WebFOCUS Client Post-Installation Tasks

In this section:

This chapter explains verification and common configuration procedures for the WebFOCUS Client.


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Adding WebFOCUS Licenses

How to:

Licenses for WebFOCUS components (for example, Magnify) are managed through the WebFOCUS Administration Console. When additional WebFOCUS components are purchased, you must add the new license code using the License Management facility.



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Procedure: How to Add WebFOCUS Licenses

To add WebFOCUS licenses:

  1. Sign in to the WebFOCUS Administration Console.
  2. In the left pane, expand Utilities, License Management, and select WebFOCUS Client.

    The License Management dialog opens, as shown in the following image.

  3. Click Enter New License.

    The New License and Site Code field are displayed, as shown in the following image.

  4. Enter your license and site code, and then click Validate.
  5. Restart the Application Server and ReportCaster Distribution Server for the changes to take effect.

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Converting WebFOCUS Portals and Favorites When Upgrading

How to:

Because the architecture of WebFOCUS Portals and Favorites has changed in WebFOCUS Release 8.1, Portals and Favorites must be converted for use in the new architecture. If the Portals and Favorites were not automatically converted during the upgrade process, you can run the conversion utilities manually.



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Procedure: How to Convert WebFOCUS Portals When Upgrading to WebFOCUS Release 8.1

The WebFOCUS Repository must be running to perform the conversion.

Note: If you are upgrading from an earlier version of WebFOCUS Release 8.1, you do not need to convert Portals, only Favorites.

  1. Go to drive:\ibi\WebFOCUS80\utilities\bip.
  2. Double-click the portalconversion.bat file.
  3. Enter a WebFOCUS administrator ID and password.
  4. Select the version of WebFOCUS from which you are migrating:
    • Select 1 to select WebFOCUS 77x. This is the default option.
    • Select 2 to select WebFOCUS 8x.
    • Select q to exit the conversion utility.
  5. When the utility has completed the conversion, it will notify you. Press Enter to exit.
The log for the conversion is stored in drive:\ibi\WebFOCUS80\migration_import\export. The file name is bip_favorites_migration.log.


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Procedure: How to Convert WebFOCUS Favorites When Upgrading to WebFOCUS 8.1

The WebFOCUS Repository must be running to perform the conversion.

Note: This step must also be performed if you are migrating Favorites from WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 00 to WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 03 or higher.

  1. Go to drive:\ibi\WebFOCUS80\utilities\bip.

    Note: If you have upgraded from WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 00 to a later version of Release 8.1, the location will be drive:\ibi\WebFOCUS81\utilities\bip instead.

  2. Double-click the favoritesmigration.bat file.
  3. Enter a WebFOCUS administrator ID and password.
  4. Select the version of WebFOCUS from which you are migrating:
    • Select 1 to select WebFOCUS 77x. This is the default option.
    • Select 2 to select WebFOCUS 8x.
    • Select q to exit the conversion utility.
  5. When the utility has completed the conversion, it will notify you. Press Enter to exit.
The log for the conversion is stored in drive:\ibi\WebFOCUS80\migration_import\export. The file name is bip_portal_conversion.log.

Note: If you have upgraded from WebFOCUS Release 8.1 Version 00 to a later version of Release 8.1, the location will be drive:\ibi\WebFOCUS81\migration_import\export instead.


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Configuring WebFOCUS in a Split Web-Tier and Application Server-Only Environment

In this section:

In a split web-tier environment, all WebFOCUS web components run through the application server, and you should not create the ibi_html and approot aliases on a web server. Instead, you can configure your application server to serve the content in the install_directory\ibi\apps directory.

The steps for configuring WebFOCUS to run only in an application server configuration is similar to split web-tier, in that you configure the application server to serve static content from the ibi_html and apps directories. This is described in Using the Static Content Server Option.

The one difference is where the ReportCaster Default Library URL is pointing. With split web-tier, this setting points to the web server. In an application server-only configuration, it points to the application server.



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Using the Static Content Server Option

WebFOCUS installs a pair of web applications into the drive:\ibi\WebFOCUS81\webapps directory, which are designed to serve static content from the file system to the browser:

Deploy one or both of these applications to address the following split web-tier and stand-alone application server configurations:

Each application includes a deployment descriptor (webconfig.xml) that is used to locate the directory containing its configuration file. The context parameter IBI_Configuration_Directory in webconfig.xml is updated during installation to point to install_directory/ibi/WebFOCUS81/config, which contains the configuration file approotConfig.xml. The configuration file is shared by both content server applications even though its name suggests it would be used by only one. The configuration file is used to maintain MIME mappings, the physical path of the directories being served, and the logging level.

