BICS Connectivity for Web Intelligence in SAP BI 4.0

John Mrozek

September 10-13, 2012 Orlando, Florida

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 whos reporting landscape includes SAP BW systems.

Introduction

Upon the completion of this presentation, system administrators will have an understanding of the new architecture of Web Intelligences 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.

Take Away

1. About BICS 2. The DSL Bridge 3. Deployment Information 4. General Troubleshooting 5. Let SAP Help 6. How-Tos 7. Q&A

Agenda

About BICS

What is 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

Why 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

Special note on BICS

The DSL Bridge

What is 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

Webi Servers and the DSL Bridge

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

Deployment Information

General Troubleshooting

Look at the patterns Based on what works and what doesnt, hypothesize what the issue is Break down the problem into the smallest components!

General Troubleshooting

Look for |E|X| as well as |E| and java exceptions

Basic Log Analysis

|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 (Unix only) Use gdb / dbx to create a stack trace to send in for analysis Use the file command to determine which process crashed Then run dbx and enter where at the (dbx) prompt

Core Dumps

Here we can see WIReportServer is the process which

crashed

where will tell us the last functions which

were executed at the time of the crash

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

Core Dumps

Let SAP help

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

Remote Supportability

How-Tos

Increasing heap on the Adaptive Processing Server

Increase heap here. Its 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

Services currently hosted

by the APS

Services available to be added to the APS i.e. not

being used by the 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

Useful Links

Sizing Guides

Sizing Companion companions / guides

https://websmp105.sap-ag.de/~form/sapnet?_SHORTKEY=01200252310000090633

Knowledge Base Article on splitting APS https://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/1694041

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SESSION CODE: 1112

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