Universe Parameters

What are universe parameters?

Universe parameters are definitions and restrictions that you define for auniverse that identify a universe and its database connections, specify thetype of queries that can be run using the universe, and set the controls on theuse of system resources.

You define universe parameters from the Universe Parameters dialog box (File > Parameters) when you create a universe. The database connection is the only parameter that you must manually select or create when you create a new universe.

You can modify these parameters at any time.You can define the followinguniverse parameters:

Definition

Universe name, description, and connection parameters and information. These are the parameters that identify the universe.

Summary information

Version and revision information, designer comments, and universe statistics.

Strategies

Indicates the strategies used by the universe. A strategy is ascript used to extract structural information from a database.

Controls

Indicates the limitations set for the use of system resources.

SQL

Indicates the types of queries that the end user is allowed to run from the Query panemodifying this parameter.

Links

Indicates the settings defined for linked universes

Chasm and Fan Trap

Solution to Chasm and Fan Traps

Relational databases can return incorrect results due to limitations in the way that joins are performed in relational databases. Unlike loops, which return fewer rows, the Chasm and the Fan traps are two common circumstances which return too many rows. You can use Designer to resolve both types of problems in your universe schema.

Chasm trap

The Chasm trap occurs when two “many to one” joins converge on a single table. For example a customer can place many orders/and or place many loans.

Fan trap

The Fan trap occurs when a “one to many” join links a table which is in turn linked by another “one to many” join.

For example when you run a query that asks for the total orders by each order line, for a particular customer, an incorrect result is returned as you are performing an aggregate function on the table at the “one” end of the join, while still joining to the “many” end.

Below is the Brief overview:

Chasm Trap:

A chasm occurs when a series of joins crosses a many >- one -> one relationship

For example

A >- B -C

( Employees >-- Showroom --< salary)

Solution 1:

Define a context for each table at the “many” end of the joins.

Context = Meaning

- A context is a sub-set of joins in a universe
- That sub-set of joins has a particular meaning

In our example you could define a context from A to B and from A to C. A context contains each join in the path. This creates two SQL statements and two separate tables in Business Objects, avoiding the creation of a Cartesian product. Using contexts is the most effective way to solve Chasm traps.

Solution 2:

Select the option ‘Multiple SQL Statements for Each Measure’ from the Universe Parameters dialog box in the tool. Only applies to measures. You force the SQL generation engine in Reporter to generate SQL queries for each measure that appears in the Query panel.

Fan Trap:

A fan trap occurs when joins “fan out” over multiple one -< many relationships in a row.

For example:A -< B -< C

(Ex: Customer --< Orders --< Order_Lines)

A fan trap is not quite as severe as a chasm trap. In fact there are many fan traps that can occur in a universe design that can be ignored as long as you control which types of objects you use.

There are two ways to solve a Fan trap problem.

• Using an alias and the aggregate awareness function. This is the most effective way to solve the Fan trap problem.
•Altering the SQL parameters for the universe. This only works for measure objects.Both of these methods are described below.

Solutioin 1:

Aliases can resolve chasm traps

- Known as table aliases when writing SQL statements
- Used by BusinessObjects to logically separate the trap into pieces.

You create an alias table and use the aggregate awareness function. You cannot use this option if you have incompatible objects. You can do this as follows:

1. Create an alias for the table that is producing the multiplied aggregation.
2. Create a one to one join between the original table and the alias table.
3. Modify the select statement for the columns that are summed so that the columns in the alias table are summed and not the original table.
4. Apply the @AggregateAware function to the select statement. for example:@AggregateAware(SUM(ORDERS.TOTAL_VALUE) , SUM(ORDERS_2.TOTAL_VALUE))

Solution 2:

- Create a separate SQL statement per aggregation.
- Aggregations on the same table require only 1 SQL statement.

You select the option ‘Multiple SQL Statements for Each Measure’. You force the SQL generation engine in Reporter to generate separate SQL queries for each measure that appears in the Query panel. You find this option on the SQL page of the Universe Parameters dialog box in the tool.

Managing Aliases

why do we need aliases in BusinessObjects?

