Contents

Title and Copyright Information

Preface

• Intended Audience
• Documentation Accessibility
• OracleBI Discoverer Navigation and Accessibility
• Related Documents
• Conventions
• JGoodies License Agreement

1 Introducing OracleBI Discoverer

• 1.1 What is OracleBI Discoverer?
• 1.2 What are the new configuration features in OracleBI Discoverer 10g Release 2 (10.1.2)
• 1.2.1 User preference changes
• 1.2.1.1 User preferences removed
• 1.2.1.2 User preferences added
• 1.2.2 URL parameter changes
• 1.2.2.1 URL parameters removed
• 1.2.2.2 URL parameters added
• 1.2.3 Discoverer Plus look and feel
• 1.2.4 Discoverer Viewer customization
• 1.3 About configuring OracleBI Discoverer
• 1.4 How to confirm an OracleBI Discoverer installation
• 1.5 About connecting to Discoverer
• 1.6 What is the OracleBI Discoverer architecture?
• 1.7 About the Discoverer client tier
• 1.7.1 About the Discoverer client tier and Discoverer Plus
• 1.7.2 About the Discoverer client tier and Discoverer Viewer
• 1.8 About the Discoverer Services tier
• 1.8.1 About the Discoverer J2EE components
• 1.8.1.1 What is the Discoverer servlet?
• 1.8.1.2 What is the Discoverer Plus servlet?
• 1.8.1.3 What is the Discoverer Portlet Provider servlet?
• 1.8.2 About the Discoverer CORBA components (Discoverer Service)
• 1.8.2.1 What is the Discoverer Session component?
• 1.8.2.2 What is the Discoverer Preferences component?
• 1.9 About the Discoverer database tier
• 1.10 How does OracleBI Discoverer work?
• 1.10.1 How does Discoverer Plus Relational work?
• 1.10.2 How does Discoverer Plus OLAP work?
• 1.10.3 How does Discoverer Viewer work?

2 About Oracle Business Intelligence installations and OracleAS Infrastructures

• 2.1 About installing Oracle Business Intelligence
• 2.1.1 About Business Intelligence and Forms installations and OracleBI standalone installations associated with an OracleAS Infrastructure
• 2.1.2 About OracleBI standalone installations
• 2.2 How to associate an OracleBI installation with an OracleAS Infrastructure
• 2.3 How to upgrade a 9.0.4 metadata repository to work with Discoverer Portlet Provider Version 10.1.2 and Oracle Portal 10.1.2
• 2.3.1 How to upgrade just the OracleBI Discoverer part of a Metadata Repository

3 Starting OracleBI Discoverer

• 3.1 General information about starting OracleBI Discoverer
• 3.2 What are the supported Web browser versions for Discoverer?
• 3.3 About restricting how users can start Discoverer
• 3.4 What are the memory requirements and privileges required to start Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer?
• 3.5 About running Discoverer over HTTPS
• 3.5.1 How to install a security certificate on a Discoverer Plus client machine
• 3.5.2 How to import certificate details into the JInitiator certificate store
• 3.5.3 How to import certificate details into the Java Plug-in certificate store
• 3.6 About running Discoverer Plus over HTTP for the first time on a client machine
• 3.7 How to start Discoverer Plus
• 3.8 How to start Discoverer Plus over HTTP in Microsoft Internet Explorer for the first time on a Windows client machine
• 3.9 How to start Discoverer Plus over HTTP in Netscape Navigator for the first time on a Windows client machine
• 3.10 How to start Discoverer Plus over HTTP in Netscape Navigator for the first time on a UNIX client machine
• 3.11 How to start Discoverer Viewer over HTTP

