September 10-13, 2012 Orlando, Florida BICS Connectivity for Web Intelligence in SAP BI 4.0 John Mrozek
Introduction Business Intelligence Consumer Services connectivity for Web Intelligence in SAP BI 4.0 This presentation will outline the new BICS connectivity for SAP Business Objects 4.0. It will show how Webi reporting on SAP BW has changed for the better as well give some technical information that will help those using the solution get the most out of it. Target Audience SAP Business Objects BI 4.0 Administrators who s reporting landscape includes SAP BW systems.
Take Away Upon the completion of this presentation, system administrators will have an understanding of the new architecture of Web Intelligence s connectivity to SAP BW. They will also have an understanding of some of the configuration options and sizing considerations that must be evaluated when such reporting is to be done. Finally, some troubleshooting methodologies will be learned that should speed root cause analysis. In short, the intent of this presentation is to give a deep understanding of BICS connectivity which will lend itself to the maintenance and use of the solution in the years to come.
Agenda 1. About BICS 2. The DSL Bridge 3. Deployment Information 4. General Troubleshooting 5. Let SAP Help 6. How-Tos 7. Q&A
About BICS
What is BICS?
Why BICS?
Why BICS? Advantages OLAP look and feel Can interact with data in BW as well as non BW sources No longer need to manually create / maintain universes (for example, if the underlying BEx Query changes) Improved performance
Special note on BICS Be Aware Business Logic which could previously be defined in the universe must now be defined in the BEx Query since users no longer create universes
The DSL Bridge
What is the DSL Bridge?
Webi Servers and the DSL Bridge Interaction between Webi Servers and the DSL Bridge Previously for BW connectivity, the Web Intelligence Processing Server was responsible for connecting to the database (BW) With BI 4.0, the Dimensional Semantic Layer on the APS actually connects to the database (BW) and returns the results to Webi
Deployment Information
Deployment Information Make sure system is sized correctly Refer to the Sizing Companion for SAP Business Objects BI 4.0 Monitor CPU and memory utilization of the Adaptive Processing Server and add more APS servers if necessary The DSL APS has a recommended minimum heap size of 4GB. 8GB or more is recommended
Deployment Information Make sure monitoring is consistent between Web Intelligence servers and Adaptive Processing Servers Known issues when they are not in sync! Either enable on all webi / APS machines (recommended) or disable on all
Deployment Information Make sure you are on relatively current patches Many improvements in the latest version Support Pack 02 Patch 15 for example improves performance with BICS merged dimensions
General Troubleshooting
General Troubleshooting Look at the patterns Based on what works and what doesn t, hypothesize what the issue is Break down the problem into the smallest components!
Basic Log Analysis Look for E X as well as E and java exceptions 2011 06 22 11:43:03:441-0400 >= E X webiserver_sia_dev.webintelligenceprocessingserver 31892 1076201792 CdzExtRpcChannel:CallMethod: 0.776 src/dslolapaccessserviceimpl.cpp:141:virtual OlapAccess::IOlapResult* OlapAccess::OlapAccessServiceImpl::executeRequest(const std::string&, const std::string&): TraceLog message 806834 2011 06 22 11:43:03:442-0400 >= E X webiserver_sia_dev.webintelligenceprocessingserver 31892 1076201792 DSLOLAPAccessServiceImpl:getDataSet: 0.778 src/dslolapaccessserviceimpl.cpp:165:virtual OlapAccess::IOlapResult* OlapAccess::OlapAccessServiceImpl::executeRequest(const std::string&, const std::string&): TraceLog message 806835 2011 06 22 11:43:03:442-0400 >> E webiserver_sia_dev.webintelligenceprocessingserver 31892 1076201792 remote call to getdataset() failed src/dslolapaccessserviceimpl.cpp:166:virtual OlapAccess::IOlapResult* OlapAccess::OlapAccessServiceImpl::executeRequest(const std::string&, const std::string&): TraceLog message 806836 2011 06 22 11:43:03:442-0400 >> E webiserver_sia_dev.webintelligenceprocessingserver 31892 1076201792 **ERROR:DSLOLAPAccessServiceImpl:Exception caught from dsl_engine.jar: : java.lang.nullpointerexception: while trying to invoke the method org.w3c.dom.node.getnodename() of an object loaded from field com.sap.ip.bi.util.xml.impl.domreader.currentnode of an object loaded from local variable 'this' at com.sap.ip.bi.util.xml.impl.domreader.getname(domreader.java:153) at com.sap.ip.bi.bics.dataaccess.resource.impl.bi.selector.providerselectionobject.extractviewdetailsforopen(providerselectionobject.java:520) at com.sap.ip.bi.bics.dataaccess.resource.impl.bi.selector.providerselectionobject.createopenfunction(providerselectionobject.java:318) at com.sap.ip.bi.bics.dataaccess.resource.impl.bi.selector.providerselectionobject.isapplicable(providerselectionobject.java:389)
Core Dumps Core Dumps (Unix only) Use gdb / dbx to create a stack trace to send in for analysis Use the file command to determine which process crashed Here we can see WIReportServer is the process which crashed Then run dbx and enter where at the (dbx) prompt where will tell us the last functions which were executed at the time of the crash
Core Dumps Core Dumps (Unix only) Logs are very important for troubleshooting core dumps! Look at them to see what happened just before the process crashed Generally we are looking for the workflow / options selected leading up to the problem as well as the functions called Most likely will need to be worked by active global support
Let SAP help
Remote Supportability Tools which Allow SAP to interact with customer data for Root Cause Analysis Can be very helpful if a particular BEx Query causes problems
Remote Supportability Pertinent connection types to be opened R/3 Support - enables remote access to an SAP system via SAP GUI BW RFC Connection - enables a RFC connection to Business Warehouse BW GUI Connection - enables a GUI connection to Business Warehouse
How-Tos
Increasing heap on the Adaptive Processing Server Increase heap here. It s currently set to 1 gb
Monitoring Settings Make sure that the settings are consistent across servers either enabled on all or none!
Creating a dedicated DSL Bridge APS Choose Category Connectivity Services
Creating a dedicated DSL Bridge APS Choose Category Connectivity Services
Creating a dedicated DSL Bridge APS Choose only the DSL Bridge Service
Removing the DSL Bridge from the default APS Make sure to remove the DSL service from other shared APS servers. To do this, stop the Adaptive Processing Server, then right click on the server and choose select services Make sure to remove the DSL service from other shared APS servers. To do this, stop the Adaptive Processing Services Server, then right click on the server and choose select services available to be Services added to the currently hosted APS i.e. not by the APS being used by the APS
Useful Links Sizing Guides Sizing Companion companions / guides https://websmp105.sapag.de/~form/sapnet?_shortkey=01200252310000090633 Knowledge Base Article on splitting APS https://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/1694041
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