For every scheduled document, the required database server resources are defined, based on the CPU time used to run the query. For example, the Sales report takes 10 seconds of CPU time, the Production report takes 20 seconds, and the ScoreCard report takes 30 seconds. These values are stored in a text file, as follows: SalesReport = 10, ProductionReport = 20, ScoreCard = 30 When the Broadcast Agent Scheduler determines that a task is due for processing, it calls a VBA custom macro, which checks whether the calculated resources are less than a given threshold; in this example, say, 35. If the resources needed are greater than the threshold, the task is not run. This ensures that we do not try to start more tasks than can be effectively processed simultaneously, and gives us the best performance for the queries on the database. For example, the Scheduler might detect that the ScoreCard report is due to be started, and that the other two reports are already being executed. This would overload the database, slowing it down for other system users. Therefore, the processing of ScoreCard is automatically delayed until one of the other two reports is completed. Custom macros for custom solutions

140 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide NOTE The VBA macro communicates with the Broadcast Agent Scheduler through File Watcher. The VBA code creates or deletes a file to indicate whether or not enough CPU time is available to enable a document to be processed. Putting BusinessObjects documents on the web without using WebIntelligence In this scenario, a large company had an increasing number of documents to be distributed to a range of internal and external users. Some users wanted reports delivered by fax, others by email, and still others in the form of web pages. Some wanted their mobile phones to be alerted to certain situations, using SMS messaging. The company s IT staff developed a Microsoft Access front end to their existing Oracle database. It contained the names of the report recipients, the reports they are to receive, and the means by which the reports are sent. In addition, there was associated information such as fax number, email address, network printer name, and file name and location. Available transmission media included: fax email hard-copy sent by post text file HTML document available via the web SMS to mobile phone or pager Business Objects consultants developed a VBA macro, to be attached to each document sent to Broadcast Agent. When the document is refreshed as scheduled, the macro reads the Access database and delivers the documents. This solution has several key benefits: When a distribution profile changes, no reports have to be modified. Recipients do not need to be registered as BusinessObjects or WebIntelligence users in a repository. It is easy to obtain meta-reports listing data such as which recipients were sent a given report, via which medium, and when. If recipients change their email address, fax number, or preferences, the database can be updated by the recipient (self-service) via a secure website. Solving Business Problems with Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 141 This makes the system ideal for a wide range of automated informationdelivery applications, including web portals and executive alerting. Custom macros for custom solutions

142 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Solving Business Problems with Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 143 Index $BO_FILE_PATH 45.csv, exporting task list to 107.lsi files 49.rea file 86 @Script Functions 88 Symbols 3-tier deployments clusters 30 A Add-Ins 88 add-ins 86, 87, 130 Attach Scripts to Scheduled Processing 60 Auto-shutdown BO Manager after (parameter) 78 B balancing load 16 BcsScdul_BCA_ID.log file 69 bolight 74, 75 bolight.exe 25 bomain.key 49, 97 BOManager 23, 74 and Schedulers 24 Auto-shutdown BOManager after (parameter) 78 Delete inactive process after (parameter) 77 Delete inactive session after (parameter) 75 Enable macros for interactive users (parameter) 79 enablement 73 Idle loop interval (parameter) 76 Keep exclusive process (parameter) 77 key file management 66 Kill BusObj processes on startup (parameter) 75 Max. number of busy processes (parameter) 76 Max. number of loaded processes (parameter) 76 memory requirements 37 Min. number of loaded processes (parameter) 76 parameters 71 Recycle process (parameter) 78 Scheduler login cache duration (parameter) 79 server sizing 37 Timeout for batch actions (parameter) 79 Timeout for interactive actions (parameter) 79 BOManager parameters 74, 75 BOUSER/BOPASS OLAP data providers, and 83 BreakOnVBAError 50 Index

