SAP BusinessObjects XI 3.1 SP2 – Before You Install…

Posted byDavid Taylor 25 Comments on SAP BusinessObjects XI 3.1 SP2 – Before You Install…

I came across a recently technical support article that I felt was so important,  I wanted to pass it on to anyone and everyone who might be upgrading their SAP BusinessObjects XI 3.1 environment to SP2.  If you try the installation, BEWARE!  Without following the advice below you might find that it takes several hours!  Below are the instructions I gleaned for a recently published technical article.

SP2 Is Slow to Install

Installing XI 3.1 Service Pack 2 on a Windows environment may take a long time (several hours) to complete and here’s why.

  • The problem is with the process of the MSP (Microsoft Patch) installer that we are using for the SP2 install on Windows platform.
  • The install/validate check routine in this process takes approximately around 80% of the install time.
  • When using this installer the process to find and replace a large amount of files takes a long time.

Workaround

As the main bottleneck in the Install process is a MSFT Install/Validate check routine, the workaround is to skip the check by performing a Silent Install
There is a significant reduction in the total time taken.   NOTE:  We can skip the check only on MSI 3.x., the silent install does not help on MSI 4.x.  Please refer to the installation guide for xi31_sp2_install_en.pdf and refer to page 21.

Regarding how to run in Silent mode:

  1. We need to  generate an ini file firstly with the command line: setup.exe -w <response filepath><filename>.ini
  2. Remember to EXIT OUT of the install once you get to the START INSTALLATION dialog box.  Once here choose Cancel.  Now your .ini file should be written out to the directory you specified.
  3. Next,  run the silent install with the command line: setup.exe -r <response filepath><filename>.ini where <response filepath> is the path to the .ini file you created created in step 1.
  4. You then need to run the silent install with the commandline:  setup.exe /qn+

Make sure and read through the installation guide BEFORE you continue.

This runs the installer with all default options and automatically redeploys the war files to the BOBJ-installed Tomcat

Caution:
Note that because the Install/Validate check routine is skipped in order to improve performance, there is a potential scenario where the machine may run out of resources e.g. lack of disk space, partway through the installation. In such a scenario, the system should be rolled back to where it was before originally, and the appropriate logs will be made (assuming logging was enabled).

Limitation of workaround

There were changes between MSI 3.x and MSI 4.x, such that the MSFT Install/Validate check routine is also always executed in machines with MSI 4.x, regardless of whether it is a GUI or Silent installation. Accordingly, the silent install does not help if the MSI 4.x has been installed on the Windows.  Regarding how to know the version of MSI installed on the computer currently, we may right click the file C:windowssystem32msiexec.exe, choose “Properties”, check tab “Version”, or you can run, from the commandlilne, “msiexec /?” and hit enter. There is no way to downgrade the MSI from 4.x to 3.x except re-installing Windows.

SAP Note 1356691 for the XI 3.1 Service Pack 2 Install and Deployment Guide PDF. The section for Silent Install begins on page 21.

25 replies on “SAP BusinessObjects XI 3.1 SP2 – Before You Install…”

  1. I’ve read reports of it taking up to 18 hours, so several hours is kind of an understatement. Mine took a little less than six hours on my (virtual) test machine. I’m not sure which version of MSI is running on my OS, I’m guessing 4.x, it being Server 2008. In which case my silent install didn’t help to shorten the process.

    I’m confused by your step 3 (run setup.exe /qn+). I don’t remember doing this. Isn’t it the case that you either use a response file or run a scripted setup (with the parameters in the command line)?

    I was going to do the upgrade for a client this coming Friday, but I’m hesitant now, because their installation has got a limited amount of free disk left and I don’t want it to abort prematurely.

  2. Sandor – Thanks for your comments. If you download the install XI 3.1 SP2 installation manual (located http://bit.ly/XI2lP), the section regarding silent installs, page 103, includes some additional flags you can use. The /qn+ will prompt you when the installation is finished.

    I definitely would NOT do the install unless I had plenty of disk space. You don’t want to run out of disk space half way through an install. That would be bad news.

    Hopes this helps. Let me know.

  3. Pingback: Follow-up if upgrading to BusinessObjects XI 3.1 SP2… « David Taylor’s Business Intelligence Blog

  4. Thanks! I will certainly try this on my next installation.

    I would like to point out that one of the first messages from the installer is along the lines of: “Checking space requirements…”. So, if the installer is correct in it’s calculations and provided nothing else is happening on the server at the time, I would hope that your cautionary statement above is mitigated.

    thank you again,
    Dan

  5. I tried this today and during the setup.exe -w setup_sp2.ini command, I got the error:

    “The installation source for this product is not available. Verify that the source exists and you can access it.”

