SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform

Document Version: 4.0 Support Package 7 - 2013-07-31

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Administrator's Guide

Table of Contents
1 About this guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2 Related documentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

3 Deployment overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1 Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1.1 The Explorer servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1.2 Supported data providers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1.3 Supported platforms for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2 Distributed deployment scenarios. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

4 System Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.1 Starting and stopping Explorer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.2 Connecting to datasources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.2.1 Connecting Explorer to SAP HANA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.2.2 Connecting Explorer to BWA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.2.3 Using an SAP alias to connect to BWA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.3 Software Configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
4.3.1 Web Application settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.3.2 Explorer server settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.3.3 Standardizing font usage across your deployment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.3.4 Customizing the geography names repository. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.4 Load Balancing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.4.1 Loadbalancing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
4.4.2 Deploying Multiple Explorer Servers for Improved Information Space Exploration. . . . . . . . . . 30
4.4.3 Deploying Multiple Index Servers for Improved Indexing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.5 Periodic Tasks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.5.1 Verifying Information Space indexes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.6 User Administration and Authentication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.6.1 User Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.6.2 Authentication methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
4.6.3 Single Sign On. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.7 Managing Information Spaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.7.1 Authorization required for Information Spaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.7.2 Controlling access rights to the Information Space folders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.7.3 Customizing Information Spaces with dynamic URL parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.7.4 Indexing best practices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.7.5 Testing your Information Space. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.7.6 Information Space design best practices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

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5 Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
5.1 Network security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
5.1.1 Firewall port usage for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
5.1.2 Reverse proxies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
5.1.3 Configuring servers for SSL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.2 Data and metadata storage locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.3 Data protection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.4 Cookies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

6 System Availability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6.1 Ensuring system availability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6.2 Configuring failover between CMS servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

7 Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
7.1 Understanding error messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Administrator's Guide

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1 About this guide
This guide is for administrators who need to install SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 4.0.

Most of the server administration tasks that apply to the Explorer servers are described in the Business
Intelligence Platform Administrator Guide 4.0 available at the SAP Help portal: http://help.sap.com. These
administration tasks are common tasks that can be affected to all servers in the CMS. This guide describes
administration tasks specific to the Explorer servers in the CMS.

For information on how to use SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to explore corporate business intelligence data, see
the Help or the updated User Guide PDF also at the SAP Help portal.

For information relating to the resources available in this release, refer to the related Documentation page in
Related Links.
Related Links
Related documentation [page 5]

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4 © 2013 SAP AG or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. About this guide
2 Related documentation
The following SAP documentation provides information for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 4.0:

Information Documentation Location

List of known issues and SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 Release http://service.sap.com/

workarounds. Notes releasenotes

Supported platforms and third party Product Availablity Matrix SAP Service Marketplace: http://
software. service.sap.com/pam

In the Search field, type: Explorer

4.0

List of the new features introduced What's New in SAP BusinessObjects SAP Help Portal: http://
with the latest release. 4.0 help.sap.com

Architecture and technical ● Business Intelligence Platform

landscape of the SAP Installation Guide
BusinessObjects Business ● Business Intelligence Platform
Intelligence platform 4.0, as well as Administrator Guide
links to required documentation and
● Business Intelligence Platform
SAP notes.
Web Application Deployment
Guide
● Business Intelligence Platform
Upgrade Guide

Error messages explained SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 Error

Message Guide

Explorer installation tasks SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

Installation Guide

Explorer server administration tasks SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

Administrator's Guide

End-user information on creating, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

managing and exploring data using Online Help PDF
the Explorer application interface.
SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Log into the application then click
Online Help Online Help Help.

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Administrator's Guide

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3 Deployment overview

3.1 Overview

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 4.0 is installed as an add-on to SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
platform 4.0. The servers, information spaces, and users are managed by the Central Management Server (CMS)
and administered from the Central Management Console (CMC).

The architecture of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is structured into three layers:

● clients
● web tier/gateway - includes the web server(s) and Web Application Server(s)
● backend - includes the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer servers and the SAP BusinessObjects Business
Intelligence platform servers.

3.1.1 The Explorer servers

When you install SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, the following servers are added to the SAP BusinessObjects
Business Intelligence platform Central Configuration Manager (CCM) and Central Management Console (CMC):

● Explorer Master Server

Manages all of the Explorer servers.
● Explorer Indexing Server
Provides and manages the indexing of Information Space data and metadata.
● Explorer Search Server
Processes search queries and returns search results.
● Explorer Exploration Server
Provides and manages the Information Space exploration and analysis capabilities including search on data,
filtering and aggregation.

Each Explorer server manages its own index.

3.1.2 Supported data providers

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 4.0 can consume data from the following data providers:

● BusinessObjects universes (.UNX)

● Excel spreadsheets
● SAP Hana
● SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator

Note
In this release only universes in the new .UNX format are supported. The universes from previous releases in
the .UNV format, and OLAP universes are not supported.

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3.1.3 Supported platforms for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

For detailed information on supported operating systems and web application servers, refer to the SAP Product
Availability Matrix (PAM) at: http://service.sap.com/pam.

3.2 Distributed deployment scenarios

Implementing a distributed deployment scenario is recommended in the case of larger and critical production
deployments

Security

To optimize security in deployments using single or multiple master servers, the following deployment practices
are recomended:

Master server deployment in Recommendation

Small deployments where there is It is strongly recommended to activate SSL between all
nodes .
● only one master, and
● clients and servers all reside on the same network.

Larger deployments where there are multiple masters It is strongly recommended to connect Explorer
servers and clients to separate subnets interconnected
Note with the appropriate filtering device (router).

This version of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer does When using multiple master servers, you can ensure
not support Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) in a that the master servers can communicate between
multiple master deployment. themselves by:

● Verify that multicast is authorized in your network.

● Check that your firewall is not blocking the ports
from 5701 to 570x, where ‘x’ is the number of
Explorer master servers.
● Disable IPv6 on the system that hosts Explorer
services.
● Set the 'master.cluster.name' Explorer application
property variable.

Failover

If failover is a key requirement, you can deploy more than one Explorer Master Server to manage the other
Explorer servers. The Master Servers work together to maintain the consistency of critical data.

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Load balancing

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer supports the clustering of your web application server. Hardware or software load
balancers can be used as the entry-point for the web application servers to ensure that the processing is evenly
distributed among servers.

Note
The following persistence types are currently supported

● Source IP address persistence

For information about the use of supported load balancers for SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
platform, refer to the SAP Product Availability Matrix (PAM) at: http://service.sap.com/pam.

Related Links
Network security [page 52]
Deploying Multiple Index Servers for Improved Indexing [page 30]
Deploying Multiple Explorer Servers for Improved Information Space Exploration [page 30]
Configuring the workload update setting for load balancing [page 29]

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4 System Management

4.1 Starting and stopping Explorer

The following Explorer servers can be started, stopped, or restarted within the SAP BusinessObjects Business
Intelligence platform CMC:

● Explorer Master server

● Explorer Exploration server
● Explorer Indexing server
● Explorer Search server

For complete information on managing servers in the CMC, refer to the Business Intelligence Platform
Administrator Guide .

To start SAP BusinessObjects Explorer:

1. Start your Web Application server.

2. Start your CMS database.
3. Start your SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform system.
If the Explorer servers are set to start up automatically, they are enabled at startup.
4. If you need to start Explorer servers manually, log into the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
platform CMC, select the Servers option, navigate through the categories to Explorer, and then Start or
Restart enable the appropriate Explorer servers.
The Explorer servers are listed.

Related Links
Related documentation [page 5]

4.2 Connecting to datasources

4.2.1 Connecting Explorer to SAP HANA

There are two ways to connect Explorer to a SAP HANA data source:

● Directly by registering connection parameters in the application properties of the Explorer server in the CMC.
This is a connection to a single SAP HANA data source.
● Using a secured connection in available in the CMC. This is a connection created in the information design tool
and published to the repository. This connection can access multiple data sources.

Related Links
Registering a SAP HANA data source [page 10]
Using a pre-defined connection to a SAP HANA data source [page 11]

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4.2.1.1 Registering a SAP HANA data source

You can connect SAP BusinessObjects Explorer directly to a SAP HANA data source by registering a SAP HANA
appliance on the Explorer Application Properties configuration page in the Central Management Console (CMC).
By setting the following parameters, you activate SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform database
credentials and authentication mode for the SAP HANA system.

Application Values Example

parameters

newdb.system.ali The name of the New DB System name as it will newdb.system.alias=NDB

a appear in the "Manage Spaces" tab

newdb.url The JDBC url that will be used to connect to the newdb.url=jdbc:sap//server1:30016
New DB System. This URL contains the System
host name and port as follows:

newdb.url=jdbc:sap//<server name>:<port>

newdb.authentic <DatabaseMapping>: activates the use of the newdb.authentication.mode=DatabaseMa

ation.mode SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence pping
platform "Database Credentials".

<ConfiguredIdentity>: allows the newdb.authentication.mode=ConfiguredId

specification of a "fixed" user name / password. entity
With this authentication mode, two extra
newdb.user=system
parameters are required:
newdb.password=manager
● < newdb.user>
● <newdb.password >

Note
<ConfiguredIdentity> authentication
ensures that all users share the same
database credentials. This type of
authentication is more appropriate for
development and test environments.

Note
To use SSO access to SAP HANA, you activate database credentials authentication mode by setting the
"newdbauthentication.mode" parameter to "DatabaseMapping".”

1. Log on to the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform CMC.

2. Navigate to Servers and stop the Explorer servers.
3. Navigate to Applications.
4. Right-click Explorer and click Properties.
5. In the Advanced Configuration pane, set the application parameters described in the previous table.
6. Do one of the following:

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Administrator's Guide

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 If you entered Then...

<ConfiguredIdentity> Go to the final step.