144 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Broadcast Agent 55-90 access and security 20 and BusinessObjects on same machine 37 Cartesian products in documents 131 changing password for 101 Channel option 90 components 23 configuring 81 Console 90 console 28 csv format 89 deploying 36 deployment 35, 55 File Watcher 118 hierarchical categories 90 kinds of documents it can process 66 logging activity 69 login cache 40 manager 23 managing activity 20 managing errors 20 mixed-version deployments 90 module enablement rules 73 name field 58 name of 96 named 23, 58 optimizing 81 optimizing performance 40 option button in Supervisor 58 password 66, 96 processes 54 report bursting 18, 81 required modules 73 Scheduler 89 setting scheduler shutdowns 69 Some obsolete objects have been removed (error message) 132 starting 71 transactions and resources 51 updating repository 66 user objects, processing documents containing 132 viewing scheduler parameters 61 workflow 30 Broadcast Agent Console 28, 59 closing 97 iconizing 101 locking 101 Purge the Queue command 106 Resolve button 124 viewing tasks 104 window, illustrated 97 Broadcast Agent Manager 73 monitoring Broadcast Agents and Schedulers 61 Broadcast Agent Publisher 83 Broadcast Agents named 59 Business Objects consulting services 11, 13 documentation 10 Documentation Supply Store 9 support services 11 training services 11, 13 Business Objects Services Administrator 16, 63, 71 java applet 61 Business Objects system clusters 30 BusinessObjects on UNIX 25 BusObj 23 busobj.exe 25 C caches 20 pre-loading 40 Scheduler login cache duration 79 caching Broadcast Agent login information 40 caching scheduled documents 40 Cartesian product 131 sending document to Broadcast Agent 131 case sensitivity 101 categories finding documents by category 112 modifying a document s 120 category 112 changing password 101 changing task priority 109 Index

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 145 changing task schedule Daily option 116 Once option 115 Channel option 90 closing Broadcast Agent Console 97 cluster UNIX 34, 39 Windows 34, 39 cluster nodes 72 monitoring Broadcast Agents on 61 clusters 30 defined 30 single-machine clusters, setting up 38 column headings in Console 97 components Broadcast Agent Manager 73 configuration optimization 16 connection information 48 Connections Advanced tab 48 dialog box 48 Personal 48 pool 48, 124 Shared 48 connectivity issues configuration guidelines 48 Console 28, 58, 59 column headings 97 Deleting a task 105 Interrupting a task 106 locking 101 Modifying task properties 108 Options 100 Rescheduling a task 106 task status 103 Console see Broadcast Agent Console consultants Business Objects 11 Control Panel 125 Conversions 44 CORBA 96 CORBA cluster 74 CPU time required for documents 35 csv format 89 customer support 11 D Daily option 116 database security 20 Database Connection 123 date and time 94 Dates and Times 85, 129 deactivating Overwrite mode 110 Delay between retry 23, 67 Delete inactive process after (parameter) 77 Delete inactive session after (parameter) 75 deleting tasks 105 delimiters 44 demo materials 9 Deploying 36 deploying Broadcast Agent 36 deployment 35, 55 Developer Suite 10, 12 Disable 59 Disable Login check box 58 Distributed Solution 30 Do Not Refresh With the Profile of Each Recipient 59 Docagsvr.exe 97 document domain 58 connections to 48 Period for purge (parameter) 68 Purge jobs (parameter) 68 Purge only successful jobs (parameter) 68 purging 68 documentation CD 9 feedback on 10 on the web 9 printed, ordering 9 roadmap 9 search 9 Documentation Supply Store 9 Index

