How to replace the default image in Hyperion EPM Logon screen

Oracle EPM’s login page comes with the Oracle logo, which looks somewhat like the one shown in following figure. If you want to modify it to show your company’s logo, you can following the instruction to do so.

Create an image that that you like to have on the logon panel and name it “logon_panel.gif.”

Go to the following folder in the Oracle EPM Home directory -D:\oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1\common\epmstatic\bpmui\themes.

We need to place the “logon_panel.gif” file that we created earlier under each of the folders. I will show the first one.

Go to D:\oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1\common\epmstatic\bpmui\themes\theme_fusionfx\images_global.

Offer: Save $100 on this HP Desktop, refurbished by the Geek Squad Replace the “logon_panel.gif” that is already in this folder with the one that you recently created.

Do the same with the other two folders: “theme_tadpole” and “theme_tadpole_hc”

Clear your browser cache.

You do not need to restart EPM. 

LCM and the magic of 7-zip

LCM is a great tool in the EPM world in terms of migrating artifacts from one environment to another, however, it being a real world, we know it is not perfect to the core. Moreover, when it comes to migrating reports from one environment to another, owing to the long, crazy, weird hard-to-remember paths that 

Hyperion is used to, we get those errors while trying to copy the “EXPORT FOLDER IN SOURCE ENVIRONMENT” to “IMPORT FOLDER IN TARGET ENVIRONMENT.” I think you understand what I mean, right, if you are used to LCM and those errors.

This is where 7-zip comes in handy. Windows comes with its very own Win-Zip, however, I am not a huge fan of it. 7-zip is a free tool and, I believe, it works a lot better when it comes to zipping the Hyperion kind-of files.

This is how it can be used in the process of LCM.

When you perform an LCM export in the source environment, a folder is created in the IMPORT-EXPORT folder.

For example, if you have performed an LCM export with the ADMIN account and named the export “REPORT 2013” the following would be the path/file you would be looking for –

\\Server\d$\oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\import_export\admin@Native Directory\REPORT 2013.

Here is the trick now. If you try to copy the folder “REPORT 2013” directly to the target environment, you can get errors, such as “file too long” OR “permission related” etc. This is where you can use 7-zip. As I have already mentioned earlier, it is free to download, and it takes only a minute or so to install it. Zip the “REPORT 2013” folder, and copy the “zipped” folder and paste it to the target IMPORT-EXPORT folder. Now you go to the target server and unzip it, and there you go, you have the files, ready to be imported in the target environment. 

SendTo folder in Windows Server 2008 R2

SendTo folder comes in pretty handy when it comes to running Maxl and ESSCMD scripts in the Oracle Essbase environment and several other regular activities such as sending Mails, zipping, etc.

While some are there in the SendTo folder by default, ESSCMD, Maxl, etc should be added manually in the SendTo folder before we can use it.

If you are looking for “how to add items to the SendTo folder” follow the instructions below. In this example, I am going to add ESSCMD and ESSMSH (Maxl) to the SendTo folder. You can add other elements in the 2008 R2 environment in the same way.

NOTE: SentTo folder is located in C:\Users\whatever_your_username_is\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows and the AppData folder is “HIDDEN” by default,

therefore,

if you do not see the AppData folder under “whatever_your_username_is”

a. GOTO > Control Panel > Folder Options

b. Under the VIEW tab, click the Radio Button “Show hidden files, folders, and drives” > Apply

Now,

a. Navigate through C:\Users\whatever_your_username_is\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows and you will be able to see the SendTo folder.

b. Next, find the ESSCMD and ESSMSH (Maxl) – both .exe files. The path should be something like “D:\oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1\products\Essbase\EssbaseServer\bin”

c. Copy them under the SendTo folder and you are all set.

Now, if you have a Maxl or Esscmd script that you want to run, you can just right-click it and SentTo proper file type.

Hyperion Planning Application Definition

If you had to create exact replica of a Hyperion Planning Application, knowing how to check Application definition of your planning apps comes in very handy.