<DatabaseMapping> You must enable the Database Credentials option in the CMC to
ensure that the account name and password of the database are
used automatically as connection parameters. Do this as follows:

○ Navigate to a principle user group.

○ Open its Properties panel.
○ Select "Enable Database Credentials"

7. Save your changes and restart the Explorer servers.

4.2.1.2 Using a pre-defined connection to a SAP HANA data

source

You can connect SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to one or more SAP HANA data sources by using a SAP
BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform connection stored in the repository. These connections are
created in the information design tool and published to the repository. Refer to the information design tool user's
guide for information on creating connections. This section describes the following:

● SAP HANA specific settings to define when you create the connection
● Render the connection visable to Explorer
● Verify the connection is available in Manage Spaces
● Activate the Database Authentification mode

1. Start the information design tool from the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform programs list.
2. Start the New Relational Connection wizard.
3. Follow the wizard steps to create a connection setting the following options:

Wizard page Enter this information...

Database middleware driver selection Select the JDBC driver under the node SAP HANA Appliance.

Parameters for SAP High- Authentification mode Use specified user name and password:
Performance Analytic Appliance
All BusinessObjects Enterprise users are connected to the database
(SAP HANA)
with the user name and password specified in the connection. All
users share the same security profile.

Authentification mode Use BusinessObjects credential mapping:

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform users are

connected to the database with the user name and password
specified in their profile (Database Credentials).

4. Publish the new connection to the repository.

5. Verify that the SAP Hana connection appears in the Manage Spaces tab of Explorer.
6. If you selected Use BusinessObjects Credential Mapping, do the following:
a) Go to the Central Management Console (CMC) and select the user or group associated with the
connection.

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 b) Open the group properties.
c) Select the Enabled check box.

4.2.1.3 Updating Explorer when SAP Hana version is updated

When installing or updating new versions of SAP HANA, Explorer should be also updated with the corresponding
version of the SAP HANA JDBC driver.

1. Stop all Explorer servers:

○ Exploration
○ Indexation
○ Master
○ Search
2. Remove the old driver from the following directory:

○ $InstallFolder\SAP BusinessObjects\Explorer14.0\plugins\com.sap.ngdbc_1.0.0\lib
\ngdbc.jar

Note
The file can be deleted or moved to another directory that is not in the install folder.

3. Copy the new ngdbc.jar driver from the following directory__installer.HDB\client\JDBC.TGZ

\JDBC.tar\ngdbc.jar to the location of the old driver.
4. Restart the Explorer servers.

4.2.2 Connecting Explorer to BWA

You connect SAP BusinessObjects Explorer with a designated SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator from the SAP
BusinessObjects Enterprise Central Management Console (CMC) administration page:

1. Stop the Explorer servers.

2. Log on to the BusinessObjects Enterprise CMC.
3. Navigate to Servers and stop the Explorer servers.
4. Navigate to Manage Applications.
5. Right-click Explorer and click Properties.
6. Within Advanced Configuration type the host and port values of the designated BWA.

For example:

com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.dataprovider.trex.host=<mybwaserver>
com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.dataprovider.trex.port=3<TREX_instance_number>1
6

Note

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 This first entry should point to the blade with the first master name server (or at least to a blade with a
master name server).

7. Optional: if you have one or more backup blades in place for your BW Accelerator landscape, you can also
configure additional connections to those backup blades.

For example, to add two backup blades:

com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.dataprovider.trex.host1=<bwa_backup_blade1>
com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.dataprovider.trex.port1=3<TREX_instance_number>
16
com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.dataprovider.trex.host2=<bwa_backup_blade2>
com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.dataprovider.trex.port2=3<TREX_instance_number>
16

8. Click Save and Close.

9. Restart the servers.

4.2.3 Using an SAP alias to connect to BWA

You can connect to BWA using an SAP alias. To enable the login you need to add a new parameter to the
advanced configuration text area of the Explorer application in the CMC. You do this as follows:

1. Stop all the Explorer servers.

2. Open the Applications page from the Central Management Console.
3. Double click Explorer in the application list
4. Add the following parameter to the Advanced Configuration text field:
com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.dataprovider.trex.resolveUserSAPAlias
5. Set the parameter to true as
follows:com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.dataprovider.trex.resolveUserSAPAlias=true
6. Restart the Explorer servers.

4.3 Software Configuration

4.3.1 Web Application settings

You can modify application settings from a single properties file:

default.settings.properties

The file is stored under the web application server directory, for example: C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP
BusinessObjects\Tomcat6\webapps\explorer\WEB-INF\classes.

You set the following parameters specific to Explorer in the default.settings.properties file:

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Setting Description Example
product.name For internal use only.

default.locale The default locale to use. For example, en

English.

default.cms.name The name and port number of your CMS. myserver:6400

show.cms.name Determines if the value stored in

default.cms.name is displayed in the
CMS Name field of the Log On page.

disable.cms.name Disables the CMS name textbox within

the Log On page. You cannot change the
textbox value.

default.authentication.method The default log on authentication to use. secEnterprise

The value is displayed in the
Authentication list of the Log On page.

authentications The values that populate the sec Enterprise,

Authentication list. secWindowsNT, secLDAP

hide.authentication.method Determines if the Authentication list is

displayed in the Log On page.

disable.authentication.method Disables the Authentication list within the

Log On page. You cannot change the
value.

use.effects Determines if graphical effects are to be

used. For example, after clicking Log On
the Log On box has a graphical effect
applied to it.

request.timeout The period of time in seconds before 30

Explorer times out after an operation,
100
such as logging into the system.

help.url The root location for the Explorer

documentation.

tutorial.url The root location for the Explorer tutorial.

disable.password.encryption Determines if password encryption is to

be used.

opendoc.url The OpenDocument URL of your http://server:port/

BusinessObjects Enterprise deployment. OpenDocument/opendoc/
It is used when a user exports openDocument.jsp
Information Space data to a Web
Intelligence query. Setting the value
opens the query using OpenDocument. If
you do not set the value, the query is not
launched.

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Related Links
Configuring SAP BusinessObjects Explorer for SAP authentication [page 36]

4.3.2 Explorer server settings

Server properties are listed in the Object Properties list in the for each Explorer server in the CMC. Generic server
properties are described in the Business Intelligence Platform Administrator Guide. This section describes
properties are specific to Explorer servers.

You can configure the following settings:

● The unit to use for validating bookmarks; possible values include: DAYS, MINUTES, HOURS, or WEEKS.
● The period of time (based on the unit) that a bookmark is stored. For example 365.
● The period of time in milliseconds before a session object handled by an underlying watchdog is deleted.
● The delay in milliseconds between each update of when slave servers inform the master server about their
workload to balance the load.

You can also configure the indexing path in order of priority using:

● A properties file for all servers on a single node.

● The SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform CMC server properties for a single indexing server
on a single node.

Modifications you make to settings are implemented in the following order of priority:

● configurations made from the command line for each server within the CMC for a single server on a single
node
● configurations made directly in a properties file for all servers on a single node
● configurations made via the CMC application properties for all nodes within your deployment cluster

For example, if you configure the settings using a properties file on a node, the CMC settings are ignored for that
node.

4.3.2.1 Information Space indexes path

You can specify where you want the indexes to be stored. You can either set the indexing path from the SAP
BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform CMC or create a properties file and specify the index path there.

Note
When changing a directory for index storage, you must ensure that Explorer directories are not shared by
multiple Explorer servers. Each Explorer server needs to have its own unique directory. In a distributed
environment where multiple Explorer servers are installed on multiple boxes, Explorer replicates the indexes
from each Explorer directory to all other Explorer directories in the system. This means that all Explorer servers
should have the same number of total indexes.

Related Links
Configuring the index path using the CMC [page 16]

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Configuring the index path using a properties file [page 16]

4.3.2.1.1 Configuring the index path using the CMC

To change the indexing path for a single indexing server, edit the server properties within the CMC. The indexing
path is dependent on your installation path and is defaulted to:

● %DefaultDataDir%/Explorer14.0/index

1. Logon to the CMC.

2. Navigate to the Explorer Indexing server you want to configure from Servers.
3. Right-click the server and click Properties.
4. From Index Files Directory, enter a path.
5. Click Save.

Note
If you copy existing indexes to the new location, the Explorer Indexing Server has to be stopped.

6. Restart the server.

4.3.2.1.2 Configuring the index path using a properties file

You can change the indexing path for all servers on a single node, by creating or editing a properties file.

1. Create or edit a properties file named explorer.service.properties located under:

○ C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Explorer14.0\

Add this entry:

○ index.path=C:/Index
2. Amend the value accordingly and save the file.
3. Restart the servers.

Note
If you copy existing indexes, the Explorer Indexing Server has to be stopped.

4.3.2.2 Session timeout period

The Explorer Master Server ensures that unnecessary resources are released efficiently. The session object is
deleted when the associated peer stops operating or when the underlying network is lost. A watchdog service
observes all network activity.

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The watchdog.timeout parameter specifies the duration of time (in milliseconds) a live session is considered
active even if the watchdog detected no activity.

Note
It is necessary for the watchdog.timeout parameter value to be superior to the timeout value set for the http
session. If this is not the case, the Explorer session can expire even though the http session is still valid.

To change the session timeout period, an administrator can do one of the following:

Action How?

Change a setting for a 1. Create or edit a properties file named polestar.service.properties located
single node. under:
C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Explorer14.0\
2. Add this entry: watchdog.timeout=30, amend the value accordingly and restart
the servers.

Modify the command Add -watchdog.timeout 30 to the command line to configure a single server
line to configure a
For example -loggingPath "C:/Program Files (x86)/SAP
single server.
BusinessObjects/Explorer14.0/Logging/" -serverkind polestarMaster
-trace true -watchdog.timeout 30

Note
The default value of watchdog.timeout is 300 000 milliseconds (5 minutes). Changing the setting, especially
if the specified value is too low, can impact stability and possibly delete a valid session. This value must be
greater than the value of workload.update.delay.The workload.update.delay parameter specifies the
duration of time (milliseconds) between updates to the Explorer Master Server.