146 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide documents more than 1000 of 127 scheduled 23 domain security 124 domains document 51, 58 security 51 E education see training email recipients 138 Enable 60 Enable Automatic Start (option) 72 Enable Batch Processing 38, 80 Enable Interacive Processing 86 Enable Interactive Processing 80 Enable macros for interactive users (parameter) 79 enabling modules 72 error logging 94 error messages Some obsolete objects have been removed 132 errors managing 20 Excel 89 exiting Broadcast Agent Console 97 Extranet 16 F failover 16, 63 feedback on documentation 10 file system local 16 File Watcher 99 across a network 125 Broadcast Agent cannot find file 119 essential information 118 file locations supported 118 file types supported 118 path to file 119 recommended file path convention to use 119 UNC 119 filenames case-sensitive 44 files bomain.key 97 Docagsvr.exe 97 finding documents by category 112 Frequency 99 G General Supervisor 124 H hierarchical categories 90 Host Name 99 Host pane 74 HTML 140 pathnames 47 HTML Folder 99 I Idle loop interval (parameter) 76 information distributed automatically 16 interrupting tasks 106 Intranet 16 J Java 61 K Keep exclusive process (parameter) 77 key files BOManager 66 used by Broadcast Agent 66 Kill BusObj processes on startup (parameter) 75 Knowledge Base 12 L LDAP 52 load balancing 16, 30 LocData 48, 49 Index

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 147 LocData and sdac.lsi Recommended configuration for 49 locking the Broadcast Agent Console 101 Log On As 125 LSI (Local Security Information) 48 M Manager 125 manager Broadcast Agent 23 Max. no. WebIntelligence 2.x jobs running 67 Max. no. WebIntelligence 6.x jobs running 68 Max. number of busy processes (parameter) 76 Max. number of loaded processes (parameter) 76 memory for BOManager 37 for wiqt_batch 37 memory allocation 37 Microsoft proprietary technologies 39 middleware 96 Min. number of loaded processes (parameter) 76 mobile phone 140 modifying 114 modifying task properties 108 modules enabling on cluster nodes 72 mount 44 MRRB 83 multimedia quick tours 10 multiple groups 58 Multiple Refresh Report Bursting 83 N Nb. max retry jobs 68 Network Performance 128 Next Schedule 99 Number of BOMgr to try 69 O OLAP BOUSER/BOPASS security 83 data providers 50 scheduling documents containing Microsoft OLAP Services data providers 50 scheduling documents containing OLAP data providers 50 servers 50 OLAP data providers 83 Once option 115 Online Customer Support 11 optimization 16 optimizing 81 optimizing Broadcast Agent performance 40 Orb 125 Overwrite mode 51, 99 deactivating 110 Owner 99 P pager 140 parameter Delete inactive session after 75 Enable batch processing 80 Enable Interactive Processing 80 Kill BusObj processes on startup 75 Max. number of busy processes 76 Scheduler login cache duration 79 parameters BOManager 74 Delay between Retry 23 Delay between retry 67 Enable Batch Processing 38 Nb. max running WebI 2.x jobs 67 Overwrite mode 51 Scanning Repository Delay 23, 66 Scanning repository delay 48, 66 Update repository delay 48 passwords Broadcast Agent 66 case sensitivity 101 changing 101 Index

148 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Path Names Summary 85 Pathname Conversions 44 pdac.lsi 48 PDF 43 performance 16 improving 17, 134 Period for purge 68 Permissions file system 43 pool 48, 124 post ("snail mail") 140 presentation cache 40 primary node defined 30 Priority 99 priority, changing 109 processes all enabled by default 73 starting 71 processing distributed 30 Properties 57 Purge jobs 68 Purge only successful jobs 68 purging queue 106 Q queue 105 purging 106 R RAM allocation 37 required for documents 35 recent activity 94 Recycle process (parameter) 78 reducing Console display 101 Refresh BCA List 64 Regedt32.exe 86 Registry 86 Report Bursting and Corporate Documents 126 Report bursting 18 and OLAP 83 example scenario 137 workflow tips 88 report bursting 18, 59, 81 sizing and 35 repository 16 connection to 30 security domain selection support 20 sizing 51 updating task information by Broadcast Agent 66 rescheduling tasks 106 Resolve button, Broadcast Agent Console 124 Retrieve Documents 59 rights 19 RTF 43 Run Scripts/VBA code 59 runaway queries, avoiding 67 S safe recovery 124 scaleability 16 Scanning repository delay 23, 48, 66 schedule changing 114 Schedule corporate documents 60 Schedule Corporate Documents dialog box 90 Schedule Documents command 60 Schedule login cache duration (parameter) 79 schedule, changing Daily option 116 Once option 115 scheduled documents process 23 Scheduled Printing 128 Scheduler 23, 38, 61, 125 login cache 40 Scheduler login cache duration 79 Index

