SAP BI Platform Support Tool 2.0 Deep Dive Webinar Q&A

[TammyPowlas]

Please see presentation here: SAP BI Platform Support Tool 2.0 Deep Dive Webinar

Below is the Q&A with most of the responses from SAP's Joshua Kuhn:

Q: How does one enable the BI Platform Tool? Does it only work  with BI 4x?

A: Yes, BI4.x (4.0, 4.1, 4.2) are supported.  no support for XI3.1

Q: do you need to download onto the BI server or can you download to different machine such as a laptop

A: BIPST is a client side tool.  There is no need to 'enable'.  Download, extract/install, run.

the gui is only supported on Windows.  For use on linux/unix, you will need to run the command line version (I believe its planned for v2.0.1, although i'm not sure its 100% completed yet)

A: BIPST can be run from any client pc.  It does not need to run on a BI server host..  Preferrably any client pc that can already to the CMS via another BI client tool.  such as CR designer, universe designer, etc

Q: Is their any specific requirement for running the tool outside your DMZ/firewall?

A: for connecting through firewall, CMS port (usually 6400) would need to be opened to allow logins.  JMX port for connecting to tomcat.  There's a bug which should be fixed in 2.0.1 for adding a listening port for JMX.

Q:  Can you export the data and report using WebI / Lumira

A: pdf export is currently the only export format.  However, due to the nature of how the xml is formatted which holds the extracted data, reporting off of it wouldn't be optimal.  I don't want to say impossible, but the xml is structured more for the BIPST consumption than reporting consumption

Q Just a question; SAP Host agent requires a separate license it isn't?

A: no, sap host agent is free for download from any sap customer that has access to SMP.

should add, download of the host agent would require access to Service MarketPlace.  But it should be available for download for any SAP customer.

For host agent download:  SMP > Downloads > Search for Softawre > "SAP Host Agent 7.2"

Q: Could you show any tools that helps on User Security troubleshoot if there is any?

A: BIPST does include a tool called "Security Analyzer" under the tools menu which will display user/group security similar to the CMC

Q: Is most of the overhead for tool on the server or client? In terms of procession..

A: Client overhead is mostly on the client side.  There are various queries issued to the CMS which it will run against the system db.  but memory is mostly seen on the client once the data is pulled back, analyzed and written to xml

Q: The port number for JMX can be any valid port number that is not used by any other application at the time when we are configuring BIPST2.0 or is it a port number which is pre-specified before while installing BI 4.x  ?

A:  JMX is any port you define for your Tomcat server to use.  It is a setting defined in the Tomcat java params. as well as a value defined in the BIPST

Q: Is there any way the tool can re-run jobs which have failed?

A: currently, no the tool does not have the ability to schedule new or reschedule a report. For the most part, the tool will not make any changes to the environment and only reports off of it.  however this has changed recently with the authentication tools that are being added shortly.  so there might be a use case to do this in the future.  but currently, no it will not reschedule reports

Q: Can the support tool help troubleshoot issues with SSO with Win ADAuth

A: yes.  there is a an "authentication analysis" report which will output all settings for auth (AD, LDAP, SAP, Enterprise). and there are some future tools being

added to help troubleshoot those more common auth issues.

Couldn't locate question, but response is here:

A: regarding the first question.  Were you referring to "LIcense Management" ?  if so, i don't believe that is currently in the plans, but if there is a business need,

please add a feature request on the wiki.  http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/remote-supportability/post!input.jspa?containerType=14&cont...