How to Modify OBIEE Publishing Repository path?

Issue Description:

- Unable to perform RPD deployment after modifying the RPD Publishing Directory in EM console.
- Error thrown by EM console says something like "Not allowed to make this directory change"

Resolution:

There are 2 files which might require correction to fix this issue.
- Navigate to <MIDDLEWARE_HOME>/user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/config/fmwconfig directory.
- Open the biee-domain.xml file and check for the values of the repositorySharedLocation. This will be present in the ServerOptions tag. This value needs to be the same as what you are trying to enter in the weblogic em console.

- Navigate to <MIDDLEWARE_HOME>/instances/instance1/config/OracleBIServerComponent/coreapplication_obis1 directory.
- Open the NQSConfig.INI file and check for the value of REPOSITORY_PUBLISHING_DIRECTORY. This value should be the same as what you are trying to enter in the weblogic em console.

If the above mentioned values are incorrect in any othe 2 files, make the changes and re-start all the services. After the service re-start is completed, try to make the change in the EM console now. This should have fixed the issue.

How to enable IIOP in Oracle Weblogic Server?

What is IIOP?

IIOP stands for Internet Inter Orb Protocol. This protocol creates the possibility of using distributed programs written using different programming languages to communicate over the internet. 

What are the steps for enabling IIOP?

Step 1: Login to the weblogic admin console

Step 2: Goto Server àPIA àProtocols àIIOP         

 

Step 3: Enable IIOP and specify the Username and Password and Click ‘Save’

Step 4: Click  Activate the Changes.

Step 5: Restart the web domain. 

Audit Reports in PeopleSoft

For truly understanding the purpose of the peoplesoft audit reports, it is required to back-track a little to recall on what kind of data will be available in the peoplesoft database. 

The peoplesoft database is basically a combination of three layers, 

1. The Database System tables.

2. The Peopletools tables.

3. The Peoplesoft application tables.

The database system tables consists of all the system metadata and the core tables which is required for the proper functioning of the database.

The peopletools tables is populated during the creation of the peoplesoft application. These tables generally start with a PS*** example PSOPRDEFN.

The application tables are also created during the implementation phase of the application. The type of application tables depends upon what kind of data is imported such as it could be HRMS, FSCM and so on. These tables begin with a PS_*** example PS_JOB.

Now that we are clear on what kind of data the Peoplesoft database is composed of we can move on to learn about the peoplesoft audit reports.

Audit reports are generally used pre or post an upgrade or any changes in the application. This is used to check the sanity of the database. The below listed are the reports which are available for use.

1. Alter Audit

2. SYSAUDIT 

3. DDDAUDT

The alter audit is not a process, it is created using application designer by filtering all the records that will be required to be part of this audit and then using alter options as alter in place and building the selected objects with execute and build options. This will help to understand which all tables require an alter to be processed in the database.

The sysaudit is used to check all the orphaned objects which are present in the database. For example there could be a piece of peoplecode which is not being referenced anywhere.

The dddaudit is an sqr program which is used to check the differences in data between the system tables and the peopletools and application tables.

SchedulerTransfer Servlet error

ISSUE:
The PeopleSoft process has completed, but the report posting status has completed with Not Posted. When the message log of the process was checked the error message says Scheduler Transfer error.

Error getting report repository location. (63,85)

SchedulerTransfer Servlet error.

PSEXA failed to post files to the report repository. Server

scheduled to try again on 2013-11-18-10.48.57.782504.

CAUSE:
This issue occurs because the servlet SchedulerTransfer which is used be the application for posting the reports from the peoplesoft process scheduler to the web server repository has failed.

SOLUTION:
This issue can be resolved by manually invoking the SchedulerTransfer servlet and resending the contents of the process.

PeopleSoft Signon Process.

For understanding the peoplesoft signon process it is crucial to be aware of the various IDs which PeopleSoft uses.

