BI 4.0 - Updating to SP04 or Higher - Best Practices, Known Issues and Possible Solutions

 This Wiki is for documenting known issues and solutions for the SAP BusinessObjects Intelligence Platform BI 4.0 SP04 or higher Full or patch Installations. Originally this page was focused on SP04 updates, but this information is now considered applicable to all Service Packs 4 or higher.  

Best practices

These are the best practices for all Support Pack and Patch installations:

• Use the Update Installer when upgrading from BI Platform SP02 to SP04.
• Read the Support and Feature Pack Release Notes.
• Turn off all servers except the most essential servers:
  • Content Management System (CMS)
  • File Repository Servers (FRS)
  • Tomcat and the CMS Database (if applicable)

•  Use the Process Explorer or Windows Task Manager to ensure that all non-essential processes are terminated after stopping them. The java.exe processes located in the Business Objects directory should be terminated. (The process paths can be viewed under the Command Line column of the Processes tab for Windows Task Manager).
  
  Note: If the Java processes associated with the BI Platform are not terminated, they may lock up files, causing them to be updated or deleted. These file changes can cause issues with missing libraries. This issue is a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) issue that is scheduled to be fixed in BI Platform Support Pack 05 (SP05).
  
  The administrator would need to terminate the selected process in the image if it was still in memory after stopping the non-essential services.

  

 The above information on best practices is available as SAP kbase 1757132  - BI4 Support Pack Upgrade and Patch Install Best Practice Guide

Additional Best Practices for Clustered or Distributed Environments

These are best practices for clustered or distributed environments:

1. First, update the CMS servers before moving onto other tiers.
2. Run the Update Installer on one server at a time. If you run the Update Installer simultaneously on multiple servers, you  may cause a race condition which will result in missing metadata.
   
   Note: Symptoms of a failed simultaneous install include: 

i. You see several files in the .../setup/packagestemp folder.
ii. You see in the install logs (setupengine.log) that CMS tried to log in but failed consistently. 

The above information on best practices is available as an SAP kbase 1757132 – BI4 Support Pack Upgrade and Patch Install Best Practice Guide.

Issue 1: Services do not start because of missing .jar files

The issue was observed when performing a failed patch upgrade from BI 4.0 SP02 Patch 12 to BI 4.0 SP04 on Windows. This issue is typically caused by the Report Application Server (RAS) performing processing while the update is running which causes it to fail to shut down one of its java child processes when requested. The processing results in a number of locked files while the patch is performed which results in missing binaries when the patch has completed. The problem can be avoided by following the Best Practices section above.

Symptoms:

• The following processes fail to start after applying the patch:
  • Adaptive Processing Server (APS)
  • Crystal Cache
  • Xcelsius Cache
• The behavior remains the same despite recreating processes and the Server Intelligence Agent(SIA), and repairing/installing SP04.
• Uninstalling only SP04 results in an SP04 patch 12 server.
• Missing files/libraries

Resolution:

1. Ensure that all non-essential services are stopped.
2. Run a repair on the base BI platform 4.0 installation by clicking on Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > SAP Business objects BI Platform 4.0 > Uninstall/Change > Repair
3. (Optional) To detect issues with missing files or libraries:
   1. Check the .../InstallData/logs/<install_timestamp> folder.
   2. Ensure there are only 3 files in the folder (InstallManifest.sqlite, setupexe.log and setupengine.log.
   3. If you see other log files such as InstallDU-*.log (e.g., InstallDU-cvom.java-4.0-core-nu, 14.0.4.738, etc), then some files or libraries have not been installed properly.

Issue 2: 32-bit paths replace 64-bit paths

This issue was observed after applying an SP04 patch upgrade or installation. In one case this issue occurred with SP04 Patch 17 but it is most common with SP04.

Symptoms:

• The AdaptiveProcessingServer does not start.
• This symptom can be observed on the CMC Server's page.
• The AdaptiveJobServer doe snot spawn any child processes:
• On the CMC Server’s page, the AJS has started but it does not begin any child processes as it is supposed to.
• No schedules run because the server is not available to begin new jobs.
• Install logs may show issues upgrading these servers.

Resolution:

• Stop all services except the CMS, and Input and Output FRS prior to a BI4.0 upgrade. This prevents a service from affecting the install when not stopped all the way.