If a user has multiple accounts in BusinessObjects Enterprise, you can link the accounts using the assign alias feature. This is useful when a user has a third-party account that is mapped to Enterprise and an Enterprise account. By assigning an alias to the user, the user can log on using either a third-party user name and password or an Enterprise user name and password.

Thus, an alias enables a user to log on via more than one authentication type. You can also reassign an alias in BusinessObjects Enterprise. For example, after you map your third-party accounts to BusinessObjects Enterprise, you can use the Reassign Alias feature to reassign an alias to a different a user. In CMC, the alias information is displayed at the bottom of the properties page for a user. A user can have any combination of BusinessObjects Enterprise, LDAP, AD, or NT aliases

Creating a user and a third-party alias When you create a user and select an authentication type other than Enterprise, the system creates the new user in BusinessObjects Enterprise
and creates a third-party alias for the user.

Note: For the system to create the third-party alias, the following criteria must be met:

• The authentication tool needs to have been enabled in CMC.
• The format of the account name must agree with the format required for the authentication type.
• The user account must exist in the third-party authentication tool, and it must belong to a group that is already mapped to BusinessObjects Enterprise.

􀁘 To create a user and add a third-party alias

1. Go to the Users management area of the CMC.

2. Click New User.
The New User Properties page appears.

3. Select the authentication type for the user, for example, Windows NT.
The New User Properties page appears.

4. Type in the third-party account name for the user, for example, bsmith.

5. Select the connection type for the user.

6. Click OK

Creating an alias for an existing user

You can create aliases for existing BusinessObjects Enterprise users. The alias can be an Enterprise alias, or an alias for a third-party authentication tool.

Note: For the system to create the third-party alias, the following criteria must be met:

• The authentication tool needs to have been enabled in CMC.
• The format of the account name must agree with the format required for the authentication type.
• The user account must exist in the third-party authentication tool, and it must belong to a group that is mapped to BusinessObjects Enterprise.

􀁘 To create a new alias for a user

1. Go to the Users management area of the CMC.

2. Click the link for the user that you want to add an alias to.

3. Click New Alias.
The New Alias page appears.

4. Select the authentication type for the user, for example, Windows NT.

5. Type in the account name for the user.


6. Click OK.

An alias is created for the user. When you view the user in CMC, at least two aliases are shown, the one that was already assigned to the user and the one you just created.

Assigning an alias

When you assign an alias to a user, you move a third-party alias from another user to the user you are currently viewing. You cannot assign or reassign Enterprise aliases.

Note: If a user has only one alias and you assign that last alias to another user, the system will delete the user account, and the Favorites folder, personal categories, and inbox for that account

􀁘 To assign an alias from another user

1. Go to the Users management area of the CMC.

2. Click the link for the user you want to assign an alias to.

3. Click Assign Alias.

The Assign Alias page appears.

4. Select the alias you want in the list of available aliases.

5. Click the > arrow.

Tip:
• To select multiple aliases, use the SHIFT+click or CTRL+click combination.
• To search for a specific alias, use the Look For field.

6. Click OK.

Reassigning an alias

When you reassign an alias, you move a third-party alias from the user that you are currently viewing to another user. You cannot assign or reassign Enterprise aliases.

Note: If a user has only one alias and you reassign that alias to another user, the system will delete the user account, and the Favorites folder, personal categories, and inbox for that account.

􀁘 To reassign an alias to another user

1. Go to the Users management area of the CMC.

2. Click the link for the user whose alias you want to reassign, for example, bsmith.

3. Click the Reassign Alias button for the alias. he Reassign Alias page appears.

4. In the list, click the name of the user that you want to assign the alias to, for example, jbrown.

5. Click OK.

The alias for bsmith has now been assigned to the user jbrown, and the Properties page for user jbrown is displayed. The user jbrown can now log on using the third-party user account and authentication method. The user bsmith can no longer use this alias.

Deleting an alias

When you delete an alias, the alias is removed from the system. If a user has only one alias and you delete that alias, the system automatically deletes the user account and the Favorites folder, personal categories, and inbox for that account.

􀁘 To delete an alias

1. Go to the Users management area of the CMC.

2. Click the link for the user whose alias you want to delete.

3. Click the Delete Alias button for the alias.

The alias is deleted from the system.