4.3.2.3 Request timeout limit

Timeouts may occur while using large datasets.

It is necessary to change the default request.timeout setting (in seconds) located within:

C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Tomcat6\webapps\explorer\WEB-INF\classes

\default.settings.properties

To do this:

1. Open for edit the default.setting.properties file.

2. Locate the request.timeout setting.
3. Change the setting accordingly.

Caution
Defining a large value affects the waiting time for users.

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 Option Description
-1 Deactivate timeout limit

360 Maximum value for timeout.

4. Save the file.

5. Restart the Explorer servers.

The timeout is changed according to the new value.

4.3.2.4 Bookmark validity

The bookmark validity period is the duration at which bookmarks of the exploration views (or filtered versions of
Information Spaces) created by end users remain saved on the Explorer Application Server. Once this duration
expires, the bookmark can no longer be opened. There are three methods to configure the validation duration for
bookmarks. See Related Topics, below, for details.

Note
Administrators are advised to communicate the duration of bookmarks to Explorer end users, so that users
know how long any bookmarks they save will remain valid.

Related Links
Configuring the bookmark validity period from the CMC [page 18]
Configuring the bookmark validity period from the server command line within the CMC [page 19]
Configuring the bookmark validity period using a properties file [page 19]

4.3.2.4.1 Configuring the bookmark validity period from the

CMC

To change the bookmark validation period from the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform CMC,
amend the value within the CMC administration page. The value is taken into account by all slave nodes after the
Explorer servers have been restarted.

Note
The new bookmark validation value applies only to bookmarks created after the new value has been set and
Explorer servers restarted. All bookmarks created prior to the change, and server restart, persist until the
default expiry date.

1. Logon to the CMC.

2. Navigate to Manage Applications .

3. Right-click Explorer and click Properties.
4. Change the Bookmark validity values and click Save.

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5. Restart the Explorer servers.

4.3.2.4.2 Configuring the bookmark validity period from the

server command line within the CMC

To change the Explorer validity period for a single server, edit the server properties within the SAP
BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform CMC.

1. Logon to the CMC.

2. Navigate to the Explorer server you want to configure via Servers.
3. Right-click the server and click Properties.
4. Within Command Line Parameters, add the following:
-bookmark.validity.time 365 -bookmark.validity.unit DAYS

For example:

-loggingPath "C:/Program Files (x86)/SAP BusinessObjects/Explorer14.0/Logging/" -

serverkind polestarIndexing -trace true -bookmark.validity.time 365 -
bookmark.validity.unit DAYS
5. Click Save.
6. Restart the Explorer servers.

4.3.2.4.3 Configuring the bookmark validity period using a

properties file

You can change the Explorer bookmark validity for all servers on a single node, by creating or editing a properties
files.

1. Create or edit a properties file named explorer.service.properties located under:

○ C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Explorer14.0\

2. Add the following entries.

bookmark.validity.time=365

bookmark.validity.unit=DAYS
3. Amend the value accordingly and save the file.
4. Restart the servers.

4.3.2.5 Increasing virtual memory on the Explorer servers

The amount of virtual memory required by the Explorer servers depends on the size of the Information Spaces
being explored and indexed across your deployment. You can increase the amount of virtual memory available on
each server by changing the JVM heap size value as necessary:

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● If a large number of end users need to explore large Information Spaces, it is recommended you increase the
JVM heap size value on your Exploration Server(s).
● If you have a lot of users indexing, it is also recommended you increase the JVM heap size value on your
Explorer Indexing Servers.

By default, the JVM heap size value is 1 GB. In most cases, this is sufficient for the Master server(s) and Search
Server(s).

The JVM heap size has an influence on the following:

● Memory garbage collection

For example, having a large heap size for the Indexing Server(s) reduces the rate of garbage collection of
memory during indexing, thus improving performance. If the heap size is small, scheduling spends more time
to free (and retrieve) memory than executing the required task. A heap size of 1.6 GB decreases the rate of
garbage collecting in most cases.
● Swapping memory to hard disk
The JVM heap size value you define should always be lower than the amount of physical memory available on
the server. Having a low amount of physical memory and configuring large values for the heap size of each
server results in the swapping of memory to the hard disk. For example, if there is 2 GB of RAM, it is not
efficient to provide a heap size of 1024 MB for each Explorer server. SAP BusinessObjects Explorer functions
correctly but memory swapping occurs, therefore having an impact on performance.

4.3.2.5.1 Configuring the JVM heap size value

Verify the memory limit you can configure for a server and the JVM. The heap size is dependent on the hardware
and software used. For example, a Windows 32-Bit or a Windows 64-Bit operating system, the version of the JVM
and the amount of physical memory installed.

Refer to the Business Intelligence Platform Administrator Guide for information on configuring memory size.
Related Links
Related documentation [page 5]

4.3.2.6 Concurrent Excel file uploads

As an administrator of Explorer you can configure how many concurrent upload operations of Excel files can be
processed. By default the value is 30 concurrent Excel upload operations.

4.3.2.6.1 Configuring the number of possible concurrent

Excel uploads

As an administrator of the Explorer you can configure how many concurrent upload operations of Excel files can
be processed. By default the value is 30 concurrent Excel upload operations.

1. Log into the CMC.

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2. Navigate to: Applications > Explorer > Properties > Advanced configuration
3. Enter the following parameter and specify the value of your choice.

com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.max_nb_parallel_indexing_tasks

For example:

com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.max_nb_parallel_indexing_tasks=50

The parameter change is taken into account immediately.

Related Links
Concurrent Excel file uploads [page 20]

4.3.3 Standardizing font usage across your deployment

The fonts used to display character strings in Information Spaces are provided by the font libraries on the clients
and servers across your SAP BusinessObjects Explorer deployment:

● The Exploration servers supply the fonts used to display the character strings on charts.
● The client machines logged into SAP BusinessObjects Explorer supply the fonts used to display the character
strings in the rest of the application GUI.

If the fonts installed on the Exploration servers do not match the fonts on the clients, the character strings in the
charts and the rest of the application GUI display with different fonts.

4.3.3.1 Ensuring font compatibility across clients and

servers

The Arial Unicode J font is matched by the Arial Unicode MS font on most Microsoft Windows client machines.
This provides a standard display for character strings throughout the application GUI.

You can ensure font compatibility across your deployment as follows:

1. Verify that a font compatible with the Arial Unicode J font is installed on your client machines, and if you
implement a distributed deployment architecture, on each Explorer server.

Note
On most Microsoft Windows client machines, the Arial Unicode MS font is compatible with Arial Unicode J.

2. On each client machine or Explorer server that does not have a compatible font, install Arial Unicode J.

Note
The Arial Unicode J font is available in the following directory of the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer server
once you have installed the application: <BusinessObjects_Explorer_InstallDir>/
Explorer14.0/jre/lib/fonts

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4.3.3.2 Installing custom fonts

On some language versions fonts may appear too large, resulting in chart areas being hidden by axis labels or
facet values being truncated, and some language-specific special characters may be missing. These types of font
inconsistencies are more common on UNIX platforms than Windows. To solve these issues, you can install fonts
of their choice on the servers and/or clients. Once the fonts are installed, you need to modify two files so that
these fonts are used in both the charts and the rest of the application GUI.

1. Stop the Exploration servers.

2. Install and distribute the font of your choice to the Exploration servers and clients.

The location on the server is: <BusinessObjects_Explorer_InstallDir>/Explorer14.0/jre/lib/

fonts.

4.3.3.3 Configuring custom fonts in charts

For SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to use custom fonts in charts, the fonts must first be installed on the servers
and client machines.

1. Open the <BusinessObjects_Explorer_InstallDir>/Explorer14.0/chart-template.sample file

for edit.
2. Search for the following string: [Arial Unicode J, Arial Unicode MS, Arial]
3. Replace the three font names with the names of your installed fonts, as follows:
[FontFaceName 1;FontFaceName 2;Font FaceName 3]

The fonts are specified in order of preference. If the first font in the list is not available, the second font is
used; if the second font is not available, the third font is used, and so on.
4. Optional: to specify the font size, search for the following string: [10.0];
5. Replace the "10.0" font size with the size of your choice, for example you would specify a choice of two size 14
Japanese fonts as follows:

<GlobalValue>
<DefaultValues>
<DefaultValue type="4" value="[jiskan24.pcf.z
;k14.pcf.Z];
[14.0];[0];[0;0;0;0];[]" />
</DefaultValues>
</GlobalValue>

Note
If a different font size is specified for a particular chart zone, such as the legend, then the global font size is
overridden in that particular chart zone.

6. Rename the file chart-template.xml and save it to <BusinessObjects_Explorer_InstallDir>/

Explorer14.0/.

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4.3.3.4 Configuring custom fonts for the interface outside of
charts

For SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to use custom fonts, the fonts must first be installed on the servers and client
machines.

You can define a specific custom font or font size globally for all languages, and also for specific languages, to
override the global setting.

1. Open the <install_dir>\webapps\explorer\schema\chinese.css.example\ file for edit.

2. Replace the default font name and size with the font and size of your choice:

global {
font-family: Arial Unicode J, Arial Unicode MS, Arial, Sans-serif;
font-size: 13pt;
}

The fonts are specified in order of preference. If the first font in the list is not available, the second font is
used; if the second font is not available, the third font is used, and so on.

Note
If a different font size is specified for a particular interface label, such as ToolTips, then the global font size
is overridden in that particular type of label.