4 Managing OracleBI Discoverer connections

• 4.1 What is an OracleBI Discoverer connection?
• 4.1.1 About Discoverer private connections and OracleAS Single Sign-On
• 4.2 What are the different types of Discoverer connection?
• 4.2.1 About private connections
• 4.2.2 About public connections
• 4.3 About managing Discoverer connections?
• 4.4 About the Discoverer connections page
• 4.5 About specifying whether Discoverer end users can create their own private connections
• 4.6 How to create public connections
• 4.7 How to delete public connections
• 4.8 How to specify whether Discoverer end users can create private connections

5 Managing and configuring OracleBI Discoverer

• 5.1 About Oracle Enterprise Manager Application Server Control
• 5.1.1 Why use Application Server Control with Discoverer?
• 5.1.2 How to start Application Server Control and display the System Components page
• 5.1.3 How to display the Application Server Control Discoverer Home page
• 5.2 About using Application Server Control to manage Discoverer components
• 5.2.1 What happens when you enable or disable Discoverer client tier components?
• 5.3 About starting and stopping the Discoverer Service
• 5.3.1 How to stop or restart the Discoverer Service on a machine
• 5.4 About disabling and enabling Discoverer client tier components
• 5.4.1 How to disable Discoverer client tier components
• 5.4.2 How to enable Discoverer client tier components
• 5.5 How to start and stop the Discoverer servlets
• 5.6 About configuring the options for the Discoverer Service and Discoverer client tier components
• 5.6.1 How to change configuration options for individual Discoverer client tier components
• 5.7 About monitoring Discoverer metrics
• 5.7.1 How to monitor summary metrics for all Discoverer client tier components
• 5.7.2 How to monitor metrics for a single Discoverer client tier component
• 5.8 How to list ports used by Oracle Application Server
• 5.8.1 How to change the port on which Discoverer is deployed
• 5.9 About running Discoverer Plus with different Java Virtual Machines
• 5.9.1 How to specify a different Java Virtual Machine for Discoverer Plus
• 5.9.2 How to specify your own Java Virtual Machine for Discoverer Plus
• 5.10 About configuring Discoverer to export to Web Query format

6 Configuring the Discoverer Catalog and Discoverer Plus OLAP

• 6.1 Overview of the Discoverer Catalog
• 6.1.1 What is the Discoverer Catalog?
• 6.1.2 What is the OLAP Catalog?
• 6.1.3 What properties can objects in the Discoverer Catalog have?
• 6.1.4 What is the architecture of the Discoverer Catalog?
• 6.1.5 How does the Discoverer Catalog differ from the BI Beans Catalog?
• 6.2 How to maintain the Discoverer Catalog
• 6.2.1 What database privileges are assigned to the D4OSYS user?
• 6.2.2 How to install the Discoverer Catalog
• 6.2.2.1 Checking the block size when installing the Discoverer Catalog
• 6.2.3 How to uninstall the Discoverer Catalog
• 6.2.4 How to export a Discoverer Catalog
• 6.2.5 How to import a Discoverer Catalog
• 6.3 How to maintain authorized users and roles for the Discoverer Catalog
• 6.3.1 What are the characteristics of the folder structure of the Discoverer Catalog?
• 6.3.2 What are the folders in the structure?
• 6.3.3 What are the types of privileges for objects and folders?
• 6.3.4 How to manage privileges as the D4OSYS user
• 6.3.5 How to ensure that users can use Discoverer Plus OLAP
• 6.3.6 How to authorize user and role access to the Discoverer Catalog
• 6.3.7 How to revoke user or role access to the Discoverer Catalog
• 6.3.8 How to use private versus public connections when accessing OLAP data
• 6.4 How to customize the look and fee of Discoverer Plus OLAP
• 6.5 What information do I provide to end users?
• 6.6 What is the configuration diagnostic utility for Discoverer Plus OLAP?
• 6.6.1 Forms of output from the utility
• 6.6.2 Description of output from the utility
• 6.6.2.1 JDK version
• 6.6.2.2 BI Beans internal version
• 6.6.2.3 Discoverer Plus OLAP version
• 6.6.2.4 Discoverer version
• 6.6.2.5 Connect to database
• 6.6.2.6 JDBC driver version
• 6.6.2.7 JDBC JAR file location
• 6.6.2.8 Database version
• 6.6.2.9 OLAP Catalog version, OLAP AW Engine version, OLAP API Server version
• 6.6.2.10 BI Beans Catalog version
• 6.6.2.11 Discoverer Catalog version
• 6.6.2.12 Authorized for Discoverer Plus OLAP
• 6.6.2.13 OLAP API JAR file version
• 6.6.2.14 OLAP API JAR file location
• 6.6.2.15 Load OLAP API metadata
• 6.6.2.16 Number of metadata folders
• 6.6.2.17 Number of metadata measures
• 6.6.2.18 Number of metadata dimensions
• 6.6.2.19 Metadata description
• 6.6.2.20 Error message description
• 6.7 URL parameters for the Discoverer Plus OLAP Servlet
• 6.8 URL parameters for an OLAP worksheet in Discoverer Viewer