The below list of IDs are used by peoplesoft to perform the connection to the database,

1. User ID
2. Connect ID
3. Symbolic ID
4. Access ID

User ID:
The user ID is used by the user to enter his personal login credentials in the PIA login page.
Connect ID:
The connect ID is stored in the psappsrv.cfg file of the application server, and is used to make the initial connection to the database. The connect ID has select access on the PSACCESSPRFL, PSOPRDEFN and PSSTATUS and PS.PSDBOWNER tables.
Symbolic ID:
The symbolic ID acts as a bridge between the connect ID and the Access ID.
Access ID:
The access ID is the database owner ID. The final connection is made with this ID to access the tables of the application.

Signon Process:
The basic outline of the peoplesoft signon process is as below,

1. The User enters his user ID and password in the PeopleSoft signon page.
2. The application server retrieves the password of the Connect ID from the psappsrv.cfg file and makes the initial connection to the database.
3. Using the connect ID the application checks the PSOPRDEFN for the user details and the symbolic ID. The application then uses the symbolic ID to fetch the appropriate Access ID from the PSACCESSPRFL table and checks the Version and Owner ID from the PSSTATUS tables. The owner ID and database name is retrieved from the PS.PSDBOWNER table.
4. Once all these information is retrieved the application will disconnect and connect using the access ID.

If there is ever an issue in booting up the application server, the issue will probably be in these 4 tables.

Using Weighted Load Balancing.

What is a Weighted Load balancer?

Weighted load balancing can be configured in the PeopleSoft web server. The web server will direct the user requests to the application servers which have been configured in the configuration.properties file. By using the weighted load balancing we can control the percentage of requests which will be directed to a particular application server.

What is the syntax for configuring weighted load balancing?

The configuration.properties file of the web server is used to configure the application servers which will be listening for the web requests. For configuring weighted load balancing the below method is used,

psserver=Host1:Port1#Wt,Host2:Port2#Wt

 The weights of the application server can be rated from 1-10 where 1 is for low and 10 is for maximum load.

Example:

psserver=appserver1:9000#6,appserver2:9010#1

In the above example, the appserver1 will recieve 6 times more requests than the appserver2.

What is Jolt failover?

The failovers can be configured using the {} as below,

psserver=<host>:<port>#wt{failover servers}

By using weighted load balancing, we can configure for failover backup. 

There are 2 options,
Strict failover with weighted backup.
Strict failover with sequential backup.

Failover with weighted backup:
The failovers in this case are seperated by a comma as below,

psserver=Host1:Port1#Wt{Host3:Port3#Wt,Host4:Port4#Wt},Host2:Port2#Wt

Failover with sequential backup:

For setting up sequential backup multiple servers are configured separated by a semi colon as below,

 
psserver=Host1:Port1#Wt{Host3:Port3;Host4:Port4},Host2:Port2#Wt 

 
 

Oracle Database link

What is a database link?

A database link will come in handy when we need to access data from another database. The target database need not be an Oracle database, in that case heterogeneous services needs to be enabled.

What are the prerequisites for creating a database link?

1. The create database link privilege must be available for the ID with which the database link needs to be created.
2. The Source and target database servers must have the tnsentry of both the databases added in their machines, oracle net must be installed in both the servers.
3. You must have create session privilege on the target database for the ID which you are using.

Syntax for creating database link:




Example for database link creation:

Lets imagine you got 2 databases, HCMPRD and FINPRD. You want to select the details from PS_JOB table present in HCMPRD from FINPRD, to do this we need to follow the below steps after adding the tnsentry in both the database server.

1. Create an ID in HCMPRD as HCMFIN and provide select access to the PS_JOB table (We do this to prevent the user from FINPRD to access other tables in HCMPRD.)

2. Create the database link FINPRD using the below syntax,

CREATE DATABASE LINK "HCMPRD"  CONNECT TO "HCMFIN" IDENTIFIED BY "HCMFIN" USING 'HCMPRD';

3. Create synonym for the PS_JOB table to access from FINPRD, use the below syntax for the same,

CREATE OR REPLACE SYNONYM "SYSADM"."PS_JOB1" FOR "SYSADM"."PS_JOB"@"HCMPRD";

Now we will be able to access the PS_JOB table in HCMPRD from FINPRD by selecting from the synonym PS_JOB1.