3. Where you save the file depends on whether you want to apply these settings globally, to all languages, or just
to a specific language:

○ To apply the settings to all languages, rename the file as global.css and save it to: <install_dir>
\webapps\explorer\schemes\global\global.css\
○ to apply the settings to a specific language, rename the file as <language>.css and save it to a sub-
folder named with the language code for that language as follows: <install_dir>\webapps\explorer
\schemes\global\ <language_code>\<language>.css\
For example, for Chinese, you would save the file as follows: <install_dir>\webapps\explorer
\schemes\global\zh_CH\chinese.css\

Note
As the css. files control all of the display properties, it is recommended you only modify the values for
these specified parameters.

4. Restart the Exploration servers.

4.3.4 Customizing the geography names repository

You can add a custom repository to enable a customized list of geo-locations to be used as a data source for the
geography dimension.

You can create a custom geographical repository to do the following:

● Add geographic aliases for city values in the database

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● Create new city locations using latitude and longitude coordinates

You create each repository in a separate XML file using the Navteq geography repository file syntax. You upload
the files to a folder in the CMS, and then add one of the following new repository parameters to the advanced
properties of the Explorer application in the Central Management Console (CMC):

For this XML repository file Add this parameter

Adding alternative city names custom.geo.repository.renamednames.file.cuid

Adding new city names custom.geo.repository.explorer.file.cuid

You set the unique identifier (CUID) value of each repository XML file to the appropriate parameter.

The custom geography repositories use information from the main geography names repository called
names.csv stored in a compressed .JAR file installed here: <INSTALLDIR>\SAP BusinessObjects\Explorer
14.0\plugins\com.sap.geo.repository.names.navteq.levels012c_<version number>.jar

The syntax and the procedure to create the geography repositories are described in Related Topics.
Related Links
Geography repository file syntax [page 27]
Adding new cities to the geography repository [page 26]
Adding alternative location names to the geography repository [page 24]

4.3.4.1 Adding alternative location names to the geography

repository

You can add city names for geography dimension values that are alternatives to those used by the Navteq
names.csv repository file. These are added as aliases in a customized geography repository. To create a new
repository, you need to have access to the Explorer installation file system, and have Administrator rights to use
the Central Management Console.

The alternative geography names repository is an .XML file that contains city and parent identifiers from the
parent names.csv repository file, and a customized name for an existing city entry. The file is uploaded to a folder
in the CMS, and the CUID for the file is passed as a value to a new parameter
custom.geo.repository.renamednames.file.cuid that you add manually to the properties for the Explorer
application in the CMC.

1. Create a new .XML file in a text editor. Save it locally and give it a relevant name, for example
custom_renamed_repository.xml.
2. Open the Navteq repository file names.csv in a text editor. The repository file is contained in a
compressed .JAR file installed here: <INSTALLDIR>\SAP BusinessObjects\Explorer 14.0\plugins
\com.sap.geo.repository.names.navteq.levels012c_<version number>.jar.

Note
The .JAR name is variable depending on the build number installed on your machine, but is similar to this:
navteq.levels012c_3.2.0.r606_v20120131.jar .

3. In the names.csv file, search for the name of the city that you want to alias.

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 If there is more than one occurrence of the city, then search the file using the parent ID, this is the second ID
number on the line, and is the city's region identifier. Once you have the correct region, then you most likely
have the correct city. For example if you are searching for London in the UK, one entry for London is the
following:

"C20337455" "20248595" "c" "London" "eng" "false" "false" "OFFICIAL"

To ensure that this is the correct London, search the file for parent ID 20248595. This is the ID of the region
for the city that you want to alias. The search finds:

"20248595" "UK" "1" "England" "eng" "false" "false" "OFFICIAL"

So England is the parent region. You can check further by searching the second identifier UK. This is the
parent identifier that identifies the country. This returns:

"UK" "" "0" "United Kingdom" "eng" "false" "false" "OFFICIAL"

The United Kingdom is the parent country, and there is no further geographical parent, so this London entry,
is the correct London, England, UK.
4. Copy the entry for the city from the names.csv file and paste it in the new .XML file.
In this example you copy and paste the entry for London:

"C20337455" "20248595" "c" "London" "eng" "false" "false" "OFFICIAL"

5. Change the city name to the modified city name that you want to use instead of the entry in the names.csv
file.
For example the London entry is changed to return "London City" as a value:

<locations>
<location id="C20337455" parent="20248595" name="London City" type="OFFICIAL"
lang="eng" exonym="
false" transliteration="false" />
</locations>

6. Save the new .XML file.

7. Upload the new .XML file to a folder in the Central Management Console (CMC).
8. From the CMC do the following:
a) Open the folder and right click the .XML file. Click Properties and copy the CUID value for the file. This is
the unique identifier in the CMS for the file. Click Cancel.
b) Click the CMC Home icon or select CMC Home from the Central Management Console drop down list at
the top right of the console window.
The CMC Home page appears.
c) Click the Applications icon, or select Applications from the Central Management Console drop down list at
the top right of the console window.
d) Double click the Explorer entry in the Application name column.
e) In the properties panel, add the following parameter:
custom.geo.repository.renamednames.file.cuid. Set the value to the CUID of the new
repository file.
For example if the CUID value for the file custom_renamed_repository.xml is
ATavVgn075lKjaoRA2sTals , then the parameter you add is :

custom.geo.repository.renamednames.file.cuid = ATavVgn075lKjaoRA2sTals

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 f) Click Save and Close.
9. Restart the Explorer Index and Master servers.

In this example, when you select values for a geography dimension in Explorer, you can choose London City as a
city value.
Related Links
Geography repository file syntax [page 27]

4.3.4.2 Adding new cities to the geography repository

You can add new city names to a customized geography repository that are made available as geography
dimension values. To create a new repository, you need to have access to the Explorer installation file system, and
have Administrator rights to use the Central Management Console.

A new geography repository is an .XML file that contains a location identifier from the parent names.csv
repository file, a custom identifier and location coordinates for a new city entry. The file is uploaded to a folder in
the CMS, and the CUID for the file is passed as a value to a new parameter
custom.geo.repository.explorer.file.cuid added to the properties for the Explorer application in the
CMC.

1. Create a new .XML file in a text editor. Save it locally and give it a relevant name, for example
custom_newcity_repository.xml .
2. Open the Navteq repository file names.csv in a text editor. The repository file is contained in a
compressed .JAR file installed here: <INSTALLDIR>\SAP BusinessObjects\Explorer 14.0\plugins
\com.sap.geo.repository.names.navteq.levels012c_<version number>.jar.

Note
The .JAR name is variable depending on the build number installed on your machine, but is similar to this:
navteq.levels012c_3.2.0.r606_v20120131.jar .

3. In the names.csv file, find the parent regional ID for the city that you want to add. For example to add the city
of Levallois in France, you search for Ile-de-France (ID = 20002126) which is the regional parent of Levallois.
4. In the new .XML file, add the following parameters:
Option Description
Feat ID Identifier for the new city line. You assign a number. It can be any number, as long as it is unique in the new
repository file.

parent Identifier for the parent region of the new city. This is the same as the parent id in the names.csv.

name Your new city entry.

latitude Latitude coordinates of the city

longitude Longitude coordinates of the city.

Refer to Geography repository file syntax section in Related Topics for a description of the correct syntax in
the repository file.

Note

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 The easiest way to create an entry is to copy an existing entry for a city in the names.csv file to the new
repository file, and modify the location id, name, and add the latitude and longitude coordinates.

For example, the Levallois city addition would be the following:

<locations>
<location id="100" parent="20002126" name="Levallois-Perret" type="OFFICIAL"
lang="fra"
exonym="false" transliteration="false" latitude="48.89829696596768"
longitude="2.278434634208679" />
</locations>

5. Save the new .XML file.

6. Upload the new .XML file to a folder in the Central Management Console (CMC).
7. From the CMC do the following:
a) Open the folder and right click the .XML file. Click Properties and copy the CUID value for the file. This is
the unique identifier in the CMS for the file. Click Cancel.
b) Click the CMC Home icon or select CMC Home from the Central Management Console drop down list at
the top right of the console window.
The CMC Home page appears.
c) Click the Applications icon, or select Applications from the Central Management Console drop down list at
the top right of the console window.
d) Double click the Explorer entry in the Application name column.
e) In the properties panel, add the following parameter:
custom.geo.repository.explorer.file.cuid . Set the value to the CUID of the new repository
file.
For example if the CUID value for the file custom_newcity_repository is
AfMRhpbRaqRXXXskIJZQ3Uo , then the parameter you add is :

custom.geo.repository.explorer.file.cuid = AfMRhpbRaqRXXXskIJZQ3Uo

f) Click Save and Close.

8. Restart the Explorer Index and Master servers.

In this example, when you select the values for a geography dimension in Explorer, the city Levallois-Perret is
available localized in the Ile-de-France region.
Related Links
Geography repository file syntax [page 27]

4.3.4.3 Geography repository file syntax

This section describes the syntax that must be followed in the customized geography XML repository files.

The repository must conform to these constraints to be parsed correctly:

● The file is in .XML format.

● Use the exact format for each new or modified location. Failure to do so causes a parsing error so the entire
file is ignored.
● Each location is represented by an element, you must use a separate element for each location.

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● Attributes are used for the values.
● Attributes can be in any order.
● There must be at least one location.

A typical entry in the names.csv is as follows:

"C20337455" "20248595" "c" "London City" "eng" "false" "false" "OFFICIAL"

The attributes used in names.csv and the .XML files are described as follows:

Column Example Description Mandatory in Mandatory in

renamed new names XML
names XML repository
repository

Feature ID "C20337455" Unique feature ID of a geographic Yes Yes. Must be a

location. String. unique value. For
example, if you
use 100 as the
first ID, then for
each location
increment:
location 1's id =
100, location 2's
id = 200 etc.

Parent ID "20248595" Unique parent ID of a geographic Yes No. Optional, if

location. String. given, then
contributes to the
context of the
feature (the
parents) when we
are searching for
it during
reconciliation.

