Table of Contents

Introduction

On a typical single-machine installation of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform (BOBJ), SAP SQL Anywhere (SQLA) is used as the default Central Management Server (CMS) system database and Audit data store.  The BOBJ setup program takes care of installing and configuring both databases, so there is no need to perform additional install operations.

There may be situations where you need to install the SQLA databases on a different machine than the BOBJ central management server.  For example, if you want to use clustering technology to provide high availability for the databases (and don't want to use SQLA's High Availability option).  In those instances, you will need to perform the installation and configuration of SQLA yourself.  This paper describes the steps required to do so and was tested with SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform 4.1 and SAP SQL Anywhere 12.0.1.

Installing and Configuring SAP SQL Anywhere

The first step is to install and configure SQL Anywhere.  You'll be performing the following:

1. Install SQLA in one of your machines
2. Create new databases for the CMS and Audit data stores
3. Define system services to automatically launch the databases when the operating system starts

.

Install SAP SQL Anywhere

Simply run the SQLA setup program and follow the instructions in the installation wizard.  You may choose the default settings for the installation.

Create CMS and Audit Databases

Once SQLA is installed in your system, create the CMS and Audit databases using either the visual administration tool Sybase Central (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUNjpF-QX_U for an example) or command-line utilities (as described below).

1. Open a Command Prompt (Windows) or Terminal (Unix)
2. Create a directory to store the SQLA CMS and Audit databases (e.g. BI4Database)
3. Navigate to this directory and execute the following commands:
   
   dbinit BI4_CMS.db
   
   dbinit BI4_Audit.db
   
4. IMPORTANT: We strongly recommend that you change the default "dba" user password.  Execute these commands to do so:

dbisql -c "START=dbeng12.exe;DBF=BI4_CMS.db;UID=dba;PWD=sql" ALTER USER DBA IDENTIFIED BY bobjsql2014

dbisql -c "START=dbeng12.exe;DBF=BI4_Audit.db;UID=dba;PWD=sql" ALTER USER DBA IDENTIFIED BY bobjsql2014

These commands change the default "dba" password from "sql" to "bobjsql2014" for both the CMS and Audit databases.  You may choose any password you like, as well as a different password for each database.

You now have two empty SQLA databases.  During the BOBJ installation, they will be populated with the appropriate objects.

Define System Services

Windows

The easiest way to define the system services is to use the command-line utilities:

1. Open a Command Prompt
2. Navigate to the directory where you created the CMS and Audit databases
3. Execute the following command:
   
   dbsvc -t Network -s Automatic -as -i -sn "SQL Anywhere - BI4_SQLA_DB" -y -w "BI4_SQLA_DB" "C:\Program Files\SQL Anywhere 12\Bin64\dbsrv12.exe" -n BI4 -x tcpip(port=2638;DoBroadcast=NO;BroadcastListener=NO) "C:\BI4Database\BI4_CMS.db" "C:\BI4Database\BI4_Audit.db"
4. Restart the computer

Note that you can also use the administration tool Sybase Central to accomplish the same task.

Unix

Create a script that launches the databases:

1. Open a Terminal
2. Navigate to the directory where you created the CMS and Audit databases
3. Create a script file "sqlanywhere_startup.sh" with the following content:
   
   dbspawn -f dbsrv12 -gk all -n BI4 -x "tcpip(port=2638;DoBroadcast=NO;BroadcastListener=NO)" "/home/bo4user/BI4Database/BI4_CMS.db" "/home/bo4user/BI4Database/BI4_Audit.db"
4. The SQLA installation creates another script file called "/opt/sqlanywhere12/bin64/sa_config.sh" - this script must be executed before you run "sqlanywhere_startup.sh" as it sets up the required environment variables
5. Execute the database start-up script "sqlanywhere_startup.sh"

You can optionally set both "sa_config.sh" and "sqlanywhere_startup.sh" to execute when the operating system boots. The procedure to accomplish this task depends on the Unix distribution you have.

Connect to the SQLA Databases From the BOBJ CMS

The BOBJ CMS requires an ODBC connection to the SQLA databases.  To accomplish that, you need to:

1. Install the SAP SQL Anywhere Client software on the BOBJ CMS machine
2. Create a system ODBC data source name for each database

.

Install the SAP SQL Anywhere Client

The component you need is the SQLA ODBC Driver, included in the SQLA Client install. You can download a copy here: http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-35857.  Make sure to install the SQLA Client on the same machine as the BOBJ CMS.

There's a nice tutorial on how to install the SQLA Client on Windows here: http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-50289.

Create System ODBC Data Source Names

The BOBJ CMS needs a connection to the SQLA databases and this is done via ODBC.  Create the data source names (DSN) as follows:

Windows

1. Open the ODBC Administrator by clicking Start > Administrative Tools > Data Sources (ODBC).
2. Switch to the System DSN tab and click the Add button.
   
   
3. Select "SQL Anywhere 12" from the list of drivers and click the Finish button.
   
   
4. The ODBC Configuration for SQL Anywhere dialog appears.  Enter the following values:
   • In the ODBC tab
     • Data source name: BI4_CMS
   • In the Login tab
     • User ID: dba
     • Password: bobjsql2014 (or whatever password you chose as described above)
     • Action: Connect to a running database on another computer
     • Host: the computer name or IP address of the machine where you installed the SQL Anywhere database server
     • Port: 2638
     • Server name: BI4
     • Database name: BI4_CMS

Click OK to accept the changes.  Optionally, you can go back to the ODBC tab and test the connection.

Perform the same steps for the Audit database, with the following two changes:

• ODBC tab: the data source name becomes "BI4_Audit"
• Login tab: the database name becomes "BI4_Audit"

You now have system ODBC DSN that you can provide to the BOBJ installation program.

Run the SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform Setup Program

Windows

1. Run the setup program and go through the first few steps in the installation wizard.  It eventually asks you to choose the database to store the BOBJ data.  Select "Configure an existing database".

2. Click Next and you are asked for the CMS database type, select "SAP SQL Anywhere using ODBC".

3. Click Next and select the same database type for the Audit database.
4. Continue the installation wizard until you are asked to configure the CMS repository database.  Enter the following values:

• DSN: BI4_CMS
• User name: dba
• Password: bobjsql2014

5. Click Next and you'll see a similar dialog for the Audit database configuration.  Enter these values:

• DSN: BI4_Audit
• User name: dba
• Password: bobjsql2014

6. Click Next and continue the install wizard to completion.

When the setup program ends, the BOBJ CMS will be using the CMS and Audit SQL Anywhere databases running on your other machine.  If you want to perform additional administration tasks (e.g.: backup schedule and events), you can connect to either database using the visual administration tool Sybase Central.  Connect to the database(s) using the ODBC DSN you created earlier.

For more information about SAP SQL Anywhere, please visit the SAP SQL Anywhere SCN Community page.