The applications also include a Log4J property file (log4j.xml), which contains the path to the log file used by each application. The installation updates each log4j.xml file with the path to its own log file, install_directory/ibi/WebFOCUS81/logs/wfapproot.log and install_directory/ibi/WebFOCUS81/logs/wfibihtml.log, respectively.

The content server applications roll the log files over daily by appending the date to the log file and creating a new one (for example, wfibihtml.log.2014-01-01). You can increase the log level by editing install_directory/ibi/WebFOCUS81/config/approotConfig.xml and changing the log level setting to DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, or FATAL, where DEBUG is the most verbose.

There are special considerations for using the content server option in a clustered web-tier environment.



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Reference: Using the IBIARCFG and IBIARLOG –D Options With the Content Server Web Applications

Generally speaking, the approach of specifying a fully qualified path to the configuration file (approotConfig.xml) in webconfig.xml and of specifying a fully qualified path to the log files in log4j.xml is sufficient for most installations. These paths are properly set during installation.

However, there is an option to pass the content servers these paths from the Java VM command line. To do this, complete the following steps:

  1. Edit the WebFOCUS webconfig.xml file found inside both the approot.war and ibi_html.war files. Replace the fully qualified path defined in the IBI_Configuration_Directory parameter with the notation shown below.
    <context-param>
        <param-name>IBI_Configuration_Directory</param-name>
        <param-value>${IBIARCFG}</param-value>
    </context-param>
  2. Edit the WebFOCUS log4j.xml file located in the approot.war file and replace the fully qualified path specified by the File parameter, as follows:
    <param name="File" value="${IBIARLOG}/wfapproot.log"/>

    Use a forward slash, even on Windows systems.

  3. Edit the WebFOCUS log4j.xml file located inside the ibi_html.war file and replace the fully qualified path specified by the File parameter, as follows:
    <param name="File" value="${IBIARLOG}/wfibihtml.log"/>

    Use a forward slash even on Windows systems.

  4. Add the following –D options in the manner appropriate for the Java VM for your application server.

    The settings below are slightly different in a clustered web-tier environment.

    –DIBIARCFG=install_directory/ibi/WebFOCUS81/config 
    –DIBIARLOG=install_directory/ibi/WebFOCUS81/logs

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WebFOCUS Client Verification and Configuration

In this section:

To configure the WebFOCUS Client, edit files either through a text editor or the WebFOCUS Administration Console. The WebFOCUS Administration Console also provides tools to verify the installation.

For NLS configuration information, see the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual.



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Accessing the WebFOCUS Welcome Page

WebFOCUS 8 contains a Welcome page in the WebFOCUS BI Portal from which you can access WebFOCUS interfaces, such as the WebFOCUS Administration Console.



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Procedure: How to Access the WebFOCUS Welcome Page
  1. Ensure that the web or application servers are started and configured.
  2. Using a browser, navigate to the following page:
    http://hostname:port/ibi_apps/

    where:

    hostname:port

    Are the host name and HTTP port of the web server or application server. For Tomcat stand-alone configurations, the default is hostname:8080. If you require SSL, use https instead of http.

    The WebFOCUS Sign In page opens, as shown in the following image.

    Note: If you receive a page not found error, ensure that your application server is started and that you have deployed the WebFOCUS application. For more information on configuring your application server, see Installing the WebFOCUS Client.

  3. Enter the following default credentials:
    • User Name: admin
    • Password: admin

    Note: If you receive an invalid user name or password error, ensure that the WebFOCUS repository has been created and contains initial table data.

  4. Click Sign In.

    The WebFOCUS BI Portal page displays, as shown in the following image.

    You can change the default credentials using the Security Center facility. Click Administration from the top menu, and then Security Center. For more information, see the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual.



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Accessing the WebFOCUS Administration Console

You can access the WebFOCUS Administration Console from the WebFOCUS Welcome page, or you can access the WebFOCUS Administration Console directly from the browser by supplying its URL.

Access the WebFOCUS Administration Console using Internet Explorer or Firefox.



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Procedure: How to Access the WebFOCUS Administration Console
  1. Ensure that the web server and application server are started and configured.
  2. Sign in to the WebFOCUS Welcome page, then click Administration from the top menu and select Administration Console, as shown in the following image.

    If you are using Windows, you can also select WebFOCUS Administration Console from the Programs menu.

    You can also manually enter the following URL in your browser:

    http://hostname:port/ibi_apps/console/webfocusconsole.jsp

    The WebFOCUS Sign In page opens, as shown in the following image.