Admin Level "c" The administrative level of the N/A N/A

geographic location. (0 -> Country,
1 -> Sub Admin Level1, 2 -> Sub
Admin Level2, c -> City). String.

Name "London City" The name of the geographic Yes Yes

location. This is the alias that you
add. String.

Language ISO code "eng" The ISO 639 language code for the Yes Yes
geographic location entry, for
example "fra" is French. String.

Is Exonym? "false" Is the geographic location entry an Yes Yes

exonym? An exonym is a word
used in another language for the
geographical location. For example

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 Column Example Description Mandatory in Mandatory in
renamed new names XML
names XML repository
repository

'Londres" is an exonym (French)

for London. Boolean.

Is Transliteration? "false" Is the geographic location entry a Yes Yes

transliteration? A transliteration is
the spelling of a location in one
language using the alphabet of
another language. Boolean.

Name Type "OFFICIAL" The type of the Name of the Yes . Must be Yes . Must be
geographic location entry. OFFICIAL, OFFICIAL,
(OFFICIAL -> Official name, ISO_3166_1_A3 ISO_3166_1_A3,
ISO_3166_1_A3 - three-letter ISO , or or
code, ABBREVIATION - an ABBREVIATIO ABBREVIATION
abbreviation) String. N

Latitude latitude="49.99 The latitude coordinate of the new N/A Yes. Must be a
6595" location. valid coordinate.

Longitude longitude="8.58 The longitude coordinate of the N/A Yes. Must be a

2726" new location. valid coordinate.

4.4 Load Balancing

4.4.1 Loadbalancing

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer supports the clustering of your web application server. Hardware or software load
balancers can be used as the entry-point for the web application servers to ensure that the processing is evenly
distributed among servers.

For information about load balancing for SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform, refer to the SAP
Product Availability Matrix (PAM) at: http://service.sap.com/pam.

Related Links
Related documentation [page 5]

4.4.1.1 Configuring the workload update setting for load

balancing

The workload is balanced by ensuring that servers with the least load have a higher job priority. Slave servers
(within a cluster) ensure that the Explorer Master Server is periodically updated with their workload costs.

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The workload.update.delay parameter specifies the duration of time (in milliseconds) between updates to the
Explorer Master Server.

To change the workload update delay period, an administrator can either:

● Change a setting for a single node. Create or edit a properties file named explorer.service.properties
located under:

○ <SAP BusinessObjects installdir>\Explorer14.0\

Add this entry: workload.update.delay=30, amend the value accordingly, and restart the servers.
● Add the following to the command line to configure a single server:
-workload.update.delay 30
For example:
-loggingPath "C:/Program Files (x86)/SAP BusinessObjects/Explorer14.0/Logging/" -
serverkind polestarMaster -trace true -workload.update.delay 30

Note
The default value of workload.update.delay is 15 000 milliseconds. Altering the setting (especially if the
specified value is too low) can have an impact on network traffic and performance. The value must be
significantly smaller than the value of watchdog.timeout.

4.4.2 Deploying Multiple Explorer Servers for Improved

Information Space Exploration

If the main activity of your user population is exploration, then it is recommended you deploy SAP
BusinessObjects Explorer in a cluster with additional Explorer servers to ensure maximum performance when
users navigate Information Spaces.

Deploying a high-end machine to the cluster improves the performance and lowers any server constraints.
Related Links
Explorer User Profiles [page 32]

4.4.3 Deploying Multiple Index Servers for Improved Indexing

The indexing of Information Spaces is dependent on the following:

● the number of Explorer servers deployed and how they are deployed
● the hardware (CPU, memory, hard disk) used for Explorer servers
● the Java Virtual Machine heap

If your aim is to improve indexing performance, it is recommended you put one installation of all four Explorer
servers (Master, Indexing, Search, and Exploration) on the machine where SAP BusinessObjects Business
Intelligence platform is installed, and additional Explorer Indexing Servers on separate machines, ensuring they
are directed to the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform installation. The indexing load is shared
across all the indexing servers.

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The number of servers required is dependent on the number of users expected to use SAP BusinessObjects
Explorer. For example, if you expect a high number of users indexing the large Information Spaces at the same
time (an extreme scenario), then an additional server is required. Indexing many Information Spaces has an
impact on explorers while they are exploring. It is recommended you schedule Information Spaces for indexing
when there is less activity, such as over night.
Related Links
Indexing best practices [page 50]
Related documentation [page 5]

4.5 Periodic Tasks

4.5.1 Verifying Information Space indexes

It is recommended that administrators verify that indexes are up to date at regular intervals. To do this:

1. Log into SAP BusinessObjects Explorer with a Space Creator or Administrator profile.
2. Select the Manage Spaces tab.
3. View the lists of Information Spaces and verify that the Index icon is green for all of the Information Spaces.
4. In the case of an Index icon being red, it is necessary to re-index the Information Space. You can either click
Index Now or schedule indexing by selecting Edit next to the appropriate Information Spaces and then
defining a schedule.

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4.6 User Administration and Authentication

4.6.1 User Management

4.6.1.1 Managing users and groups

User profiles are managed and stored in the Central Managment Server (CMS). The administration console you
use to manage the user profiles is the Central Management Console (CMC).

For information on creating users and groups, and assigning rights see the Business Intelligence Platform
Administrator Guide 4.0 available at: http://help.sap.com.

4.6.1.2 Explorer User Profiles

The SAP BusinessObjects Explorer users include the following profiles:

Space Explorers

Space Explorers make up the majority of the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer user population. They search for
Information Spaces, navigate and analyze the data within those Information Spaces, and save Information Spaces
to other file formats. These users sometimes export Information Spaces to other applications to analyze the data
further.

Space Creators

Space Creators make up a small percentage of the total SAP BusinessObjects Explorer user population. They
understand the underlying data structures in the data providers consumed by the application and understand the
business concerns of their Space Explorer collaborators. With this knowledge, Space Creators can build
Information Spaces that contain contextually related sets of data, and so provide Space Explorers with a complete
picture for a given business query.

Your system requirements and sizing parameters will depend on the percentage of Space Explorers and Space
Creators across your SAP BusinessObjects Explorer deployment.

Administrators

Administrators are responsible for the following:

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● Scheduling Information Space indexing, so that the load on the system can be kept to a minimum during peak
usage times.
● Managing SAP BusinessObjects Explorer user rights.
● Managing server settings.

4.6.1.3 Allocating rights to users and groups

Note
It is important to ensure that end users have the appropriate rights to the specific universes, folders, and Web
Intelligence functionality they require in order to be able to access the Information Spaces they want to explore.
For more information, see the How Information Spaces map to data providers listed in Related Topics, below.

You configure SAP BusinessObjects Explorer user profiles within the CMC. You need to specify the following types
of user authorization in the CMC:

● Define which Explorer features your users have access to, by granting or denying rights to the appropriate
objects
● Grant users application rights for the other SAP BusinessObjects applications leveraged by SAP
BusinessObjects Explorer
● Allocate the appropriate Access Level to users so they can perform Explorer scheduling and export tasks as
appropriate
● Verify users with a Space Creator or Administrator profile have the appropriate access rights to any
BusinessObjects universes on which they need to build Information Spaces
● Verify users have the necessary rights to folders where Information Spaces are stored on the CMS

Related Links
Authorization required for Information Spaces [page 46]
Explorer User Profiles [page 32]

4.6.1.3.1 Explorer user rights per user profile

Depending on the profiles you wish to allocate to your Explorer users, you need to grant specific permissions.

Table 1: Feature usage permissions for Explorer users

User Profile Permissions

Space Explorer Explore Information Spaces

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Bookmark/Email

Explore Information Spaces: Export to CSV

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Image

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Web Intelligence

Log onto Polestar and view this object in the CMC

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User Profile Permissions

Space Creator Explore Information Spaces

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Bookmark/Email

Explore Information Spaces: Export to CSV

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Image

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Web Intelligence

Manage Information Spaces

Manage Information Spaces: Create a new Space

Manage Information Spaces: Launch indexing

Manage Information Spaces: Modify a space

Manage Information Spaces: Schedule indexing

Delete objects

Edit this object

Log onto Explorer and view this object in the CMC

Administrator Explore Information Spaces

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Bookmark/Email

Explore Information Spaces: Export to CSV

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Image

Explore Information Spaces: Export to Web Intelligence

Manage Information Spaces

Manage Information Spaces: Create a new Space

Manage Information Spaces: Launch indexing

Manage Information Spaces: Modify a space

Manage Information Spaces: Schedule indexing

Delete objects

Edit this object

Log onto Explorer and view this object in the CMC

Modify the rights users have to this object

Securely modify rights users have to objects

Because SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is an add-on to SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise and leverages the SAP
BusinessObjects Web Intelligence and SAP BusinessObjects InfoView applications, some additional Application
Rights are also required for each Explorer user profile

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Table 2: Application Rights for Explorer users
User Profile BusinessObjects Enterprise Application Rights

Space Explorer Application Right - InfoView: Log on to InfoView and view this object in the CMC

Space Creator Application Right - InfoView: Log on to InfoView and view this object in the CMC

Application Right - CMC: Log on to the CMC and view this object in the CMC

Application Right - Web Intelligence: Create document

Administrator Application Right - InfoView: Log on to InfoView and view this object in the CMC

Application Right - CMC: Log on to the CMC and view this object in the CMC

Application Right - Web Intelligence: Create document

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise comes with predefined Access Levels. You need to allocate the appropriate
Access Levels to your Explorer users so they can perform the scheduling and export tasks that match the needs
of their user profile.

Table 3: Access Levels for Explorer users

User Profile BusinessObjects Enterprise
Access Level(s)

Space Explorer View On Demand The user can explore Information Spaces and can export
to Web Intelligence, CSV, or to an image.

