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Quick but useful change to Tomcat

January 27th, 2009 No comments

Although I usually like to focus on tips and tricks for BusinessObjects software, I occassionally run across something that I which I had known a long time ago.  As a BusinessObjects administrator how often have you mistyped the URL that takes you to InfoView?  Wouldn’t it be nice if you just typed in the server name and it would take you to the InfoView login page?  Well, the change is quite easy.

How do I override the default home page loaded by Tomcat?

After successfully installing Tomcat, you usually test it by loading http://localhost:8080. The contents of that page are compiled into the index_jsp servlet and therefore warns against modifying the index.jsp files.   Inside $TOMCAT_HOME/conf/web.xml , we can configure which files Tomcat searches for when a directory is specified.  This page was traditionally called a welcome page and all application servers allow you to configure to defaults.  In your web.xml file, look for a section called <welcome-file-list>.  It should look something like:

        <welcome-file-list>
                <welcome-file>index.html</welcome-file>
                <welcome-file>index.htm</welcome-file>
                <welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
        </welcome-file-list>

The default servlet attempts to load the welcome page in the order listed: index.html, index.htm and finally index.jsp.  You can override the index.jsp file by creating an index.html file at $TOMCAT_HOME/webapps/ROOT.  In each directory of my website, I always create an index.html that does a redirect to the correct URL.  This helps avoid the issue of directory listings. Here is an example of a URL redirect:

        <HTML>
        <HEAD>
        <META http-equiv="refresh" content="0;URL=http://mydomain.com/InfoViewApp/logon.jsp">
        </HEAD>
        <BODY></BODY>
        </HTML>

NOTE: This change takes effect immediately and does not require a restart of Tomcat.

Categories: Miscellaneous Tags:

"Scary Times" Success Manual

January 9th, 2009 No comments

Scary Times Success Manual

Recently I came across a great resource that seems so relevent in this current climate.  With all the uncertainty that surrounds many in our community with regards to the economy, employment, and other events that are beyond our control, how can we remain confident.  Dan Sullivan has put together The “Scary Times” Success Manual wich provides 10 ways to transform anxiety about the future into strategic growth, progress and achievement.

I recommend you visit the Strategic Coach website.

You can also download a PDF version of his 10 steps here.

It’s a great read and had helped me to shift my thinking.  I hope it will help you or someone you know.

«Good BI»

Categories: Miscellaneous Tags:

Universe Measures – Divide and Conquer

October 24th, 2008 No comments

I was recently working with a universe and attempting to calculate a ratio between two numbers and coming up with some strange results.  I wanted to share this with you so you didn’t waste as much time as I did trying to solve the problem.

Always Returning Zero

In my example, I had two measures and i wanted to calculate the ratio between this.  I was working on a call center universe and I needed to calculate First Call Resolution Ratio.  That would be First Calls/Total Calls.  The problem was that my calculation was always returning 0.  Here is what the SQL looked like:

select count(dbo.Current_Facts.first_call) /count(dbo.Current_Facts.call_id)
from dbo.Current_Facts

There is nothing wrong with the SQL.  The problem was with the data type.  In my case, both the numerator and denominator are integers, therefore the resulting value is also an integer.  Since there are always less first calls than total calls, the values would be a fraction and therefore were truncated to 0.

An Easy Fix

Once you realize the problem, the fix is simple.  Simply modify the numerator to be a float value.  This will cause the calculate to result in a float value.  In my case I changed the first_call value as casted it as a float so my SQL came out like this:

select cast(count(dbo.Current_Facts.first_call) as float) /count(dbo.Current_Facts.call_id)
from dbo.Current_Facts

Although this should fix the problem, there are probably databases that may require you to be more specific in which case you might modify the SQL to look like this:

select cast(cast(count(dbo.Current_Facts.first_call) as float)/cast(count(distinct dbo.Current_Facts.call_id) as float) as float)
from dbo.Current_Facts

Hopefully this little tip will safe you tons of time spent scratching your head.