For example, if you want to know what PlanTypes your planning application has or what kind of Weekly distribution has been set or if your planning application has been set for Multi-currency or not, etc can come very handy.

This is how you can achieve this using Hyperion Shared Services.

The steps:
1. Log in to Hyperion Shared Services.

2. Under "APPLICATION MANAGEMENT" expand
                 Application Groups
                           Planning. (You will see the list of all planning applications that you have)

3. Choose the application by clicking it.

4. On the right, under "ARTIFACT LIST" expand
                  Configuration
                            Properties (You will see "Application Definition" and "Application Settings")
5. Right-click "Application Definition" and "Export to Edit."

6. It will prompt you to SAVE the file in your local drive. The file extension is XPAD, which you can open using any text editor, such as NotePad or TextPad. You can also open it in Excel as "an XML table." In fact, you can open it in Excel and create a table of all your applications for easy access. 

The content of an XPAD file would look something like this - where you would get all the information that you would require to create a planning replica application:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

 <application datasource="Candy" instanceName="Default" name="Sample" description="Candy application" project="Planning" calculationModule="BUSINESS_RULE" >

 <PlanningAppType>GENERAL</PlanningAppType>

 <Calendar>

 <BaseTimePeriod>12 Months</BaseTimePeriod>

 <WeeksDistribution>445</WeeksDistribution>

 <AppStartYear>2012</AppStartYear>

 <FiscalYearStartDate>SameCalendarYear</FiscalYearStartDate>

 <StartMonth>Jan</StartMonth>

 <NumberOfYear>9</NumberOfYear>

</Calendar>

 <Currencies>

 <DefaultCurrency>USD</DefaultCurrency>

 <MultiCurrency>N</MultiCurrency>

</Currencies>

 <PlanTypes>

 <ValidForPlan1>Y</ValidForPlan1>

 <Plan1Name>Candy</Plan1Name>

 <ValidForPlan2>N</ValidForPlan2>

 <ValidForPlan3>N</ValidForPlan3>

 <ValidForPlan4>N</ValidForPlan4>

 <ValidForPlan5>N</ValidForPlan5>

</PlanTypes>

</application>

How to check and see if Oracle Account is expired, locked, or open

In the EPM world, things are tricky sometimes because of too many things inter-related for the EPM system to work as a whole.

It comprises of several things
     The EPM System itself which is made up of several things - the most common, for example, being, Shared Services, Foundation, Essbase, Planning, plus the reporting and analysis tools - the financial reporting studio and web analysis. Then we have the Print services which seems very trivial but of equal importance and the Ghostscript (at least in the 11.1.2. version).
     Then, we have Smartview or Excel add-in and Web Logic
      Last but not the least, one of the most important piece of software - the database. We have the 11G in this case.

While working in the EPM environment, a slight issue in any of the above-mentioned area can lead up to errors, and because of the magnanimity of the EPM structure, the numbers of log files it creates, and the hard-to-remember path, it is sometimes a pain-in the-neck to resolve the issue.

Let me share this. Our secondary system was working fine and suddenly, one fine morning, while trying to pull up a financial report in workspace, it threw out an error. After having checked all the logs, checking the documentation, and doing some GOOGLE, we came to find out that the BIPLUS account password had expired. We never knew that those passwords would expire. It took so long to find out the cause of the error, however, after getting the information regarding the password expiry, all we had to do was set the password again and we were ready to rock.

In such cases, it is handy to check and see if any of the Oracle user accounts have expired. This is how you do it.
Open SQLPLUS.
Enter admin Username and ENTER
Enter password and ENTER
Now on the SQL> prompt, you can type in the command:
           SELECT username, account_status
           FROM dba_users;
It will give you a list of USERNAMEs and ACCOUNT_STATUS
ACCOUNT_STATUS will be OPEN, EXPIRED, or EXPIRED & LOCKED

How to change Essbase INDEX and PAGING file location

When we create Essbase cube, the INDEX (.ind) and PAGING (.pag) files are by default created under the app-database directory. For example, if you have Essbase installed in “D” drive, and if I have an application.database named Khoonks.Nirmal, the INDEX and PAGING files would be located under \\servername\d$\HYPERION\ESSBASE\app\Khoonks\Nirmal.