Space Creator Schedule The user can manage Information Spaces and schedule.

View On Demand The user can explore Information Spaces and can export
to Web Intelligence, CSV, or to an image.

Administrator Full Control The user has full access and control to SAP
BusinessObjects Explorer.

Note
When configuring authorizations for Space Creators and Administrators, ensure that they have the correct
access levels to Universes and Universe Connections. The access levels state the rights they have for Universes
and Universe Connections. Having the right of Data Access for a Universe Connection allows the user to access
the Universe for Information Space creation.

For full information on the user rights and security levels available at the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise level,
refer to the BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's Guide 4.0 available at: http://help.sap.com.

Related Links
Explorer User Profiles [page 32]

4.6.2 Authentication methods

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer supports the authentication methods supported by SAP BusinessObjects
Business Intelligence platform:

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● Enterprise
● Windows AD
● LDAP
● SAP R/3

To enable SAP R/3 authentication on your SAP BusinessObjects Explorer deployment, you need to perform some
manual configuration procedures on the Explorer server.

Related Links
Enabling Trusted Authentication [page 44]

4.6.2.1 Configuring SAP BusinessObjects Explorer for SAP

authentication

This table provides the settings you need to configure in order to make SAP authentication available to SAP
BusinessObjects Explorer users.

Note
Before configuring SAP BusinessObjects Explorer for SAP authentication, refer to the Business Intelligence
Platform Administrator Guide 4.1 available at: http://help.sap.com for further information on SAP
authentication.

The SAP authentication settings are stored within the Explorer settings properties file
(default.settings.properties) in: $<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/classes/
default.settings.properties.

Table 4: SAP authentication web application settings

Setting Description Example Example
Configuration Configuration (for
(without SAP SAP Authentication)
Authentication)
default.sapsystem.name The name of the SAP SAP_ID
system.

show.sapsystem.name Determines if the SAP false true

system name is shown
within the Log On page.

disable.sapsystem.name Disables the SAP system true false

name text box within the Log
On page. You cannot change
the textbox value.

default.sapclient.name The SAP client ID. 100

show.sapclient.name Determines if the SAP client false true

name is shown within the
Log On page.

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 Setting Description Example Example
Configuration Configuration (for
(without SAP SAP Authentication)
Authentication)
disable.sapclient.name Disables the SAP client true false
name textbox within the Log
On page. You cannot change
the textbox value.

default.authentication.m The default log on secEnterprise secSAPR3

ethod authentication to use. The
value is selected in the
Authentication list of the Log
On page.

authentications The values that populate the secEnterprise,sec secEnterprise

Authentication list. WinAD,secLDAP secWinAD,
secLDAP,secSAPR3

Example
Properties file configured for SAP authentication

default.sapsystem.name=SAP_ID
show.sapsystem.name=true
disable.sapsystem.name=false
default.sapclient.name=100
show.sapclient.name=true
disable.sapclient.name=false
default.authentication.method=secSAPR3
authentications=secEnterprise,secWinAD,secLDAP,secSAPR3

4.6.3 Single Sign On

You can configure SAP BusinessObjects Explorer for Single Sign On (SSO) for the following authentication
methods:

● Enterprise
● Windows AD
● LDAP
● SAP R/3

The following files are used to configure SSO:

● $<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/classes/sso.properties contains all of the SSO options

● $<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/web.xml contains a servlet filter that needs to be activated for Vintela
authentication (for Windows AD)
● $<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/default.settings.properties contains Explorer startup options
that can be overridden by the SSO in the sso.properties file

Related Links

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Activating Single Sign On [page 38]
SSO for WinAD authentication using Vintela [page 39]
SSO for LDAP authentication using SiteMinder [page 40]
Enabling Trusted Authentication [page 44]

4.6.3.1 Activating Single Sign On

SSO must already be configured on SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform before you configure
SSO on SAP BusinessObjects Explorer.

See the Business Intelligence Platform Administrator Guide at: http://help.sap.com.

To activate SSO:

1. Stop the Explorer Web Application Server.

2. Open the following file for edit:
$<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/classes/sso.properties
3. Set the following parameters to the values specified:

Setting Values

sso.global.enabled true

sso.global.providers <provider_name>

Note
By default, the sso.properties file contains a set of ready-to-use values for the
sso.global.providers file. The property must only be set once in the entire file. However, you can
specify multiple providers using a comma-separated list of providers.

4. Optional: three additional parameters can be set:

Setting Description Values

sso.global.cms Controls the CMS used during the <cms_name>

authentication. If the line is
commented with a # at its start, or
does not exist, then the
default.cms.name value set in the
default.settings.propertie
s is used.

sso.global.authentication Controls the authentication method Possible values are:

used.
secEnterprise
secLDAP

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 Setting Description Values

secWinAD
secSAPR3

sso.global.errorOnFailure Controls how the SSO system behaves Two possible values:
if no credential has been found.
false - the logon workflow
continues normally as it would if
SSO was not enabled
true - the logon dialog is not
displayed

Example

sso.global.enabled=true
sso.global.authentication=
sso.global.cms=hostname:port
sso.global.providers=sso.vintela

4.6.3.2 SSO for WinAD authentication using Vintela

The Vintela Authentication Services provider uses the credentials automatically passed from the browser to the
web server to authenticate the user against an Active Directory server.

Note
the authentication cannot be overriden and is implicitely set to secWinAD.

It works as follows:

● Retrieves the Windows credential from the current execution context using Vintela
● Logs on to the server with authentication using these credentials

To enable Vintela Authentication Services for SSO on WinAD, you need to make two additional modifications to
$<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/web.xml.

● uncomment the definition of the authFilter

● uncomment the mapping of the authFilter

You also need to set the following parameter:

Setting Values

className com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.sso.vintela.VintelaSSOP
rovider

You can also set the following parameters:

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Setting Description Values

sso.vintela.cms Controls the CMS used for <cms_name>

authentication. It can be used to
override the default CMS

sso.vintela.locale.retrieval Method to be used to retrieve the - HTTP_HEADER from HTTP header

locale of the current Explorer UI
- QUERY_STRING from the URI
query string

- COOKIE from cookie

- SESSION from web session

attribute

- REQUEST from request attribute

- X509_SUBJECT from
X509_SUBJECT certificate

sso.vintela.locale.param specifies the parameter used by the To be set by administrator, for

sso.vintela.locale.retrieval method example pvl
to retrieve the Explorer UI locale.

Example

#
# Vintela parameters (sso.vintela provider)
#
sso.vintela.className=com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.sso.vintela.VintelaSSOProv
ider
sso.vintela.cms=

4.6.3.3 SSO for WinAD using Kerberos

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer supports WinAD using Kerberos. You need to set up WinAD authentication with
Kerberos on your SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform system. No configuration is necessary on
the Explorer servers.

See the Business Intelligence Platform Administrator Guide Administrator's Guide at: http://help.sap.com.

4.6.3.4 SSO for LDAP authentication using SiteMinder

The SiteMinder provider uses a cookie SMSESSION containing a unique session ID to be used as a user name to
perform an authentication using secLDAP or secWinAD.

Note

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 this provider is based on a generic provider with predefined values, as specified below.

It works as follows:

● Retrieves the SiteMinder session cookie from the current execution context
● Logs on to the server with authentication using this cookie value

You need to set the following parameters:

Setting Description Values

sso.siteminder. className com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.sso

.generic.GenericSSOProvider

sso.siteminder. authentication By default, this is set to: secLDAP. It can

be changed to secWinAD

sso.siteminder.user.retrieval Method to be used to retrieve the user The value is set to COOKIE by default.
name
Note
The default value should not be
changed.

sso.siteminder.user.param Specifies the parameter used by the The value is set to SMSESSION by
user.retrieval method to retrieve the default.
user name.
Note
The default value should not be
changed.

You can also set the following parameters:

Setting Description Values

sso.siteminder.cms Controls the CMS used for <cms_name>

authentication. It can be used to
override the default CMS

sso.siteminder.locale.retrieval Method to be used to retrieve the - HTTP_HEADER from HTTP header

locale of the current Explorer UI .
- QUERY_STRING from the URI
query string

- COOKIE from cookie

- SESSION from web session

attribute

- REQUEST from request attribute

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Setting Description Values

- X509_SUBJECT from
X509_SUBJECT certificate

sso.siteminder.locale.param Specifies the parameter used by the To be set by administrator, for

sso.siteminder.locale.retrieval example pvl
method to retrieve the Explorer UI
locale.

Example

#
# SiteMinder parameters (sso.siteminder)
#
sso.siteminder.className=com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.sso.generic.GenericSSOP
rovider
sso.siteminder.cms=
sso.siteminder.authentication=secLDAP
sso.siteminder.user.retrieval=COOKIE
sso.siteminder.user.param=SMSESSION

4.6.3.5 SAP SSO

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer supports SAP SSO and this allows to use SAP BusinessObjects Explorer from the
SAP NetWeaver portal without having to repeatedly enter user information for authentication.

See the Business Intelligence Platform Administrator Guide Administrator's Guide at: http://help.sap.com.

You set the following parameters:

Setting Description Values

sso.sap.className Mandatory com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.sso

.generic.GenericSSOProvider

sso.sap.cms Controls the CMS used for <cms_name>

authentication. It can be used to
override the default CMS.

sso.sap.user.retrieval Method to be used to retrieve the user The value is set to COOKIE by default.
name.
Note
The default value should not be
changed.

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 Setting Description Values

sso.sap.user.param Specifies the parameter used by the The value is set to MYSAPSSO2 by
user.retrieval method to retrieve the default.
user name.
Note
The default value should not be
changed.

