Connect SAP BO server to domain after the installation.

[peter_hvisc]

Hello,

I would like to ask if it is fine to connect SAP BO BI 4.x Windows host to the customer domain after the installation of SAP BO.

I was trying to find answer on this but nowhere is explicitly recommended to connect SAP BO host to domain before the installation.

My question is related to Windows AD Authentication where two conditions need to be secured:

1. Windows AD authentication only works if the CMS is run on Windows

2. These Windows machine must be joined to the appropriate AD domain

What I found till know is that you can use Windows AD Authentication only when SAP BO server is in domain.

What is concerning me is that when I start with installation of SAP BO on the server which is not connected to any domain then the installation process is taking during the installation actual hostname of the SAP BO server (e.g. boserver) automatically. There is no requirement or possibility to specify hostname or IP address manually during the installation process. And I assume that connecting SAP BO server to the domain after installation will cause that hostname will change (e.g. to boserver.domain.com).

So question is if this change will cause any issue for functionality of SAP BO application. If not could you please send me an official statement from SAP Note or any BO Documentation as I was not able to find any.

Thanks in advance for opinions and answers.

BR,

Peter

[Former Member]

Peter,

The hostname picked up by the install routine does not affect a later AD setup so it should not make any difference - i.e. you can join the domain after the install and then set up AD authentication.

If you want an "official" answer, read the AD SSO documentation.  the host name of the server doesn't come into it - it's all about the kerberos setup which only references the hostname in the SPN setup during the AD setup.

That said, why would you do that?  Joining a domain can affect permissions on the server and possibly network resolution so you should join the domain and then do the install.

Thanks,

Bill

[peter_hvisc]

Hi Bill,

thanks for reply. I spoke with couple of my colleagues which are supporting AD and yes I can agree with you that connecting server to the customer domain after the installation of BO can bring some limitation up to Domain policy.

Best practice in order to prevent possible issues is to join server to the domain before installation.

Another possible issue can be that some customers are using own naming convention for server's hostname so joining server to the customer domain is conditioned by a change of hostname and this can cause issue with correct functioning of BO application.

Thanks again for your opinion I really appreciate it.

Wish you a nice week.

BR,

Peter

[Former Member]

Hi Peter,

If BOE still works after joining the domain then so should AD authentication setup.

If however the hostname no longer resolves properly then you could have an issue.  In general the hostname isn't hard-coded anywhere and the SIA that starts all the services and they pick up the local name reported by the OS.  It's unlikely that the name resolution should no longer work (unless the hostname is actually changed).

You will find the hostname in the bootstrap file and the Tomcat applications properties files (for the initial CMS) but you should be OK I would say.

Thanks,
Bill