    If a sign-in page does not appear, ensure that your web server and application server are started and configured.

  3. Sign in using an administrator user ID. By default, admin is a valid administrator ID, and the password is admin.

    Note: After you have verified the WebFOCUS Client configuration, change the password of the default administrator user ID, which is admin. For more information on WebFOCUS Client security, see the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual.

    The WebFOCUS Administration Console opens, as shown in the following image.

Using this console, you can edit the WebFOCUS Client communication and security settings. This console is documented in the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual and relevant sections are available by clicking Help.



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Running the Verification Tool

The WebFOCUS Administration Console contains a verification tool to further test the configuration. You may have already run the verification tool if you chose the option to configure Tomcat during the WebFOCUS Client installation.



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Procedure: How to Run the Verification Tool
  1. On the left pane of the WebFOCUS Administration Console, click Diagnostics.
  2. Below Verification, click WebFOCUS Client.
  3. Review the test results and troubleshoot accordingly.

    For troubleshooting assistance, see Troubleshooting WebFOCUS and ReportCaster.



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Setting WebFOCUS Administration Console Authentication

It is a good idea to set authentication for the WebFOCUS Administration Console. The WebFOCUS Administration Console does not have its own authentication mechanism and by default, none is used.

If you wish to set authentication for the console, you can choose to do this through the WebFOCUS Reporting Server or the web server. For more information, see the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual.



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Defining Communications to WebFOCUS Reporting Servers

WebFOCUS Client communication settings are stored in the following file:

drive:\ibi\WebFOCUS81\client\wfc\etc\odin.cfg

This file contains node blocks defining WebFOCUS Reporting Servers that the client accesses. A node block is a set of parameters that define a server, listener, or other communication component.

When you installed the WebFOCUS Client, you specified a default WebFOCUS Reporting Server that the client accesses. If this is the only server the client will access, you can proceed to Configuring Static Authentication.

To change connection information for the default server or define additional servers, use the procedures that follow.



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Procedure: How to Define WebFOCUS Reporting Servers
  1. On the left pane of the WebFOCUS Administration Console, click Reporting Servers.
  2. Under Reporting Servers, click Remote Services.

    The right pane displays all defined WebFOCUS Reporting Servers. To edit parameters of a defined WebFOCUS Reporting Server, select its radio button and click Modify.

  3. To define an additional node, click New.
  4. Enter a unique name for the new NODE. Use this name when you wish to access the server.

    This page lets you choose to define a single server (Client), CLM Processing, or a Cluster node. A cluster node is a node that consists of multiple servers. When the client accesses the cluster, it chooses one of the servers in that cluster. This is used for load balancing and fail over. The best way to use clusters is through the Cluster Manager component that you can optionally add to your WebFOCUS environment.

  5. Click Next.
  6. Complete the HOST and PORT fields.

    The remaining fields are optional in most environments.

    Note: Setting the User ID and Password here is not recommended and may not have the desired result.

  7. Click Save.
  8. On the top of the page, click Clear Cache so your changes take effect.


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Procedure: How to Set the Default WebFOCUS Reporting Server

When you make a connection from client to server without specifying a server, the default server is used. The default server and many other settings are set in the following file:

drive:\ibi\WebFOCUS81\client\wfc\etc\cgivars.wfs

The following variable specifies the default server:

IBI_REPORT_SERVER

To set this using the WebFOCUS Administration Console:

  1. On the left pane of the WebFOCUS Administration Console, under Configuration, click Client Settings and then click Reporting Server.
  2. In the IBI_REPORT_SERVER field, type the node name of the default server.
  3. Click Save on the bottom of the page.
  4. On the top of the page, click Clear Cache.


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Configuring Static Authentication

When the client accesses a WebFOCUS Reporting Server running with security, the client must sign in to the server for tasks, such as browsing metadata, listing files, or running reports. Either your applications or users can provide credentials, or you can use Static Authentication. With Static Authentication, you specify a user ID and password that the client always passes to the server. This can be set for all servers or for each individual server. Static authentication ensures that every WebFOCUS Client connection to a server accesses the server using the same environment configuration.

Note: In some environments, you may be able to use Trusted Authentication (Already Verified Processing) instead of Static Authentication. For more information, see the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual. This section only addresses static authentication.

The following variables define static authentication:

IBI_REPORT_USER
IBI_REPORT_PASS

You should set these variables using the WebFOCUS Administration Console so you can encrypt the file containing your password. Static authentication is defined globally for all nodes in the cgivars.wfs file. Static authentication can be defined for a specific node by creating a profile with the node name.