7 Installing OracleBI Discoverer in a multiple machine environment

• 7.1 What is a multiple machine Discoverer environment?
• 7.2 About Oracle Business Intelligence installations
• 7.2.1 About installing Discoverer on a single machine
• 7.2.2 About installing Discoverer on multiple machines
• 7.2.3 About using Application Server Control to manage multiple machines
• 7.3 What are the pre-requisites for using OracleAS Web Cache to provide load balancing for OracleBI Discoverer
• 7.4 About using OracleAS Web Cache Manager to configure load balancing for OracleBI Discoverer
• 7.5 How to deploy OracleBI Discoverer with load balancing using OracleAS Web Cache
• 7.5.1 How to start OracleAS Web Cache Manager
• 7.5.2 How to configure OracleAS Web Cache for load balancing
• 7.5.2.1 How to define the origin servers
• 7.5.2.2 How to specify the site to server mapping
• 7.5.2.3 How to specify the session binding value
• 7.5.3 How to verify that OracleAS Web Cache is configured correctly for load balancing
• 7.6 About the Discoverer Preferences component in a multiple machine environment
• 7.6.1 How to specify a centralized Discoverer Preferences component
• 7.6.2 How to find out the host name and port number of the Preferences server machine
• 7.6.3 Specify a Discoverer Preferences server on the other machines
• 7.6.4 How to disable the Preferences component on a machine
• 7.7 About configuring the tnsnames.ora file in a multiple machine environment

8 Using OracleBI Discoverer Viewer with OracleAS Web Cache

• 8.1 About OracleAS Web Cache
• 8.2 What are the benefits of OracleAS Web Cache?
• 8.3 How does OracleAS Web Cache work?
• 8.4 When to use Discoverer Viewer with OracleAS Web Cache
• 8.5 How to use Discoverer Viewer with OracleAS Web Cache
• 8.5.1 How to create Discoverer caching rules
• 8.5.2 How to enable OracleAS Web Cache for Discoverer Viewer
• 8.5.3 How to configure Discoverer Viewer to enable maximum caching

9 Customizing OracleBI Discoverer

• 9.1 Customizing Discoverer Plus
• 9.1.1 About LAF styles available in Discoverer Plus Relational and Discoverer Plus OLAP
• 9.1.2 How to change LAF style for Discoverer Plus Relational and Discoverer Plus OLAP
• 9.1.3 How to change the Discoverer Plus LAF for all end users
• 9.1.4 How to define a custom LAF for Discoverer Plus Relational and Discoverer Plus OLAP
• 9.2 Customizing Discoverer Viewer
• 9.2.1 What is Discoverer Viewer customization?
• 9.2.2 How to change the default Discoverer Viewer LAF
• 9.2.3 How to change the default Discoverer Viewer layout