  Note: If non-essential services are not manually stopped before applying SP04, certain java services may fail to upgrade.

The above information is available as an SAP kbase 1742498 – Scheduling workflow(s) affected after installing SP4 for BusinessObjects Enterprise 4.0.

Issue 3: CMS cannot restart after installation

This issue was observed with SP04 installs and previous patch versions. The most likely cause of the CMS not starting is the file locking problem triggered by RAS as noted in Issue 1. This is the usual trigger in SP04, but there are other possible root causes.

Symptoms:

• Install fails with errors.
• Some processes cannot be started or stay disabled.
• Applications like BI Launchpad and CMC may fail unexpectedly although they were redeployed properly.

• Setup log (setupengine.log) indicates that the installer was unable to connect to the CMS due to its inability to restart in time. Log entries as below or similar can be noticed:

  Server <servername> not found or server may be down or
  com.crystaldecisions.sdk.occa.security.in ternal.LogonService||Is the CMS alive? Ensure the CMS supports SDK version 1400
  [InstallEntDfoWrapper.Connect] Exception:
  [com.crystaldecisions.sdk.exception.SDKException$OCAFramework:
  [InstallEntDfoWrapper.Connect] Connection Failed. Please retry...
  10:46:30.572 [InstallEntDfoWrapper.main] Connection Failed. Could not connect to CMS [SERVERNAME:6400]

Note: The reasons for the CMS being unable to restart may vary from environmental-related (resources, virus, etc) to network-related, because this is not a common issue.

Resolution:

Before upgrading or repairing, follow the "Best Practices" section above.

1. Ensure that all non-essential services are stopped as explained in the best practices.
2. Run a Repair on the BASE BI 4.0 Install by going to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features . SAP Business Objects BI Platform 4.0 > Uninstall/Change > REPAIR.
3. (Optional) Uninstall, then install a refreshed SP04 full build.
4. After the install, re-run the script to import the missing modules.

The above information is available as an SAP kbase 1603067 - java.lang.NullPointerException or usagesProperty error after login to CMC or BI Launchpad.

Issue 4: SP04 Patch Install does not install correct files

There are incorrectly versioned DFO files which cause them to fail to upload during the installation. If there are more files in the folder than the set listed above, it may indicate the same problem as in Issue 1 and Issue 3, where the CMS has failed to start.

Symptoms:

• When upgrading an existing BI4 system with the Installer, the Installer may not install all files.
• While the setup logs indicate a successful install, files are left in the .../setup/packagestemp folder e.g., "C:\Program Files(x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\setup\packagestemp" on a default windows platform installation.

• Some of the files listed under the .../setup/packagestemp folder folder may look like:
  BusinessObjects_ClientAction_Publication_DocumentLink_dfo.xml
  BusinessObjects_ClientAction_Publication_ViewLatestInstance_df o.xml
  BusinessObjects_DSL_Universe_pin.xml
  BusinessObjects_InformationDesigner_dfo.xml
  BusinessObjects_InformationDesigner_pin. xml
  BusinessObjects_MLStrings_MetricDescriptions_DSLBridgeSessionService_dfo_frag.xml
  BusinessObjects_PlatformSearchUniverseCont entExtractor_dfo.xml
  BusinessObjects_Relation_WEBI_UNIVERSE_dfo.xml

Resolution:

• This issue was tracked as ADAPT01628046 and resolved in SP04 Patch1 which is available in SMP patch downloads.
• This and other fixes & improvements can be validated in the Release notes document at http://service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700000813222012E.
• BI4.0 SP04 Patch release notes are available at: 1729424.

Issue 5: HTTP 500 Error on CMC and BI Launchpad after installation

An HTTP 500 error was noticed in a web-tier deployment. This may not always happen. Another patch or add-on may turn off Tomcat while it is compiling the web applications that have been deployed to it, leaving the compiled folder in an inconsistent state.

Symptoms:

• After updating or patching SP04 you see the following error when accessing BI Launchpad or CMC:

  Error: 500
  Error: “Java.lang.NullPointer Exception”

Resolution:

• This is an application server issue, not an installer issue.

The resolution and above information is available as an SAP kbase 1671068 - CMC in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 returns a 500 error.

Issue 6: Renaming SIA Node causes SP2 updates to FP3 or SP4 to fail

The installer uses the node name from the original install, causing a failure to upload the newly named node.