You can also set the following parameters:

Setting Description Values

sso.sap.sysid.retrieval Method to be used to retrieve the SAP - HTTP_HEADER from HTTP header
system ID.
- QUERY_STRING from the URI query
string

- COOKIE from cookie

- SESSION from web session attribute

- REQUEST from request attribute

- X509_SUBJECT from X509_SUBJECT

certificate

sso.sap.sysid.param Specifies the parameter used by the To be set by administrator, for example
sso.sap.sysid.retrieval method to sap_sysid
retrieve the SAP system ID.

sso.sap.clientid.retrieval Method to be used to retrieve the SAP - HTTP_HEADER from HTTP header
client ID.
- QUERY_STRING from the URI query
string

- COOKIE from cookie

- SESSION from web session attribute

- REQUEST from request attribute

- X509_SUBJECT from X509_SUBJECT

certificate

sso.sap.clientid.param Specifies the parameter used by the To be set by administrator, for example
sso.sap.clientid.retrieval method to sap_client .
retrieve the SAP client ID.

sso.sap.locale.retrieval Retrieves the locale of the current - HTTP_HEADER from HTTP header
Explorer UI.
- QUERY_STRING from the URI query
string

- COOKIE from cookie

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 Setting Description Values

- SESSION from web session attribute

- REQUEST from request attribute

- X509_SUBJECT from X509_SUBJECT

certificate

sso.sap.locale.param Specifies the parameter used by the To be set by administrator, for example
sso.sap.locale.retrieval method to pvl
retrieve the Explorer UI locale.

Example

# SAP parameters (sso.sap).

#
sso.sap.className=com.businessobjects.datadiscovery.sso.sap.SAPSSOProvider
sso.sap.cms=DEWDFTV00832Q:6400
sso.sap.locale.retrieval=QUERY_STRING
sso.sap.locale.param=pvl
sso.sap.user.retrieval=COOKIE
sso.sap.user.param=MYSAPSSO2
sso.sap.sysid.retrieval=QUERY_STRING
sso.sap.sysid.param=sap_sysid
sso.sap.clientid.retrieval=QUERY_STRING
sso.sap.clientid.param=sap_client

4.6.3.6 Enabling Trusted Authentication

You need to configure the CMC for trusted authentication before you can enable trusted authentication on SAP
BusinessObjects Explorer.

See the section on enabling trusted authentication in the Business Intelligence Platform Administrator Guide at:
http://help.sap.com.

To enable trusted authentication on SAP BusinessObjects Explorer:

1. Stop the Explorer Web Application Server.

2. Open the following file for edit:
$<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/classes/sso.properties
3. Set the following parameters:

Setting Values

cms.default Enter the CMS name and port number as follows:

<servername.portnumber >

sso.enabled true

siteminder.enabled false

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4. Find the following string:
trusted.auth.user.retrieval
5. Enter the parameter value that corresponds to the user retrieval method you want to implement:

User Retrieval Method Value

Retrieve the user name from a call to getRemoteUser ( ) on REMOTE_USER

the HttpServletRequest object for the current request in a
servlet or JSP.

Note
For .NET the following properties need to be set on your
InfoViewApp directory, using IIS Manager:

○ disable Anonymous access checkbox

○ enable the Windows Integrated Authentication
checkbox

Retrieve the user name from the contents of a specified HTTP_HEADER

parameter in the request URL.

Note
You define the query string parameter in the
trusted.auth.user.param parameter in the web.xml file
for BI launch pad .

Retrieve the user name from the contents of a specified COOKIE

cookie.

Note
You define the cookie in the trusted.auth.user.param
parameter in the web.xml file for BI launch pad .

Retrieve the user name from the contents of a specified WEB_SESSION

session variable.

Note
You define the web session variable in the
trusted.auth.user.param parameter in the web.xml file
for BI launch pad .

Retrieve the user name from a call to getUserPrincipal USER_PRINCIPAL

( ) .getName ( ) on the HttpServletRequest object for the
current request in a servlet or JSP.

6. Verify you have specified how to retrieve the shared secret for BusinessObjects Enterprise.

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 To retrieve the shared secret from a session variable, you need to configure the $<ExplorerWebappRoot>/
WEB-INF/classes/sso.properties file on SAP BusinessObjects Explorer.
7. Set the following parameter value in the $<ExplorerWebappRoot>/WEB-INF/classes/sso.properties
file:

Parameter Value

trusted.auth.shared.secret Enter the session variable name from which to retrieve the
shared secret.

8. Save and close the file.

Re-start the Explorer Web Application Server.

4.6.3.7 Configuring Single Sign-On to allow manual logon

When SSO is configured on an SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform deployment, users are
automatically logged on when accessing the Explorer application and bookmark URLs.

In certain cases, an administrator needs to log into Explorer without being automatically identified as already
logged in; for example, to log in as a different user when already logged in, or when a single platform is required to
serve SSO users (internal users) and non SSO users (external users).

You can activate manual login in a SSO system as follows:

1. Stop the Web application servers.

2. Browse to the SSO folder in the SAP BusinessObjects install path.
3. Copy the noSSO.jsp file to the Web Application server explorer folder.
For example:

Copy $BO_ROOT$\Tomcat6\webapps\explorer\sso\noSSO.jsp
to the folder $BO_ROOT$\Tomcat6\webapps\explorer\
4. Restart the web application servers.
5. Test the manual login as follows:

○ Start Explorer.
○ Log in by replacing the part of the URL after http://<server>:<port>/explorer/ with noSSO.jsp.

For example http://<server>:<port>/explorer/noSSO.jsp. The application starts without prompting

for login information.

4.7 Managing Information Spaces

4.7.1 Authorization required for Information Spaces

The supported data providers for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 4.0 are:

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● BusinessObjects universes (.unx files) created using the SAP BusinessObjects information design tool. The
universes are based on RDBMS.
● Excel spreadsheets (.xls, .xlsx files) created using Microsoft Excel

Building on BusinessObjects universes

To create an Information Space on a universe you need to have the following rights enabled for your in the CMC:

● access rights to the universe

● access rights to the folder in which the universe is stored on the CMS.

4.7.1.1 Uploading Excel spreadsheets as data provider

The Excel files used by Explorer need to be flat files, that is simple data files with one record per row without
structuring such as multiple tables, or crosstabs or charts.

1. How you select the Excel spreadsheet depends on where the file is stored:

○ If the file is stored on the CMS, click the Manage Spaces tab and then select the file from within the Excel
spreadsheets folder.
○ If the file is on your local machine, navigate to the Upload a spreadsheet to explore section on the Home
tab, click Browse and then select the file from your local directory.
2. Optional: If the file is on your local machine, you can opt to explore it immediately in Explorer.
If you want to specify how each type of data should be translated when viewed as objects within Explorer, then
you need to configure the new Information Space before you explore it. For example, if the Excel file contains
more than one sheet, you can specify which sheet you want Explorer to use. You can also specify for each
column whether the values are labels (that is, non-numerical characters) or if the values are measures. In the
case of values being measures, you can select whether the measure is a SUM, MIN or MAX value.

Note
By default, Explorer interprets all numerical values as SUM, except for dates.

3. How you specify properties for the Information Space depends on where the Excel file is stored:

○ click Preview and Configure.

○ click Configure.
4. If the file contains multiple sheets, select which sheet you want to make explorable and then click the drop-
down box above each column to specify whether Explorer should interpret the column values as a measure or
label.
5. To verify that the Information Space contains no errors, click Validate.

If the Excel file is stored on the CMS, the Information Space remains available from within Explorer. If the Excel file
is stored on your local machine, the Information Space is automatically deleted when you log out of Explorer.
However, you can save the Information Space as a bookmark and so re-visit it.
Related Links
Configuring the number of possible concurrent Excel uploads [page 20]

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4.7.2 Controlling access rights to the Information Space
folders

After creating and testing an Information Space, set security rights to the folder where the Information Space is
located within the CMC. Security rights can prevent any unauthorized personnel accessing, viewing, or performing
operations on the Information Space.

Refer to the Business Intelligence Platform Administrator Guide for information on setting security options.

Alternatively, move the Information Space to a secure folder.

4.7.3 Customizing Information Spaces with dynamic URL

parameters

SAP BusinessObjects Crystal Reports and Interactive Analysis tools support the insertion of dynamic hyperlinks
in a query that return an HTML page for a dimension. You can use this feature to insert a URL using an SAP
BusinessObjects Explorer specific URL syntax specific to open and customize an Information Space that
corresponds to a dimension in a Crystal Report or Interactive Analysis query.

Explorer may be referenced from any URL-supported location such as an email link, web page or address bar from
a web browser. An example of such a link would included the CUID of an Explorer workspace such as
"isid=ASFuWlg_wBpOg7MrYiTYY_g" and preselected facets and facets values such as
"fan=FacetNameA_:_FacetValueA1". Refer to the Crystal reports and Interactive Analysis user guides for
information on how to implement the URL. The syntax for the URL is as follows:

Syntax Description Example Values

url Url for retrieving the url=dummy.xml Needs a valid url with a well formed
parameters. xml

isid Information Space ID isid=ASFuWlg_wBpOg7MrYiTYY_g A valid Information Space CUID

(CUID).

Restrictions: Parameter is
mandatory.

isna Information Space Name

fans A sorted list of facets and fan= FacetNameA_:_FacetValueA1 A list of facets and facets values with
facets values separators:

● _:_ is the separator for facet and

its values
● _]_ is the separator for facet
values
● _;_ is the separator for facets

mens A sorted list of measures mens=Revenuemens=Revenue_;_ A list of measures:

Quantity
_;_ is the separator for measures

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 Syntax Description Example Values

secr A search criteria secr=revenue A search criteria (string)

cht Chart type cht=bvg bhg horizontal bar

Restrictions: bvg vertical bar
● Not provided or
mr multiradar
incorrect: Application
default applies r radar
● Provided: Display the sf surface
chart with application
default settings bvgd vertical bar dual axis
● Not available: Fall tg tag cloud
back to its category
default. p pie

bhs horizontal stacked bar

bvs vertical stacked bar

mp multipie

tm treemap

lxy XY chart

s bubble

lc line

lcd line dual axis

chdi Chart analysis dimension chdi=Year A valid dimension (facet)

chso Chart ordered by ● chso=Revenue Specify the dimension or measure

● chso=Revenue_:_asc that determines the ordering. It
accepts an optional parameter that
gives the sort type (for example
ascending.)

chts Chart threshold chts=12 Specify the chart threshold.

