Broadcast Agent Admin

Broadcast Agent Administrators Guide
Broadcast Agent 6.1 Windows and UNIX
Copyright
Copyright 2004 Business Objects. All rights reserved. If you find any problems with this documentation, please report them to Business Objects in writing at documentation@businessobjects.com.
Trademarks
Business Objects, the Business Objects logo, Crystal Reports, and Crystal Enterprise are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects SA or its affiliated companies in the United States and other countries. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Contains IBM Runtime Environment for AIX(R), Java(TM) 2 Technology Edition Runtime Modules (c) Copyright IBM Corporation 1999, 2000. All Rights Reserved. This product includes code licensed from RSA Security, Inc. Some portions licensed from IBM are available at http://oss.software.ibm.com/icu4j.
Use restrictions
This software and documentation is commercial computer software under Federal Acquisition regulations, and is provided only under the Restricted Rights of the Federal Acquisition Regulations applicable to commercial computer software provided at private expense. The use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions set forth in subdivision (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at 252.2277013. Business Objects owns the following U.S. patents, which may cover products that are offered and sold by Business Objects: 5,555,403, 6,247,008 B1, 6,578,027 B2, 6,490,593 and 6,289,352. U.S. Patent Numbers 5,555,403, 6,247,008 B1, 6,578,027 B2, 6,490,593 and 6,289,352.
Patents
Part Number
312-50-610-01
Contents
Preface Maximizing Your Information Resources 5 Information resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Useful addresses at a glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 About this guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Chapter 1 Introduction to Broadcast Agent 13
Structure of this guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 What you can do with Broadcast Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Access and security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Chapter 2 How Broadcast Agent Works 19
Broadcast Agent server components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Workflow summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Monitoring and Controlling Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Broadcast Agent as a distributed solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Chapter 3 Deploying Broadcast Agent 31
Sizing guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Matching components with machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 UNIX or Windows? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Optimizing performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Server filenames, pathnames, and permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Configuring database connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 LDAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Contents
Chapter 4
Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent
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Installing Broadcast Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Assigning users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Fine-tuning Broadcast Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Broadcast Agent Schedulers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Report bursting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 International time zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Custom macros and add-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Universes containing @script functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Upgrading from version 5.x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Chapter 5 The Broadcast Agent Console 85
Installing and launching the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Modifying the display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Security features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Basic task management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Modifying task properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Task scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 Chapter 6 Troubleshooting 113
Resolving database connection failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 File Watcher cannot find files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Report bursting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 InfoView doesnt display all documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Low printing performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Problems with time zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Add-ins causing errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Documents with a Cartesian product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Data disappears from user objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Chapter 7 Solving Business Problems with Broadcast Agent 125
Typical Business Objects deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Report bursting: a business scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Custom macros for custom solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Contents
Maximizing Your Information Resources
preface
Overview
Information, services, and solutions
The Business Objects business intelligence solution is supported by thousands of pages of documentation, available from the products, on the Internet, on CD, and by extensive online help systems and multimedia. Packed with in-depth technical information, business examples, and advice on troubleshooting and best practices, this comprehensive documentation set provides concrete solutions to your business problems. Business Objects also offers a complete range of support and services to help maximize the return on your business intelligence investment. See in the following sections how Business Objects can help you plan for and successfully meet your specific technical support, education, and consulting requirements.
Information resources
Whatever your Business Objects profile, we can help you quickly access the documentation and other information you need.
Where do I start?
Below are a few suggested starting points; there is a summary of useful web addresses on page 10. Documentation Roadmap The Documentation Roadmap references all Business Objects guides and multimedia, and lets you see at a glance what information is available, from where, and in what format. View or download the Business Objects Documentation Roadmap at www.businessobjects.com/services/documentation.htm Documentation from the products You can access electronic documentation at any time from the product you are using. Online help, multimedia, and guides in Adobe PDF format are available from the product Help menus. Documentation on the web The full electronic documentation set is available to customers with a valid maintenance agreement on the Online Customer Support (OCS) website at www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htm Buy printed documentation You can order printed documentation through your local sales office, or from the online Business Objects Documentation Supply Store at www.businessobjects.com/services/documentation.htm Search the Documentation CD Search across the entire documentation set on the Business Objects Documentation CD shipped with our products. This CD brings together the full set of documentation, plus tips, tricks, multimedia tutorials, and demo materials. Order the Documentation CD online, from the Business Objects Documentation Supply Store, or from your local sales office.
Information resources
Multimedia Are you new to Business Objects? Are you upgrading from a previous release or expanding, for example, from our desktop to our web solution? Try one of our multimedia quick tours or Getting Started tutorials. All are available via the Online Customer Support (OCS) website or on the Documentation CD.
How can I get the most recent documentation?

You can get our most up-to-date documentation via the web. Regularly check the sites listed below for the latest documentation, samples, and tips. Tips & Tricks Open to everyone, this is a regularly updated source of creative solutions to any number of business questions. You can even contribute by sending us your own tips. www.businessobjects.com/forms/tipsandtricks_login.asp Product documentation We regularly update and expand our documentation and multimedia offerings. With a valid maintenance agreement, you can get the latest documentation in seven languages on the Online Customer Support (OCS) website. Developer Suite Online Developer Suite Online provides documentation, samples, and tips to those customers with a valid maintenance agreement and a Developer Suite license via the Online Customer Support (OCS) website.
Send us your feedback

Do you have a suggestion on how we can improve our documentation? Is there something you particularly like or have found useful? Drop us a line, and we will do our best to ensure that your suggestion is included in the next release of our documentation: documentation@businessobjects.com
NOTE
If your issue concerns a Business Objects product and not the documentation, please contact our Customer Support experts. For information about Customer Support visit: www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htm
Services
A global network of Business Objects technology experts provides customer support, education, and consulting to ensure maximum business intelligence benefit to your business.
How we can support you?

Business Objects offers customer support plans to best suit the size and requirements of your deployment. We operate three global customer support centers: Americas: San Jose, California and Atlanta, Georgia Europe: Maidenhead, United Kingdom Asia: Tokyo, Japan and Sydney, Australia Online Customer Support Our Customer Support website is open to all direct customers with a current maintenance agreement, and provides the most up-to-date Business Objects product and technical information. You can log, update, and track cases from this site using the Business Objects Knowledge Base.
Having an issue with the product?

Have you exhausted the troubleshooting resources at your disposal and still not found a solution to a specific issue? For support in deploying Business Objects products, contact Worldwide Customer Support at: www.businessobjects.com/services/support.htm
Looking for the best deployment solution for your company?

Business Objects consultants can accompany you from the initial analysis stage to the delivery of your deployment project. Expertise is available in relational and multidimensional databases, in connectivities, database design tools, customized embedding technology, and more. For more information, contact your local sales office, or contact us at: www.businessobjects.com/services/consulting.htm
Looking for training options?

From traditional classroom learning to targeted e-learning seminars, we can offer a training package to suit your learning needs and preferred learning style. Find more information on the Business Objects Education website: www.businessobjects.com/services/education.htm
Services
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Useful addresses at a glance

Address
Business Objects Documentation www.businessobjects.com/services/ documentation.htm
Content
Overview of Business Objects documentation. Links to Online Customer Support, Documentation Supply Store, Documentation Roadmap, Tips & Tricks, Documentation mailbox.
Business Objects Documentation mailbox documentation@businessobjects.com Product documentation www.businessobjects.com/services/ support.htm
Feedback or questions about documentation.
The latest Business Objects product documentation, to download or view online.
Business Objects product information Information about the full range of Business Objects products. www.businessobjects.com Developer Suite Online www.techsupport.businessobjects.com Knowledge Base (KB) www.techsupport.businessobjects.com Available to customers with a valid maintenance agreement and a Developer Suite license via the Online Customer Support (OCS) website. Provides all the documentation, latest samples, kits and tips. Technical articles, documents, case resolutions. Also, use the Knowledge Exchange to learn what challenges other users both customers and employees face and what strategies they find to address complex issues. From the Knowledge Base, click the Knowledge Exchange link. Practical business-focused examples.
Tips & Tricks www.businessobjects.com/forms/ tipsandtricks_login.asp
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Address Online Customer Support www.techsupport.businessobjects.com
Content
Starting point for answering questions, resolving issues. Information about registering with Worldwide Customer Support. The range of Business Objects training options and modules.
www.businessobjects.com/services Business Objects Education Services www.businessobjects.com/services/ education.htm
Business Objects Consulting Services Information on how Business Objects can help maximize your business intelligence investment. www.businessobjects.com/services/ consulting.htm
Useful addresses at a glance
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About this guide

This guide describes InfoView, the Business Objects product that provides an overview of all the documents that you can access in the corporate repository. It also allows you to view, manage, and distribute these documents. You use InfoView in a web browser.
Audience
This guide is intended for users who want to view and distribute documents using InfoView.
Conventions used in this guide

The conventions used in this guide are described in the table below. Convention This font Indicates Code, SQL syntax, computer programs. For example: @Select(Country\Country Id). This font is also used for all paths, directories, scripts, commands and files for UNIX. Placed at the end of a line of code, the symbol ( ) indicates that the next line should be entered continuously with no carriage return.
Some code more code
$DIRECTORYPATHNAME The path to a directory in the Business Objects installation/configuration directory structure. For example: $INSTALLDIR refers to the Business Objects installation directory. $LOCDATADIR refers to a subdirectory of the BusinessObjects installation directory called locData.
Introduction to Broadcast Agent
chapter
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Overview
Broadcast Agent enables WebIntelligence and BusinessObjects users to process and distribute documents, automatically and securely, at scheduled dates and times. For example, you can schedule a document to be refreshed from a corporate database on the first Monday of every month, and have the new information distributed automatically to user groups. Documents can be distributed via a secured Business Objects repository, a local file system, an intranet, or an extranet. Broadcast Agent effectively shields users from the complexity of the underlying system. Users schedule tasks by means of a simple graphical user interface. For systems administrators, the Business Objects Administration Console provides easy configuration and optimization of modules on all servers. Broadcast Agent is a server product, installed as a distributed solution across one or more servers on a CORBA network. This architecture enables Broadcast Agent to offer robust performance, scalability, load balancing, and failover.
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Structure of this guide

This guide is divided into the following chapters: Introduction to Broadcast Agent (this chapter) Provides an overview of the product and what you can do with it. How Broadcast Agent Works Introduces the components and tools that make up the complete Broadcast Agent system, and explains how these work together in a clustered deployment. Deploying Broadcast Agent Discusses issues related to deployment and sizing. Includes a number of tasks you need to perform before beginning the installation of Broadcast Agent. Installing and Configuring Broadcast Agent Reviews the tasks necessary to install and configure the product. Using the Broadcast Agent Console After Broadcast Agent is installed on your servers, and documents are scheduled, you can monitor and control Broadcast Agent activity with the Broadcast Agent Console. The Console displays information about all scheduled tasks, and can also be used to change task information. Troubleshooting Provides solutions to a number of possible issues, such as how to fix a failed connection to the repository. Problem-solving with Broadcast Agent Examines some advanced ways to use Broadcast Agent, focusing on how the product can dramatically improve the performance of an enterprise business intelligence solution.
Structure of this guide
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What you can do with Broadcast Agent

You can use Broadcast Agent to schedule documents for processing and distribution at off-peak times. This cuts down on network traffic at peak times, and enables documents to be automatically printed or refreshed via the Internet at night or over the weekend. You can also set conditions, so that Broadcast Agent processes and distributes documents only when specified conditions occur. For example: increased revenue in a given region daily sales figures for a given product pass a certain value
Automated document scheduling and distribution

Broadcast Agent provides scheduled or batch processing of BusinessObjects and WebIntelligence documents. You send a document to Broadcast Agent using BusinessObjects or InfoView, specifying scheduling and distribution information. No understanding of the server configuration is required. You can publish documents on the repository, on a web server, or on the server file system. Documents can be saved as WebIntelligence or BusinessObjects documents, or in various standard formats, including: Microsoft Excel (.xls) Acrobat Portable Document Format (.pdf) Rich Text Format (.rtf) text only (.txt) Users with access to the repository can view corporate documents that Broadcast Agent has processed. Adding VBA routines Broadcast Agent can automate BusinessObjects documents containing routines written in Microsoft VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) development language. By adding VBA routines to your BusinessObjects documents, you can customize the system to automate almost any task. For example, a scheduled report could: trigger a speech synthesizer call to a mobile telephone if a certain condition is met generate email messages or pager signals to alert individuals to a given situation
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Report bursting
Power users with access rights to all documents and database connections might not want all the people who receive a document to see the same information. Report bursting answers this need by letting you automatically generate different versions of a document. Each version is sent to individuals with a given user profile. (See Report bursting on page 75.) BusinessObjects Supervisors set up these user profiles. Profiles define access rights, such as the data each user can view, which database connections are available, which universes, and so on.
What you can do with Broadcast Agent
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Access and security

You can deploy Broadcast Agent for any group of BusinessObjects or WebIntelligence users. Users can schedule operations on both WebIntelligence and BusinessObjects documents if they have the required access rights. The administratorthat is, a supervisor-level usergrants these access rights in Supervisor. The supervisor also defines Broadcast Agent properties, such as: the Broadcast Agent name the document domain in which documents are stored a password for the Broadcast Agent Console Broadcast Agent benefits from the access and security provided by the Business Objects repository: Pass-through database security Broadcast Agent can be configured to connect to the database using the user name and password of the user who scheduled the document. This allows the use of only one password, which simplifies administrative work. Multiple repositories Broadcast Agent asks for the security domain when a document is scheduled, then passes this information to the appropriate server at run time.
How Broadcast Agent Works
chapter
20
Overview
This chapter presents the components and tools that make up the complete Broadcast Agent system, and explains how these work together in a clustered deployment to provide a distributed solution. In the next chapter, the issues involved in deploying Broadcast Agent are discussed, along with some server sizing guidelines and recommendations for configuring database connections.
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Broadcast Agent server components