Symptoms:

• In an update to SP4 (but not FP3), the installer will alert you on the final screen that the installer encountered errors.
• If you perform a modified install after the original install to add RESTful Web Services, you will find that RESTful Web Services does not appear as a service.
• Dashboard Analytics Server and Dashboard Server will show as “failed to start” on the CMC Server management page. The services themselves have been moved. 

Resolution:

If you have renamed the original node, you can run a repair installation and name the new node to get a fixed system.

1. To resolve this issue, you need to run a repair install from the command line, using the setup.exe located in your installation folder:
   • For BI platform (on UNIX platforms, substitute setup.sh for setup.exe):
     <INSTALLDIR>\setup.exe -i product.businessobjects64-4.0-core-32 SIAName=<NEW SIA NAME>
   • For Information Platform Services:
     <INSTALLDIR>\setup.exe -i product.minibip-4.0-core-32 SIAName=<NEW SIA NAME>
   • For Crystal Server:
     <INSTALLDIR>\setup.exe -i product. crystalserver2011-4.0-core-32 SIAName=<NEW SIA NAME>
   Note: If you have additional nodes on your machine, you'll need to run the addnode script directly for each additional node that was not covered in the original installation.
2. Follow the instructions below, where MasterCmsName and MasterCmsPort are your CMS name and port, CMSPassword is your Administrator account's password, and SIAName is the name of your additional node:
   1. Shut down the node being updated. Unless the MasterCms is on the node being updated, the node running MasterCms must be running.
   2. Run the following command line (on UNIX platforms, substitute addnode.bat with addnote.sh):
      "<INSTALLDIR>\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\win64_x64\scripts\addnode.bat" -update -cms "[MasterCmsName]:[MasterCmsPort]" -username Administrator -password "[CMSPassword]" -authentication secEnterprise -name [SIAName] -cmsport [MasterCmsPort] -usetempcms

The above information is available as an SAP note 1731612 -  SIA node renaming may affect SP2 updates to FP3 or SP4.

Issue 7: Installing Patch 3 on BI 4.0 breaks SAP functionality

SAP logon, Viewing SAP Users, Roles, and Accounts with SAP Aliases, as well as SAP plug-in can stop functioning when installing on a system that is running against a message server in the SAP entitlement system.

Symptoms:

• You see the error: "Account information not recognized: All servers with CMS "CMSname:port", cluster @"clustername:port", kind cms which host service null, are down or disabled".

Resolution:

• Switch to an application server.
• Rollback to patch 2 or earlier.

For more details refer to kbase 1765690. where the issue is detailed and a fixed .dll targeted for patch 5 is attached, or the SP04 Patch Release notes.

Issue 8: #SYNTAX after updating from SP4 to SP6

Symptoms:

• #SYNTAX is shown in some reports after updating from BO 4.0 SP4 to BO 4.0 SP6.

Resolution:

Between SP4 and SP6, updates to the calculation engine might have created an incompatibility with previous files in the cache. Because of this, the binaries of SP6 are not able to properly process the files that were generated by th SP4 document cache. To resolve this issue, please clear the document cache as described in the note 1926596 - How to clear Web Intelligence. document cache on BI 4.0.

Related Content

Related Documents:

Help Portal: http://help.sap.com/bobip40/
SP04 Patch Release notes: http://service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700000813222012E

Related Notes:

SAP Note 1729424 Business Intelligence platform 4.0 SP04 Patch Release Notes
SAP KBA  1603067 java.lang.NullPointerException or usagesProperty error after login to CMC or BI Launchpad
SAP KBA 1742498  Scheduling workflow(s) affected after installing SP4 for BusinessObjects Enterprise 4.0
SAP KBA 1743755 After installation of BI 4.0 Sp04, the crystal report cache server runs with errors and is disabled
SAP KBA 1671068  CMC in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 returns a 500 error
SAP Note 1731612 SIA node renaming may affect SP2 updates to FP3 or SP4
SAP Note 1757132  BI4 Support Pack Upgrade and Patch Install Best Practice Guide
SAP Note 1765690  Installing patch 3 on BI 4.0 SP4 breaks SAP logon, viewing SAP users, roles, and accounts with SAP aliases as well as SAP plug-in 
SAP Note 1926596  How to clear Web Intelligence. document cache on BI 4.0.