    So, while this seems somewhat self-explanitory, I’m not sure why I don’t have source code or why it would be needed for this operation.

    I had downloaded/expanded the correct sp2 patch from what I understood: ENTERPRISE02_0-10007443

    If you know off of the top of your head why this would be let me know, otherwise I’ll just go ahead with the painfully slow installation.

    1. Hi Dan,

      The only reason I could think of that you got the error might be due to the fact that you did not mention the resource path for the ini file. Dave mentions above that you need to input the the file path as well. Hope this helps.

      Thanks.

      Vivek

  6. Dave,

    When I try to install the Client Tools (BO XI 3.1 SP2 FP2) on a machine, I get the following error: “BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 Client Tools FP 2.4: Update cannot install because the version of the product on the system is too low. Setting the SKIP_PATCH_VERSION_CHECK property will skip this check”. It looks like I need to change a registry value. Running a ‘Find’ in regedit did not yield anything. Is there a workaround and what can I do? Your reply is very much appreciated.

    Thanks.

    Vivek

  7. Vivek :Dave,
    When I try to install the Client Tools (BO XI 3.1 SP2 FP2) on a machine, I get the following error: “BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 Client Tools FP 2.4: Update cannot install because the version of the product on the system is too low. Setting the SKIP_PATCH_VERSION_CHECK property will skip this check”. It looks like I need to change a registry value. Running a ‘Find’ in regedit did not yield anything. Is there a workaround and what can I do? Your reply is very much appreciated.
    Thanks.
    Vivek

    Hi Dan, Don’t bother about this one. I was trying to install the Fix Pack 2.4 w/o installing the Service Pack 2 first. I’m instaling the Service Pack 2 now. Hope it runs smooth.

    Vivek

    1. No worries. Glad you got it sorted out. Sometimes the error messages can be confusing and unclear. Remember too that fixpacks are cumulative, so if you install fix pack 2.4, you don’t need to worry about 2.1, 2.2 or 2.3. You must be on the same service pack as the FIRST NUMBER in the fix pack. e.g. Fix pack 2 means you must be on SP 2.

      Thanks for all your comments. I’m glad you are finding this blog useful!

  8. Hi,
    I am trying to install SP2 and I got the dreadful error message saying I ran out of disk space.
    I tried to change the TMP /TEMP environment variables to extract on a different drive than C, but it still extracts on the C drive.
    Any suggestions?

  9. Hi Audejc,

    I have ran into the same issue before and finally found that even you install the software in to D: drive or something else- the installation will need some required free space temporarily on the C: drive.

    I had opened a case with SAP and this is what I have heard from them, so I have to free space on C drive and continue with the SP2 installation.

  10. Hey there,
    Am using a windows 7 machine and i would like to install Business Objects XIR3 on it. i tried changing the compatibilty of the setup.exe to Windows 2003 server and it showed me a message that Client alone can be insatlled on Vista. I continued my installation and i am getting the following error message and i could nt proceed further
    “Error writing to file
    C:WindowswinsxsManifestsx86_Microsoft.VC80.ATL_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_cbb27474.cat.Verify that you have acces to that directory.STW00205”

    Note: I am installing from an Administrator account and have full privileges on the whole machine.

    And also gimme few “How to” video links on BOXIR3 installation. I could nt find anything on YouTube.

    Thanks in advance

    Cheers,
    Savio

  11. Thanks for information about Silent install, it is wonderful blog/website with lot of information.

    Question We install with option, where should be use Silent option (setup.exe /qn+) before -s or -r or both.

    To create ini file
    “setup.exe -s spinstall.ini”
    and to install
    “setup.exe -r spinstall.ini”

    Thanks

  12. I had toi clear C: drive space on a user’s machine as well. We also now get an error for everyone running Crystal reports 2008 (sp2) and they cannot enter it. Has anyone encountered this issue? I tried reinstalling Crystal, but no dice.

  13. More details…

    We an error from all existing Crystal Reports 2008 sp2 installs after installing the service pack 2.6 for BO XI 3.1 on Windows XP client machines. The error is “The procedure entry point….could not be located in the dynamic link library cslibu-3-0.dll”.

    I also tried a clean install of Crystal 2008 sp1 on another upgraded machine and got the same error, then upgraded that install of Crystal 2008 to sp2 and still get the error. I tried this due to Crystal service pack installs solving similar errors for others.