Note: Deleting a user’s alias does not necessarily prevent the user from being able to log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise again. If the user account still exists in the third-party system, and if the account belongs to a group that is mapped to BusinessObjects Enterprise, then BusinessObjects Enterprise will still allow the user to log on.

Whether the system creates a new user or assigns the alias to an existing user, depends on which Update Options you have selected for the authentication tool in the Authentication management area of CMC.

Disabling an aliases

You can prevent a user from logging on to BusinessObjects Enterprise using a particular authentication method by disabling the user’s alias associated with that method. To prevent a user from accessing BusinessObjects Enterprise altogether, disable all aliases for that user.

Note: Deleting a user from BusinessObjects Enterprise does not necessarily prevent the user from being able to log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise again. If the user account still exists in the third-party system, and if the account belongs to a group that is mapped to BusinessObjects Enterprise, then BusinessObjects Enterprise will still allow the user to log on. To ensure a user can no longer use one of his or her aliases to log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise, it is best to disable the alias.

􀁘 To disable an alias

1. Go to the Users management area of the CMC.

2. Click the name of the user whose alias you want to disable.

3. In the Alias area on the Properties page, clear the Enabled check box for the alias you want disable.
Repeat this step for each alias you want to disable.

4. Click Update.

The user can no longer log on using the type of authentication that you just disabled.

Enterprise User Account

Creating an Enterprise user account

When you create a new user, you specify the user’s properties and select the group or groups for the user.

􀁘 To create a user account

1. Go to the Users management area of the CMC.

2. Click New User.

3. Select the Enterprise authentication type.

4. Type the account name, full name, email, and description information. Use the description area to include extra information about the user or account.

5. Specify the password information and settings. Options include:

• Password
Enter the password and confirm. This is the initial password that you
assign to the user. The maximum password length is 64 characters.

• Password never expires
Select the check box.

• User must change password at next logon
This check box is selected by default. If you do not want to force
users to change the password the first time they log on, clear the
check box.

• User cannot change password
Select the check box.

6. Select the connection type.

• Concurrent User
Choose Concurrent user if this user belongs to a license agreement that states the number of users allowed to be connected at one time.

• Named User
Choose Named user if this user belongs to a license agreement that
associates a specific user with a license. Named user licenses are
useful for people who require access to BusinessObjects Enterprise
regardless of the number of other people who are currently
connected.

7. Click OK.

The user is added to the system and is automatically added to the Everyone group. You can now add the user to a group or specify rights for the user.

Adding a user to groups

Use the following procedure to add a user to one or more groups directly from the user page.

To add a user to a group

1. Go to the Users management area of the CMC.

2. Under Account Name, click the link to the user whose properties you want to change.

3. Click the Member of tab to specify the group or groups the user should belong to.

4. Click the Member of button to view the available groups.

5. In the Available groups area, select the group(s) that the new user should be a member of. Use SHIFT+click or CTRL+click to select multiple groups.

6. Click the > arrow to add the group(s); Click the < arrow to remove the group(s).

7. Click OK.

Modifying a user account

Use this procedure to modify a user’s properties or group membership.

􀁘 To modify a user account

1. Go to the Users management area of the CMC.

2. Under Account Name, click the link to the user whose properties you want to change.

3. Make the required changes, as necessary, in the available fields. In addition to all of the options that were available when you initially created the account, you now can disable the account by selecting the “Account is disabled” check box. You can also assign aliases.

4. Click Update.

Deleting a user account

Use this procedure to delete a user’s account. The user might receive an error if they are logged on when their account is deleted. When you delete a user account, the Favorites folder, personal categories, and inbox for that user are deleted as well. If you think the user might require access to the account again in the future, select the “Account is disabled” check box in the Properties page of the selected user, instead of deleting the account.


􀁘 To delete a user account

1. Go to the Users management area of the CMC.

2. Select the check box associated with the user you want to delete.

3. Click Delete.

The delete confirmation dialog box appears.

4. Click OK.

The user account is deleted.