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Procedure: How to Set Static Authentication Globally

These steps set sign-in credentials that are used when accessing all servers.

  1. On the left pane of the WebFOCUS Administration Console, click Configuration.
  2. Under Client Settings, click Reporting Server.
  3. Provide the credentials to use for static authentication in the IBI_REPORT_USER and IBI_REPORT_PASS fields.
  4. Select the ENCRYPT checkbox to ensure that the file cannot be read through the file system. This is recommended because the file contains a user ID and password.
  5. Click Save.
  6. On the top of the page, click Clear Cache so your changes take effect.


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Procedure: How to Set Static Authentication for a Specific Node

These steps set sign-in credentials that are used when accessing a specific node (a server or a cluster).

  1. On the left pane of the WebFOCUS Administration Console, click Reporting Servers.
  2. Under Reporting Servers, click Remote Services.

    The right pane displays defined WebFOCUS Reporting Servers.

  3. Select the node for which you are setting authentication, and click Profile.
  4. Uncomment one pair of IBI_REPORT_USER and IBI_REPORT_PASS lines, and set them to the account you wish to use.
  5. Select the ENCRYPT checkbox to ensure that the credentials cannot be read through the file system.
  6. Click Save. A profile for the node is created if it does not already exist.

For additional information on using the WebFOCUS Administration Console, click Help or see the WebFOCUS Security and Administration manual.



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Enabling Active Technologies

Although most WebFOCUS Client features are configured through the WebFOCUS Administration Console, some features are enabled and configured through the WebFOCUS Reporting Server. If you license Active Technologies, you must provide the Active Technologies license code in the WebFOCUS Reporting Server Web Console.



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Procedure: How to Enable Active Technologies
  1. Sign in to the WebFOCUS Reporting Server Web Console.

    This console was introduced in How to View the Web Console and Test the Server.

  2. Click the Workspace tab.
  3. Right-click the Workspace folder in the navigation pane and select License, or click License on the ribbon.
  4. Enter your Active Technologies license in the license_active_report field, and click Save and Restart Server.


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Active Technologies for Adobe Flash Consideration

Active Technologies for Adobe® Flash® is generated using a Java-based compiler engine that is included with Adobe Open Source Flex SDK for the WebFOCUS Reporting Server. There is a known issue with the Adobe Flex® compiler not working properly with the IBM version of Java due to a conflict between the version of Xerces that the Flex software uses and the one that is included with the IBM JVM. As a workaround, ensure that the JVM loads the version of Xerces supplied with the Flex software instead of the version supplied with the IBM JVM.

Make sure the Flex compiler uses the xercesImpl.jar file that is provided in the Flex library folder under the ibi folder. Add the following syntax into the user ID profile that starts the WebFOCUS Reporting Server:

export CLASSPATH=/ibi/srv81/home/etc/flex/lib/xercesImpl.jar:$CLASSPATH

This must be set in the CLASSPATH because the Flex compiler does not read the IBI_CLASSPATH when it is executed.


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Setting Tomcat HTTP POST Maximum Size

As a default, Apache Tomcat sets the maximum size limit to 2097152 (2MB) limit for accepting HTTP POST requests. Since EXL07 MIME files can easily reach this limit, ExcelServlet will fail with a HTTP 400 error or produce a corrupted .XLSX file. To fix this problem, Tomcat needs to be configured by setting an attribute in the server.xml file.

In the /tomcat_home/conf/server.xml file, add the maxPostSize attribute and set it to 0 to disable the limit check. The following example demonstrates this with the <Connector port> element block:

<Connector port="8080" protocol="HTTP/1.1"
connectionTimeout="20000"
redirectPort="8443" maxPostSize="0" />

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WebLogic Post-Installation Step

When configuring WebLogic®, you must perform the following post-installation step.

You must create a new file called weblogic.xml in the WEB-INF directory for the WebFOCUS web application. It must contain the following information:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <wls:weblogic-web-app
   xmlns:wls="http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/weblogic-web-app"
   xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
   xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee
   http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/ejb-jar_3_0.xsd
   http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/weblogic-web-app
   http://xmlns.oracle.com/weblogic/weblogic-web-app/1.4/weblogic-web-app.xsd">
<wls:container-descriptor>
<wls:prefer-application-packages>
<wls:package-name>org.eclipse.persistence</wls:package-name>
</wls:prefer-application-packages>
</wls:container-descriptor>
</wls:weblogic-web-app>

Once the file is saved, you must recreate the .war file by adding it to webfocus.war. The .war file can be renamed based on your naming convention, and then redeployed.


WebFOCUS