Best Practices for BO XI - InfoView Questions

[RoMarcus]

BO XI R1 - Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 - SQL 2000 SP3

I have some server management questions.

How can I tell how much space 'instances' are taking up?

What is the easiest/best way to delete instances that are old? - - can I select instances by a date range to delete? Is there an auto delete function somewhere?

What is the best way for me to be notified if a report fails?

If I package several objects, is there a way that each object can still process based on their individual set-up options? -- or do they all have to be packaged with the same features? (example: report 1 was to be emailed as a pdf file and report 2 was supposed to print - when packaging these items, it looks like they all have to do the same process - is this right? Is there a way around this?)

I would like to test restoring - we're doing backups but I'm not sure the back-ups are doing what we expect - is there an agent that needs to run as well? (We're using backup-exec)

What exactly do I look for to restore when looking at the backup? Can a restore be performed from an image?

Rhetorical Question: Doesn't Adobe know that users need their programs to work properly on a network? I'm having problems with the fonts displaying properly on some reports - like for instance a check mark is a WingDings2 capital P - I cannot get the check mark to print out properly. Any suggestions?

Does anyone else have any management tips?

 

[kskid]

Go to the CMC to limit the number of instances by

Go to the folder and click on the Limits tab. From there, specify the number of instances you want to keep on each report tghat resides in that folder.

If your report has a destination other than default, then you have the option of cleaning up the instance after scheduling. Just go to the Schedule tab and then click destination and check Clean up instance after scheduling

 

[hilfy]

To determine how much total space instances are taking up, look at the properties of the Output folder in the filestore. This is where all of the instances reside. There may be a few other things in there as well (for example, the results of scheduled LOV's) but the generally won't be very large.

The best practice for backups is the following:
1. Shut down the CMS.
2. Back up the CMS database.
3. Back up the Filestore.
4. Restart the CMS.

This way the backup is not occurring while reports are processing so the CMS database and the Filestore are in synch. When you do a restore, you need to restore both at the same time. If the CMS is running and reports are processing and you backup the database prior to the filestore, then there will be "orphan" files in the filestore that don't have corresponding records in the database. Conversely, if you back up the filestore prior to the CMS, there will be orphan records in the database that have no corresponding file in the filestore.

-Dell

A computer only does what you actually told it to do - not what you thought you told it to do.

 

[RoMarcus]

Thank you both for this information;

I will try both of your suggestions and let you know how it goes.

I appreciate your input!

 

[BIProductUser]

Hi there. By now, you probably have this answer, but just wanted to respond to your quesiton: 'What is the best way for me to be notified if a report fails?'

One way is to use the Schedule option. You can have a 'failed' job completion trigger an event, which is the running of another job. That 2nd job could indicate the previous one failed and be sent to a file destination or email or BOE Inbox.

That way, the second job would only run when the first failed.

Talk to your Admin person about this option. They may have other ideas as well.

 

[RoMarcus]

Thank you for this information. That sounds really interesting. Can you tell me the steps? I'm the admin person so there is no one else to ask... except that I'm going to be taking a BO XI Admin class in a couple of weeks so some of these types of questions will be answered.

I have hundreds of items scheduled - but I am not sure how to create one scheduled report (or email notification) based on the failure of 'all' of my failed reports on a daily or weekly basis.

 

[hilfy]

There is no simple way to get a single report that shows all of your failures. The feature that BIProductUser mentioned is called "Notification". You can get to it in two ways:

1. In the CMC, find the report template. In the properties, find Notification and set it to notify on failure. Include the email or inbox information for where you want the notification to go. This will then default all scheduled created after it's set up to do the notification (you'll have to re-do any existing recurring schedules if you want them to do the notification.)

2. In InfoView, when a report is scheduled, set the notification information.

If you're going to send the notifications by email, you MUST have the SMTP destination configured for the Destination Job Server as well as for any Report Job Servers.

If you really need a daily or weekly report of all failures, you'll need to use the SDK to pull the information and either put it into a database for the report to run off of inside BO, or if you're using .NET it can go into a DataSet inside the application that's pulling the data. It's not too difficult to do and I might be interested in putting together something like this if you need help with it.

-Dell

A computer only does what you actually told it to do - not what you thought you told it to do.

