This section describes prerequisites for WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Workbench AE and WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Server AE.
For more information on hardware requirements, estimating RAM usage, and scalability, see the WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Analyst Edition Implementation Guide.
The following authoring tools can be used to build data for Visual Discovery AE projects:
The following tools can be used to provide access to Visual Discovery AE projects:
For more information, see Presenting Published Visual Discovery AE Projects in WebFOCUS.
This section lists the operating systems that are supported for WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Workbench AE and WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Server AE.
WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Workbench AE:
Note: WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Workbench AE uses standard database and Windows file server protocols.
WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Server AE:
WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Workbench AE and WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Server AE provide standalone installations. Both are independent to WebFOCUS Developer Studio, WebFOCUS Client, and the WebFOCUS Reporting server installations.
For detailed information on installing WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Workbench AE and WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Server AE, see the WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Analyst Edition Implementation Guide.
How to: |
The token creation relies on a user entered key that is identically and separately entered into the WebFOCUS Administration Console and a WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Server AE configuration file. This token is a hexadecimal (HEX) string value that is read each time to:
For more information on how to create encryption key files using hexadecimal (HEX) bytes, see Chapter 9, WebFOCUS Encryption Features (Key File Format) in the WebFOCUS Security and Administration documentation.
The Application Settings - Encryption page opens, as shown in the following image.
Note: To edit the web.config file, ensure that you have the required administrative permissions to access and modify this file.
Note: If the web.config file is locked, check to see if it is in use by the Visual Discovery process (w3wp), or the IIS process (W3SVC). Stop the appropriate process to unlock the file.
replace the string with your 32 character WebFOCUS pass phrase key
with the same valid 32-character hexadecimal (HEX) string value entered for the IBI_WF_token_Key parameter in the WebFOCUS Administration Console.
How to: |
Since Visual Discovery AE calls must be routed through WebFOCUS, by default, any URL was considered to be valid. This leaves WebFOCUS vulnerable to process any URL, regardless of whether or not the URL was dedicated for Visual Discovery AE.
As a security enhancement, only valid URLs can be passed through WebFOCUS to be rerouted to Visual Discovery AE projects. This includes validating the URL as part of Visual Discovery AE components in the BI Portal or a Self-Service servlet call using the IBI_visdis parameter.
This strategy prevents WebFOCUS from submitting invalid, improper, or malicious links. To accomplish this, the URLs submitted to WebFOCUS for Visual Discovery AE execution are checked against a valid list of known Visual Discovery AE addresses. You must modify the WebFOCUS site.wfs file to define variables containing key values that are mapped to valid Visual Discovery AE URLs.
This security enhancement can also be leveraged in order to use paths with Visual Discovery AE projects in a relative manner. For example, when moving a system from one server to another (from a testing environment to a production environment).
The site.wfs file is located in the following directory:
<wf_home>\client\home\etc
where:
Is the root directory where WebFOCUS is installed.
<hard_coded_variable_name># =<key>|http[s]://<server>/<alias>/
where:
Is set to IBIF_VisDisAELink.
Is a consecutive number.
Is a unique name for the key.
Is the specified server (for example, http://installvisdis.ibi.com).
Is the known alias (for example, /ADV).
For example:
IBIF_VisDisAELink1 = visdis_1 | http://installvisdis.ibi.com/ADV IBIF_VisDisAELink2 = visdis_2 | http://installvisdis.ibi.com/ADV/Projects IBIF_VisDisAELink3 = visdis_3 | http://install8005.ibi.com/ADV/
Sample BI Portal URLs:
http://installvisdis.ibi.com/ADV/Projects/Demo/Customers.aspx visdis_1/Projects/Demo/Customers.aspx visdis_2/Projects/Demo/Customers.aspx
Sample Self-Service URLs:
http://install8005.ibi.com:8080/ibi_apps/WFServlet.ibfs?IBI_visdis=http://installvisdis.ibi.com/ADV/Projects/ Demo/Customers.aspx http://install8005.ibi.com:8080/ibi_apps/WFServlet.ibfs?IBI_visdis=visdis_1/Projects/ Demo/Customers.aspx http://install8005.ibi.com:8080/ibi_apps/WFServlet.ibfs?IBI_visdis=visdis_2/ Demo/Customers.aspx
The following rules are applicable:
When a Visual Discovery AE URL is executed (through a Visual Discovery AE component in the BI Portal or the standalone IBI_visdis Self-Service servlet call), any key that is located will be replaced with the corresponding Visual Discovery AE URL that is mapped. If no key name is located, then the complete URL is checked against the URL list that is defined. If a match is made, then WebFOCUS redirects to the corresponding URL that is provided. If a match is not made, then the execution is stopped and an error message is displayed.
If a defined URL list is not located, then the following message is displayed:
A valid list of Visual Discovery AE URLs are not configured
If no matches are made, then the following message is displayed:
A valid Visual Discovery AE URL was not found
Visual Discovery Server AE only allows secure requests that originate from WebFOCUS. Therefore, any URLs to Visual Discovery AE projects must be initially placed in the WebFOCUS Business Intelligence (BI) Portal. During runtime, WebFOCUS dynamically adds the required token to appropriately call Visual Discovery Server AE.
For more information, see Visual Discovery Server AE Token Requirement.
When using WebFOCUS procedures as a data source, these procedures can be located within the WebFOCUS Repository or independent of this repository. When independent, security is not handled by WebFOCUS and requires that the public user be enabled. When working with those items in the WebFOCUS Repository, it is critical to change the WFServlet.ibfs extension in the URL to visdisae.ibfs (all lower case) in order for WebFOCUS to properly recognize the request.
Note: Accessing WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE, and as a result, live WebFOCUS procedures, is not supported in single sign on (SSO) environments. Although WebFOCUS Visual Discovery AE can be configured to use Active Directory, the WebFOCUS Security framework is the recommended approach to access WebFOCUS procedures stored in the WebFOCUS Repository.
For WebFOCUS Business Intelligence (BI) Portal Report objects, right-click the item and select Properties from the context menu. Click the Details tab. If the item is FORMAT VISDISAE, then the URL can be copied and pasted. The URL will have the visdisae.ibfs extension in place.
Currently, the URL can be obtained by right-clicking the Report object and copying the URL. The following is the syntax for the WebFOCUS procedures:
http://<host>[:port]/<context_root>/visdisae.ibfs ?IBFS1_action=runItem&IBFS__methodName=runItem &IBFS_path=IBFS:/WFC/Repository/<FolderPath>/<ProcedureName>.<extension>
Note: Ensure that the query string &IBFS__methodName=runItem uses double underscore characters and is required to pass parameters.
http://<host>[:port]/<context_root>/WFServlet.ibfs ?IBIAPP_app=<ApplicationName> &IBIF_ex=<ProcedureName>
Note: For improved readability, line breaks have been inserted in the above URLs. In an actual deployment scenario, ensure that the URLs do not contain any extra spaces or line breaks, and that the parameters are on the same line.
When imported, the table name will be inferred from <ProcedureName>. WebFOCUS Servlet calls will be treated as the public user.
When constructing the Visual Discovery URL (VISDISAE item or standalone URL), any query string (amper) parameters included will be passed along to the WebFOCUS procedure for dynamic filtering. This is good practice to use with the adhoc solution described above.
Ensure that the time on the system hosting WebFOCUS Visual Discovery Server AE is synchronized with the system where the WebFOCUS Client is installed.
If you are loading data from WebFOCUS procedures or text files, ensure Network Service permissions are granted to the folder where the specific WebFOCUS procedure or text file is located.
WebFOCUS |