Changing password settings

Within the Central Management Console, you can change the password settings for a specific user or for all users in the system. The various restrictions listed below apply only to Enterprise accounts—that is, the restrictions do not apply to accounts that you have mapped to an external user database (Windows NT, LDAP, or Windows AD). Generally, however, your external system will enable you to place similar restrictions on the external accounts.

􀁘 To change user password settings

1. Go to the Users management area of the CMC.

2. Click the user whose password settings you want to change. The Properties tab appears.

3. Select or clear the check box associated with the password setting you wish to change. The available options are:

• Password never expires
• User must change password at next logon
• User cannot change password

4. Click Update

Migrating CMS Database

Copying data from one CMS database to another

BusinessObjects Enterprise enables you to copy the contents of one CMS database into another database. This procedure is also referred to as migrating a CMS database. You can migrate CMS data from a different CMS database into your current CMS database. Or, you can migrate the data from your current CMS database into a different data source

The source CMS database refers to the database that holds the data you are copying; this data is copied into the destination database. The destination database is initialized before the new data is copied in, so any existing contents of the destination database are permanently deleted Once the data has been copied, the destination database is established as the current database for the CMS.

When you finish copying data from the source database to the destination
database following things to be keep in mind.

-> When migrating from an older version of Crystal Enterprise, servers that existed in the source installation do not appear in the migrated install. This occurs because there cannot be a mix of old and new servers in a BusinessObjects Enterprise installation.

-> Server groups from the old installation appear in the new system, but they will be empty. New servers are automatically detected and added to the servers list (outside of any group) in a disabled state. You must enable these servers before they can be used. You may add the new servers to the imported groups as appropriate.

-> Reports that depend on a particular server group for scheduled processing will not execute until a job server is added to that group. Reports that depend on a particular server group for processing are not available until servers are added to that group.

To complete a CMS database migration on Windows

1. If errors occurred during migration, a db_migration log file was created in the logging directory on the machine where you ran the CCM to carry out the migration. The CCM will notify you if you need to check the log file.

The default logging directory is:
C:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects
Enterprise 11.5\Logging\

2. If you migrated CMS data from a different CMS database into your current CMS database, you need to make your old input and output directories available to the new Input and Output File Repository Servers.

You can do this in several ways:

• Copy the contents of the original input root directory into the root directory that the new Input File Repository Server is already configured to use. Then copy the contents of the original output directory into the root directory that the new Output File Repository is already configured to use.

• Reconfigure the new Input and Output File Repository Servers to use the old input and output root directories.

• If the old Input and Output File Repository Servers are running on a dedicated machine, you can run the BusinessObjects Enterprise setup program to upgrade the servers directly. Then you need not move the input and output directories. Instead, modify the -ns option in both servers’ command lines to have them register with your new CMS.

3. Use the Central Configuration Manager (CCM) to start the CMS on the
local machine.

4. Make sure your web application server is running.

5. Log on to the Central Management Console with the default Administrator account, using Enterprise authentication.

6. Go to the Authorization management area and check that your BusinessObjects Enterprise license keys are entered correctly.

7. In the CCM, start and enable the Input File Repository Server and the Output File Repository Server.

8. Go to the Servers management area of the Central Management Console and verify that the Input File Repository Server and the Output File Repository Server are both started and enabled.

9. Click the link to each File Repository Server and, on the Properties tab, check that the Root Directory points to the correct location.

10. Return to the Central Configuration Manager.

11. If objects in your source database require updating, the Update Objects button on the toolbar contains a flashing red exclamation mark. Click Update Objects.

12. When prompted, log on to your CMS with credentials that provide you with administrative privileges to BusinessObjects Enterprise.

The Update Objects dialog box tells you how many objects require updating. Objects typically require updating because their internal representation has changed in the new version of BusinessObjects Enterprise, or because the objects require new properties to support the
additional features offered by BusinessObjects Enterprise XI. Because your Central Management Server was stopped when the migration occurred, you need to update the objects now.

13. If there are objects that require updating, click Update, otherwise click Cancel.

14. Start and enable the remaining BusinessObjects Enterprise servers. Verify that BusinessObjects Enterprise requests are handled correctly, and check that you can view and schedule reports successfully.