 

[BIProductUser]

Thanks Hilfy for answering. Actally I was just coming to the site here to describe it a little bit differently by using Define Event. But what you suggest sounds better, especially for a large amount of job failures.

Good deal and thanks for the info, as it sounds like you are quite familiar with this procedure.

 

[richa2608]

Hi!
My requirement is to provide Notification option in Schedule for Non-Admin Users or InfoView pages. I have successfully called the notification page in InfoView. But the problem arises when Schedule button is clicked.Even though, in the report Sucess is shown no mail comes to my Outlook. What could be the possible problem. Look frward for a response.
Thanks!

 

[hilfy]

Is the email destination set up correctly for both the Destination Job Server and the Crystal Job Server?

Are you entering a full email address? You can't use the address you have in Exchange, you have to use the myemail@mycompany.com format.

-Dell

A computer only does what you actually told it to do - not what you thought you told it to do.

 

[richa2608]

Thanks for the info,Hilfy.
I am checking on Email destination.
However, it would be of great help if you could guide me thru the steps to specify Notification Page for Info View Users.
I could get it in the tree easily. but to display the actual _notification.jsp I have done some tweaking which I think is not the best solutions applied. Would appreciate if you could provide with rough guidelines or steps. I am in an urgent need of the same.

Many Thanks!!

 

[richa2608]

Hi Hilfy,
I changed the Destination EMail options as advised by you but it did not help.
Also, my problem is for Webi Reports in R/3.
Appreciate your help.

Thanks!

 

[hilfy]

Do you get any sort of error message? Is the scheduling not working or is it just that the email doesn't get sent? Are you emailing the document or a link to it. If you're emailing the document, are you setting a file type for it to export and attach?

I DO NOT recommend changing the .jsp code. In order to set the default notification for a report, you can update its properties in the CMC. However, if you have any recurring schedules already set up, they have to be deleted and recreated in order for the new settings to take effect on them. If you don't have any recurring schedules, you don't have to do anything else.

If you're scheduling a report to email in InfoView, you need to use the following steps:

1. Set any required parameters.
2. Set the file type for export if you're attaching the file to the email.
3. Set the notification.


Email destinations can only be SMTP servers. So, if you're not using Exchange, you need to make sure that your email server can do SMTP.

In the destination setup, you need to make sure that you have the correct information for the email server - I go into my Outlook and get the information from there. I leave the login information blank because our Exchange server is set up to accept that - check with the folks who administer yours to determine whether you can do it this way or if you need a specific ID and password. It needs to be an ID with a password that doesn't change - if it changes you'll have to reset it in BOE.

I'm using 3.1 and haven't had any problems getting this up and running.

-Dell

A computer only does what you actually told it to do - not what you thought you told it to do.

 

[richa2608]

Hi!
Many Thanks for your help.
No i do not get any error message but no email comes even though all SMTP and mail parameters are set. I queried the DB and found that for InfoView SI_ID in CI_INFOOBJECTS in SI_SCHEDULE_INFO column no SI_NOTIIFCATIOn was made. The same exists for CMC SI_IDs.
You mentioned notification can be set up from CMC, how can this be achieved?
Also, for us it's a User requirement that for Info View pages in Scedule -> Notfication should be visible and user can set the values and submit.
Look forward for your response. thanks a ton again..

 

[hilfy]

Which version of BOE are you using?

In 3.x, Notification is an option on the left of the screen when you select Schedule - you have to click on each of the appropriate options - Parameters, Format, Notification, etc. - and set the values. I don't have an XI r2 system available and I don't remember the exact steps there.

In the CMC, go to the properties of the report. You will have the option to set up the default notification and file format there.

-Dell

A computer only does what you actually told it to do - not what you thought you told it to do.

 

[richa2608]

Hi,
I am using Business Objects R3.1.
In this, for Web Intelligence Reports, for Info View I am trying to add Notification option under Schedule. Like the way it exists in CMC.
User should be able to see Notification in Info View, basically a customisation.
I am able to get the Notification page in Info View but when Schedule is clicked no email is sent out. The same works from Admin or CMC View.
This is what I am trying to solve.
Is there any security setting or some setting to be made?

thanks again for your help!