[ODI 11g] Check ODI Installables is 32bit or 64bit version

Scenario: We were trying to install OBIA Apps and instead of installing a 64bit version of ODI 11g, a 32bit version was installed. We had a tough time identifying the version of the ODI Installables from the filename.

So this is how we understood which version of ODI we were trying to install,

During the initial step of setup where you have to give the JDK path, If your setup.exe file proceeds when you give a 32 bit JDK, then your ODI is 32bit and if it works with only 64bit JDK then it's a 64bit version of ODI.

Another way to identify the version of ODI 11g version is to check where the Oracle Inventory log files are located at. If the log files are under Program Files/Oracle/Inventory folder then the installation is 64-bit, In the other case if the installation is 32-bit then the log files would be under Program Files(x86)/Oracle/Inventory. 

 ODI 11g Installation Log file location displayed during configuration.

Find version of Weblogic Server

There are multiple ways to check the version of a Weblogic Server.

Here is how to check the version of Weblogic Server even if the server is down or up.

Weblogic Server Down

Go to the MiddleWare Home folder in your system/server. Then inside the MW_HOME folder go to the folder that starts with wlserver and inside the folder go to .product file

Go to Weblogic Folder inside MiddleWare home and open the .product file.

Note: Make sure you enable 'show hidden files' option in windows. 

Check for the entry WLS_PRODUCT_VERSION.

Inside the .product Properties file check for WLS_PRODUCT_VERSION and it's corresponding entry, In our case it is 10.3.5.0 

Weblogic Server Up

When the weblogic sever is up and running, we can check the version by going to the console appilication at http://SERVERHOSTNAME;7001/console and at the right hand bottom corner you will be able to see the version of weblogic as in the screenshot below, 

Oracle 11g Database Installation Log Files and Location

The installation log files of an Oracle 11g Database installation can be found at the following location,

C:\Program Files\Oracle\Inventory\logs

In this folder you will be able to find 3 files as seen below,

Oracle log file directory containing log files.

1. installActions<Timestamp>.txt - logs the installation steps and details
2. oraInstall<Timestamp>.err - logs the errors encountered during the installation
3. oraInstall<Timestamp>.out 

Oracle BI Applications hardware requirements document

Scenario: We were looking out for a document to get the minimum recommended hardware configuration for OBIA 11g. Since this was for a demo purpose we required to install OBIA Apps and target database/data warehouse in the same node. 

This is from a technical note we came across in Oracle Support.

OBIA Apps 11g

Target Database

Link to the technical note: - https://goo.gl/M38toV 

[OBIEE 11g] Find Weblogic Nodemanager Port Number for OBIEE 11g

For Enterprise OBIEE Installation the default port number is 9556. There are two methods to find the Nodemanager port number,

1. From Weblogic Console
2. From MW_HOME location

The Nodemanager port number can also be checked from the console application, After logging into console go to the following path,

Home >Summary of Servers >bifoundation_domain >Summary of Machines >MACHINE_HOST_NAME

Path to check Node Manager details

Listen port is the Node Manager Port Number

To confirm the same, follow these steps

1. Open Middleware Home folder
2. Open Oracle_BI1
3. Open the install folder
4. Open the ports.properties file and check for the below entry,

NODE_MANAGER_PORT=9556

The port which the NODE_MANAGER_PORT file is referring to will be the port used by Weblogic Nodemanager. You can also find more entries in the ports.properties file. 

OBIEE Interview: Why is OCI preferred over ODBC in RPD ?

Question: Why is OCI preferred over ODBC in OBIEE RPD? 

Answer: 

OCI is preferred over ODBC only when the source database system is Oracle since OCI stands for Oracle Call Interface and is a native driver for Oracle database connections. You can go for an ODBC connection for the same as well because ODBC stands for Open Database Connectivity. 

Since OCI is a native driver for Oracle, using an OCI connection over ODBC improves performance while connecting to an Oracle datasource from OBIEE RPD. OCI also provides access to many native database features otherwise not accessible from ODBC.

Question: Is an OCI connection preferred when connecting to a Database other than Oracle?

Answer: 

No. It is not possible. Since OCI is a native driver to connect to Oracle Datasource it can't be used to connect to data sources other than Oracle.

Links to read more:

1. http://twobiee.blogspot.in/2012/10/odbc-or-oci.html
2. http://obieemanu.blogspot.in/2011/01/odbc-vs-oci.html

Copy Virtualbox VDI Image with new UUID

Scenario: We need a new Virtual Box image for OBIEE. We had an already setup VM with Windows 2008 Server and Oracle database installed. So instead of setting up a new Virtual Machine we went ahead with making a copy of the existing Virtual Box.

Resolution Steps:

• Make a copy of the VDI file.

• Find path where VirtualBox file VBoxManage.exe is located.

• Open CMD go the path

• and run the following command,

VBoxManage internalcommands sethduuid PATH/nameofvdifile.vdi

for example: 

VBoxManage internalcommands sethduuid D:/server2008.vdi