10 Managing OracleBI Discoverer preferences

• 10.1 What are Discoverer preferences?
• 10.2 About Discoverer system preferences
• 10.3 About Discoverer user preferences
• 10.4 How to set default user preferences for all users
• 10.5 How to set individual preferences for specific users
• 10.6 List of Discoverer user preferences
• 10.6.1 About the EnhancedAggregationStrategy user preference setting
• 10.6.2 About setting the timeout value for Discoverer
• 10.6.3 How to set the timeout value for Discoverer Viewer
• 10.7 How to convert a Discoverer preferences file to a different platform format
• 10.8 About migrating Discoverer preferences

11 Using OracleBI Discoverer with OracleAS Portal

• 11.1 What is OracleAS Portal?
• 11.2 How to use OracleBI Discoverer with OracleAS Portal
• 11.3 How to register Discoverer Portlet Provider with OracleAS Portal
• 11.4 How to edit the Discoverer Portlet Provider

12 Optimizing OracleBI Discoverer performance and scalability

• 12.1 About Discoverer and performance
• 12.2 About Discoverer and scalability
• 12.3 How to improve Discoverer performance
• 12.3.1 How to improve Discoverer performance by using worksheets and page items appropriately
• 12.3.2 How to improve Discoverer performance by reducing the time taken to display business areas and folders
• 12.3.3 How to improve Discoverer performance by using summary folders
• 12.3.4 How to improve query performance by optimizing the SQL that Discoverer generates
• 12.3.5 How to improve Discoverer performance by using Discoverer Administrator hints
• 12.3.6 How to improve Discoverer performance by setting the Case Storage item property appropriately
• 12.3.7 How to improve Discoverer performance by increasing the size of the array used to fetch rows from the database
• 12.3.8 How to improve Discoverer performance by basing lists of values on tables containing distinct values
• 12.3.9 How to improve Discoverer performance by changing cache settings for your system
• 12.3.10 How to improve Discoverer performance by scheduling worksheets to run overnight
• 12.3.11 How to improve Discoverer Viewer performance by using OracleAS Web Cache
• 12.3.12 How to improve Discoverer Portlet Provider performance
• 12.3.13 Troubleshooting Discoverer performance and scalability
• 12.4 How to take advantage of Discoverer's scalable architecture using the scalability features of OracleAS
• 12.4.1 How to enhance Discoverer scalability by specifying OC4J memory usage parameters
• 12.4.2 How to enhance Discoverer scalability by specifying the number of OC4J processes

13 Starting OracleBI Discoverer using URL parameters

• 13.1 Why use Discoverer with URL parameters
• 13.2 What is the URL parameter syntax?
• 13.2.1 About URL parameters and format masks
• 13.3 About specifying login information using URL parameters
• 13.3.1 About using URL parameters with private connections
• 13.3.2 How to specify login information using a Discoverer connection
• 13.4 About specifying workbooks and worksheets using URL parameters
• 13.4.1 How to find out the unique workbook ID of a workbook
• 13.4.2 How to find out the unique worksheet ID of a worksheet
• 13.4.3 How to find out the connection ID of a connection
• 13.4.4 How to find out the unique run ID of a set of scheduled workbook results
• 13.5 Examples of using URL parameters
• 13.5.1 Example 1: Starting Discoverer Viewer
• 13.5.2 Example 2: Starting Discoverer Viewer using a worksheet parameter
• 13.5.3 Example 3: Starting Discoverer Plus
• 13.5.4 Example 4: Starting Discoverer without prompting for connection details
• 13.5.5 Example 5: Starting Discoverer Viewer and prompt for a password
• 13.5.6 Example 6: Starting Discoverer Plus OLAP
• 13.5.7 Example 7: Starting Discoverer Plus and opening a scheduled workbook
• 13.5.8 Example 8: Starting Discoverer Viewer and opening a scheduled workbook results set
• 13.5.9 Example 9: Opening an OLAP worksheet in Discoverer Viewer
• 13.6 About syntax and notation used in URL parameter tables
• 13.7 List of URL parameters common to Discoverer Plus and Viewer
• 13.8 List of URL parameters specific to Discoverer Plus
• 13.9 List of URL parameters specific to Discoverer Viewer

