Artcle on Repository and Web Catalog Merge in OBIEE

iWare Logic Technologies Pvt. Ltd Oracle Applications & Technologies | Consulting | Training | Implementation

Aditi Samrudhi | Baner | Pune 411 045 | INDIA http://www.iwarelogic.com/

Repository and Web Catalog Merge in OBIEE Here in my Blog, I am trying to explain the concepts which would be helpful to you when working on BI projects in development environment, and make the Objects ready to deploy on Production. And these concepts are merging of metadata & web catalogs built during the project development. Here I am using 2 repositories. One is the default Paint Repository and the other is the Usage Tracking repository that is bundled along with BI EE. Our aim is to get the contents of the Usage Tracking Repository into the Paint repository.In first part I will explain how to merge two repositories and later will see how to merge two catalogs. About: One of the features of OBI EE is that one can merge repositories. So if you have 2 repositories each having its own set then you can use the Merge option to merge both of them into a single repository. Before going ahead, lets try to understand 3 important terms that would be used while merging.

Current Repository - This is the repository that you would be merging the changes into. This is the repository that would be open while merging.

Original Repository - This is the repository which is the pivot for Merge. This is just a dummy repository.

Modified Repository - This is the repository whose objects you would like to copy to the Current Repository. Purpose: What merging would do is, it would merge the difference of the repository objects that you would find between Original and the Current Repository and also the Original and the Modified Repository. Let’s try to understand this with a simple example. In our example, we will be using 2 repositories. One is the default Paint Repository and the other is the Usage Tracking repository that is bundled along with BI EE. Our aim is to get the contents of the Usage Tracking Repository into the Paint repository. Let’s look at the contents of both the repositories. Paint.rpd would be located under {OracleBI}/Server/Repository and the Usage Tracking.rpd would be located under {OracleBI}/Server/Samples/ usagetracking

Figure 1: Paint.rpd



Figure 2: UsageTracking.rpd

Now let’s click on Merge under the File menu, File->Merge

Click on Merge, you would get a dialog box asking you to choose the Original Repository. In our case, we would have to choose a dummy repository (copy the paint repository to create a new one and then include that here). Enter the password for the dummy repository and click ok. As soon as you enter that you would get a message like the one below that the repositories are identical.



Once this is done select the modified repository. In our case select the usagetracking.rpd and then click on merge.



And if the repositories are not identical then it will show that repository details like:



Once this is done select the modified repository. In our case select the usagetracking.rpd and then click on merge.



Now you would see that the usagetracking repository objects have been merged into the paint.rpd.



The Original dummy repository acts as a pivot. What BI EE basically does is that it first finds the difference between the dummy and the Current Repository. It would not find any since both are copies of each other. As soon as we include the modified repository(usage tracking), the merge operation would find the differences between the original and the modified(paintdummy and usagetracking) and then merge the differences into paint repository and would produce a new repository.

This can be very useful in lot of scenarios. I have just used a simple example here.

Now in second part will see how to merge Two web catalogs: About: It’s recommended to use this approach only if you are completely aware of the Web Catalogs that you are merging. Merging of web catalogs is not the same as merging of repositories since there will be a lot of overlapping objects in any 2 web catalogs. So, it’s better to understand the implications of trying this. Purpose: The most common method of combining 2 different web catalogs is to copy over the dashboards, reports, prompts, filters etc over from one catalog to another. This is the recommended way of copying over catalog objects from one Web Catalog to another. If you are moving from a development to a test instance then all you would have to do is to copy over the web catalog folders from one machine to the other. But if you have a lot of reports/dashboards in 2 different instances of BI EE and if you are looking for an automated way of merging them, then read ahead. The concept of merging 2 web catalogs can be summarized by the picture shown below.



So, basically we have 2 web catalogs say Paint and BISE1 and we would like to merge the contents of both the web catalogs. Then in that case following would be the list of steps

1. Take Backups of all the web catalogs. 2. Create a blank folder

3. Open the Paint Web Catalog in the offline mode using the Catalog Manager.



4. Go to Tools – Upgrade Catalog. In the Original Presentation Catalog enter the folder path of the blank web catalog and in the modified presentation catalog enter the folder path of the bise1 web catalog.

When you do this, this will give you an error saying that shared folder does not exist in the blank folder. Just ignore it since the tool expects the web catalog to be in a proper format.



Then it will show you all the differences between the 2 catalogs from a version standpoint. You can choose which version you would like to have. Remember you might not get a lot of options as shown below if both the catalogs are on the same version. You need to ensure that you have the same security model for both the web catalogs. If not then you would have to reassign the privileges of the modified web catalog wherever needed.



Once this is done, you would notice that the bise1 catalog objects would now have been merged into paint web catalog.

Note: As always ensure that your security setup is proper. The above said option is primarily used for upgrades. But since it uses the concept of the 3-way merge, this can also be used for merging 2 web catalogs. The only drawback is that you would have to thoroughly check for the completeness of the merge. Most of the times you would be better of copying the web catalog objects from one catalog to another. But this should give you another approach of merging if at all you are looking for an automated option. -Vaishnavi Mali.



About iWare Logic Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

iWare Logic is an Enterprise Business Application Services company specializing in Oracle applications and technology including Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS), Oracle DBA and Apps DBA remote and onsite, Oracle BI, OBIEE, OBISE, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, Siebel, Oracle Siebel CRM On Demand And Oracle APEX. Our Differentiators: For Outstation Students:

• Airport pickup and drop facility available for outstation students from Pune and Mumbai domestic and international airport.

• Local stays and travel arrangement assistance for outstation students. Local hotel is at discounted cost and at walk able distance from training facility

Training Facilities & Examination: • 24/7 Lab facility • Training will be delivered by Oracle accredited instructor • We provide Oracle official courseware and attendance certificate from Oracle

Extra Offerings to our students: • Free Oracle Certification Exam Voucher to our Oracle Boot Camp Training students • Free library access • Free post training support • Free Oracle Apps implementation workshop • Free guidance on India localization for any interested students • Free Oracle Apps implementation project guidance using a simulated project environment

Contact Us iWare Logic Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Oracle Applications & Technologies | Consulting | Training | Implementation Aditi Samrudhi | Baner | Pune 411 045 | INDIA Email: [email protected] Website: www.iwarelogic.com

Documents

Artcle on Repository and Web Catalog Merge in OBIEE