    We also get a win32 error and Deski crashes when users try to edit common variables.

    Anyone have any ideas about either item?

  15. David,

    When I read the limitation regarding the 4.x version of Microsoft patch installer I was worried. The good news here is even though I had a 4.x version of Microsoft installer the SP2 installation took me like hardly 1 hour to finish.

    Thanks
    Bharath.

  16. 3.1 Service Pack 2 silent Installation document.
    1. Create an empty response.ini file
    Create an empty response.ini file on a location that’s easy to reach. You can use any name you like, but to keep it easy I used SP2AppResponse.ini(This file will can be only used on CMS server as we select the option to deploy the web application later- we you have the the tomcat on the same server you can use the option to deploy the web application for creating the appropriate .ini file). For this example I created it on the D: root.

    2. Start the setup with the -w option
    Open a command prompt and navigate to the install directory. Start the setup.exe with the -w option followed by the location of the response file.
    Here setup.exe -w c:SP2AppResponse.ini

    3. Follow all the steps until the installation validation process starts.
    Choose CANCEL here and abort the installation. The SP2AppResponse.ini file will be updated with the options you selected during the setup.
    4. Start the setup with the -r option
    Open a command prompt and navigate to the install directory. Start the setup.exe with the -r option followed by the location of the response.ini file.
    E.g.: setup.exe -r D:SP2AppResponse.ini
    At this point the setup will start on the background, you don’t get any message if the setup is completed or executed successfully. Navigate to the Business Objects home directory (e.g. c:program filesBusiness ObjectsBusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0) and open the Logging directory. There you find an install file that holds all the install information, one of the last lines will show either a success or failure.
    Limitation of workaround
    There were changes between MSI 3.x and MSI 4.x, such that the MSFT Install/Validate check routine is also always executed in machines with MSI 4.x, regardless of whether it is a GUI or Silent installation. Accordingly, the silent install does not help if the MSI 4.x has been installed on the Windows. Regarding how to know the version of MSI installed on the computer currently, we may right click the file C:windowssystem32msiexec.exe, choose “Properties”, check tab “Version”, or you can run, from the commandlilne, “msiexec /?” and hit enter. There is no way to downgrade the MSI from 4.x to 3.x except re-installing Windows.
    We have MSI version as 3.x in UAT and 4.X in Production servers.

    IMPORTANT NOTE: Even I had the 4.X version on my server I was able to install the software in 1hour and 45 mins.

  17. Hi guys,

    Regarding with the info. that you have given, i tried installing it on a system context why is’it that the application SAP cannot be installed? i tried creating a script and a batch file that would drop the whole source including the responseInstall.ini & Uninstall.ini, then it will automatically call the exe which is created by the ini file. can you please advise regarding with this one.

    1. Your question is unclear but I’ll do my best. Since this post was written, SAP has released a new ‘base install’ which includes the original XI 3.0 release + XI 3.1 + SP2, SAP BusinessObjects XI 3.1 SP2, so that users can start with a base SP2. If you are attempting to only install the Service Pak, then you must first have a base install of BusinessObjects running. The error you describe is typically what you see when you don’t already have a base install of BusinessObjects and you attempt to install a service pak. If you need further assistance, please contact the SDN forums or SAP technical support.

  18. ah yes regarding with the base application i already installed that which is SAPGUI & SAP NWBC for Vista, my problem is in local installation the information that you have provided is performing well, which i used the setup.exe -w install.ini then i used setup.exe -r install.ini same procedure as uninstall.ini, now when i tried installing it on a SCCM or network map with system context the application wont run, although i saw the setup.exe and setupengine.exe appear in the process just for while but it doesnt installed. can you help me regarding with this one. i just need to deploy it on a SCCM.. sorry for the lack info.

  19. First of all I want to say great blog! I had a quick question in which I’d like to ask if you do not mind. I was interested to find out how you center yourself and clear your mind prior to writing. I’ve
    had difficulty clearing my thoughts in getting my thoughts out.

    I truly do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first
    10 to 15 minutes tend to be wasted just trying to figure out
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  20. I have installation done for SAP BO 4.1 for server and client.

    After installation..We check and everything working fine…

    Later after 3 months I installed SAP BO 4.1 Service pack 2 for server and SAP BO 4.1 Service pack for client and finally i installed the service pack patch.

    After installation for upgrade server is working fineBut client tool web Intelligence rich client is not responding at all.Its not opening up the Web intelligence rich client window…

    Can some one help on this?

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