14 Maintaining security with OracleBI Discoverer

• 14.1 About Discoverer and security
• 14.2 About Discoverer and the database security model
• 14.3 About Discoverer and the Discoverer EUL security model
• 14.4 About Discoverer and the Oracle Applications security model
• 14.5 About Discoverer and the OracleAS Security model
• 14.5.1 About Discoverer public connections and the OracleAS Security model
• 14.6 Using Discoverer with OracleAS Framework Security
• 14.6.1 About specifying Discoverer communication protocols
• 14.6.2 About Discoverer Viewer security and communication protocols
• 14.6.3 About Discoverer Plus security and communication protocols
• 14.6.3.1 About configuring Discoverer Plus for a non-standard SSL signing authority
• 14.6.3.2 About specifying a Discoverer Plus communication protocol
• 14.6.3.3 How to display the OracleBI Discoverer Plus Communications Protocols page in Application Server Control
• 14.6.3.4 How to set up Discoverer Plus to use the Default communication protocol
• 14.6.3.5 How to set up Discoverer Plus to use the Tunneling communication protocol
• 14.6.3.6 How to set up Discoverer Plus to use the Secure Tunneling communication protocol
• 14.7 Using Discoverer with Oracle Identity Management Infrastructure
• 14.7.1 Using Discoverer with OracleAS Single Sign-On
• 14.7.2 What is OracleAS Single Sign-On?
• 14.7.2.1 About Single Sign-On and Discoverer
• 14.7.2.2 How to enable and disable Single Sign-On for Discoverer
• 14.7.2.3 An example showing how Discoverer works with OracleAS Portal and Single Sign-On
• 14.7.3 Using Discoverer without Single Sign-On
• 14.8 Discoverer support for Single Sign-On details propagation
• 14.8.1 Introducing Virtual Private Databases, Single Sign-On, and Discoverer
• 14.8.2 Example showing how SSO user names can limit Discoverer data
• 14.8.3 What tasks are required to use SSO user names to limit Discoverer data
• 14.8.4 How to set up Discoverer Worksheet Portlets to show different data based on SSO user name
• 14.8.5 When to use other options in the Users Logged In region of the Select Database Connections page
• 14.8.6 How to modify database LOGON (and subsequent) triggers to use the SSO user name
• 14.8.7 How to use the eul_trigger$post_login trigger
• 14.9 Frequently asked questions about security
• 14.9.1 What is a firewall?
• 14.9.2 What is a demilitarized zone (DMZ)?
• 14.9.3 What is HTTPS and why should I use it?
• 14.9.4 How do I configure Discoverer to work in an intranet
• 14.9.5 How do I configure Discoverer to work through a firewall?
• 14.9.6 Can I configure Discoverer to work through multiple firewalls?
• 14.9.7 How do I configure Discoverer to use encryption in an intranet?
• 14.9.8 How do I configure Discoverer to use encryption through firewalls?
• 14.9.9 How can I verify that Discoverer is encrypting communications?
• 14.9.10 Can I configure Discoverer for both intranet users and users accessing Discoverer through a firewall?
• 14.9.11 Can I use Discoverer with a NAT device?

15 OracleBI Discoverer and Oracle e-Business Suite

• 15.1 About Discoverer connections and Oracle e-Business Suite
• 15.2 About Discoverer private connections, OracleAS Single Sign-On and Oracle e-Business Suite users
• 15.2.1 What conditions must be met to enable Oracle Applications users to create or use private connections in Discoverer when using SSO-enabled Oracle Applications databases?
• 15.2.2 How to enable Oracle Applications users to create or use private connections to SSO-enabled Oracle Applications databases
• 15.2.3 About interoperability between Discoverer versions and OracleAS Infrastructure versions when using SSO private connections with an SSO-enabled Oracle Applications database
• 15.2.4 How to migrate Oracle Applications private connections created in earlier versions of Discoverer to make them available in Version 10.1.2.1
• 15.3 About Discoverer preference settings for Oracle e-Business Suite

