When "connection server" is used (SAP BO 4.0) ?

[Former Member]

Hello,

I created two BO Universe, one with a JDBC connection and the other with an ODBC connection.

I created two Webi report (one per universe)

If "Login server" and "server connection 32" is stopped, I can see my two reports, refresh, created instances without problem in connecting with the CMC ?

On the Official documentation  SAP BO 4.0, I saw that Normally when you open a Webi Report, Bo Webi report uses Engine QT.dll and "Connection Server" !

- Why do my reports always work when "Connection Server" is stopped?

- ODBC and JDBC connections they use the same server or service?

Thanks

[Matthew_Shaw · Accepted solution]

The Data Access Guide is actually extremely helpful at explaining this. Here’s an extract from pages 23/24 for the BI4 SP5 version (http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir4/en/xi4sp5_data_acs_en.pdf)

Connection Server can run in the following deployment modes:

•       Library mode (in-proc)
Connection Server is included in the client process. Most SAP BusinessObjects applications use Connection Server in library mode.

•       Server mode
Connection Server is a CORBA server and is accessed remotely. Connection Server serves the CORBA and HTTP clients to address the 2-tier and web tier deployment modes respectively.

Let me explain a bit about “Library” mode: Here the Connection Server component is loaded by a process (such as Web Intelligence Processing Server, or the Web Intelligence Rich Client) as a ‘.dll’ (for Windows) or ‘so’ (for Unix/Linux). If the process needs connectivity, it uses its local library, as long as the local library supports that form of connectivity and it’s allowed to do so due to security rights.

And “Server” mode: Here the Connection Server is exposed as a ‘CORBA service’ on the BI Platform.

What does this mean? Well let’s explain by way of example:

Web Intelligence Rich Client will use the ‘library’ mode (i.e. use its locally installed middleware) when you login to the BI Platform using ‘CORBA’ mode and the security right “Download connection locally" is granted. The Web Intelligence Rich Client will ask the server side ‘Connection Server’ to connect to the database for it, when you login using ‘http’ mode or when the connection cannot be downloaded because the security right “Download connection locally" is denied.

Other tools and server side processes also require the ‘server’ mode because the ‘thing’ doesn’t have connectivity loaded into it. For example when the Dashboard Servers are enabled, the Dashboard Processing Server will use the Connection Server. Crystal Reports will also require Connection Server for some forms of connectivity, but not all.

Here’s an extract from pages 24/25 for the same guide which explain the 3 types of connectivity services on the BI Platform:

Three Connection Server server instances come with the default BI platform installation. They are grouped under Connectivity Services in the Central Management Console (CMC).

Connection Server servers host the following services:

• Native Connectivity Service (64-bit)

• Native Connectivity Service (32-bit on MS Windows only)

The Adaptive Processing Server hosts the Adaptive Connectivity Service, which allows user applications to access Java-based data sources remotely.

When starting up, the Connectivity Services advertise the list of the data sources they support on the BI platform cluster, so that SAP BusinessObjects applications are able to look up and use the appropriate server instance. Applications look for data sources through Connection Server frst in library mode, then in the server mode.

Connection vs. Service

When Connection Server is used in library mode, the list of available data sources is defined by the data access drivers and middleware installed on the local machine. When Connection Server is used in server mode, the list of data sources also includes those supported by each server instance that runs on the back-end system of the BI platform.

Each server instance supports a subset of the data sources supported by the Data Access layer. The subset depends on the following parameters:

• The CS server implementation technology (C++ or Java)

• The host operating system (UNIX flavors or MS Windows)

• The drivers you can select when installing the BI platform

• The active data sources you can select for each server instance in the CMC

The following table describes which Connectivity Service each kind of connection can use.

(I can’t cut and paste the table!)

Example:

• A 64-bit native data source is Oracle database through Oracle OCI.

• A 32-bit native data source is MS Excel 2007 through ODBC.

• A Java-based data source is MS SQL Server 2008 R2 through JDBC

So, it depends on which form connectivity you’re using. Sometimes you can shutdown these ‘connectivity’ servers. And if you’re using certain tools in certain ways then you won’t need any server side ‘connectivity’ servers at all.

The documentation really has a good number of gems in it and well worth spending some time reviewing.

My advise is to disable the connectivity services and thoroughly test all workflows before disabling the same services in production. There's also no harm leaving them enabled and running, unless you're short of RAM or CPU power!

Hopefully this has answered your question?

Regards

Matthew

[former_member224263 · Accepted solution]

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for this explanation. I am testing the connectivity services and cannot get it to work, as soon as I specify "Active Data Sources" in the properties they fail and do not start.

The cscheck mw is failing, but universe (unv) and reports work fine. It fails with:

     Begin AND operator...

          SystemRoot... success.

          C:\Windows\system32\odbc32.dll... success.

          Driver... success.

          Cannot find the file.

     End AND operator: failure

I would like to test the possibility to restrict universe developers and only let them create ODBC connections. For this I have also changed the CS.CFG file on the client machine and set Capabilities-Local-Active to No. But the connection services dont start and I am stuck here, any advice?

Thanks

Raoul

[Former Member]

This message was moderated.

[Former Member]

Hi,

BI 4.0 is 64 Bit architechture, so the webi services are 64 Bit and when you refresh the report webi server uses ConnectionServer(not the ConnectionServer32) to refresh the report which is the 64 Bit.

Regards,

Akhilesh

[former_member191664]

Hi,

The ConnectionServer32 is used for the 32-bit database connection while the BI4.x WIReportServer uses ConnectionServer (64-bit) QT.dll, and that is why stopping ConnectionServer32 does not stop you from refreshing the Webi report.

Regards,

Jin-Chong