The Broadcast Agent system contains a number of interdependent server components. You can configure and monitor these components in the Administration Console. The server components are summarized in the table below. Component Schedulers Function
Initiates the processes required to perform scheduled tasks.
Starts and controls multiple Schedulers. Broadcast Agent Manager
BusObj BOManager
Refreshes BusinessObjects (full-client) documents. Starts and controls multiple BusObj processes. Batch processing can be enabled or deactivated on each node, to allow or prevent Broadcast Agent tasks being scheduled on that node. WebIntelligence Query Technique. Refreshes WebIntelligence 2.x documents in interactive mode (documents on which a user is currently working) as well as in batch mode (scheduled tasks). The WebIntelligence 6.1 server. This multi-threaded component processes requests for WebIntelligence 6.1 documents.
WIQT
WICDZServer
Schedulers
There must be at least one Scheduler for each named Broadcast Agent. Each Scheduler periodically queries the repository to determine which documents are due for processing. In the Administration Console, you determine how frequently the Scheduler queries the repository by setting the Scanning Repository Delay parameter. By default, the scan occurs every ten minutes. When a scheduled task is due, the Scheduler sends the task to a BOManager process (for BusinessObjects documents) or a wiqt_batch process (for WebIntelligence documents). There may be several of these processes running on machines in your cluster, in which case a load-balancing algorithm is used to send the task to the least busy machine. If a task fails, the Scheduler automatically retries it after a certain delay. This delay is set using the Delay between retry parameter.
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What happens if a Scheduler shuts down or fails? You can provide Scheduler failover functionality by deploying two or more Schedulers on separate servers. If one machine fails, the other Scheduler automatically takes over the failed Schedulers jobs. To provide further failover, you can run two separate clusters on the same repository, both with Schedulers for your mission-critical Broadcast Agent tasks. With this configuration, even if an entire cluster fails, the tasks are processed correctly.
BOManager
BOManager receives instructions from the Scheduler to process full-client documents that are due. BOManager launches one BusinessObjects session per document. BusinessObjects then extracts the documents from the repositorys document domain, and processes them according to actions set by the user at submission time. Normally, the document is refreshed, and then published as a corporate document, via the file system, or through a web server, or sent to one or more users via the repository.
EXAMPLE Scheduling a document for automatic refresh
A user requested that Broadcast Agent refresh a document named Sales.rep at 8:00 pm on Friday: The first time the Scheduler queries the repository after 8:00 pm, it retrieves the information that Sales.rep is due for processing, and passes this on to the BOManager. BOManager launches a BusinessObjects process. BusinessObjects extracts Sales.rep from the repository. BusinessObjects on the server runs the Refresh command, saves the updated document, and then returns it to the repository. BusinessObjects on UNIX and Windows On UNIX nodes, the executables started by the BOManager to process BusinessObjects documents are called bolight whereas on Windows nodes the executables are called busobj.exe. The functionality of these two components is the same except for certain Windows-specific features (such as VBA macros or certain database connectivities).
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WIQT
The Scheduler scans the repository for scheduling jobs that are due. When a WebIntelligence 2.x document is due, the Scheduler requests a wiqt process to refresh the document. In turn, wiqt calls a wiqt_batch process, which fetches the document, and then processes the task according to the actions set by the user. For example, the document could be refreshed and then published as a corporate document, or sent to a list of users via the repository.
WICDZServer
WICDZServer receives instructions from the Scheduler to process WebIntelligence 6.1 documents that are due. It then launches one WebIntelligence session per document. WebIntelligence then extracts the documents from the repositorys document domain, and processes them according to actions set by the user at submission time. Normally, the document is refreshed, and then published as a corporate document, or sent to one or more users via the repository.
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Workflow summary
Using BusinessObjects or InfoView, users send documents to Broadcast Agent. They set the actions they want Broadcast Agent to perform, along with options for scheduling, categories, and distribution. The documents that users send to Broadcast Agent are stored in the repositorys document domain. The Scheduler periodically scans the domain and extracts documents that are due for processing. The Scheduler passes due BusinessObjects documents to the BOManager, which launches one instance of BusinessObjects on the server per document. Similarly, WebIntelligence documents are passed to a wiqt process (via the WICDZServer in the case of a WebIntelligence 6.1 document). On the server, BusinessObjects or WIQT performs the actions the user requested on the document.
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The diagram below summarizes this workflow.

WebIntelligence or BusinessObjects user Corporate database
Repository WebIntelligence or BusinessObjects users
Documents refreshed
wiqt instance
busobj instance
wiqt instance
Broadcast Agent
Task 1 Scheduler Task 2 Task 3
BOManager
WICDZServer
Workflow summary
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Monitoring and Controlling Tasks

Broadcast Agent Console
When Broadcast Agent is functioning, users can begin scheduling documents. You monitor the processing activity by viewing the list of sent documents and their characteristics. This is done in the Broadcast Agent Console. (The Console is fully described in The Broadcast Agent Console on page 85.)
The Console enables you to: monitor the status of all processed and pending tasks modify tasks reschedule tasks that have either failed or expired execute actions such as deleting a task, or running a task immediately The Console has direct access to both the Scheduler and the repository, and can be located on any machine that has access to the repository and is on the same subnet as the CORBA network. The Console is also available in BusinessObjects and InfoView, so that BusinessObjects users can monitor the documents they send to Broadcast Agent.
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Administration Console
The Administration Console is a utility that allows you enable, deactivate, and control the Broadcast Agent Managers and Schedulers on your cluster, as well as all the other modules on your Business Objects and Broadcast Agent systems. For a full description of the modules, see the Administrators Guide.
Monitoring and Controlling Tasks
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Broadcast Agent as a distributed solution

Broadcast Agent is a collection of server components that can be deployed over a distributed CORBA network. You can also install all Broadcast Agent components on a single server, in a Windows environment. In this case, the only connection you require is to the repository. (Deployment is fully explained in Deploying Broadcast Agent on page 31.) Setting up Broadcast Agent as a distributed solution, however, provides the following advantages: Scalability CORBA enables server solutions to be deployed on multiple server machines. As the document scheduling and distribution needs of your organization grow, you can manage the extra workload by adding Broadcast Agent machines to your network. Load balancing Broadcast Agent allows you to distribute your document processing over several different machines, in order to balance the workload. When one server is busy, jobs are processed by the next server. Failover Failover ensures that Broadcast Agent automatically restarts tasks which fail, in the event of a server crash. Broadcast Agent provides two types of failover: - When a task fails, the Scheduler automatically starts the task again on another server, if necessary. - If the Scheduler itself fails, Broadcast Agent automatically restarts it. Server optimization via caches The Business Objects product line includes several cache mechanisms to improve server performance, especially in large deployments. Because of these advantages, Business Objects recommends that you deploy Broadcast Agent as a distributed solution, that is, in a cluster.
The Broadcast Agent cluster

A Broadcast Agent cluster contains one or more server machines, each hosting one or more nodes that run Broadcast Agent server processes. Clusters contain the following types of nodes: Primary node The primary node serves as the central coordinator between all the nodes in the cluster. There is only one primary node per cluster; if the cluster contains
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only one node, it is the primary node. Secondary node Client node A client node can be used to access the Broadcast Agent through the Broadcast Agent Console, and to use the Administration Console without being on the server itself. A CORBA connection is required.
Under Windows, only one node can be configured per server machine. Under UNIX, multiple nodes can be hosted on a single machine, if each of them belongs to a different cluster.
Broadcast Agent as a distributed solution
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Deploying Broadcast Agent
chapter
32
Overview
This chapter discusses issues related to deployment and sizing. These issues include: Sizing guidelines Looks at the factors that impact the size and number of machines you need for Broadcast Agent. Matching components to machines Which Broadcast Agent component should you run on which machine? UNIX vs. Windows You can deploy Broadcast Agent in either a UNIX cluster or a Windows cluster. A number of limitations and performance considerations are reviewed. Optimizing performance For example, optimizing your servers by using caches. Server filenames, pathnames, and permissions The proper formats are discussed. Configuring database connections Using Broadcast Agent with LDAP The chapter also includes a number of tasks you need to perform before beginning the installation of Broadcast Agent.
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Sizing guidelines
The size and number of machines you need for Broadcast Agent varies depending on a number of factors, including: Quantity of documents to be scheduled Complexity of the documents Refresh frequency Speed of the connection between the repository and the Broadcast Agent server Speed of the underlying database Number of users simultaneously accessing the data In general, a document being processed by Broadcast Agent requires the same amount of RAM and CPU time as if it were processed in the same way by an interactive user. If 100 documents are scheduled for refresh at the same time, it is the equivalent of 100 concurrent usersall logged in and running simultaneous queries. If your system is unable to cope with the level of activity requested, then some tasks may fail or be delayed until the system is less busy. Take this into account when making decisions about server sizing, as well as when scheduling your documents. If you use multiple-refresh report bursting (see Report bursting on page 75) with options set to refresh each users copy of a report according to that users profile, a separate refresh is carried out for each recipient. In other words, if you burst a document according to the profile of 100 recipients, it carries the same load as refreshing the document 100 times.
Memory requirements by document type

The amount of RAM required for each document to be processed depends on its length and complexity. Typical requirements are as follows: WebIntelligence version 2.x documents: 6-40 MB; average size 12 MB WebIntelligence version 6.x documents: 2-40 MB; average size 10 MB BusinessObjects documents: 12-40 MB; average size 16 MB The document size is the same whether the server is UNIX- or Windows-based. The best way to ensure the memory requirements for your deployment is to build the reports on a test system and find out how large they actually are. You can then size your servers accordingly.
Sizing guidelines
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Number of Broadcast Agents and Schedulers

You can configure multiple Broadcast Agents in your deployment, and multiple Schedulers for each Broadcast Agent. The advantage of having several Broadcast Agents is that you can have one for each user group (Sales, Finance, etc.) defined in each repository. One advantage of having two or more Schedulers for each Broadcast Agent is for failover. Without a working Scheduler, no jobs are processed. Because an additional Scheduler does not use significant resources, many configurations include two Schedulers on different machines for each Broadcast Agent. In this way, even if one node fails, the tasks are still processed. A typical cluster configuration has one or more Schedulers, plus either a BOManager or WIQT, on every secondary node.
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Matching components with machines

This section explains which Broadcast Agent components to run on which machines. (For information on components, see Broadcast Agent server components on page 21.) You are not obliged to set up your Broadcast Agent cluster over multiple servers. If you decided to install all components on one machine, you must declare the machine as the primary node when you install Broadcast Agent. Running Broadcast Agent server software and BusinessObjects client software on the same machine is not recommended. When Broadcast Agent or WebIntelligence services are running, they automatically launch and stop BusinessObjects instances. On the same machine, these system sessions can interfere with the interactive BusinessObjects user session. The machine running the Scheduler does not need exceptional processing power or disk space. However, machines running BOManager and WIQT require much more processing power.
NOTE
You can limit the number of processes which are run concurrently on each machine by using the parameter settings in the WIQT and Scheduler modules. (See Fine-tuning Broadcast Agent on page 62.) Any machine that runs the BOManager or wiqt processes must be equipped with at least 256MB of RAM, but Business Objects recommends more if possible. You must have an additional 16 MB for each job that it is configured to run concurrently. We recommend that you also configure sufficient swapping space to allow for peak conditions. Keep in mind that: if a job cannot be handled with the available RAM, swapping occurs and processing slows down. if swapping occurs and the swapping space is exceeded, performance will be greatly affected, and eventually the system may become unstable.
NOTE
Do not install Broadcast Agent on the same machine as the repository database server.
Matching components with machines
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Installing multiple BOManager and WIQT modules, one on each machine in a cluster, provides load balancing and failover. A Scheduler on any machine can process documents (using WIQT or BOManager) on any machine in the same cluster, if the component is enabled and its Enable Batch Processing parameter is set to On. The Scheduler itself uses very little CPU time or RAM, and can easily reside on the same machine as a BOManager or wiqt process without significantly impacting performance. The Broadcast Agent Console and the Administration Console are relatively lightweight user interfaces, and do not consume significant resources. They can be installed on any machine on the subnet, not necessarily a server node, but they must be installed on a client node at least. If your system is processing both WebIntelligence 2.x and 6.x documents, you can set the Max No WebI 2.x jobs running and Max No WebI 6.x jobs running parameters to proportionally balance the load between the two types. For example, if you have 80% of your scheduled documents in WebIntelligence 2.x format, and only 20% in 6.x, then set the Max No WebI 2.x jobs running to four times the Max No WebI 6.x jobs running.
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UNIX or Windows?
You can deploy Broadcast Agent on either a UNIX cluster or a Windows cluster. The following Broadcast Agent functionality is available on Windows only: Direct access to some OLAP data sources Contact Business Objects customer support for the current list of supported OLAP servers. Visual Basic procedures used as data providers Personal data files Custom macros in VBA These macros depend on Microsoft proprietary technologies that are not currently supported under UNIX. Some RDBMS data sources Contact Business Objects customer support for the most current information. If your users need to access any of the above functionality via Broadcast Agent, then you must use Windows node for executing Broadcast Agent tasks (that is, with a BOManager process enabled). You can set up multiple Broadcast Agent Schedulers and BOManager processes, on either UNIX or Windows nodes, in the same cluster.
NOTE
For a full, up-to-date list of supported tools on both Windows and UNIX, contact Business Objects customer support.
UNIX or Windows?
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Optimizing performance
Using the Administration Console, you can optimize Broadcast Agent performance by specifying: the number of documents per day that Broadcast Agent can process simultaneously how often the Scheduler checks the repository for waiting tasks how long Broadcast Agent waits before reloading a failed task For more information about the Administration Console, see Enabling and deactivating components on page 63.
Server optimization using caches

The Business Objects product line includes several cache mechanisms to improve server performance, especially in large deployments. Login cache After users execute a task via Broadcast Agent, they do not have to log in again when submitting subsequent tasks. BOManager caches their login information for each Broadcast Agenttask. If users have the appropriate access rights, the session context for the task is restored directly from the cache. The life span of cache entries is controlled by the Scheduler login cache duration parameter in BOManager. (See Fine-tuning Broadcast Agent on page 62.) Presentation cache To help prevent overloads at peak transaction periods, you can preload the cache when you process a task. When you schedule a corporate document with Broadcast Agent from BusinessObjects, you can cache the documents presentation by using one of the following options: Enhanced Document Viewing Generates the document in metafile format, which is recognized by the ActiveX viewer in InfoView. The metafile is then stored in the server cache. Standard HTML Generates the HTML for scheduled corporate documents, suitable for the standard HTML document viewer in InfoView. PDF Available for other users without any need to regenerate the PDF, unless a change has occurred in the document.
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The first time an InfoView user asks to view the document in a certain format, BOManager retrieves the presentation and stores it in a cache on the Storage Manager machine. The generated files are then removed after the document is viewed for the first time, and the document itself is passed to the InfoView cache. When other users then access the document in InfoView, they access a pregenerated file. This means that: InfoView requests for BusinessObjects documents do not require logging into BOManager there are fewer demands on available processes in your cluster the documents presentation doesnt have to be generatedthe document is displayed faster and more efficiently response time remains constant and doesnt depend on the documents size or complexity CPU power and busobj processes are made available for refreshing documents (ad hoc queries) In large organizations, where important documents are viewed regularly by thousands of users, caching can prevent critical system congestion and overload. Encourage users to preprocess all corporate documents that they expect will be viewed by multiple usersparticularly PDF documents, which may require substantial processor time to generate. Schedule documents to be refreshed often. If the cached presentation is always up-to-date, recipients wont need to refresh them. Cached documents take up only about 5 KB of disk space per document, plus 20 KB per metafile page. PDF and HTML documents, by contrast, often reach several megabytes.
Optimizing performance
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Server filenames, pathnames, and permissions

Broadcast Agent users specify a pathname and filename when using: the File Watcher option to schedule tasks to run only when a specific file is present (See File Watcher on page 109.) the Distribute via File System option to copy a scheduled document to a specific location the Distribute via Web Server option Save as RTF Save as TXT Save as PDF Save as XLS The pathname relates to the server on which the process (BOManager) is running, not to the users machine. For example, if the user selects Save as RTF with the filename C:\MyFile, Broadcast Agent attempts to save the file to that location on the server, not on the client.
NOTE
To specify a pathname or filename on a machine other than the server on which the Broadcast Agent is running, you must specify a full UNC (Universal Naming Convention) name; for example (under Windows): \\MyMachine\SharedFolder\MyFile.txt The BOManager executing the scheduled task must have the required permissions: to write to the file itself and its parent folder to access every folder in the path For example, if a Windows user specifies Save as TXT with the filename: \\MyMachine\MyFolder1\MyFolder2\MyFile then the BOManager must have permission to access MyMachine, MyFolder1, MyFolder2, and MyFile, and permission to write to MyFolder2 and MyFile.
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Instead of specifying a filename, you can send a job through Broadcast Agent on a UNIX machine using the default location. The default location for all scheduled jobs in the $BO_FILE_PATH environment variable is defined in the MyWebIEnv.sh file in the $INSTALLDIR/nodes/servername/mycluster directory.
UNIX and Windows pathname conversion