«Good BI»

Categories: Miscellaneous, Semantic Layer Tags: , ,

Manually Starting Services

September 19th, 2008 2 comments

Even though the SIA has been setup to automatically start services, another alternative is to control the starting of these services through scripts. One colleague of mine setup his BusinessObjects Enterprise SIA so that only the CMS and the FRS Input and Output services started up automatically.  All other services were setup to start manually.

In his experience, this made the starting of the SIA require less resources making startup (even) less error-prone that it already is.

Batch File for Starting Services

Below I have included all the contents of the batch file which you can download here.  Enjoy…

«Good BI»

:: Cleaning up
del /f /q "C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\Logging\*.log

:: Starting up dependencies
net start "SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER)"

:: CMS configured to startup automatically with SIA
:: See Control Panel Services for startup configuration (automatic)
net start "Server Intelligence Agent (cdi6BOE)"
net start "Apache Tomcat 5.5.20"

:: add timeout to allow CMS to initialize
:: sleep 90

cd "C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\win32_x86"
:: CMS and FRS configured to startup automatically with SIA
:: (CMC > Servers > Properties)
:: ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.CentralManagementServer
:: ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.InputFileRepository
:: ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.OutputFileRepository
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.AdaptiveProcessingServer
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.DestinationJobServer
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.EventServer
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.ProgramJobServer
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.PublicationJobServer

:: Crystal Reports
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.CrystalReportsCacheServer
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.CrystalReportsJobServer
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.CrystalReportsProcessingServer
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.ListOfValuesJobServer
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.ReportApplicationServer

:: Desktop Intelligence
:: ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.ConnectionServer
:: ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.DesktopIntelligenceCacheServer
:: ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.DesktopIntelligenceJobServer
:: ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.DesktopIntelligenceProcessingServer

:: Performance Management
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.DashboardAnalyticsServer
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.DashboardServer
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.PMMetricsServer
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.PMRepositoryServer
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.PMRulesServer
:: ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.PredictiveAnalysisServer
:: ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.ProcessAnalysisServer
:: ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.SetsProfileServer
:: ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.SetsQueryServer

:: Voyager
:: ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.MultiDimensionalAnalysisServicesServer

:: Web Intelligence
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.AdaptiveJobServer
ccm.exe -managedstart cdi6BOE.WebIntelligenceProcessingServer
Categories: Miscellaneous, SAP BusinessObjects Tags: , ,

Looking for an Xcelsius 2008 Best Practices Guide?

July 3rd, 2008 No comments

I think I may have found what you are looking for. This is an excellent guide that you can use to bring best practices to all your Xcelsius work. This 16 page guide is an well thought out guide for using standard around colors, data organization, testing, etc. Implementing these best practices will undoubtedly improve your ability to create world-class Xcelsius models that are easy for others to maintain after the fact.

This guide was written by Matt Lloyd with contributing materials from Ryan Goodman and Richard Reynolds.

Download it today!! You’ll be glad you did.

Xcelsius 2008 General Best Practices Guide

Categories: Miscellaneous Tags:

Next Generation Computer Interface

June 27th, 2008 1 comment

Remember the Mouse revolution? I’ll never forget the first time I saw a Macintosh and used the mouse to move a pointer across the screen. I could start programs, paint pictures and do all kinds of cool things without learning a new interface.

Well, Jeff Han recently introduced the world to an entirely new generation of user interface during the annual TED conference. It is a Minority Report moment.

Its a new multi-sensor touchscreen which allows the user interface to completely disappear. You have to see it to believe it. It is truly incredible.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jeff_han_demos_his_breakthrough_touchscreen.html

Categories: Miscellaneous Tags:

Now that's what I call a vacation!

June 24th, 2008 1 comment

Since the merger with SAP, we’ve begun to adopt most of the SAP policies. One policy is related to vacation. SAP strongly encourages employees to take their vacation each year and not allow it to pile up. In fact, the maximum amount of vacation you are allowed to roll over each year in 5 days. This has lead some individuals to get serious when it comes to using up their vacation.

