Overview:
Working with SAP Consulting I have been involved in a few discussions with customers where it has surfaced that there are some feature differences when using the SAP BusinessObjects BI server on different operating Systems and customers were not aware of some differences. This blog intends to collect and document feature differences between SAP BI BusinessObjects Server OS.
Which Operating Systems are generally supported for the SAP BI Server?
As of today (BI4.1 SP06) following OS are mentioned in the PAM as supported: Windows, Linux, AIX and Solaris.
Are there feature differences for end users depending on the SAP BI Server OS?
Yes, here a summary of differences:
| Windows | Linux | AIX | Solaris | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lumira Server | Yes | No | No | No |
| Lumira Scheduling Service: | Yes | No | No | No |
| SSO - Microsoft Active Directory | Yes | No | No | No |
| SSO - Complex Multiple forest SSO (as supported only with AD, not with LDAP) | Yes | No | No | No |
| SSO - SAP BI Client Tools SSO (as supported only with AD, not LDAP) | Yes | No | No | No |
| SSO - LDAP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Analysis for Office - Scheduling | Yes | No | No | No |
| Deski Compatibility Pack - Scheduler | Yes | No | No | No |
| IIS Integration Option for Microsoft SharePoint | Yes | No | No | No |
| CMS + Audit DB on Microsoft SQL Server | Yes | No | No | No |
| Semantic Layer Data Source: Microsoft Excel | Yes | No | No | No |
| Semantic Layer Data Source: Microsoft Access | Yes | No | No | No |
| Semantic Layer Data Source: PostgreSQL | Yes | Yes | No multiple source universe | No multiple source universe |
| Semantic Layer Data Source: Salesforce | Yes | Yes | No multiple source universe | No multiple source universe |
| Multiple BO Server installations in one machine | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple SIA Nodes belonging to different clusters | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Web Intelligence Documents on Excel/TXT on Network Share | Yes | No | No | No |
Table 1: Feature differences as of BI 4.1 SP06
Are there any features supported on *nix and not on Windows?
The only disadvantage seems to be related to the ability of Installing multiple BO servers in one single machine.
Can I have a mix deployment?
Yes, this is possible.
Ressources:
https://apps.support.sap.com/sap/support/pam
http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/1323391
http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/1636349
Deploying Lumira Server for BI Platform on Non Windows environment
http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/sbo41/en/sbo41sp6_bip_admin_en.pdf
1950735 - Support for multiple Service Intelligent Agent (SIA) Nodes connecting to different CMS Repositories
Creating a Webi doc off of an unmanaged Excel data source on a network share
Updates to this document:
If you would like to make any enhancement/amend to this document, feel free to edit the document directly, I have made it open for the SCN community to collaborate.