Broadcast Agent automatically converts Windows pathnames (with back slash delimiters, \) to UNIX pathnames (with forward slash delimiters, /) when needed. This conversion is transparent to the user. For example, if you specify the path: \usr\current it is interpreted by a Scheduler on a Windows server as c:\usr\current (where c: is the default drive), or on a UNIX scheduler as /usr/current.
NOTE
Encourage users to follow the Windows convention (with a backslash) as this is interpreted correctly on either system. UNIX format pathnames (with a /) will be interpreted correctly only on UNIX servers. You can mount file systems on UNIX servers to map to file systems on another networked UNIX machine, so that users have the functionality they require without needing to know the physical location of the files. See your UNIX documentation for further information. Ensure that directories are mounted appropriately on UNIX machines so that any Windows files that users need to access from UNIX systems are in accessible folders. Inform users that Windows filenames are not case sensitive. UNIX filenames, however, are case sensitive.
NOTE
When you use a printer other than the default printer, you must enter its path in the Select the Printer box under Print Properties. The printer name entered here must be in exactly the same case (the combination of upper and lower case letters) as the printer name specified on the server.
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Setting the $BO_FILE_PATH variable

On a UNIX server, you can define the variable $BO_FILE_PATH to enable Windows filenames to map to UNIX file names correctly. For example, you can add the following line to the WebIEnv.sh file:
BO_FILE_PATH=/opt/webidoc/ ; export BO_FILE_PATH
and the following line to the WebIEnv.csh file:

setenv BO_FILE_PATH /opt/webidoc/
This causes the pathnames specified to be mapped, as shown in the following table.
NOTE
The conversion results in lower-case UNIX pathnames, regardless of the case used in Windows. Windows path MyFile \\Server\MyFile D:\MyFolder\MyFile UNIX path on server /opt/webidoc/myfile /opt/webidoc/server/myfile /opt/webidoc/d/myfolder/myfile
Path naming conventions

You can name paths in any of the following formats: UNC, which expresses the location on the network by giving a machine name as well as a path: \\<machinename>\<pathname>\<filename>
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NOTE
Business Objects recommends using UNC. This avoids any confusion, and enables the process to succeed even if the Scheduler is running on a different machine. Mapped network drive, on the server running the Scheduler: <mapped drive letter>:\<pathname>\<filename> Local, relative Windows filename: \<pathname>\<filename> Local, absolute Windows filename (local to the server, not the client): C:\<pathname>\<filename> Local UNIX filename: /<pathname>/<filename>
The table below summarizes the various formats. Path format UNC Mapped network drive Local relative Windows filename Local UNIX filename UNIX
Finds locally or remotely Fails Finds locally
Windows
Finds locally or remotely Finds if mapped drive is set up on server Finds locally Finds locally Fails
Local absolute Windows filename Fails

Finds locally
Shield users from these issues by mapping and mounting structures appropriately, and informing users what the best practice is.
EXAMPLE Pathnames
A user wants to use File Watcher to schedule a report called MyReport, to be refreshed whenever the file Update_Completed is present. The Update_Completed file is automatically created by a weekly update process, whenever the data warehouse is updated with new data. The file is stored on a UNIX server called Orion, located in /usr/datawarehouse/Update_Completed
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If the Broadcast Agent scheduler and BOManager are running on a UNIX server called Pluto, and the user specifies /usr/datawarehouse/Update_Completed then the task will never be executed because the file cannot be found. However, if the Scheduler is running on the same server machine (Orion), the user can specify the path in File Watcher as: \usr\datawarehouse\Update_Completed or /usr/datawarehouse/Update_Completed To be safe, wherever the Broadcast Agent scheduler is running (Windows or UNIX), specify: \\Orion\usr\datawarehouse\Update_Completed
HTML and web server filenames

When Broadcast Agent sends an HTML format file to a web server using the Distribute via Web server action, it automatically converts the following characters in the file name so that they conform to standard web usage: ampersand (&) empty space These characters are converted to an underscore. For example, a file named Alpha & Beta.rep becomes Alpha_Beta.rep when it is saved in HTML.
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Configuring database connections

Broadcast Agent may establish hundreds of database connections per day. The configuration of these connections is therefore critical to the efficiency of your deployment. Broadcast Agent connects to both the security and document domains: the Update repository delay transaction connects only to the security domain the Scanning repository delay transaction connects to both the security and the document domains
Configuration guidelines
When configuring your connections, you can choose from the following options in the Advanced tab of the Connections dialog box: Keep the connection active during the whole session Keep the connection active for X minutes Disconnect after each transaction Business Objects recommends using either Keep the connection active for X minutes or Disconnect after each transaction. The reason is that an internal module called SQLBO handles a pool of connections to the different domains involved. The connection can be physically closed (Disconnect after each transaction) or only logically closed (Keep the connection active during the whole session).
Using shared and personal connections

Most BusinessObjects documents access data through a secured connection that is stored in the repository. However, BusinessObjects users can also create documents that access data through personal connections or shared connections, which are not defined in the repository. These types of connection are defined in two locations: in the document itself in LSI (Local Security Information) files stored in the LocData folder on the users machine: pdac.lsi for personal connections, and sdac.lsi for shared connections. When users send documents based on shared connections to Broadcast Agent, the connection information is obtained from within the document itself. However, if the document contains a VBA macro which directly accesses the shared connection, the sdac.lsi file on the server must contain the shared connection data.
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LocData folder
All Broadcast Agent servers and BusinessObjects client machines use a LocData folder, whose location is determined during the installation process using the Configuration Tool. In many deployments, a single LocData folder on the primary node is referenced by all the other machines over the network, in order to simplify administration. This folder contains files which define the database connections: bomain.key Defines the default connection to the repository. additional .key files These define connections to alternative repositories that the user can reference at logon. sdac.lsi file Defines shared connections pdac.lsi Defines personal connections Recommended configuration If you want shared connections to be available to all users (rather than just to the user who created the connection), set all the cluster machines and client machines to use the LocData folder on the primary node. When the installer on each machine asks for the path of the LocData folder, give the network path of the LocData folder on the primary node. This folder must be under a mapped network drive on each Windows machine, or a mounted network path on each UNIX machine in the deployment. All machines then access the same .lsi and bomain.key files. Synchronizing sdac.lsi files If you do not set all the cluster machines and client machines to use the LocData folder on the primary node, you need to verify that all BusinessObjects client machines and Broadcast Agent servers have a copy of the same sdac.lsi file in their local LocData folder. When you install the secondary nodes, their sdac.lsi files are automatically replaced with a copy of the sdac.lsi file from the primary node.
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When a user adds a new shared connection, the new sdac.lsi file must be copied to all other clients and to the servers. To update all the secondary nodes, copy the new sdac.lsi file to the primary node and click the Cluster files synchronization button in the Administration Console. This copies the .key files and the sdac.lsi file from the primary node to the secondary nodes. Enabling VBA custom macros to access shared connections If a user sends a document based on a shared connection to Broadcast Agent, and the document includes a VBA custom macro that directly accesses the shared connection, the sdac.lsi file in the LocData folder on the machine where the VBA code is running must contain the connection information for the shared connection. If the sdac.lsi file on the server does not include the shared connection, then the task will fail with the error: (303) Error with no ErrorHandler with BreakOnVBAError =FALSE. If all machines in the deployment share the same LocData folder on the primary node, the task will be processed correctly because there is only one sdac.lsi file in the cluster and it includes all shared connections.
Documents containing OLAP data providers

In BusinessObjects, you can retrieve data from OLAP servers, if you have installed the BusinessObjects Access Pack for these products. This section covers what users can and cannot do when they schedule documents containing OLAP data providers.
NOTE
This section does not apply to WebIntelligence documents, because they cannot contain OLAP data providers. Users can schedule documents containing data providers built on a Microsoft OLAP Services database, but must verify that the BOManager user account has permission to access the OLAP Services database. Microsoft OLAP Services authenticates users with Windows security information. The users Windows login, not their BusinessObjects login, allows access to the data in the OLAP Services database. When users manually refresh a BusinessObjects document containing an OLAP data provider, the database retrieves their Windows user name and password from the operating system.
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If these are the same as the user name and password defined by your Windows administrator on the OLAP side, users gain access to their OLAP data, and successfully refresh the document. Broadcast Agent processes a document containing OLAP Services data providers as follows: A Windows user name and password (defined with the Configuration Tool) is used to start BusinessObjects on the Windows server. A user schedules a document containing a Microsoft OLAP Services data provider. At the scheduled time, Broadcast Agent launches BOManager on the server, using the user name and password that was defined with the Configuration Tool. To allow BusinessObjects to retrieve data from the database, OLAP Services checks the Windows user name and password defined on the server machine where BusinessObjects is active. If the Windows user name and password on the server machine running BusinessObjects are the same as those defined on the OLAP side, BusinessObjects gains access to the data, and refreshes the document. If the user account does not have OLAP permission, BusinessObjects cannot refresh the document, and Broadcast Agent returns a failed task.
Repository sizing and Broadcast Agent transactions

Broadcast Agent passes SQL transactions to the security and document domains of the repository. Transactions between Broadcast Agent and the security domain do not require significant repository resources. However, if youre using Broadcast Agent to publish documents on the repository, verify that the document domain is large enough to store the documents. You can also control the number of documents in the repository by advising users to switch on the Overwrite mode option when they send documents to Broadcast Agent. As the administrator, you can switch on this option in the Broadcast Agent Console (see Overwrite mode on page 103).
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LDAP
The Business Objects Enterprise suite can use LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) to manage the identity of your Business Objects users in a corporate directory. LDAP enables you to store user information for all your enterprise applications on a single corporate directory. Business Objects users can be stored in LDAP, in the corporate repository, or in both. If your deployment makes use of LDAP, Broadcast Agent publishes to users and distributes to groups stored in LDAP in the same way as it does to users and groups in the Business Objects repository.
NOTE
Broadcast Agent requires a Broadcast Agent user to execute tasks. This user must still be declared and authenticated through the repository. You cannot use an LDAP user to execute tasks. For more information about using LDAP with the Business Objects Enterprise suite, refer to the separate document Managing Users in a Corporate Directory (LDAP).
LDAP
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chapter
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Overview
This chapter explains how to install and configure Broadcast Agent. Before you begin, make sure you review the deployment requirements outlined in the previous chapter (Deploying Broadcast Agent on page 31). Installation and configuration of Broadcast Agent involves the following tasks: Installing Broadcast Agent Assigning users to Broadcast Agents Enabling modules on the servers Enabling and deactivating Broadcast Agent components Setting BOManager parameters Starting Broadcast Agent processes on the server Starting Schedulers to monitor the Broadcast Agents
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Installing Broadcast Agent

Broadcast Agent is a server product. You install Broadcast Agent on your server machine(s) together with other Business Objects server products. The following picture shows the location of Broadcast Agent within the Business Objects version 6.1 installation wizard.
For more information and detailed installation instructions, see the Installation and Configuration guide.
Installing Broadcast Agent
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Assigning users
Now that you have installed Broadcast Agent, you are ready to begin the configuration process. The first step is to create a named Broadcast Agent for one or more user groups, using Supervisor. You assign a Broadcast Agent as a property of a group, to which only users who are members of that group have access. A given user can belong to more than one group, and can therefore use more than one Broadcast Agent. To assign users to a Broadcast Agent: 1. Log into Supervisor with a General Supervisor or Supervisor profile. 2. Right-click on the user group you want, and then select Properties from the pop-up menu.
The Group Properties dialog box appears. 3. Click the Broadcast Agent tab.
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4. 5. 6. 7.
Select the Broadcast Agent button. In the Name field, type the name of the Broadcast Agent. In the Password field, enter a password. Clear the Disable Login checkbox. This enables the Broadcast Agent to log in and the Console to monitor tasks. 8. If you want to use only UNIX servers to process tasks sent to this Broadcast Agent, select the UNIX-Only Broadcast Agent checkbox. 9. Select a document repository domain from the drop-down list. 10. Click OK. Your Broadcast Agent is now defined, and users can now send documents to it for processing. Before the tasks can be processed, you must also start a Scheduler for the Broadcast Agent (see Starting a Scheduler on page 57). Each named Broadcast Agent services one document domain. In Supervisor, you can define multiple groups that have the same members, and use multiple named Broadcast Agents to service the different document domains.
Assigning users
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NOTE
You can define multiple named Broadcast Agents without requiring an extra license. You need only one Broadcast Agent license per server in each cluster that runs Broadcast Agent tasks.
Security commands
Security commands in Supervisor must be correctly set to enable a BusinessObjects or WebIntelligence user to access Broadcast Agent functionality. By default, ordinary users do not have permission to access advanced functions such as report bursting or VBA macros, so you need to configure these settings for your users. However, remember that the more users that are given report bursting rights, the more resources may be consumed. See the Supervisors Guide (appendix B) for a full description of the available security commands. The information below gives a summary of the commands that are most relevant for Broadcast Agent users: Command Do not refresh with the reference profile of each recipient Run scripts/VBA code Use Broadcast Agent Console Work with web server Retrieve documents from scheduled processing Setting
Disable, for users to access the Report Bursting feature
Enable, to allow users to access custom scripts Enable, to allow users to view and modify scheduled task status via the Console Enable, to allow users to use Broadcast Agents Distribute via Web Server function Enable, to allow users to retrieve documents from Broadcast Agent Broadcast Agent
Schedule corporate documents Enable, to allow users to send corporate documents to Send documents for scheduled Enable, to allow users to send documents to Broadcast Agent processing Attach scripts to scheduled processing
Enable, to allow users to send documents containing custom VBA macros to Broadcast Agent
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NOTE
For InfoView users, the Schedule Documents command must be set to Enabled in order for users to send documents to Broadcast Agent.
Starting a Scheduler
You start a Scheduler using the Administration Console. The Administration Console is a Java applet that can be installed on any machine in the same subnet as the Broadcast Agent cluster. You can run it in any Javaenabled web browser, or from the Windows desktop.
NOTE
The Administration Console is not the same as the Broadcast Agent Console, a Windows-based tool that allows you to examine and modify the list of tasks scheduled by a Broadcast Agent. Accessing the Administration Console To access the Administration Console, you must have one of the following profiles: General Supervisor Supervisor Supervisor-designer Versatile user (with Supervisor rights) The actions that these profiles are permitted within the Administration Console can be restricted by applying certain security commands. By default, the General Supervisor profile can perform all operations in the Administration Console. With a General Supervisor profile, you can modify in Supervisor the access rights of a Supervisor, Supervisor-designer, and Versatile User.
Assigning users
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The table below shows the security commands that are relevant for the Administration Console. Security Command Log into Administration Console Administrate clusters and modules What it allows Starting the Administration Console Administrate user sessions Administrate clusters, modules and Broadcast Agents Stopping and starting clusters and modules (except Broadcast Agent) Changing cluster language Changing log file names Changing module parameters Enabling/disabling Broadcast Agent Manager Creating and removing Schedulers Stopping and starting Schedulers Modifying Scheduler parameters
Stopping user sessions
For more information on how to set these security commands in Supervisor, refer to the Supervisors Guide.
NOTE
If the Log into Administration Console security command is deactivated, all other security commands are automatically deactivated, and the user will be denied access to the Administration Console. How to start a scheduler 1. Decide which machine in your cluster will run a scheduler for the user group. You can also start Schedulers on several different machines, so that if one machine fails, the others will continue processing the tasks as normal (failover). 2. Open the Administration Console.
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3. On the list of modules on the left side, select Broadcast Agent Manager.
The panel on the right side shows the Schedulers that are currently running on the machine selected in the left panel. If there are none, the panel will be empty, as shown above. The Schedulers are listed per named Broadcast Agent.
Assigning users
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4. Click Add. The Monitor one more BCA dialog box appears.
5. Select a .key file from the drop-down list. By default, this is bomain.key, but it may be different if you have multiple repositories in your deployment. 6. Click Refresh BCA List to generate a list of all the Broadcast Agents on the cluster that you can access. 7. Enter your user name and password. A list of all the Broadcast Agents in the cluster that you can access appears. 8. Select the one you want, and then click OK. 9. Enter the password you created earlier for this Broadcast Agent. A list of all the running Broadcast Agent Schedulers appears. Broadcast Agent is now functioning on your system.
NOTE
When the server is rebooted, the Scheduler restarts automatically by default.
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Backup Scheduler To start a backup Scheduler for a named Broadcast Agent on another server, follow the steps described above using the Broadcast Agent Manager on the other server. If one server fails, Broadcast Agent processing continues on the other.
NOTE
Using the Administration Console, you can start Schedulers and configure processes on any server in the cluster. You do not need to be at a workstation which is physically connected to the server.
Assigning users
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Fine-tuning Broadcast Agent

After installing and configuring Broadcast Agent, you need to fine-tune it. This includes: enabling modules on specific nodes enabling or deactivating Broadcast Agent components on specific machines configuring the parameters of the BOManager and WIQT on each machine For example, you can set the maximum number of concurrent tasks of each type to be handled on each machine. starting Broadcast Agent processes on the server These procedures are performed in the Administration Console.
Starting Broadcast Agent processes on the server

Before you can set up components such as Schedulers, you must start Broadcast Agent (and if installed, WebIntelligence) processes. To start the Broadcast Agent processes: Windows: by clicking the Start menu, and then selecting Programs > Broadcast Agent > Start Server (6.1). UNIX: by typing in a terminal window, from the directory $INSTALLDIR/ setup: ./wstart All the processes required by Broadcast Agent are now launched on the server.
TIP With the exception of the initial startup, you dont need to start Broadcast Agent manually if you selected the Enable Automatic Start option in the Installation program.
Enabling modules on nodes

After installation, you must enable certain modules on specific nodes. This optimizes the performance of your Broadcast Agent system. In order for the system to function, all of its required modules must be running somewhere within the cluster. Certain modules can be enabled on one secondary node only. Others can be enabled on several nodes simultaneously.
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The modules you need to activate somewhere in the system are: WISessionManager WIStorageManager BOManager Used to process BusinessObjects documents. WIQT Used to process WebIntelligence documents. Broadcast Agent Manager Controls the Schedulers. Although you can enable the WIStorageManager on a secondary node, we highly recommend that you enable it on the primary node only. After you enable these two modules, do not deactivate and then enable them elsewhere. The following table summarizes the enabling of Broadcast Agent modules. Module Enable on Enable on Enable on multiple primary node secondary node machines
No Optional Recommended Recommended Recommended No Yes Yes Yes Yes
WISessionManager Required WIStorageManager Recommended BOManager WIQT Broadcast Agent Manager

Optional Optional Optional
Enabling and deactivating components

You can use the Administration Console to enable or deactivate components on a given server. By default, all processes except Broadcast Agent are enabled after installation. Consider the following example: You have two Windows nodes with relatively low processing power, and one high-power multi-processor UNIX node in your cluster, along with a UNIX primary node. Your users are processing mainly WebIntelligence documents, with a small percentage also processing BusinessObjects documents. A small number of WebIntelligence documents are scheduled for regular
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refresh every hour, and it is crucial that they are kept up-to-date. You can enable WIQT on the UNIX node and one of the Windows nodes, and deactivate BOManager on these machines, so that they specialize in processing WebIntelligence documents. The remaining Windows node can have BOManager enabled and WIQT deactivated, so that this machine runs only BOManager processes (for processing BusinessObjects documents). This configuration can provide faster processing than using all the machines to process both types of document. To deactivate a component: 1. Launch the Administration Console on any server machine in the CORBA cluster. 2. In the Host pane, click the machine whose components you want to deactivate. 3. Select the component, and then click Disable. A red x next to the component name indicates that you deactivated it:
4. To enable a component that you previously deactivated, click Enable. A green check mark next to the component name indicates that you enabled it:
Configuring BOManager parameters

BOManager is the process that calls instances of the BusinessObjects process (busobj.exe on Windows servers, or bolight on UNIX), which refreshes scheduled documents. There is no more than one BOManager per server machine, but each BOManager can have several BusinessObjects processes running simultaneously, processing different documents.
NOTE
The bolight process is designed specifically for batch processing with Broadcast Agent on UNIX. It does not include Windows-specific functionalities or a graphical user interface.
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To configure BOManager parameters: 1. Open the Administration Console. 2. In the Host pane, select the name of the machine whose BOManager parameters you want to set. 3. Click the BOManager entry in the left pane. The BOManager parameters appear in the right pane. 4. Make the changes you want. 5. Click Apply. The following table describes the BOManager parameters you set in the Administration Console. Parameter Kill BusObj processes on startup Delete inactive session after Function Default
Deletes all BusinessObjects processes (including those which On may be running interactively) when Broadcast Agent or WebIntelligence is started. Deletes BOManager sessions that were inactive during the specified period. Prevents sessions from remaining open if the user closes the browser without using the WebIntelligence or InfoView logout. Business Objects recommends that you synchronize this parameter with the Session timeout parameter in the WISessionManager module.
5 min.
Max. number of Maximum number of busy BusinessObjects processes 4 busy processes allowed to run on the BOManager machine. A busy process
is one that takes up CPU time. This parameter also specifies that only x processes (such as refresh, save, or computing data) can be active at the same time in terms of CORBA calls. The value must be greater than the value set for Min. number of loaded processes and less than the value set for Max. number of loaded processes.
Max. number of Maximum number of BusinessObjects processes allowed to run on the BOManager machine. loaded The value must be greater than the Min. number of loaded processes
processes.
10
Min. number of loaded processes
Number of BusinessObjects processes that are started immediately by BOManager, making these processes available when a user request occurs. Must always be less than that of Max. number of loaded processes.
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Parameter
Function
background thread.
Default 20 sec.
Idle loop interval The interval between two iterations of BOManagers

Each time the background thread runs, BOManager checks the values specified in the following parameters: Delete inactive session after Delete inactive process after Scheduler login cache duration Auto-shutdown BOManager after If any of the values have expired, the background thread performs the related clean-up task.
Keep exclusive process
The minimum interval during which a BusinessObjects process is dedicated exclusively to one user. If another user wants to open a session before this interval has expired, BOManager starts a new BusinessObjects process for this user. If, however, this interval has expired, BOManager assigns the same BusinessObjects process to another user. The parameter provides a benefit that is a trade-off between the response times of the current user and that of any other users: When the value is high, the process is dedicated to the current user and results in improved response times for each action carried out by this user throughout the interval. However, during the interval, BOManager must start new BusinessObjects processes for subsequent users, which results in more time-consuming operations. When the value is low, the process is not dedicated to the current user; BOManager has to restart another BusinessObjects process for every action other users perform after this interval expires. (This requires more time than for a simple action). However, all other users are able to reuse this process after the interval has expired, which leads to improved response times.
60 sec.
Delete inactive process after
Specifies how long BusinessObjects can remain open after it finishes processing a document. If there is no activity in the BusinessObjects process during this period, BOManager closes the processif there are more loaded processes than the value set for Min number of loaded processes.
5 min.
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Parameter Recycle process
Function
Default
Specifies the number of heavy duty actions, such as opening 40 or refreshing documents, that can occur before the active memory on the server machine is cleaned up. After this number has been reached, BOManager closes the BusinessObjects process. It is reopened after the next document is opened or the next user is logged in.
Auto- shutdown Specifies how often BOManager is automatically shut down 60 min. and then restarted. Shutting down BOManager cleans up the BO Manager active memory on the server machine. after
Business Objects recommends that you set this parameter to a value greater than the one set for the parameter Timeout for interactive and batch actions. Otherwise, batch actions requiring a greater value may be deleted. Important: Make sure there are no active users when this type of maintenance operation is performed.
Scheduler login An interval during which a users login details and security cache duration permissions are stored in the cache. After this interval has
expired, the next login does not make use of the cache; instead, it reads the security permissions directly from the repository.
360 min.
This login cache is used only for Broadcast Agent tasks (scheduled documents). The value of this parameter provides a trade-off between improved performance and up-to-date real-time information. To deactivate the login cache, you must set it to 0. This is useful if you are testing a scheduled task immediately after changing a users security permissions. For example, if you change a users permissions, and immediately run a scheduled task, the task will normally reflect the old (cached) version of the users permissions. However, if you set this parameter to 0, this forces Broadcast Agent to use the new permissions.
Timeout for interactive actions Timeout for batch actions
The interval during which a BusinessObjects process running 10 min. interactively (within WebIntelligence) can be busy without interruption for any single action. After this interval expires, the BusinessObjects process is recycled (deleted) to stop the current action. The interval during which a BusinessObjects process running 60 min. in batch mode (through Broadcast Agent) can be busy without interruption for any single action. After this interval expires, the BusinessObjects process is recycled (deleted) to stop the current action.
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Parameter Enable macros for interactive users Enable Batch Processing
Function
Determines whether any VBA macros embedded in BusinessObjects documents will be run on the server when this document is viewed from InfoView. Note: This setting does not affect Broadcast Agent.
Default On
Determines whether this BOManager can process batch tasks On (scheduled with Broadcast Agent). Set this parameter to Off to prevent Broadcast Agent from using this BOManager. When this parameter is set to On, tasks will be automatically distributed if possible to other nodes. You may want to set Enable Batch Processing to Off on the BOManager on one or more nodes, so that the nodes are free for interactive users.
Enable Interactive Processing
Determines whether this BOManager can process interactive On tasks (tasks started directly by an InfoView user attempting to refresh a full-client document). You may want to set Enable Interactive Processing to Off on the BOManager on one or more nodes, so that interactive users cannot run tasks on these nodes, leaving them free for Broadcast Agent tasks. This might be useful if you want to make sure that scheduled tasks continue to be processed no matter how many users attempt to log in to the system.
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Broadcast Agent Schedulers

You can create, start, or stop the Broadcast Agent Schedulers assigned to the various nodes on the system. You can also view and modify the parameters of each Scheduler. If a Broadcast Agent has more than one Scheduler, all of the Schedulers appear in the Administration Console with the same Broadcast Agent name.
Starting to monitor a Scheduler

To start monitoring a Broadcast Agent Scheduler: 1. In the Administration Console, click Add. The Monitor one more BCA dialog box appears. 2. Select the key file from the list at the top of the window.
The key file points to the repository from which the Broadcast Agent was defined. For WebIntelligence systems, it is bomain.key. For BusinessObjects systems it is bomain.key by default, but there may be other key files pointing to alternative repositories. Each Broadcast Agent can point to only one repository.
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NOTE
You can monitor as many Broadcast Agents as you want. Each Broadcast Agent must be defined in Supervisor (using the Group Properties dialog, Broadcast Agent tab) from the repository to which it refers. 3. Click Refresh BCA list. 4. A login box appears. You must have a Supervisor profile to obtain a list of the Broadcast Agents available on the repository that you can administer. A General Supervisor can view all the Broadcast Agents for all users. To add Broadcast Agents in subgroups, you must copy the Supervisor profile into all of the subgroups. 5. Enter the General Supervisor or Supervisor name and password. The list of available Broadcast Agents appears. 6. Select the Broadcast Agent you want to add, and then click OK. A login box appears. 7. Enter the password for the Broadcast Agent. The Scheduler is now being monitored, and you can assign parameters to it.
NOTE
This action starts a Scheduler process on the server. The Scheduler continuously monitors this Broadcast Agents task list, and starts the tasks for processing at the required dates and times.
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Scheduler parameters
The table below summarizes the Scheduler parameters. The first three parameters relate to the named Broadcast Agent. The remainder relate to the Scheduler. Parameter Password Description
Password assigned by the Supervisor to the Broadcast Agent. bomain. key
Default
Domain name (key Name of the .key file for the security domain. This name is needed in configurations that have multiple security file)
domains. There must be a key file on the machine where the Scheduler is running. When the Scheduler tells BOManager to process a document, it also transfers the .key file information.
Scanning repository delay Update repository delay
How frequently the Scheduler scans the security domain for pending tasks. When a process is complete, Broadcast Agent sends updated information to the repository to flag the process as Successful, Failed, etc. This parameter determines the delay between the end of the process and the transaction that updates the repository. For example, if you set it to 10 minutes, the scheduler updates the repository every 10 minutes with information on all processes that ended during that time. Without this parameter, Broadcast Agent sends information to the repository as soon as a process is complete. Therefore, if 10 processes ended simultaneously, 10 individual connections to the repository would be made at the same time. This would result in a bottleneck of repository connections.
600 sec. (10 min.) 300 sec. (5 min.)
BusinessObjects documents WebIntelligence documents Max. duration
Whether Broadcast Agent can process BusinessObjects documents. Whether Broadcast Agent can process WebIntelligence documents. How long a task can run. This parameter prevents runaway queries from holding a connection and blocking the server for long periods.
On On 36,000 sec. (600 min.)
Delay between retry
Broadcast Agent reloads failed tasks at the frequency that 600 sec. you set with this parameter. (10 min.)
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Parameter Nb. max running BusinessObjects jobs
Description
Number of BusinessObjects documents that Broadcast Agent can process simultaneously. If this value is higher than the sum of the values set for the parameter Max. number of busy processes in all the BOManagers on your secondary nodes, the following occurs: When the maximum number of jobs is reached, some will fail because no BOManager will be available to process them (all the BOManagers are busy). Business Objects recommends that you set this parameter to a value lower than the sum of the values set for the parameter Max. number of busy processes in all the BOManagers on your secondary nodes.
Default
10
Max no. WebIntelligence 2.x jobs running
Maximum number of WebIntelligence version 2.x documents that Broadcast Agent will try to process simultaneously. Together with the next parameter (Max. no. WebIntelligence 6.x jobs running), this gives you more control over processing WebIntelligence 6.x and 2.x documents on the same node. Set it to zero to deactivate processing of version 2.x documents on the node.
Max. no. WebIntelligence 6.x jobs running
The maximum number of WebIntelligence version 6.x documents that Broadcast Agent will try to process simultaneously. Together with the next parameter (Max. no. WebIntelligence 6.x jobs running), this gives you more control over processing WebIntelligence 6.x and 2.x documents on the same node. Set it to zero to deactivate processing of version 6.x documents on this node.
Nb. max retry jobs The maximum number of times Broadcast Agent attempts
to process failed jobs.
5 Off
Purge jobs
Specifies whether Broadcast Agent purges all processed documents, successful or otherwise, from the repositorys document domain. See also Purge only successful jobs.
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Parameter Period for purge
Description
Purging the queue deletes all processed documents from the repositorys document domain. This parameter lets you specify how often you want to purge the document domain. Note that you can also control queue purging by using the Purge the Queue command in the Broadcast Agent Console.
Default
100 days
Purge only successful jobs Delay for auto shutdown
Purges only the documents that Broadcast Agent has successfully processed. Therefore, if set to On, you can view and manage only failed tasks. How often the Scheduler is shut down and then restarted. Shutting down the Scheduler cleans up the active memory on the server machine. The Scheduler cannot shut down while a task is running. It waits until the end of a process, then applies this interval.
Off
120 min.
Log file name
Log file in which information on the activities of Broadcast Agent is stored. By default, the value of this parameter is blank; however, a log file is still created. The default log file is BcsScdul_BCA_ID.log, where ID represents the ID of your scheduler (the same as BcsScdul_BCA_ID.ini, in which the values of the schedulers parameters are stored).
Number of BOMgr Specifies the number of BOManagers in your secondary node to which the scheduler tries to connect when a to try
BOManager has reached its Max. number of busy processes. The optimal value is the number of BOManagers you have enabled on all your secondary nodes.
Waiting time before bind
Maximum time the Scheduler waits, after a task is started, before binding a BOManager or wiqt process to a scheduled task. If no bind is possible after this time elapses, the task fails, and an error message appears.
30 sec.
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Viewing and modifying Scheduler parameters To view and then modify Scheduler parameters: 1. Open the Administration Console. 2. Click the Parameters button next to the Broadcast Agent scheduler you want.
The Settings dialog box appears.
3. Make the changes you want. 4. Click Apply.
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Report bursting
Power users with rights to all types of documents and database connections might not want all the people on the distribution list for a document theyre sending to see the same information. Report bursting answers this need by letting you automatically generate different versions of a document that are sent to individuals with a given user profile. Following is an example of report bursting that shows how you can distribute different information to different people from a single source document.
EXAMPLE Report bursting
Supervisors can place restrictions on the universes that BusinessObjects users work with. In this example, the Supervisor sets up a universe containing information about global sales, and gives different permissions to each user in a user group. Now: Maria can access the entire universe and retrieve any rows she wants. Tom can access the universe, but can retrieve rows only when the country is France. Janis and Frank can access the universe, but can retrieve rows only when the country is USA. Tom creates a document based on this universe, and then sends it to all four users via report bursting. Users receive a copy of the document containing only the data that each user has the right to see. This means that Maria sees all the information, Tom sees only the France-related data, and Janis and Frank see only the information about the U.S.
Performance issues
Report bursting generates a separate copy of the document for each recipient. If you have 100 recipients, you need 100 times as much processing power as when you send it to just one recipient. This may have a substantial impact on system performance. However, if you send a document to 100 recipients without report bursting, it takes very little extra time. The document is generated only once, then simply copied 100 times.
Report bursting
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Consider these performance issues when deciding whether to use report bursting.
Setting report bursting

To set report bursting for a task: 1. Open the report you want to send using BusinessObjects. 2. From the File menu, select Send To > Broadcast Agent. The Send Document to Broadcast Agent dialog box appears. 3. Click the Actions tab. 4. Select one of the refresh options: Refresh with the profile of each recipient or Refresh with the reference profile of each recipient. Report bursting to user groups If you want to use report bursting to send a document to every member of a group, you dont need to select every individual user. Instead, select Refresh with the reference profile of each recipient in the Actions tab, as described above, and then select the user group. This will generate a separate copy of the document for every individual user within the group, based on each users security profile. For standard BusinessObjects users, the default inherited security setting is Do not refresh with the reference profile of each recipient. To enable the report bursting feature for a user or group, you need to deactivate this security setting. (See Security commands on page 56 for more information on security commands that are relevant to Broadcast Agent.)
Report bursting with OLAP data providers

You can burst documents containing OLAP data providers built on Essbase or IBM DB2 for OLAP servers. You cannot, however, burst documents built on the other OLAP data providers available with BusinessObjects. When users build an OLAP data provider in BusinessObjects, they must enter the user name and password that provide access to the OLAP database itself. When users schedule documents containing an OLAP data provider, BusinessObjects prompts them to enter that same user name and password. It stores that information in the document, and then lets Broadcast Agent reuse the document. Broadcast Agent refreshes the document based on the profile of each recipient. Each profile is determined by a user name and password, which in the case of OLAP documents, is entered by users when they schedule documents. Therefore, Broadcast Agent processes the document once for each recipient, but in each case with the same profilein other words, the same user name and password that the user entered when scheduling the document.
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NOTE
This feature is based on Multiple Refresh Report Bursting (MRRB) technology. For a large number of users, consider using Broadcast Agent Publisher, which offers better scalability by using Single Refresh Report Bursting (SRRB). Essbase and IBM DB2 for OLAP With Essbase and IBM DB2 for OLAP, users can connect to these servers by typing @variable(BOUSER) and @variable(BOPASS) instead of entering their full user name and password. Using these variables means that Broadcast Agent can retrieve the user name and password for each recipient when processing the document, and can use this information to generate a version of the document per recipient.
NOTE
The restriction on No Password Checking, described in International time zones on page 78, also applies here. You can only use report bursting as described above if Full Password Checking is switched on.
Report bursting
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International time zones

In international operations, Broadcast Agent displays all dates and times according to the time zone on the client machine. Therefore, the difference between zones is transparent to the user. For example, if the server is in London and the user is in Paris (one hour later), then all times displayed to the user are in Paris time. If the user schedules a task to occur at 2:00 pm Paris time, the task will be processed on the server in London at 1:00 pm London time. If a user in New York (five hours earlier than London) views the same task, it will appear from New York to be scheduled at 8:00 am, and will be processed at 8:00 am New York timethat is, 1:00 pm London time.
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Custom macros and add-ins

There are two ways to use VBA custom macros with Broadcast Agent: You can include one or more VBA subroutines in any scheduled document. You (as the Broadcast Agent administrator) can install one or more VBA subroutines as add-ins on the server machines. Users can then call these subroutines from their scheduled documents. BusinessObjects add-ins are VBA custom macros that are saved as .rea files. They must be installed on a Windows server machine to make them available to Broadcast Agent. To install an add-in, the .rea file must be copied into a folder on the server machine, and registered by adding a registry key on the server where the task is run. This process is described below. The scheduled task is run on a server node, under the account of the BOManager user. Because there is no way to predict which node will be used, you must register the add-in on every server node for the BOManager user. Alternatively, each add-in can be globally registered for all users on the machine.
NOTE
This process involves making a modification to the system registry, using the Microsoft utility regedit. Do this with extreme care, because damage to the registry can render the machine unusable. Back up the registry before making any changes. A Broadcast Agent running on one node can call a BOManager on any other node, if the BOManager has its Enable Interactive Processing parameter set to On. Therefore, if a task calls for a VBA custom macro (add-in), then that add-in must be added to the registry on every Windows server in the cluster which has a BOManager running.
TIP To obtain the best performance from your system, use one large .rea file containing many subroutines, rather than using multiple .rea files.
Custom macros and add-ins
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Installing add-ins
To install an add-in: 1. Create the registry key, using either of the following methods: - For a specific user: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Business Objects\ Suite 6.0\default\<user name>\User Prefs\busobj\Options\ AddIn\<add-in name> - For any BusinessObjects user on the machine: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Business Objects\ Suite 6.0\default\BusObj\General Preferences\busobj\ Options\AddIn\<add-in name> 2. Within these keys, create three values, similar to the example given in the table below: Value name Type Description Filename Installed String String Sample data <add-in name> $INSTALL_DIR\AddIns\My_Tools\ <add-in name>.rea
DWord 0x00000001
The Installed value determines whether or not the add-in is installed, and can have the following values: - Installed = 0: add-in is not installed - Installed = 1: add-in is installed - Installed = 2: add-in is installed and locked (See the Designers Guide for more information about developing custom addins and setting registry values.) 3. Copy the .rea file containing the add-in into the folder specified in the registry entry. In the example from the table above, the file is copied into: $INSTALL_DIR\AddIns\ Productivity_Tools on each Windows server where BOManager is enabled.
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Universes containing @script functions

Using BusinessObjects on a client machine, you can create and refresh reports based on a universe that contains a @script function. This feature is described in the Designers Guide. The @script mechanism runs on the local client machine, and cannot be processed correctly on the server. To refresh this type of report via a serverbased component (Broadcast Agent, WebIntelligence, or 3-tier BusinessObjects), you must either: copy the code from the VBA macro called by the @script function to a VBA custom macro within the document. The code will be accessed from within your documents. See Introduction to Developer Suite for more information about custom macros. copy the code from the VBA macro called by the @script macro to a VBA addin (.rea file). This enables all documents sent to the cluster to use the same code. Install the add-in on the Broadcast Agent, WebIntelligence, or 3-tier BusinessObjects server for all users. (For more information, see Custom macros and add-ins on page 79.)
Universes containing @script functions
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Upgrading from version 5.x

After upgrade to Broadcast Agent version 6.x, previously scheduled jobs are recovered and reprocessed by the new Scheduler. If the task is based on a WebIntelligence document or a 2-tier BusinessObjects document, the document is kept in 2.x/5.x format. Therefore, 2.x/5.x users can still open, edit, and save them. If you edit (and thus upgrade) a 2.x/5.x document and save it as a corporate document in a 6.x Business Objects product (such as InfoView), all previous scheduling information is lost, and 2.x/5.x users can no longer work on it.
NOTE
For general information on upgrading a Business Objects system from version 2.x/5.x to version 6.x, see Upgrading from a Previous Version.
Broadcast Agent Scheduler

A version 5.x Scheduler cannot process 6.x WebIntelligence and BusinessObjects documents. You can associate a 5.x and a 6.x Scheduler to the same Broadcast Agent, if there is a 2.x cluster and a 6.x cluster connected to the same repository. The 6.x Scheduler can: create a new task with the same properties (except status) as a task that has failed A log of the failed task is maintained. extend expiration dates of expired tasks export a list of scheduled tasks in .csv format The list can then be printed from any .csv viewer. export scheduled documents to Excel perform batch processing of WebIntelligence 6.x (.wid) documents. handle documents with or without prompts (refresh and send to users or save as a corporate document)
Broadcast Agent Console

There are only minor changes between version 5.x and 6.x Broadcast Agent Consoles. A version 6.x Console can connect to a 5.x repository and a 2.x cluster, but in this case it cannot execute Run Now, Interrupt Task, or Purge.
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A version 5.x Console can connect to a 6.x repository with a 2.x cluster, but in this case it cannot display the document type for 6.x tasks. Version 5.x and 6.x Consoles cannot function together on the same machine, as version 6.x automatically uninstalls version 5.x. You can use both versions to access the same node, but they must be installed on different machines.
Mixed-version deployments
Mixed-version deployments (version 6.x desktop products alongside 5.x) may cause problems for document exchange within a company. For example, suppose a 6.x user receives a 5.x document. This user modifies the document, saving it in 6.x, and then sends it to Broadcast Agent for further processing. Broadcast Agent processes the document andbecause it is now a 6.x documentsaves it in 6.x format. A 5.x user who receives the document will not be able to open it. You can avoid this situation by creating two document domains for a mixed user population: one for 5.x users, the other for 6.x users. Users sending documents to the repository or to Broadcast Agent can select the document domain that corresponds to the Business Objects version they are working with.
Channel tasks
There is no Channel option in version 6.x, but previous tasks continue to be executed. In 6.x, the Channel option does not appear in the Available Actions list in the Schedule Corporate Documents dialog box.
Hierarchical categories
Hierarchical categories are a new feature in version 6.x. With hierarchical categories, you can create subcategories within categories, to any depth you want. You can then associate a document with one or more of these categories or subcategories. Every category can have zero, one, or several subcategories. The hierarchy of categories is a simple tree. The top-level categories are displayed in an area called Corporate Home. A version 5.x Broadcast Agent Console displays both 5.x categories and hierarchical categories. The hierarchical category appears as a 5.x name with special characters (such as a forward slash) in the Categories column. If there are no separators in the name, it is assumed that a hierarchical category was not created; they are interpreted as root categories in 6.x.
Upgrading from version 5.x
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A version 6.x Console can display both 5.x and 6.x categories. If you create a hierarchical structure in 6.x, the 6.x user sees the hierarchy but the 5.x user sees a flat list of categories. Version 6.x ignores orphan categories. 6.x has a scan-and-repair feature to delete them.
The Broadcast Agent Console
chapter
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Overview
After Broadcast Agent is installed on your servers, and documents are scheduled, you can monitor activity using the Broadcast Agent Console. You can install it anywhere on the same subnet as the server cluster. The Console displays information about all scheduled tasks. You can use the Console to: reschedule a task for a different time manage task status For example, by cancelling a task that is blocking the server. modify task properties customize the console display For example, you can remove from the display the documents that Broadcast Agent has successfully processed.
NOTE
The Broadcast Agent Console is not the same as the Administration Console, a Java-based tool that enables you to configure the various server modules involved in a Business Objects enterprise solution.
Console features
The Console offers the following features: Fully customizable display You can set up your Console to display any task properties in any order, and then perform a sort operation on any of the fields. Lazy Refresh The Console display is refreshed only if the status of a scheduled task has changed, a task has been deleted, or a new task added. This frees connections and CPU power for other purposes. Recent activity on the Status bar The status bar at the bottom of the Console window displays the date and time of the last refresh. Improved error logging Broadcast Agent logs error messages to the repository, which means that you
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can display the full error message text in the Console. Additional task information The Console can display over two dozen properties of scheduled tasks and their documents, including document size, type, macro information, and the name of a documents HTML folder (when its being published over the Internet). Export to CSV You can export the information in the Console to a CSV (comma-separated value) file. This file can be read by any text editor and other standard tools.
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Installing and launching the Console

You can install the Broadcast Agent Console on any Windows machine in the same subnet as the Broadcast Agent server cluster. For the Console to access the Business Objects repository, the appropriate database middleware must also be installed on the local machine. To access server components in the CORBA cluster, you must install and run the Configuration Tool, and then create a client node. For detailed installation instructions, and for information about the Configuration Tool, see the Installation and Configuration Guide. You can launch the Console from the Windows Start menu, or by using the Run command. Launching from the Start menu 1. From the Windows Start menu, select Programs > Business Objects > Broadcast Agent > Console. The User Identification dialog box appears. 2. Enter the following: - server name: name of the Broadcast Agent whose tasks you want to view - password: of this Broadcast Agent, as defined in Supervisor 3. Click OK. The Broadcast Agent Console appears.
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You can modify the column headings in the Console (see Display options on page 90). Launching from the Run command 1. In the Run command line, type bcacons.exe. The User Identification dialog box appears. 2. Enter the server name and password, and then click OK. The Broadcast Agent Console appears. If you cannot log on to Broadcast Agent, check whether a bomain.key file exists. This file is located in the LocData folder of your installation files.
TIP You can avoid typing the server name and password each time you log on by using the syntax: -user<username> -pass<password> in the Windows shortcut properties setup.
Closing the Console

To close the Broadcast Agent Console: From the Console menu, select Exit.
Installing and launching the Console
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Modifying the display

Display options
You can choose the information columns you want to see in the Console. The table below summarizes the available options. This column... Actions BatchId Categories Condition Displays this information in the Console:
Description of the actions to be performed on the document, such as running a task immediately, or a refresh. Unique ID number that Broadcast Agent assigns to a task. Categories assigned to a document. Formula the user sets when sending the document (Actions tab). For example, if the condition is =Revenue>100000 then Broadcast Agent processes the document if revenue is over $100,000.
Delete File Watcher Whether or not the user chose one of the delete file options
(Scheduling tab).
Description DocId Document type Ended at Error Expiration Date File System folder File Watcher
Description of the document that the user entered in the General tab. ID number that Broadcast Agent assigns to a document. One document can have multiple BatchIds and ProcessIds. Whether the document is BusinessObjects or WebIntelligence. Date and time at which Broadcast Agent last finished processing the document. Error message the server returns if the task fails. Expiration date the user set in the Scheduling tab. Folder specified for distributing the document via the servers file system. Path to the file specified in the File Watcher option (Scheduling tab). File Watcher enables the processing of tasks only when a given file is present in its specified location. For more information, see File Watcher on page 109. The intervals at which Broadcast Agent processes the document (hourly, monthly, etc.). Name of the machine on which Broadcast Agent will process or has processed the document.
Frequency Host Name
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This column... HTML folder Next Schedule Overwrite Mode
Displays this information in the Console:

Folder specified for distributing the document via the Internet. Date and time at which Broadcast Agent will next process the document. Whether or not the newly processed document overwrites the previous version. Corresponds to the Overwrite Mode option in the Distribution tab. Name of the user who sent the document. Platform used to execute the tasks (Windows, UNIX, or All). Priority set by the user (Normal, High, Low). ID number that the servers operating system assigns to a task. Useful if you want to manage tasks at the server level. Document size, in kilobytes. The first date the task begins to run, as set by the user in the Scheduling tab. Date and time at which Broadcast Agent last started processing the document. Date the document was sent.
Owner Platform execution Priority ProcessId Size Start Date Started At Submission Date
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To modify the display: 1. In the Console, click Options. The Broadcast Agent Options dialog box appears.
2. Select the columns you want to see in the Console. 3. Use the Move Up and Move Down keys to determine the order in which the columns will appear in the Console.
NOTE
You cannot remove or modify the columns Document Name and Status, which always remain the first and second column. 4. To set the refresh interval, enter a value in the Refresh Every box. 5. Click OK to return to the Console.
Modifying the language

If you have installed multiple languages, you can change the language of the Console display: 1. From the Console menu, select Language. 2. From the dialog box that appears, select a language. 3. Click OK.
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Security features
The Broadcast Agent Console offers a number of features that ensure the security of your work environment. You can: change the Broadcast Agent password lock the Broadcast Agent Console
Modifying the password

You can modify the password for the current named Broadcast Agent. There may be multiple Broadcast Agents, each with its own password set in Supervisor when the Broadcast Agent was originally defined. You need to know this password in order to start the Console. The password is case sensitive. To modify the password: 1. From the Console menu, select Change Password. 2. In the dialog box that appears, type the old password, and then type the new one. The password can contain up to 35 alphanumeric characters, including special characters or spaces. 3. Confirm the new password, and then click OK. The change takes effect immediately.
Locking the Broadcast Agent Console

If you plan to be away from your computer for any length of time, you might want to lock the Console to prevent anyone else from using it during your absence. To lock the console: Click the Lock Console icon on the toolbar. Locking and minimizing the Console If you do not want the contents of the Console to be visible on your screen while you are away, you can minimize the Console to an icon. To lock and minimize the Console: On the Console menu, select Lock Iconized.
Security features
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To unlock and maximize the Console: 1. From the Console menu, select Lock Console. The Password dialog box appears. 2. Enter the login password, and then click OK.
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Basic task management

Basic task management includes: Viewing tasks Suspending tasks Deleting tasks Purging a task from the queue Interrupting a task Rescheduling a failed or expired task Exporting the list of scheduled tasks
Task status
Tasks displayed in the Broadcast Agent Console can have the following status: Successful Failed Expired Waiting Suspended Running Delayed execution Retrying Tasks are either processed or non-processed. Processed tasks in the Broadcast Agent Console can be Successful, Failed, or Expired. Non-processed tasks can have the following status: Task Status Waiting Suspended Running Description Scheduled for later processing. A task with Waiting status that is paused. Currently being processed. Status changes to Successful or Failed after processing.
Delayed execution Task has reached its scheduled processing date, and is on standby to be processed when currently running tasks are completed. Retrying A failed task that is being reprocessed.
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Viewing tasks
The Console has three filtering options for task display. To view tasks, you select the filtering option you want:
View pending
View log (all) View log (failed)
View pending to view all pending tasks View log (all) to view all tasks View log (failed) to view failed tasks only
TIP
To view a complete list of tasks and actions, you can export the Console display to a csv format file by selecting Export to from the Console menu. (See Exporting the list of scheduled tasks on page 99.)
Suspending a task
Suspending a task temporarily prevents the task from being processed. You can suspend a task only if its status is Waiting. To suspend a task: 1. Select the task in the Broadcast Agent Console. 2. Click the Suspend icon on the toolbar.
The task status appears as Suspended in the Console. 3. To return the task to Waiting status, select the document name, and then click the Suspend icon again.
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Deleting a task
You cannot delete a task that has a Running execution status. To delete a task from the task queue: 1. Click the name of the document in the Broadcast Agent Console. 2. Click Delete. 3. In the box that appears, click OK. If the task you selected is associated with a corporate document, a further dialog box appears:
4. Use the options to choose whether to delete only the schedule, or the document as well.
Purging the queue

Purging the queue deletes the processed documents from the list displayed in the Console. It does not delete them from the repository. You can also set purging automatic parameters in the Business Object administration console, as described in the Administrators Guide. The default value is every 100 days.
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To purge a task from the queue: 1. On the Console menu, select Purge the Queue. The Purge the Queue dialog box appears.
2. Enter the number of days you want. 3. To purge all tasks, including failed ones, clear the Purge Only Successful Tasks checkbox. By default, Broadcast Agent purges successful tasks only. 4. Click OK.
Interrupting a task
You can interrupt a running or retrying task. Interrupting a task does not affect any further processing for which the task is scheduled. To interrupt a task: 1. From the Task menu, select Interrupt. 2. In the dialog box that appears, confirm that you want to interrupt the task. An error message appears, and the task status appears as Failed in the log.
Rescheduling failed or expired tasks

Broadcast Agent can create a new task with the same properties (except status) as a task that failed. A log of the failed task is maintained. You can also extend the expiration dates of expired tasks. These features allow you to save time when rescheduling documents.
NOTE
This applies only to tasks scheduled Once.
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To reschedule a failed or expired task: 1. Click your right mouse button on the task you want to edit. A contextual menu appears. 2. Click Task Properties. The Task Properties dialog box appears. 3. Click Scheduling. 4. Modify the expiration date and time to some point in the future. 5. Click OK.
Exporting the list of scheduled tasks

You can export the list of scheduled tasks in .csv (Comma Separated Value) format. Exporting the task list in this way makes the list printable and viewable from a standard text editor. You can then identify whether particular tasks have been scheduled. To export the list of scheduled tasks: 1. On the Console menu, select Export to. 2. Select the location you want. 3. Click Save.
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Modifying task properties

Task properties include: actions Broadcast Agent performs when it processes a document: refresh, print, and so on. document processing priority: high, normal, or low scheduling information: once, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, at a monthly interval, at a user-defined interval, or using the File Watcher Scheduling is treated in a separate section below (see Task scheduling on page 105) the list of users to receive the processed document the way the document is distributed: via the repository, a corporate intranet, extranet, Internet, or on the file server whether the newly-processed document overwrites the previous version categories, if any, to which the document is assigned In InfoView, users define these properties before they send the document to the server. As the administrator, you can modify many of these properties at any time, as explained in the sections below.
Viewing task properties

To view the properties of a task: 1. In the Broadcast Agent Console, select the task you want. 2. Click the Task Properties icon on the toolbar.
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The Task Properties dialog box appears:
Task platforms
Each task sent to Broadcast Agent is associated with a JOB_PLATFORM value (see table below). This value is stored in the repository along with the description of each scheduled task. In general, Windows nodes execute tasks more slowly, but more options are available. For example, VBA custom macros, and certain connectivities, may be available only under Windows. Understanding the JOB_PLATFORM value You can set the parameter Nb Max Retries in the Broadcast Agent tab in Supervisor. When you schedule a task, its JOB_PLATFORM value is set to a value of 10000 + (Nb Max Retries). If the task fails, then its associated JOB_PLATFORM value is decreased by one. If this number reaches 10000, it means that the task has been retried the maximum number of times, and is then executed on a Windows node.
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To set this delay, use the Administration Console to set the Delay Between Retry parameter on the relevant Scheduler. A JOB_PLATFORM value of... NULL 1 4 10000 > 10000 Causes the task to be executed on: a Windows node a Windows node a UNIX node a Windows node, due to previous task failure on UNIX nodes the first available node. If it fails, the JOB_PLATFORM value is reduced by 1, and the task will be retried again on the first available node.
Modifying the priority of a task

A task can have one of three priorities: high, normal, or low. If tasks have identical scheduling information, the status is Waiting, and the next scheduled processing date is in the past, Broadcast Agent first processes the tasks with high priority, then the tasks with normal priority, and finally those with low priority. To modify the priority of a task: 1. In the Task Properties dialog box, verify that the General page is displayed. 2. Select the priority you want, and then click OK.
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Modifying task distribution

You can modify the distribution of a document by adding and removing users and groups: 1. In the Task Properties dialog box, click the Distribution tab. 2. Click To. The Select Users and Groups dialog box appears.
Folders represent groups of users
This icon represents a single user
3. Select the users and user groups you want to add to the distribution list, and then click Add. 4. To remove users or groups from the distribution list, select them in the Document Recipients pane, and then click Remove. 5. Click OK.
Overwrite mode
Overwrite mode, set by default, prevents the creation of too many processed documents in the repository. When this option is set, and Broadcast Agent processes a document, the new version overwrites the previous one. BusinessObjects users can switch Overwrite mode to On or Off when they send a document to Broadcast Agent. To change the setting, click Overwrite Mode on the Distribution page of the Task Properties dialog box.
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Modifying categories
A category is a keyword or phrase that users can assign to documents when they publish them to the repository, or send them to users or to Broadcast Agent. When retrieving documents, users can then filter their searches by category. To modify the categories to which a document is assigned: 1. In the Task Properties dialog box, click the Categories tab.
2. Select the categories you want, and then click OK.

NOTE
Broadcast Agent, along with the entire Business Objects suite of products, now supports the use of hierarchical (nested) categories.
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Task scheduling
The Scheduling page in the Task Properties dialog box displays the current scheduling information for a task.
The time units displayed are based on the system time. Broadcast Agent automatically converts all time-related information in documents sent from a machine with a Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) format. You can modify task scheduling using the tasks scheduling options, or the File Watcher feature. (See File Watcher on page 109.) To modify the scheduling of a task: 1. On the Scheduling page, click Change. The Change Schedule dialog box appears. 2. In the Run area on the left side of the window, select the option that corresponds to the schedule you want. The options are described in the sections below. 3. In the Start At area, type or select a new date and time, then click OK. The Task Properties dialog box reappears. 4. Click OK to close the Task Properties dialog box.
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Task scheduling options

Broadcast Agent provides a number of task scheduling options: Once Hourly Daily Weekly Monthly Monthly interval User defined Once
The Once option processes the task only once at a specified date and time. By default, the current date and time appear in the dialog box. Type or select the new date and time. Hourly
The Hourly option causes the task to be executed once per hour during the interval specified. For example, if you set 30 in the Minutes after the hour field, 4:00 in From, and 6:00 in To, the task is processed twice: at 4:30 and 5:30.
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Daily
The Daily option processes the task on one or more days of the week, at a given time, at weekly intervals. Weekly
The Weekly option processes the task on a particular day of the week at a given time.
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Monthly
The Monthly option processes the task on selected days of the month at a particular hour. Depending on the database used by the security domain, you cannot send a task if you select 1st Day of the month. Monthly Interval
The Monthly Interval option processes the task on a given day and time, but only at the monthly interval you specify.
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User Defined
The User Defined option processes the task at the interval you specify. Task processing begins at the start date specified on the Scheduling page.
File Watcher
File Watcher allows the processing of a task only when a given file is present in a particular location. For example, a database administrator posts a text file to signal the successful reload of a data warehouse; when the text file is in the specified location, Broadcast Agent refreshes and distributes the documents. You can use any kind of file with File Watcher. The file can be located anywhere: on a server, on the client, or on a file system. The only restriction is that the Broadcast Agent machine must be able to access the file. With File Watcher, Broadcast Agent can work with all existing systems, including legacy systems, anywhere on the network. For example, a legacy system creates a file that Broadcast Agent is watching. Broadcast Agent then executes the scheduled task. This would create a new document that in turn triggers the creation of another document. This cascading chain of reactions and documentstied to predetermined conditionsis called report chaining. Access rights In order to use File Watcher, the BOManager used for a particular task must have access rights to the specified file and location. When a Broadcast Agent Scheduler detects a document in the repository that is due to be processed, it contacts the least busy BOManager on the cluster. This launches a BusinessObjects session (busobj.exe), which extracts the document from the repository and processes it.
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Each BOManager is configured with the user name and password of a Windows or UNIX user, and therefore has specific access rights to machines, disks, and directories. For example, if you enter x:\Temp\Business Objects\file.txt in the File Watcher box on the Scheduling Options page, the BOManager associated with the Broadcast Agent you selected must have read rights for server x and for the directory Temp\Business Objects on that machine. See the Installation and Configuration guide for more information on configuring server rights. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. How to set File Watcher In the Task Properties dialog box, click the Scheduling tab. Select the File Watcher checkbox. Enter or browse for the file you want. Choose the delete option you want from the drop-down list-box. Click OK.
You can use either of two path naming conventions: A standard local or remote pathname, such as c:\Program Files\Business Objects\Demo\file.txt - or x:\Temp\Business Objects\file.txt A valid UNC UNC is a format for the location of resources on a LAN. UNC uses the following format: \\<server name>\<shared resource pathname> Business Objects recommends that you use a UNC because Broadcast Agent is distributed; therefore, a scheduled job may run on one of any number of servers. If you use a remote pathname, the drive must be properly configured on the BOManager server. When you use a UNC, however, the name of the server or machine on which the file is located is included, thereby ensuring that the Broadcast Agent server can find it. If the Broadcast Agent cant locate the file at task execution time, it will not run the task. However, Broadcast Agent will periodically try to refresh the document. How often it looks for the file is determined by the Scanning Repository Delay parameter, which you set when configuring the software on the server side. The default setting is 10 minutes.
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EXAMPLE Using File Watcher to control a task execution order
You have five tasks that you want to send to Broadcast Agent. You submit Job1, Job2, Job3, Job4, and Job5 at the same time, and want them to finish in numerical order, Job1 first and Job5 last. Of course, Job1 may take more time than Job2, so you must make sure each begins only after the previous job is completed. To make all jobs submitted at the same time finish in a specific order, you use File Watcher. When selecting the actions for each job, you save each one as a text file and then set each job to watch for the previous reports text file. For example, Job2 watches for job1.txt (which is then deleted to allow this solution to continue more than once) while Job3 watches for job2.txt, and so on.
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Troubleshooting
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Overview
This chapter provides solutions to a range of problems that may occur when using Broadcast Agent. Among the issues covered: Failed connection to the repository Not all documents displayed in InfoView Problems with printing performance Dates and times dont match during international operations Cartesian products Data from user-produced objects not appearing
Where you can get more troubleshooting information

If you receive an error message, the Error Message Guide can help you resolve the problem. This guide provides descriptions and solutions to the error messages returned by Business Objects products, including Broadcast Agent. For installation issues, see the Installation and Configuration Guide. See Useful addresses at a glance on page 10 for a list of other useful documentation and information sources.
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Resolving database connection failure

Database connection password changes
Between the time a BusinessObjects user sends a document to Broadcast Agent and the time Broadcast Agent starts processing the document, the database connection password might be changed (for example, by the database administrator). In this case, Broadcast Agent fails to process the document because this password is incorrect. With Broadcast Agent, you can reset the password so that the database connection can work: 1. Obtain the new database connection password. 2. Relaunch BusinessObjects and enter the new password in the Password field of the User Identification dialog box. 3. On the Tools menu, select Console. The Console appears. 4. Verify that View non-processed tasks is selected:
5. Select the failed task in the document list. - Note that the tasks status is Waiting, not Failed. - If you are not sure which document to select, then select all Waiting
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documents. 6. Click Resolve. BusinessObjects resets your password. This password is then used in the database connection required to refresh the document.
NOTE
The Resolve button is available only when you run the Console in BusinessObjects. It is not available on the Broadcast Agent machine.
Database connection timed out

An internal module called SQLBO handles a pool of connections to the different domains involved. The connection can be physically closed (Disconnect after each transaction) or only logically closed (Keep the connection active during the whole session). The time-out may be caused by the Keep the connection active during the whole session option in the Advanced tab of the Connections dialog box. When it is selected, Broadcast Agent still treats the connection as open. This results in an error such as cannot fetch document. You can fix this situation as follows: 1. Open Supervisor, and perform a safe recovery on the security domain on the machine where Broadcast Agent is running. 2. Log in to Supervisor using an account with General Supervisor rights, and then edit the connection property on the document domain.
NOTE
It is not possible to modify the security domain connection from Supervisor. The only way to modify the connection is to perform a safe recovery.
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File Watcher cannot find files

By default, on Windows servers, Scheduler processes are owned by the System account. This account does not have network access permissions. Therefore, File Watcher cannot find files over the network. The solution is to change the ownership of the WebIntelligence Orb and WebIntelligence Manager services from which Scheduler ownership is inherited. To do this: 1. Select or create a user account that has the necessary network access permissions. To give the Scheduler the same access permissions as the BusinessObjects processes it starts, use the same user account as for the BOManager processes (as specified during installation). 2. On the machine where the Scheduler is running, open the Control Panel and select Services. 3. Select WebIntelligence Orb, and then click Startup. 4. In the Log On As panel, select This Account, and then enter the name of the user from step 1. 5. Enter and confirm the password, and then click OK. 6. Select WebIntelligence Manager, and then repeat steps 4 and 5. 7. Restart the machine.
NOTE
On UNIX systems, Schedulers by default have the same owner as BusinessObjects processes. Therefore, they have the correct network permissions.
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Report bursting
Report Bursting is unavailable
From within BusinessObjects, there are two possible workflows to send a document to Broadcast Agent: File menu > Send To > Broadcast Agent File menu > Publish To > Corporate Documents, and then click Schedule. If you use the second option, report bursting is unavailable (grayed out). This is because Corporate Documents are available to all registered users, and so report bursting is not meaningful in this context. Instead, use the first workflow (File > Send To > Broadcast Agent). On the Distribution page, specify the users and groups you want to receive the document.
Password to the OLAP server changes

When BusinessObjects users schedule documents containing an OLAP data provider, they can select Refresh With The Profile of Each Recipient (report bursting). Broadcast Agent then bursts the documents. But if the server administrator changes the password for the OLAP server, the users password is no longer the same as the one required to access the data. Broadcast Agent cannot process the document. In this case, the user has to change the password for the OLAP server, so that it is identical with the new password. The BusinessObjects Supervisor can do this, or users can do it themselves in BusinessObjects (Tools > Change Password) if they are working with a connection to the repository.
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InfoView doesnt display all documents

The InfoView Scheduled Documents page, which displays the list of documents scheduled by the current user, can display a maximum of 1000 entries simultaneously. Therefore, if you schedule more than 1000 documents from a single user account, and you are using InfoView to monitor these tasks, some of the entries will not be displayed. There are several solutions: Use the Sort buttons at the top of the InfoView Scheduled Documents page to show either the first 1000 or the last 1000 items. This means you can control up to 2000 documents in this way. In Supervisor, create a new user account with the same privileges as your current account. Divide the scheduling of the documents between the two accounts. If you are on the same LAN as the Broadcast Agent cluster, you can install the Broadcast Agent Console, and use it instead of the InfoView Scheduled Documents page. The Console can display an unlimited number of scheduled items, and also gives a greater degree of control than the InfoView Scheduled Documents page. (See The Broadcast Agent Console on page 85.)
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Low printing performance

Your users can schedule documents to print on any printer that is configured on the server machine where the task is processed. However, if the printer is connected to the server over a low bandwidth network connection, this can have an adverse effect on network performance. The PostScript file which is sent from the cluster to the printer is often quite large, especially for complex reports. Sending this over a slow network connection can impair performance. Instead, try sending the file to a client machine at the remote site in a more compact format, such as: .rep file BusinessObjects report format. Allows all features, including refresh and analysis, subject to security permissions. This option requires a licensed BusinessObjects client machine at the remote site. .rtf .txt .pdf .xls To do this: 1. In BusinessObjects, select File > Send To > Broadcast Agent. 2. Select the Actions page of the Send to Broadcast Agent dialog box. 3. Choose one of the following actions and click Add: Save as PDF, Save as text, or Save as RTF. 4. Click the action in the Selected actions column and click Properties. The Select Folder dialog box appears. 5. Enter the machine name and folder name on the remote site. For example: \\RemoteMachine\Mydocs 6. To send the .rep file to the remote machine, use the Distribute via server file system option in the Distribution page, specifying a location on the remote site such as: \\RemoteMachine\MyDocs
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Problems with time zones

In international operations, Broadcast Agent displays all dates and times according to the time zone on the client machine. Therefore, the difference between zones is transparent to the user. In general, this system works effectively, and makes it easy for users to work across time zones. However, if the Broadcast Agent server has a different date than the client machine at the moment a document is submitted, then a repeated scheduled task may occur either 24 hours earlier or 24 hours later than intended. This problem does not apply: to the first occurrence of any scheduled task if the client is in the same time zone as the server To solve the problem, when you schedule a document for repeated processing (every week, every month, etc.): 1. Verify that the date on the client machine is the same as the date on the server machine. 2. Set the time zone on the client machine to be the same as the one on the server cluster. 3. Schedule the task (send it to Broadcast Agent). 4. Set the time zone on the client machine back to its previous value. See your client machines operating system documentation for more information on setting the time zone.
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Add-ins causing errors

BusinessObjects add-ins are VBA custom macros which are saved as .rea files. They must be installed on Windows server machines to make them available to Broadcast Agent. To install an add-in, the .rea file must be copied into a folder on the server machine, and registered by adding a registry key on the server where the task is run. (See Custom macros and add-ins on page 79.) If you have several nodes in your cluster, and register an add-in on one node, but forget to add it to the registry in the other nodes, an occasional problem may be caused. Sometimes the task runs, but sometimes it causes errors. The solution is to register the add-in on every server node where the BOManager process is enabled and has its Enable Batch Processing parameter set to On.
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Documents with a Cartesian product

Documents that contain a Cartesian product can use up a significant amount of processing time. This usually results from a problem in query design, such as the failure to join two or more tables with a Where clause. In rare cases, however, a Cartesian product is a correct and necessary feature of a query. You can solve the problem by doing any of the following: Modify the document to include an extra join or Where clause Use Designer to change the universe parameters to allow Cartesian products Use Supervisor to grant the user permission to use Cartesian products. For more information about Cartesian products and how to prevent them, see the Designers Guide.
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Data disappears from user objects

BusinessObjects users can create their own objects, called user objects, to provide data in addition to that provided by the universes (see the BusinessObjects Users Guide: Accessing Data and Data Analysis). Broadcast Agent processes documents containing user objects, but the user objects are ignored. The corresponding data is not contained in the document. Broadcast Agent returns an error message (Some obsolete objects have been removed) to the Console.
What you can do

User objects are designed for individual use. If you need them for wide distribution across your company or organization, use the universe designer to convert the user objects into regular universe objects. Then, in BusinessObjects: 1. Import the updated universe from the repository. 2. Remove the user object from the query. 3. Add the new, converted object. 4. Run the query. 5. Resend the document to Broadcast Agent. Another option is to define a new universe that contains the user objects. Then, you can allow access to the new objects only to users who have permission to access the new universe. For information on importing universes and editing documents, see the BusinessObjects Users Guide: Accessing Data and Data Analysis.
Troubleshooting
Solving Business Problems with Broadcast Agent
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Overview
In this chapter, we examine some advanced ways to use Broadcast Agent, focusing on how Broadcast Agent can dramatically improve the performance of an enterprise business intelligence solution. Discussion involves real-world business scenarios.
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Typical Business Objects deployment

In this example, well discuss a typical deployment of Business Objects products. The deployment includes both BusinessObjects and InfoView users. Well see how Broadcast Agent can be introduced in order to improve the overall usability and performance of the deployment.
Deployment overview
In this typical deployment, the companys main site has 200 users of full-client BusinessObjects, each with a Windows machine and a direct connection via a high-speed LAN to two powerful database servers, one hosting the Business Objects repository and the other hosting the main corporate data warehouse. Additionally, 5000 users worldwide have thin-client access, via the Internet, to a Business Objects server. This server in turn accesses the repository and corporate database servers. Users Users can be roughly divided into four main groups: Supervisors and universe designers 20 Power users who create reports 40 Report consumers who also perform some analysis 100 full client; 100 thin client Report consumers 40 full client; 4800 thin client Documents Four complex documents are refreshed, on most working days, by certain designated power users. These reports represent summaries of the global operations of the company, and involve millions of rows of data. The documents are saved to the corporate documents section of the repository; users with the required access rights can view them. Additionally, the 40 power users have produced several documents of their own. Some are stored on their local disks, and some are published as corporate documents in the repository. Room for improvement In the scenario described above, the systems performance varies considerably. At times, a given document can be refreshed in twenty seconds; at other times, it can take twenty minutes. This is because the power users refresh the four
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complex documents at different times during the day. Because this requires the analysis of millions of rows of data, system performance is reduced significantly during these periods. Also, because the four documents are refreshed at unpredictable times during the day, it is not immediately clear to other users how current the information is. Sometimes users assume it is up-to-date when it is actually several days old. Realizing this, some users refresh the documents every time they access them. This is an additional drain on resources, because the same document can be refreshed by multiple users in the space of a few minutes. Although the underlying data may not have changed significantly, the database still needs to sift through all the figures every time the document is refreshed.
Benefits of Broadcast Agent

To improve this systems performance, you can: 1. Install and configure Broadcast Agent. 2. Grant power users the right to schedule documents. 3. Schedule each of the four major documents to run every night at off-peak processing times. For example, at 10:00 pm, 11:00, 12:00, and 1:00 am respectively. 4. Encourage the power users to schedule their own documents at off-peak times. Document refresh can be scheduled to occur at times when network traffic and user activity is low; for example, at night or over the weekend. With Broadcast Agent, users know that the major documents are always up-todate, even if the power user responsible for producing the documents is absent or busy. General users no longer need to refresh these documents every time they are accessed. The end result: Users are pleased that the system is significantly faster and more reliable.
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Report bursting: a business scenario

With report bursting in Broadcast Agent, you can simultaneously produce several different versions of the same document for different recipients, each version reflecting the recipients different access rights. (See Report bursting on page 75.) Consider this scenario: An organization has employees in six different countries, each with its own separate management structure. World headquarters has asked for human resources reporting to be standardized across the company. To meet this requirement, you design a detailed BusinessObjects document containing complex tables, calculations, and graphsshowing employee salaries and related human resources information across the organization. The document is refreshed each week via Broadcast Agent. World headquarters now wants the same report distributed to senior management in each country. However, you have been asked to restrict the information available, so that each local team sees only the data relevant to staff in their own country. The solution is report bursting. You need to do the following: 1. Modify the profile of each local recipient, as defined in Supervisor, to include a condition for access to the universe used as a basis for the report. For example, this condition might be "Where Country = France" for the French management team. 2. Schedule the document with Broadcast Agent, specifying the recipients, including the local teams in each country. 3. Verify that the Refresh with the profile of each recipient option is selected on the Actions tab. The recipients each receive only the data their permissions allow.
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Custom macros for custom solutions

Because BusinessObjects includes VBA as a built-in customization and development language, you can add almost limitless functionality to your scheduled tasks. (See Custom macros and add-ins on page 79.) To give you an idea of what can be achieved with this type of solution, this section presents two examples of custom deployments. Both of these solutions were developed on-site by Business Objects consultants. Because of the easy-to-use debugging and development tools built into the product, both systems needed only a very short lead time to be implemented, tested, and released as live production systems.
Automatically distributing documents to email recipients

The company needs to send WebIntelligence and BusinessObjects documents to a long list of recipients, including suppliers, customers, and extranet partners. These recipients are not necessarily BusinessObjects users and not necessarily listed in the repository, but each must have a carefully-tailored selection of reports delivered regularly. The names and contact details of these recipients, together with the list of documents and format required by each of them, are stored in an Oracle database. Some users can access a secure website to update this database automatically. For example, they can unsubscribe a particular document, or send notification of a change of email address. One solution is to use Broadcast Agent to refresh the reports as needed, then call a VBA custom add-in to provide a distribution and conversion mechanism. The reports can easily be converted into a range of formats, including HTML, RTF, XLS, and plain text, as well as BusinessObjects and WebIntelligence reports. Then, they can be distributed to the correct recipients, via any of a range of distribution methods that include email, fax, and SMS (mobile phone or pager) messaging. This can be implemented using a fairly simple piece of VBA code with the following functionality: Read parameter values for reports from a separate database Read distribution destinations from a separate database Refresh the report with the specified parameter values Save the reports with new report names (for example, adding the system date
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to the name) Distribute the reports to a specified destination folder on the network in any of the following formats: HTML, RTF, PDF, XLS, or TXT Distribute via SMTP (email) in any of the following formats: REP, RTF, PDF, or zipped HTML
This solution offers a low cost of ownership because the distribution list can easily be changed using a simple Oracle query. This makes it ideal for a self-service, web-based interface. Any number of new mass-distribution documents can also be added, simply by including a call to the VBA function when sending the documents to Broadcast Agent.
Managing database resource calculations

In this business case, the company wants to make sure that the back-end database is never overloaded by simultaneous requests from Broadcast Agent. If several documentseach based on a huge quantity of underlying dataare all refreshed simultaneously, this can severely impact the response time of the database for other users. To prevent this, a custom solution was developed by Business Objects consultants. For every scheduled document, the required database server resources are defined, based on the CPU time used to run the query. For example, the Sales report takes 10 seconds of CPU time, the Production report takes 20 seconds, and the ScoreCard report takes 30 seconds. These values are stored in a text file, as follows: SalesReport = 10, ProductionReport = 20, ScoreCard = 30 When the Broadcast Agent Scheduler determines that a task is due for processing, it calls a VBA custom macro, which checks whether the calculated resources are less than a given threshold; in this example, say, 35. If the resources needed are greater than the threshold, the task is not run. This ensures that we do not try to start more tasks than can be effectively processed simultaneously, and gives us the best performance for the queries on the database. For example, the Scheduler might detect that the ScoreCard report is due to be started, and that the other two reports are already being executed. This would overload the database, slowing it down for other system users. Therefore, the processing of ScoreCard is automatically delayed until one of the other two reports is completed.
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NOTE
The VBA macro communicates with the Broadcast Agent Scheduler through File Watcher. The VBA code creates or deletes a file to indicate whether or not enough CPU time is available to enable a document to be processed.
Putting BusinessObjects documents on the web without using WebIntelligence

In this scenario, a large company had an increasing number of documents to be distributed to a range of internal and external users. Some users wanted reports delivered by fax, others by email, and still others in the form of web pages. Some wanted their mobile phones to be alerted to certain situations, using SMS messaging. The companys IT staff developed a Microsoft Access front end to their existing Oracle database. It contained the names of the report recipients, the reports they are to receive, and the means by which the reports are sent. In addition, there was associated information such as fax number, email address, network printer name, and file name and location. Available transmission media included: fax email hard-copy sent by post text file HTML document available via the web SMS to mobile phone or pager Business Objects consultants developed a VBA macro, to be attached to each document sent to Broadcast Agent. When the document is refreshed as scheduled, the macro reads the Access database and delivers the documents. This solution has several key benefits: When a distribution profile changes, no reports have to be modified. Recipients do not need to be registered as BusinessObjects or WebIntelligence users in a repository. It is easy to obtain meta-reports listing data such as which recipients were sent a given report, via which medium, and when. If recipients change their email address, fax number, or preferences, the database can be updated by the recipient (self-service) via a secure website.
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This makes the system ideal for a wide range of automated informationdelivery applications, including web portals and executive alerting.
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Index
$BO_FILE_PATH 42 .csv, exporting task list to 99 .lsi files 46 .rea file 79 @Script Functions 81 BOManager 21, 64 and Schedulers 22 Auto-shutdown BOManager after (parameter) 67 Delete inactive process after (parameter) 66 Delete inactive session after (parameter) 65 Enable macros for interactive users (parameter) 68 enablement 63 Idle loop interval (parameter) 66 Keep exclusive process (parameter) 66 key file management 71 Kill BusObj processes on startup (parameter) 65 Max. number of busy processes (parameter) 65 Max. number of loaded processes (parameter) 65 memory requirements 35 Min. number of loaded processes (parameter) 65 parameters 62 Recycle process (parameter) 67 Scheduler login cache duration (parameter) 67 server sizing 35 Timeout for batch actions (parameter) 67 Timeout for interactive actions (parameter) 67 BOManager parameters 64, 65 BOUSER/BOPASS OLAP data providers, and 77 BreakOnVBAError 47
Symbols
3-tier deployments clusters 28
A
Add-Ins 81 add-ins 79, 80, 122 Attach Scripts to Scheduled Processing 56 Auto-shutdown BO Manager after (parameter) 67
B
balancing load 14 BcsScdul_BCA_ID.log file 73 bolight 64 bolight.exe 22 bomain.key 46, 60, 89
Index
136
Broadcast Agent 53-83 access and security 18 and BusinessObjects on same machine 35 Cartesian products in documents 123 changing password for 93 Channel option 83 components 21 configuring 62 Console 82 console 26 csv format 82 deploying 34 deployment 33, 53 File Watcher 109 hierarchical categories 83 kinds of documents it can process 71 logging activity 73 login cache 38 manager 21 managing activity 18 managing errors 18 maximum number of running jobs 72 mixed-version deployments 83 module enablement rules 63 name field 55 name of 88 named 21, 55 optimizing 62 optimizing performance 38 option button in Supervisor 55 password 71, 88 processes 52 report bursting 17, 75 required modules 63 Scheduler 82 setting scheduler shutdowns 73 Some obsolete objects have been removed (error message) 124 starting 62 tab in Supervisor 54 transactions and resources 48 updating repository 71 user objects, processing documents containing 124 viewing scheduler parameters 69
workflow 28 Broadcast Agent Console 26, 56 closing 89 iconizing 93 locking 93 Purge the Queue command 98 Resolve button 116 viewing tasks 96 window, illustrated 89 Broadcast Agent Manager 63 monitoring Broadcast Agents and Schedulers 69 Broadcast Agent Publisher 77 Broadcast Agents list of 60, 70 named 56 Business Objects consulting services 9, 11 documentation 8 Documentation Supply Store 7 support services 9 training services 9, 11 Business Objects Services Administrator 14, 58, 62 java applet 57 Business Objects system clusters 28 BusinessObjects on UNIX 22 BusObj 21 busobj.exe 22
C
caches 18 pre-loading 38 Scheduler login cache duration 67 caching Broadcast Agent login information 38 caching scheduled documents 38 Cartesian product 123 sending document to Broadcast Agent 123 case sensitivity 93 categories 104 finding documents by category 104 modifying a documents 111 category 104 changing password 93
Index
137
changing task priority 102 changing task schedule Daily option 107 Once option 106 Channel option 83 closing Broadcast Agent Console 89 cluster UNIX 32, 37 Windows 32, 37 cluster nodes 62 monitoring Broadcast Agents on 69 clusters 28 defined 28 single-machine clusters, setting up 36 column headings in Console 89 components Broadcast Agent Manager 63 configuration optimization 14 connection information 45 Connections Advanced tab 45 dialog box 45 Personal 45 pool 45, 116 Shared 45 connectivity issues configuration guidelines 45 Console 26, 55, 56 column headings 89 Deleting a task 97 Interrupting a task 98 locking 93 Modifying task properties 100 Options 92 Rescheduling a task 98 task status 95 Console see Broadcast Agent Console consultants Business Objects 9 Control Panel 117 Conversions 41 CORBA 88 CORBA cluster 64
CPU time required for documents 33 csv format 82 customer support 9
D
Daily option 107 database security 18 Database Connection 115 date and time 86 Dates and Times 78, 121 deactivating Overwrite mode 103 Delay Between Retry 102 Delay between retry 21, 71 Delete inactive process after (parameter) 66 Delete inactive session after (parameter) 65 deleting tasks 97 delimiters 41 demo materials 7 Deploying 34 deploying Broadcast Agent 34 deployment 33, 53 Developer Suite 8, 10 Disable 56 Disable Login check box 55 Distributed Solution 28 Do Not Refresh With the Profile of Each Recipient 56 Docagsvr.exe 89 document domain 55 connections to 45 Period for purge (parameter) 73 Purge jobs (parameter) 72 Purge only successful jobs (parameter) 73 purging 72 documentation CD 7 feedback on 8 on the web 7 printed, ordering 7 roadmap 7 search 7
Index
138
Documentation Supply Store 7 documents more than 1000 of 119 scheduled 21 domain security 116 domains document 48, 55 security 48
E
education see training email recipients 130 Enable 56 Enable Automatic Start (option) 62 Enable Batch Processing 36, 68 Enable Interacive Processing 79 Enable Interactive Processing 68 Enable macros for interactive users (parameter) 68 enabling modules 62 error logging 86 error messages Some obsolete objects have been removed 124 errors managing 18 Excel 82 exiting Broadcast Agent Console 89 Extranet 14
File Watcher 90 across a network 117 Broadcast Agent cannot find file 110 essential information 109 file locations supported 109 file types supported 109 path to file 110 recommended file path convention to use 110 UNC 110 filenames case-sensitive 41 files bomain.key 89 Docagsvr.exe 89 finding documents by category 104 for a task 101 Frequency 90
G
General Supervisor 116 password 70
H
hierarchical categories 83 Host Name 90 Host pane 64 HTML 132 pathnames 44 HTML Folder 91
F
failover 14, 58 feedback on documentation 8 file system local 14
I
Idle loop interval (parameter) 66 information distributed automatically 14 interrupting tasks 98 Intranet 14
J
Java 57 JOB_PLATFORM 101
Index
139
K
Keep exclusive process (parameter) 66 key files BOManager 71 used by Broadcast Agent 71 Kill BusObj processes on startup (parameter) 65 Knowledge Base 10
Multiple Refresh Report Bursting 77 multiple repositories 60
N
Nb Max Retries 101 Nb. max retry jobs 72 Network Performance 120 Next Schedule 91 Number of BOMgr to try 73
L
LDAP 49 load balancing 14, 28 LocData 45, 46 LocData and sdac.lsi Recommended configuration for 46 locking the Broadcast Agent Console 93 Log On As 117 LSI (Local Security Information) 45
O
OLAP BOUSER/BOPASS security 77 data providers 47 scheduling documents containing Microsoft OLAP Services data providers 47 scheduling documents containing OLAP data providers 47 servers 47 OLAP data providers 76 Once option 106 Online Customer Support 9 optimization 14 optimizing 62 optimizing Broadcast Agent performance 38 Orb 117 Overwrite mode 48, 91 deactivating 103 Owner 91
M
Manager 117 manager Broadcast Agent 21 Max. no. WebIntelligence 2.x jobs running 72 Max. no. WebIntelligence 6.x jobs running 72 Max. number of busy processes (parameter) 65 Max. number of loaded processes (parameter) 65 memory for BOManager 35 for wiqt_batch 35 memory allocation 35 Microsoft proprietary technologies 37 middleware 88 Min. number of loaded processes (parameter) 65 mobile phone 132 modifying 105 modifying task properties 100 modules enabling on cluster nodes 62 mount 41 MRRB 77 multimedia quick tours 8 multiple groups 55
P
pager 132 parameter Delete inactive session after 65 Enable batch processing 68 Enable Interactive Processing 68 Kill BusObj processes on startup 65 Max. number of busy processes 65 Scheduler login cache duration 67
Index
140
parameters BOManager 64 Delay between Retry 21 Delay between retry 71 Enable Batch Processing 36 Nb. max running jobs 72 Nb. max running WebI 2.x jobs 72 Overwrite mode 48 Scanning Repository Delay 21, 71 Scanning repository delay 45, 71 Update repository delay 45 passwords Broadcast Agent 71 case sensitivity 93 changing 93 Path Names Summary 78 Pathname Conversions 41 pdac.lsi 45 PDF 40 performance 14 improving 15, 126 Period for purge 73 Permissions file system 40 Platforms 101 pool 45, 116 post ("snail mail") 132 presentation cache 38 primary node defined 28 Priority 91 priority, changing 102 processes all enabled by default 63 starting 62 processing distributed 28 Properties 54 Purge jobs 72 Purge only successful jobs 73 purging queue 98
Q
queue 97 purging 98
R
RAM allocation 35 required for documents 33 recent activity 86 Recycle process (parameter) 67 reducing Console display 93 Refresh BCA List 60 Regedt32.exe 79 Registry 79 Report Bursting and Corporate Documents 118 Report bursting 17 and OLAP 76 example scenario 129 workflow tips 81 report bursting 17, 56, 75 sizing and 33 repositories multiple 60 repository 14 connection to 28 security domain selection support 18 sizing 48 updating task information by Broadcast Agent 71 rescheduling tasks 98 Resolve button, Broadcast Agent Console 116 Retrieve Documents 56 rights 17 RTF 40 Run Scripts/VBA code 56 runaway queries, avoiding 71
S
safe recovery 116 scaleability 14 Scanning repository delay 21, 45, 71 schedule changing 105
Index
141
Schedule corporate documents 56 Schedule Corporate Documents dialog box 83 Schedule Documents command 57 Schedule login cache duration (parameter) 67 schedule, changing Daily option 107 Once option 106 scheduled documents process 21 Scheduled Printing 120 Scheduler 21, 36, 69, 102, 117 login cache 38 Scheduler login cache duration 67 Schedulers 21, 52, 59 and BOManager 22 and WIGenerator 23 deploying 34 failover capabilities 22 login cache duration 67 monitoring 69 restart automatically 60 server sizing 35 shutdown frequency 73 starting 55 viewing parameters 69 Scheduling across time zones 121 scheduling documents Cartesian products 123 File Watcher 109 OLAP data providers, and 47 sdac.lsi 45, 46 search documentation 7 security changing the password 93 database 18 locking Broadcast Agent Console 93 pass-through 18 reducing Console display 93 unlocking the Broadcast Agent Console 94 Security Commands 80 security commands 76, 80
security domain connections to 45 modifying connection to 116 security domains security domain selection 18 Send Documents for Scheduled Processing 56 sending documents to Broadcast Agent report bursting 17, 75 server rebooted 60 single 28 server name 88 server sizing guidelines 33 memory allocation 35 servers optimizing through caches 18 Services 117 shared connections 47 Single Refresh Report Bursting 77 Size 91 Sizing Broadcast Agent Console 36 sizing the repository 48 SMS (Short Message Service) 132 SMTP 131 Solution distributed 28 speech synthesizer 16 SQL transactions 48 SQLBO 45, 116 SRRB 77 Start Date 91 Started At 91 Status Bar 86 Submission Date 91 Supervisor 56, 88 supervisors 17 support customer 9 suspending tasks 96 swapping space 35 systems administrators 14
Index
142
T
Task Platforms 101 Task Properties dialog box 104 task scheduling 105 tasks changing priority 102 changing schedule 105 deleting 97 interrupting 98 managing overwrite mode 103 modifying distribution list 103 modifying documents category 111 modifying properties 100 purging queue 98 rescheduling 98 status 95 suspending 96 viewing 96 This Account 117 Timeout for batch actions (parameter) 67 Timeout for interactive actions (parameter) 67 Tips & Tricks 8 To set up a new Broadcast Agent 54 training on Business Objects products 9 troubleshooting 114-124 changing your password when server password has changed 115 documents containing Cartesian products 123 documents containing user objects 124 other information sources 114 scheduling BusinessObjects documents containing Microsoft OLAP data providers 47 scheduling BusinessObjects documents with OLAP data providers 47 Some obsolete objects have been removed (error message) 124 see also Error Message Guide TXT 40
Universes 81 universes 17 UNIX bolight 64 BusinessObjects on 22 cluster manager 63 multiple nodes on single servers 29 node 63 pathnames 41, 78 version of BusinessObjects 64 UNIX cluster 32, 37 UNIX nodes 22 UNIX servers 41 UNIX-only Broadcast Agents 101 unlocking the Broadcast Agent Console 94 Update repository delay 45 Use Broadcast Agent Console 56 user profile 17 rights 17 User objects 124 user objects Broadcast Agent, and 124 troubleshooting documents containing 124 user profile 17 users concurrent 33
V
variables $BO_FILE_PATH 42 VBA alerts 16 automation 16 customization 16 example deployment 130 macro 45 macros 47, 56, 79, 81 routines 16 VBA in 80
U
UNC 110
W
Waiting time before bind 73
Index
143
web customer support 9 getting documentation via 7 useful addresses 10 Web Server 56 pathnames 44 WebIntelligence 57 module enablement rules 63 WebIntelligence documents 71 WebIntelligence Manager 117 WebIntelligence Orb 117 WIGenerator and Schedulers 23 enablement 63 Windows pathnames 41 Windows cluster 32, 37 wiqt memory requirements 35 WIQT process 63 WIQT, and schedulers 36 wiqt_batch 64 WISessionManager 63 WIStorageManager 63 Work with Web Server 56
X
XLS 40
Index
144
Index

Broadcast Agent Admin

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Broadcast Agent Administrators Guide

Broadcast Agent 6.1 Windows and UNIX