Authentication Types

1, Enterprise authentication

Use the system default Enterprise Authentication if you prefer to create distinct accounts and groups for use with BusinessObjects Enterprise, or if you have not already set up a hierarchy of users and groups in a Windows NT user database, an LDAP directory server, or a Windows AD
server.

2, Windows NT authentication

If you are working in a Windows NT environment, you can use existing NT user accounts and groups in BusinessObjects Enterprise. When you map NT accounts to BusinessObjects Enterprise, users are able to log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise applications with their NT user name and password. This can reduce the need to recreate individual user and group accounts within BusinessObjects Enterprise

3, LDAP authentication

If you set up an LDAP directory server, you can use existing LDAP user accounts and groups in BusinessObjects Enterprise. When you map LDAP accounts to BusinessObjects Enterprise, users are able to access BusinessObjects Enterprise applications with their LDAP user name and
password. This eliminates the need to recreate individual user and group accounts within BusinessObjects Enterprise

4, Windows AD authentication

If you are working in a Windows 2000 environment, you can use existing AD user accounts and groups in BusinessObjects Enterprise. When you map AD accounts to BusinessObjects Enterprise, users are able to log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise applications with their AD user name and password. This eliminates the need to recreate individual user and group accounts within BusinessObjects Enterprise

BO XI R2 Architecture

1.Client tier

The client tier is the only part of the BusinessObjects Enterprise system that administrators and end users interact with directly. This tier is made up of the applications that enable people to administer, publish, and view reports and other objects

The client tier includes:

a>InfoView

BusinessObjects Enterprise comes with InfoView, a web-based interface that end users access to view, schedule, and keep track of published reports. Each BusinessObjects Enterprise request that a user makes is directed to the BusinessObjects Enterprise application tier. The web server forward request directly to an application server where the request is processed by the WCA.

b>Central Management Console (CMC)

The Central Management Console (CMC) allows you to perform user management tasks such as setting up authentication and adding users and groups. It also allows you to publish, organize, and set security levels for all of your BusinessObjects Enterprise content.

Additionally, the CMC enables you to manage servers and create server groups. Because the CMC is a webbased application, you can perform all of these administrative tasks remotely.

c>Central Configuration Manager (CCM)

The Central Configuration Manager (CCM) is a server-management tool that allows you to configure each of your BusinessObjects Enterprise server components. This tool allows you to start, stop, enable, and disable servers, and it allows you to view and to configure advanced server settings.

On Windows, these settings include default port numbers, CMS database and clustering details, SOCKS server connections, and more. In addition, on Windows the CCM allows you to add or remove servers from your BusinessObjects Enterprise system

d>Publishing Wizard

The Publishing Wizard is a locally installed Windows application that enables both administrators and end users to add reports to BusinessObjects Enterprise. By assigning object rights to BusinessObjects Enterprise folders, you control who can publish reports and where they can publish them to

e>Import Wizard

The Import Wizard is a locally installed Windows application that guides administrators through the process of importing users, groups, reports, and folders from an existing BusinessObjects Enterprise, Crystal Enterprise, or Crystal Info implementation to BusinessObjects Enterprise

2.Application tier

The application tier hosts the server-side components that process requests from the client tier as well as the components that communicate these requests to the appropriate server in the intelligence tier. The application tier includes support for report viewing and logic to understand and direct web requests to the appropriate BusinessObjects Enterprise server in the intelligence tier

Web Component Adapter (WCA)

The web server communicates directly with the application server that hosts the BusinessObjects Enterprise SDK. The Web Component Adapter (WCA) runs within the application server and provides all services that are not directly supported by the BusinessObjects Enterprise SDK. The web server passes requests directly to the application server, which then forwards the requests on to the WCA.

3.Intelligence tier

The intelligence tier manages the BusinessObjects Enterprise system. It maintains all of the security information, sends requests to the appropriate servers, manages audit information, and stores report instances

a>Central Management Server (CMS)

The CMS is responsible for maintaining a database of information about your BusinessObjects Enterprise system, which other components can access as required. The data stored by the CMS includes information about users and groups, security levels, BusinessObjects Enterprise content, and servers.