Here is an email reply I received from a colleague recently:

Taking Vacation

Now that’s what I call a vacation!!

Categories: Miscellaneous Tags:

The whole world reduced to 100 people…

March 8th, 2008 No comments

Miniature EarthHere’s a different time on “the numbers” – some we look at all the time in the world of Business Intelligence.

A good friend of mine send me an email that explains our world in numbers. It’s fascinating and I recommend you check it out. You’ll be grateful you did!

The whole world reduced to 100 people. What would it look like? Watch this video, “The Miniature Earth”, to find out.

Categories: Miscellaneous Tags:

Domain Registry of America Renewal Notice – Watch out!

January 28th, 2008 1 comment

My wife grabbed the mail today and brought to my attention an important expiration notice from the Domain Registry of America. These guys are incredulous. Here they are trying to act like a reputable company and try and trick people into sending them money for no reason. People – you can renew or subscription to your domain withou the Domain Registry of America!. I immediately googled this Domain Registry of America and found that it was referenced in a number of other blogs.

Here is the low-down. If you have your own domains like I do, they get your contact information from your registrar and then send you these letters that make it look like your domain is able to expire. Here is my letter.

Domain Registry of America

At the top of the letter it makes it very clear that it is a expiration notice and no one wants to get one of those right? So what exactly is expiring. Well, they tell me that my domain names are about to expire. This is bogus. They are trying to get me to fork over money for something I don’t need. My registrar already notifies me when my reserved domain name is about to expire. This company is NOT affiliated with your domain manager.

Notice this in the header of the letter:

Pretty scary, huh!

After reading a couple of other blogs, I found indeed the address on my letter goes to a Mailboxes, Etc address! Yep, The address listed on my letter said, Domain Registry of America, 2316 Delaware Avenue #266, Buffalo, New York, 14216-2687. This is the address of a Mailboxes location!

In fact, I found one thing quite funny the more research I did the more I got turned off by these guys. Check out this threating letter that one blogger received from these guys.

Click here to read more…

Some people are asking… who will stop these guys?

What You Should Do

First of all, don’t pay this company (or any other company that sends you a renewal notice) unless you want to transfer your domain name from your current provider to them! If you pay them, the fine print gives them permission to transfer your domain name from our existing service to theirs.

Secondly, pass this warning on to your accounting department or person who normally pays your invoices, to make sure they aren’t taken in by it.

Finally, you should file a complaint with the FTC to inform them that Domain Registry of America is still engaging in illegal trading practices — they can’t take action unless people who receive the notices complain. You can file a complaint online by clicking this link.

Categories: Miscellaneous Tags:

Deploying BusinessObjects with wdeploy

November 20th, 2007 2 comments

Deploying BusinessObjects XI on remote web servers just go a whole lot easier!

BusinessObjects has always been easy to install when you take the default settings and do a single server installation, but what about when you are trying to install BusinessObjects across a number of different web servers. As Murphy’s law dictates, the documentation never seems to talk about your specific scenario. Am I right?

Welcome wdeploy!

Well, BusinessObjects has developed a really nice little deployment helper program called wdeploy. This is not available through the standard software download site, but rather is available from technical support:

Download wdeploy here

The documentation is located here:

Download wdeploy documentation here

wdeploy Enhances Performance

Many customers choose to implement an external web server in front of the BI stack for one or many of the following reasons:

  • They wish to implement a DMZ
  • They wish for the web server to serve up static web content only, thereby removing this load from the web app server
  • They wish to offload the SSL work from Web App Servers

Distributed Architecture

The key capabilities of wdeploy is that is loads the right resources on the right server. It can take the standard desktop.war file produced during installation of BusinessObjects and break it apart into two smaller WARs. One WAR just containing the static content and the other WAR containing the dynamic JSPs and Servlets.

Categories: Miscellaneous Tags: