Getting Up and Running with Essbase Part 2

Mark Rittman -

Yesterday I looked at installing Hyperion Shared Services, as a prerequisite step for installing Hyperion Essbase. Today, I'm going to install the Essbase tools proper, so that tomorrow I can start pulling some data into an Essbase cube.

The install guide for Hyperion System 9 suggests installing the Essbase tools in the following order:

  1. Analytic Services Client for Windows
  2. Analytic Server a.k.a. Hyperion Essbase Server 9
  3. Analytic Administration Services
  4. Analytic Integration Services
  5. Analytic Provider Services and SmartView

So, I start off with the Analytic Services Client which is a straighforward install, no configuration, and a reboot after the install is complete. Then, I move on to the Essbase Server install proper.

Installing Essbase is pretty much the same as installing Shared Services, you just choose between the typical and custom install and choose the components you want. I go for everything, which is the Essbase Server and the sample applications.

Once the install completes, you get to use the Hyperion Configuration Utility again. This time, Shared Services (Foundation) is shown as correctly configured, but Essbase needs further work.

I select all three options, to select product options, register with Shared Services and register Essbase as a Windows service, and press Next.

On the next page, I get to select which Essbase features I want to install. I select them all except the SAP BW Option, as I've not got any SAP Business Warehouses lying around to use, and make sure I select both the Block Storage Option and the Aggregate Storage Option, so that I can try out the traditional, and the more MS AS-like storage later on.

On the next screen, I enter "hypuser" and "password" as my Essbase username and password (I think?) Then I then put our company name in, and change the Service Name Identifier to "Essbase".

Press Next to move on to the next screen, I note down the Agent port number (1423), application start port (32768) and application end port (33768) and press Next to move on.

The next page lets me put in the connection details for Hyperion Shared Services, the component I set up yesterday.

Then, it's a case of pressing Next again, confirming the configuration settings, and letting the Configuration Wizard complete the tasks. If all is configured correctly, you should get a success message and the component configuration page should look like this:

So far, so good. Next up is Analytic Administration Services.

Again, it's a case of running a Windows installer, and this time you get the option to install a mySQL database (what's this for?), the server and a console, and a SAP plugin that I deselect.

On the next page, I select "English (Latin1)" as my ESSLANG value, to match the value I chose yesterday, then press Next a couple more times and let the installer install the software.

When the installation completes, you get the option to run the Hyperion Configuration Utility again, which I do, but then I get this screen that indicates that all the products now need configuration, including Essbase and Shared Services, which a minute ago were fully configured and set up.

Hmmm. Strange. Ok, taking a look through the Essbase Administration Services install docs, I think I'm supposed to re-activate Essbase Server again, and re-register it with Shared Services (why?) I tick those options and press Next to move to the next page.

The next page asks me for some Hyperion License Server information - none of this is mentioned in the install docs, just guessing here so I accept the defaults and press Next to move on.

I then put the username and password of Shared Service in ("admin" and "password", the default) and press Next.

I then press Next which starts of the configuration, which seems to then go OK. Going back to the Configuration Utility status page, Essbase now seems to be configured OK, although it's showing as not being registered as a Windows service, which it is supposed to be as I did this earlier on.

Just to be on the safe side, I tick the Register Essbase... checkbox and register it again, with the same details and service name as I did before. It works, and now all the Essbase Server configuration options are showing green ticks.

Now I'm not sure why Hyperion Shared Services is showing as unconfigured, as I know it's up and running as I've just registered Essbase with it. I'm reluctant to reconfigure it incase this wipes out the previous metadata tables, so I instead tick the boxes under Analytic Administration Services to configure the database, register with Shared Services and Deploy to application server.

Two subsequent screens firstly ask me for the Shared Services connection details, then to pick a database to install top (I choose Oracle 10g 10.1, even though I'm running 10.2.0.3, hopefully it'll still work), and then I'm asked to enter the database connection details.

Now again, the docs don't really make this clear, but I'm thinking that you enter the same connection details in as I used when setting up Shared Services, i.e. both sets of tables go into the same schema. I enter the same details in and press Next, the choices seem to be accepted and then I then need to choose between Tomcat, WebSphere or WebLogic as the application server (note, no "Generic" option allowing me to install to Oracle Application Server). I choose Tomcat and automatic installation and press Next.

Blimey, this is complicated. On the next page, I get the option to install this service (i.e. Tomcat) as a Windows service, which I do, and after pressing Next again the configuration process starts.

Once configuration completes, taking a look at the results page shows that it's actually failed.

The application server deployment seems to have gone OK, but the database configuration and registration with Shared Services hasn't. Hmmm. Returning back to the Product Selection Page, I see that these products are now marked as in error. Maybe I should try and reconfigure Shared Services again (now, I'm guessing).

I deselect the Administration Services choices and select the options to configure the Shared Services database, and deploy Shared Services to the application server. On the next page, I select Oracle 10.1 as the database type again, and then re-enter my database connection details on the next page.

And then the installer just hangs.

Which is nice.

So what now? Should I drop the existing HYPUSER database schema, recreate it, and then redeploy Shared Services? Again, the docs don't mention this set of events, so I'm on my own here. I stop the configuration utility and then restart it again, and this time just try and configure the database for Shared Services, again it hangs and looking at the error log for the application, I get an error that doesn't really shed any light on what's happening.

I then run the Configuration Utility again, just select the Configure Database option for Integration Services, and this time it connects to the database and brings up a dialog box asking if I wish to either drop the respository tables, or re-use them. Guessing, I select the option to reuse the existing repository and press Next.

This then seems to work, I then return to the Product Selection page and the database for Administration Services shows a green tick next to it, indicating it's configured OK. All the Shared Services items are still showing exclamation marks.

I then run the configuration step to register Administration Services with Shared Services, and it runs ok, so now I've got all of Administration Services and Essbase correctly configured, but Shared Services is showing as needing attention.

So what now? Everything seems to be ok, except Shared Services. I wonder if it really is misconfigured, or not? I go to the Windows start menu and select Administration Services Console, to see if this is working, first starting the Administration Services Windows service from the Services applet. I log in using the Shared Services username and password "admin" and "password" and lo and behold, it looks like it's working.

Once I'm in, I register the local Essbase server by clicking on the Analytic Servers entry, selecting New... and entering in the machine name, then the Essbase username and password ("hypuser" and "password"). This registers OK and I can see the sample applications installed by the installer.

So ... it looks like Essbase plus the Administration tool is up and running, as is Shared Services, even though the installer says it needs attention. Seeing as it's working though, I'll leave it at that for a while, and come back to installing Integration Services and Provider Services tomorrow.