Restrictions: When
missing, application
default = 12.

chot Chart display "others" chot=false When "false" is specified, it will hide
"others"
Restrictions: When
missing, application
default = YES

cui Control User Interface cui=htb_;_hball Specify the user interface "quick
customization":
Restrictions: When
missing, application
default applies.

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 Example
Customizing Information Spaces with dynamic URLs

● Selecting 2 measures : store_cost and unit_sales and creating two filters on store_type and store_number:
http://vs0112:50001/explorer/index.jsp?isna=cube
+7&mens=unit_sales_;_store_cost&fans=store_type_:_Supermarket_]_Small
+Grocery_;_store_number_:_3_]_11_]_15

● Set the chart to 'horizontal bar', select 2 measures, set the analysis dimension, display only 5 values and
hide 'others' value:
http://vs0112:50001/explorer/index.jsp?isna=cube
+7&mens=unit_sales_;_store_cost&cht=bhg&chdi=store_city&chts=5&chot=false

● An URL that specifies the user interface style :

http://vs0112:50001/explorer/index.jsp?isna=cube+7&cui=htb

4.7.4 Indexing best practices

Performance during indexing is dependent upon the hardware (hard drive, memory and JVM heap size) number of
concurrent users, number of Information Spaces being indexed concurrently, and the size of those Information
Spaces.

If users only access SAP BusinessObjects Explorer during working hours, schedule the indexing over night, users
are not impacted by indexing. If you have medium sized Information Spaces and concurrent user access is not
expected, then a single high-end machine is considered to be efficient.

However if you have many users indexing and exploring large Information Spaces constantly, ensure the following:

● SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is deployed in a cluster with additional machines each having extra servers
The number of machines deployed is dependent on the number of expected concurrent users and the size of
the Information Spaces.
● fast hard disk drives are installed on each machine
● there is a large amount of memory on each machine (especially on the host machine with the Master Server)
● the JVM heap size for each server on each machine is configured correctly according to available memory

Scheduling Information Spaces for indexing does not impact performance if you have deployed, installed, and
configured everything correctly.

4.7.5 Testing your Information Space

After indexing your Information Space, perform a test to ensure it has been indexed correctly and it is what you
expect:

● Ensure that the Information Space appears within the Home tab.
● Click Refresh to update the list.
● Click the Information Space to launch it.

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● Check the facets to see if they represent the objects you selected during creation.
● Navigate through the data to ensure that the Information Space matches the original business needs and user
requirements.

4.7.6 Information Space design best practices

Before creating Information Spaces, gather the information requirements of your end users by asking the
following questions:

● What exactly is the business need of the Information Space?

If you know what the Information Space is going to be used for, then you can simply identify the related data
source objects. For example, the business need is for knowing the sales revenue last year for all of your
European stores. You could select the Sales Revenue measure, the Country, City, and Store dimensions, and
finally, the Last Year filter.
● How many users are expected to access and explore the Information Space?
If you know that the Information Space is for several users, select only necessary objects. If you select too
many objects that can have little use for the user, exploration and indexing can be impacted. It can also cause
confusion to users.
● What are the sizing limits?
Be aware of the sizing limits of your installation. Ask your administrator for further information.
● What are the security expectations?
Ensure that you select objects that are only meant to be in the Information Space.
● Is a single Information Space the best option?
Several small Information Spaces can often be better than a single Information Space.
● What is the best data provider to use?
Depending on the business need and user demand, choose a source data system and data provider that is the
most efficient and most accurate.
● What is the context of the Information Space?
While choosing your data source objects, ensure that you know if any contexts are required. A context makes
certain that the Information Space represents the desired perspective. For example: Sales or Reservations.
● If my Information Space is created on a BusinessObjects universe, what filters can be applied so that only
data of interest is retrieved?
By using filters, only the data necessary for a specific informaton need is included into the Information Space.
For example, by including a filter called "Last Year,", only data from the previous year is retrieved into the
Information Space when users explore it.

Note
Filters are created at the data provider level when the BusinessObjects universe or BWA index is designed.

● Is the definition you want valid?

Validate the definition of your Information Space before indexing, by clicking the Validate button when you
have selected the objects and filters you want to include.

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5 Security

5.1 Network security

You can deploy SAP BusinessObjects Explorer in a distributed scenario over multiple nodes, using firewalls and
reverse proxies for your security to set up a complex environment that ensures security and failover.

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5.1.1 Firewall port usage for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

When you deploy SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, you can protect your network with a firewall, however the
firewall can block network communication between your deployment nodes. For example, if you have deployed
the Explorer Web Application on one node, deployed the Explorer servers on another node and various
BusinessObjects Enterprise servers are already deployed on a third node, you may have to open ports to allow the
nodes to communicate.

Each server can be configured so that they use a specific port. The firewall can then be configured so that the
specific ports are open.

It is necessary to choose a set of port numbers which do not interfere with other network services and it is
necessary to ensure that the correct servers are configured. For example, the following servers are required to
have their ports configured on a simple Explorer deployment:

● Central Management Server

● Explorer Master Server
● Explorer Indexing Server
● Explorer Search Server
● Explorer Exploration Server
● Web Intelligence Processing Server

Note
If you allow access to the CMS, other services can connect and exchange information.

Example
Port configuration

This example demonstrates how you could configure servers on a simple deployment:

Server Port
Central Management Server 64002

Explorer Master Server 64023

Explorer Indexing Server 64022

Explorer Search Server 64024

Explorer Exploration Server 64021

Web Intelligence Processing Server 64032

Related Links
Overview [page 6]

5.1.2 Reverse proxies

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer supports the same reverse proxy configuration as SAP BusinessObjects
Enterprise. No specific reverse proxy configuration for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is required.

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For information about reverse proxy configuration for SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise, refer to the
BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's Guide XI 4.0 available on the SAP BusinessObjects tab at: http://
help.sap.com.

5.1.3 Configuring servers for SSL

You can use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol for all network communication between clients and servers
in your BusinessObjects Enterprise deployment. the SSL recommendation.

Refer to the section on distributed deployment scenarios referenced in Related Topics for security
recommendations using SSL, and also the specific recommendations for multiple master server deployments.

For information about configuring SSL for SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise, refer to the BusinessObjects
Enterprise Administrator's Guide XI 4.0 available on the SAP BusinessObjects tab at: http://help.sap.com.

Related Links
Distributed deployment scenarios [page 7]

5.2 Data and metadata storage locations

Data is stored in binary format in indexes. Where the data is stored depends on the data provider. If the data
provider is a BusinessObjects universe or an Excel spreadsheet, the data is stored on the SAP BusinessObjects
Business Intelligence platform Central Management Server (CMS) file system.

Metadata is stored in the CMS. When indexing, multiple files called “indexes” are created. There are exploration
indexes and global search indexes (leveraged by the Search on the Home tab of Explorer).

By default, indexes are located under <InstallDir>\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\Data

\Explorer\ on each node except the Explorer Master servers. As an administrator, you can change the storage
location per server. You do this from within the CMC, for each of the servers.

Note
When users export their exploration views of Information Spaces to CSV or Excel files, temporary data is stored
on the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform File Repository Service (FRS). This data is not
human readable.

5.3 Data protection

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer relies on database, and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform
platform security. Explorer itself does not store data except in the indexes leveraged by Explorer Information
Spaces. These indexes are stored in a binary format that is not human readable. However, indexes may contain

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sensitive data. To ensure that the data is secured, the BusinessObjects Enterprise CMS file system folders, which
host the indexes based on BusinessObjects universes and Excel spreadsheets, need to be set to restricted access.

5.4 Cookies

The client-side cookies used by Explorer do not store business data; the only information maintained by the
browser (using cookies) is the session token. Explorer cookies are not persistent. Users of shared computers
simply need to make sure they close the browser before leaving the workstation.

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6 System Availability

6.1 Ensuring system availability

If you have a large or mission-critical implementation of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, you will want to ensure
high availability for the following services:

● SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise CMS - deploy more than one BusinessObjects CMS to manage your
BusinessObjects Enterprise services. The two CMS servers work together to maintain consistency of critical
data.
● SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Master server - deploy more than one Explorer Master Server to manage the
other Explorer servers. The Master Servers work together to maintain the consistency of critical data.

To do this, you need to install two SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform CMS servers and two SAP
BusinessObjects Explorer Master servers, and cluster those servers so that the two CMS servers run together and
the two Master servers run together. This "high availability" support helps to ensure that users can still access
information when there is an equipment failure.
Related Links
Configuring failover between CMS servers [page 57]

6.2 Configuring failover between CMS servers

To run several SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform CMS machines together, you need to create a
cluster. A cluster consists of two or more CMS servers working together against a common CMS system
database. If a machine that is running one CMS fails, a machine with another CMS will continue to service SAP
BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform requests.

Note
For full details on how to cluster a CMS with an existing CMS, refer to the section on clustering Central
Management Servers in the Business Intelligence Platform Administrator Guide available on the SAP Help portal
at http://help.sap.com.

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7 Troubleshooting

7.1 Understanding error messages

Information about each error message generated by an Explorer service or component is provided in the SAP
BusinessObjects Error Messages Explained guide available at the SAP Help Portal: http://help.sap.com .

This guide also contains the tracelog error messages for errors generated by Explorer servers.

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www.sap.com/contactsap

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