Business Objects XI Server Architecture overview

Business Objects XI Server Architecture overview

Business Objects XI Server Architecture

Reference: The Complete Reference, BO XIR2 Administrator’s Guide

Actually we are used the relational database repository contained information such as universe definitions, security profiles, and corporate documents.

The use of a relational database allowed for a central source of metadata that geographically dispersed users could easily access.

Backups were easy, as DBAs could readily back up the database.

However, the relational repository also could be a bottleneck when binary files needed to be exported to or imported from the repository.

If your company had a large universe, downloading changes to that universe, while automatic for users, could take several minutes. The same is true of publishing corporate documents.

When a user published a report to Corporate Documents, the .rep file was stored as a BLOB in relational database. When another user accessed that corporate documents, the .rep file had to be extracted from the relational database and in a sense reconstructed on the system.

For large documents, this could take several minutes. .. this main drawback old versions…. This can covered advance technology with saving system.

In advance version continues to use relational repository but use the file system more extensively.

In XI, the relational repository is significantly small, relation database is used more as a method of maintaining pointers and relationships between Universe, reports, and Users. All of the universe definitions and reports are physically stored on the file system.

The best thing about this approach is the performance improvement. For Designers , exporting universe is pretty much instantaneous. For users, publishing and accessing corporate documents is as fast as saving the to disk.

In BO 6 multiple domains comes to separate folders with the XI repository and maintained via one CMS.

The CMS is the key component with XI, handling security and the routing of requests to other services.

If the CMS is not running, then users will not be able to log in to BO.

The Input File Repository Server (FRS) handles the process of writing the results of Report servers to the repository. The Input FRS processes the request.

The Output File Repository server handles the process of serving requests for users accessing the results of a scheduled report, called an instance. When users schedule a report, a Job server will send the results of report to the Output FRS, which stores the report in a compressed format.

The Connection server provides connectivity to the data sources such as oracle, SQl server and Teradata.

A Job servers processes reports that have been scheduled to run. It will retrieve the definitions of the report from the Input FRS, connect to data source, execute the query, format the results, and save an instance of the report to the Output file Repository Server.

Job servers replace the functionality previously provided by the BCA scheduler.

There is a Web Intelligence Job server, a Desktop Intelligence Job server, and Crystal Reports Job server.

There is also a List of values Job server for Crystal Reports lists of values, not for list of values defined in Universe.

Report Servers process reports that are executed on demand or built ad hoc. There is a Web Intelligence Report Server, a Desktop Intelligence Report Server, and a Crystal Reports report server.

Cache Servers cache individual pages of reports for Desktop Intelligence and Crystal Reports users.When a User views a large report, the Cache server sends a single page to the User’s browser.

The Web Intelligence Report server has caching abilities as part of that process, so you will not see a separate Web Intelligence Cache server.

The List of values Job server processes lists of values only for Crystal Reports documents.

It does not process list of values for Web Intelligence or Desktop Intelligence documents.

Instead, the Web Intelligence report server and Desktop Intelligence Report server handle the processing for those lists of values.

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Business Objects Reloads Mid-Market Product Line

Business Objects Reloads Mid-Market Product Line

7/23/2008

By Stephen Swoyer

With new releases of two of its signal SME offerings on tap this week, Business Objects -- now an SAP AG company -- hopes to build on its success in the small to mid-size company market. The rules of the mid-market game are changing, but one thing hasn't changed: SME customers -- much like their larger enterprise brethren -- are still wild about reporting. It's the bedrock of BI, after all.

That's why Business Objects -- which spent more than $800 million five years ago to acquire one of the best-known reporting brands on the market -- thinks it has an ace up its sleeve. With the release this week of revamped versions of its Crystal Reports Server and Business Objects Edge products, officials are pulling out all of the stops to burnish the company's mid-market credentials.

Prior to SAP's acquisition, Business Objects fired off several successful mid-market offerings. It released Crystal Reports Server (a version of Crystal Reports that was packaged, tweaked, and configured for SMEs), Business Objects Edge bundle (a mid-market-ready version of its Business Objects enterprise software stack), and launched several initiatives (including its Business Objects Rapid Marts -- basically, out-of-the-box data marts that provide turnkey integration with popular data sources such as SAP). James Thomas, vice-president of business intelligence tools -- and long-time Crystal Reports point-person -- with Business Objects, claims that his company knows SME customers: seven-eighths of its customer base is technically part of the mid-market....... more look at ... Click right click new window

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Decode Function

n Oracle/PLSQL, the decode function has the functionality of an IF-THEN-ELSE statement.

The syntax for the decode function is:

decode( expression , search , result [, search , result]... [, default] )

expression is the value to compare.

search is the value that is compared against expression.

result is the value returned, if expression is equal to search.

default is optional. If no matches are found, the decode will return default. If default is omitted, then the decode statement will return null (if no matches are found).

For example:

You could use the decode function in an SQL statement as follows:

SELECT supplier_name,
decode(supplier_id,	10000,	'IBM',
	10001,	'Microsoft',
	10002,	'Hewlett Packard',
		'Gateway') result
FROM suppliers;

The above decode statement is equivalent to the following IF-THEN-ELSE statement:

IF supplier_id = 10000 THEN
result := 'IBM';

ELSIF supplier_id = 10001 THEN
result := 'Microsoft';

ELSIF supplier_id = 10002 THEN
result := 'Hewlett Packard';

ELSE
result := 'Gateway';

END IF;

The decode function will compare each supplier_id value, one by one.

second Example:

Using date compare two dates

Using the decode function to compare two dates (D1 and D2), where if D1 > D2, the decode function should return D2. Otherwise, the decode function should return D1.

decode((D1 - D2) - abs(D1 - D2), 0, D2, D1)

for more examples .............click to new window

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Differences between OLTP and OLAP databases.

Differences between OLTP and OLAP databases.

Relational Database (OLTP)
Data is atomized
Data is current
Processes many records at a time
Process oriented
Designed for highly structured repetitive processing

Dimensional Database (OLAP)

Data is summarized
Data is historical
Processes one record at a time
Subject oriented
Designed for highly unstructured analytical processing

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Operational data store (ODS)

Operational data store

A subject-oriented system that is optimized for looking up one or two records at a time for decision making. An operational data store is a hybrid form of data warehouse that contains timely, current, integrated information. The data typically is of a higher level granularity than the transaction. You can use an operational data store for clerical, day-to-day decision making. This data can serve as the common source of data for data warehouses.

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