The CMS also maintains the BusinessObjects Enterprise Repository, and a separate audit database of information about user actions. This data allows the CMS to perform its four main tasks:

• Maintaining security

By maintaining a database of users and their associated object rights, the CMS enforces who has access to BusinessObjects Enterprise and the types of tasks they are able to perform. These tasks include enforcing and maintaining the licensing policy of your BusinessObjects Enterprise
system.

• Managing objects

The CMS keeps track of the location of objects and maintains the containment hierarchy, which includes folders, categories, and inboxes. By communicating with the Job Servers and Program Job Servers, the CMS is able to ensure that scheduled jobs run at the appropriate times.

• Managing servers

By staying in frequent contact with each of the servers in the system, the CMS is able to maintain a list of server status. Report viewers access this list, for instance, to identify which Cache Server is free to use for a report viewing request.

• Managing auditing

By collecting information about user actions from each BusinessObjects Enterprise server, and then writing these records to a central audit database, the CMS acts as the system auditor. This audit information allows system administrators to better manage their BusinessObjects
Enterprise deployment.

b>Event Server

The Event Server manages file-based events. When you set up a file-based event within BusinessObjects Enterprise, the Event Server monitors the directory that you specified. When the appropriate file appears in the monitored directory, the Event Server triggers your file-based event: that is, the Event Server notifies the CMS that the file-based event has occurred. The CMS then starts any jobs that are dependent upon your file-based event.

After notifying the CMS of the event, the Event Server resets itself and again monitors the directory for the appropriate file. When the file is newly created in the monitored directory, the Event Server again triggers your file-based event.

c>File Repository Servers

There is an Input and an Output File Repository Server in every BusinessObjects Enterprise implementation.

• Input File Repository Server

The Input File Repository Server manages all of the report objects and program objects that have been published to the system by administrators or end users (using the Publishing Wizard, the Central Management Console, the Import Wizard, or a Business Objects designer component such as Crystal Reports or the Web Intelligence Java or HTML Report Panels).

• Output File Repository Server

The Output File Repository Server manages all of the report instances generated by the Report Job Server or the Web Intelligence Report Server, and the program instances generated by the Program Job Server. The File Repository Servers are responsible for listing files on the server,
querying for the size of a file, querying for the size of the entire file repository, adding files to the repository, and removing files from the repository.

d>Cache Server

The Cache Server is responsible for handling all report viewing requests. The Cache Server checks whether or not it can fulfill the request with a cached report page. If the Cache Server finds a cached page that displays exactly the required data, with data that has been refreshed from the database within the interval that you have specified as the default, the Cache Server returns that cached report page.

If the Cache Server cannot fulfil the request with a cached report page, it passes the request along to the Page Server. The Page Server runs the report and returns the results to the Cache Server. The Cache Server then caches the report page for future use, and returns the data to the viewer. By storing report pages in a cache, BusinessObjects Enterprise avoids accessing the database each and every time a report is requested.

If you are running multiple Page Servers for a single Cache Server, the Cache Server automatically balances the processing load across Page Servers.

4.Processing tier

The processing tier accesses the data and generates the reports. It is the only tier that interacts directly with the databases that contain the report data.

a>Job servers

A Job Server processes scheduled actions on objects at the request of the CMS. When you add a Job Server to the BusinessObjects Enterprise system, you can configure the Job Server to:

• Process report objects
• Process program objects
• Send objects or instances to specified destinations

If you configure a Job Server to process report objects, it becomes a Report Job Server. If you configure a Job Server to process program objects, it becomes a Program Job Server, and so on. The processing tier includes:

• Report Job Server

If you configure a Job Server to process report objects, it becomes a Report Job Server.

The Report Job Server processes scheduled reports, as requested by the CMS, and generates report instances (instances are versions of a report object that contain saved data). To generate a report instance, the Report Job Server obtains the report object from the Input FRS and communicates with the database to retrieve the current data. Once it has generated the report instance, it stores the instance on the Output FRS.

• Program Job Server

If you configure a Job Server to process program objects, it becomes a Program Job Server.

Program objects allow you to write, publish, and schedule custom applications, including scripts, Java programs or .NET programs that run against, and perform maintenance work on, BusinessObjects Enterprise.