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 149 Schedulers 23, 54, 63 and BOManager 24 and WIGenerator 25 deploying 36 failover capabilities 24 login cache duration 79 monitoring 61 restart automatically 64 server sizing 37 shutdown frequency 69 starting 58 viewing parameters 61 Scheduling across time zones 129 scheduling documents Cartesian products 131 File Watcher 118 OLAP data providers, and 50 sdac.lsi 48, 49 search documentation 9 security changing the password 101 database 20 locking Broadcast Agent Console 101 pass-through 20 reducing Console display 101 unlocking the Broadcast Agent Console 102 Security Commands 87 security commands 83, 87 security domain connections to 48 modifying connection to 124 security domains security domain selection 20 Send Documents for Scheduled Processing 60 sending documents to Broadcast Agent report bursting 18, 81 server rebooted 64 single 30 server name 96 server sizing guidelines 35 memory allocation 37 servers optimizing through caches 20 Services 125 shared connections 50 Single Refresh Report Bursting 83 Size 99 Sizing Broadcast Agent Console 38 sizing the repository 51 SMS (Short Message Service) 140 SMTP 139 Solution distributed 30 speech synthesizer 18 SQL transactions 51 SQLBO 48, 124 SRRB 83 Start Date 99 Started At 99 Status Bar 94 Submission Date 99 Supervisor 59, 96 supervisors 19 support customer 11 suspending tasks 104 swapping space 37 systems administrators 16 T Task Platforms 109 task scheduling 114 Index

150 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide tasks changing priority 109 changing schedule 114 deleting 105 interrupting 106 managing overwrite mode 110 modifying distribution list 110 modifying document s category 120 modifying properties 108 purging queue 106 rescheduling 106 status 103 suspending 104 viewing 104 This Account 125 Timeout for batch actions (parameter) 79 Timeout for interactive actions (parameter) 79 Tips & Tricks 10 To set up a new Broadcast Agent 57 training on Business Objects products 11 troubleshooting 122-132 changing your password when server password has changed 123 documents containing Cartesian products 131 documents containing user objects 132 other information sources 122 scheduling BusinessObjects documents containing Microsoft OLAP data providers 50 scheduling BusinessObjects documents with OLAP data providers 50 Some obsolete objects have been removed (error message) 132 see also Error Message Guide TXT 43 U UNC 119 Universes 88 universes 19 UNIX bolight 74 BusinessObjects on 25 cluster manager 74 multiple nodes on single servers 31 node 74 pathnames 44, 85 version of BusinessObjects 75 UNIX cluster 34, 39 UNIX nodes 25 UNIX servers 44 unlocking the Broadcast Agent Console 102 Update repository delay 48 Use Broadcast Agent Console 59 user profile 19 rights 19 User objects 132 user objects Broadcast Agent, and 132 troubleshooting documents containing 132 user profile 19 users concurrent 35 V variables $BO_FILE_PATH 45 VBA alerts 18 automation 18 customization 18 example deployment 138 macro 48 macros 50, 59, 86, 88 routines 18 VBA in 87 W Waiting time before bind 69 web customer support 11 getting documentation via 9 useful addresses 12 Index

Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide 151 Web Server 59 pathnames 47 WebIntelligence 60 module enablement rules 73 WebIntelligence documents 66 WebIntelligence Manager 125 WebIntelligence Orb 125 WIGenerator and Schedulers 25 enablement 73 Windows pathnames 44 Windows cluster 34, 39 wiqt memory requirements 37 WIQT process 73 WIQT, and schedulers 38 wiqt_batch 74 WISessionManager 73 WIStorageManager 73 Work with Web Server 59 X XLS 43 Index

152 Broadcast Agent Administrator s Guide Index