A OracleBI Discoverer configuration files

• A.1 List of Discoverer file locations
• A.2 List of configuration settings in configuration.xml
• A.3 List of configuration settings in opmn.xml

B Upgrading from earlier versions of Discoverer

• B.1 About using the OracleAS Upgrade Assistant
• B.2 Upgrade summary
• B.3 About upgrading from Oracle Business Intelligence Version 10.1.2.0.0
• B.4 About upgrading from Discoverer Version 9.0.4/9.0.2
• B.5 How to upgrade from Oracle Business Intelligence Version 10.1.2.0.0
• B.5.1 Upgrading preferences from Oracle Business Intelligence Version 10.1.2.0.0 to Version 10.1.2.1
• B.6 How to upgrade from Discoverer Version 9.0.2/9.0.4
• B.7 How to upgrade from Discoverer Release 4.1
• B.7.1 Upgrading preferences
• B.7.1.1 How to upgrade preferences from Discoverer Release 4.1 to Discoverer Version 10.1.2 on UNIX
• B.7.1.2 How to upgrade preferences from Discoverer Release 4.1 to Discoverer Version 10.1.2 on Microsoft Windows
• B.7.2 Updating URL references

C OracleBI Discoverer administrative account information

• C.1 Database privileges granted by OracleBI Discoverer scripts to the PUBLIC user
• C.2 Database privileges granted by OracleBI Discoverer scripts to the Discoverer manager

D Troubleshooting Discoverer

• D.1 Problems and Solutions
• D.1.1 Discoverer Viewer reports errors when exporting using Microsoft Internet Explorer v6.0
• D.1.2 Discoverer and Oracle Applications certification
• D.1.3 Discoverer reports a network error
• D.1.4 Discoverer reports the error ORA-12154
• D.1.5 Pop-up stopper issues
• D.1.6 Netscape Navigator 4.x issues
• D.1.7 Discoverer Plus reports RMI error
• D.1.8 Discoverer memory issues
• D.1.9 Discoverer Plus Relational help issues
• D.1.10 Configuring a SMTP Server for Discoverer Viewer
• D.1.11 Problem With Microsoft Internet Explorer, HTTP 1.1 Protocol and Compressed Data
• D.1.12 Error: Could Not Open Web Cache Connection (WWC-40019)
• D.1.13 Opening an exported Web Query file in Microsoft Excel containing non-ASCII dynamic parameter values
• D.1.14 List of values (LOV) is too long for a Discoverer portlet URL
• D.1.15 Specifying a parameter by index value in Microsoft Excel does not work for Web Query file
• D.1.16 Redirect conflicts with Single Sign-On (SSO) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
• D.1.17 Worksheet customization issues
• D.1.18 Out of memory problems for the OC4J_BI_Forms JVM process
• D.1.19 Graphs do not display in Discoverer Viewer
• D.1.20 Discoverer Portlet Provider issue
• D.1.21 Availability of Discoverer connections
• D.1.22 Passwords not accepted as a URL parameter
• D.1.23 Customizing Discoverer Viewer
• D.1.24 Firewall is causing Discoverer connections to be dropped
• D.2 About Discoverer diagnostics and logging
• D.2.1 What Discoverer diagnostics and logging facilities are available?
• D.2.2 What is the checkdiscoverer utility?
• D.2.3 About using the OracleAS View Logs facility
• D.2.4 How to use OracleAS View Logs to view Discoverer log files
• D.2.5 How to enable the Discoverer Services log file
• D.2.6 How to enable the Discoverer Servlet log files
• D.2.7 How to view the Discoverer Services log file
• D.2.8 How to view Discoverer Servlet log files
• D.2.9 How to copy Discoverer log files

Index