The Program Job Server processes scheduled program objects, as requested by the CMS. To run a program, the Program Job Server first retrieves the files from storage on the Input File Repository Server, and then runs the program. By definition, program objects are custom applications. Therefore the outcome of running a program will be dependent upon the particular program object that is run.

Unlike report instances, which can be viewed in their completed format, program instances exist as records in the object history. BusinessObjects Enterprise stores the program’s standard out and standard error in a text output file. This file appears when you click a program instance in the object History.

• Web Intelligence Job Server

The Web Intelligence Job Server processes scheduling requests it receives from the CMS for Web Intelligence documents. It forwards these requests to the Web Intelligence Report Server, which will generate the instance of the Web Intelligence document. The Web Intelligence Job Server does not actually generate object instances.

• Destination Job Server

If you configure a Job Server to send objects or instances, it become a Destination Job Server.A Destination Job Server processes requests that it receives from the CMS and sends the requested objects or instances to the specified destination:

• If the request is for an object, it retrieves the object from the Input File
Repository Server.
• If the request is for a report or program instance, it retrieves the instance from the Output File Repository Server.

The Destination Job Server can send objects and instances to destinations inside the BusinessObjects Enterprise system, for example, a user’s inbox, or outside the system, for example, by sending a file to an email address.

The Destination Job Server does not run the actual report or program objects. It only handles objects and instances that already exist in the Input or Output File Repository Servers

• List of Values Job Server

The List of Values Job Server processes scheduled list-of-value objects. These are objects that contain the values of specific fields in a Business View. Lists of values are use to implement dynamic prompts and cascading lists of values within Crystal Reports. List-of-value objects do not appear in CMC or InfoView.

The List of Values Job Server behaves similarly to the Report Job Server in that it retrieves the scheduled objects from the Input File Repository Server (FRS) and saves the instance it generates to the Output FRS. There is never more than one instance of a list-of-values object. On demand list of value objects are processed by the Report Application Server.

• Desktop Intelligence Job Server

The Desktop Intelligence Job Server processes scheduling requests it receives from the CMS for Desktop Intelligence documents and generates the instance of the Desktop Intelligence document.

b>Web Intelligence Report Server

The Web Intelligence Report Server is used to create, edit, view, and analyze Web Intelligence documents. It also processes scheduled Web Intelligence documents and generates new instances of the document, which it stores on the Output File Repository Server (FRS).

Depending on the user’s access rights and the refresh options of the document, the Web Intelligence Report Server will use cached information, or it will refresh the data in the document and then cache the new information

c>Report Application Server (RAS)

The Report Application Server (RAS) processes reports that users view with the Advanced DHTML viewer. The RAS also provides the ad hoc reporting capabilities that allow users to create and modify reports over the Web. The RAS is very similar to the Page Server: it too is primarily responsible for responding to page requests by processing reports and generating EPF pages.

However, the RAS uses an internal caching mechanism that involves no interaction with the Cache Server. As with the Page Server, the RAS supports COM, ASP.NET, and Java viewer SDKs. The Report Application Server also includes an SDK for reportcreation and modification, providing you with tools for building custom report interaction interfaces.

d>Page Server

The Page Server is primarily responsible for responding to page requests by processing reports and generating Encapsulated Page Format (EPF) pages. The EPF pages contain formatting information that defines the layout of the report.

The Page Server retrieves data for the report from an instance or directly from the database (depending on the user’s request and the rights he or she has to the report object). When retrieving data from the database, the Page Server automatically disconnects from the database after it fulfills its initial request and reconnects if necessary to retrieve additional data. (This behavior conserves database licenses.)

The Cache Server and Page Server work closely together. Specifically, the Page Server responds to page requests made by the Cache Server. The Page Server and Cache Server also interact to ensure cached EPF pages are reused as frequently as possible, and new pages are generated as soon as they are required.

BusinessObjects Enterprise takes advantage of this behavior by ensuring that the majority of report-viewing requests are made to the Cache Server and Page Server. (However, if a user’s default viewer is the Advanced DHTML viewer, the report is processed by the Report Application Server.)

5.Data tier

The data tier is made up of the databases that contain the data used in the reports. businessObjects Enterprise supports a wide range of corporate databases