The names of the files would be NIRMAL.IND and NIRMAL.PAG.

It is not a problem in the initial stages, however, as the database size keeps on increasing, it takes longer during database restructure, outline changes, calculations, etc. Therefore, it is a good idea to change the location of the INDEX and PAGING files.

This is how you can change the storage location. 

In this example, we are changing the location from “D” to “E” drive.

1             Export the database.

2             Clear ALL DATA.

3             Modify the database location.  

a.       Right-click the database -> Edit -> Properties. You will see DATABASE PROPERTIES dialog.

b.      Click on STORAGE tab.

c.       Under “DISK VOLUME” you will see text “Click here to add.” Click it.

d.      From the DROP-DOWN, choose E.

e.      Click “SET.” “APPLY” “CLOSE”

4            Restart the application.

5            Load data from the export you did in step 1.

6           Check the new STORAGE location by Right-clicking the database -> Edit -> Properties. You can see the     new file location – path like \\servername\e$\Hyperion\Essbase\APP\Khoonks\Nirmal

7            Agg the database.

Migrate Substitution Variables

We can migrate substitution variables from one environment to another by using the EAS console. Say for example, that you want to copy substitution variables from Development to Production environment.

These are the steps that you can follow:

1         Log in to EAS.
2.       On the navigation panel, expand Enterprise View > Essbase Servers > Server_name (for example EssbaseCluster-1, or whatever server name you have).
3.       Right-click the Server > Edit > Variables.
4.       On the right, you will see a list of all the Substitution variables in the environment. You can see columns – Application, database, variable, Value.
5.       Choose the one(s) that you would like to migrate. You can make use or CTRL / SHFT key to make multiple selection.
6.       Click the “COPY” tab.
7.       A “Copy Substitution Variables” window pops open.
8.       Choose the following

a.       Under Essbase Server, choose the target Server from the drop-down.

b.      Under Application, choose application from the drop-down.

c.       Under Database, choose database from the drop-down.

d.      You can see check boxes under the “COPY” column.

e.      Check the ones that you want to COPY.

f.        Check the “Overwrite existing variables” check box if you want to overwrite the existing variables.

g.       Click OK.

h.      You are all set. Check and verify that the variables have migrated and are available in the target environment.

Deprovision users using LCM

If we come across a situation where we have to deprovision users in Hyperion Shared Services, we can use the LCM tool to do so. If it is a matter of deprovisioning only one or two users, we can do it manually, however, if it has to do with a lot of users, the LCM deprovisioning comes in pretty handy. It works the same as regular LCM, however, with the DELETE option while importing provisioning.

Here is a step-by-step guide to deprovision users in a planning application in bulk.

In source EPM environment, log on to Shared Services.

Perform an LCM export >

Application Management

                Foundation

                           Shared Services

                                    Native Directory > Assigned Roles > Planning > Application (check this)

Execute Migration to a File System. Name it “SAMPLE” (just an example)

The Migration Wizard box (as shown below) has several steps such as Source, Source Option, Destination Option, Summary, etc. Fill them out as per requirement.

The execution of Migration exports the migration file to the Import-Export folder. If you navigate in to the Import-Export folder, you can see a folder which looks something like "USER@NATIVEDIRECTORY" or "USER@ACTIVE_DIRECTORY_NAME," etc. The export folder is created under the "user" who performed the migration. Same holds true in target environment.

We can view "Migration Status Report" under "Administration" in the menu bar in order to check the status of migration.

Open the file that is created after the export process. I prefer MS Excel for this.

Modify the file such that you will have only rows containing the users that you want deprovisioned. It means you need to delete the rows that contain the users/groups that you still would like to be provisioned after the process.

Save the file.

Move the file to the Import-Export folder in the target server, ie., where you have Shared Services installed. The path is usually "\oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\import_export" however, you may have different path as per your organization policies or whoever installed EPM in your organization.

Log on to Shared Services in target environment.



Perform LCM import from the File System by choosing “SAMPLE” from under File System in Shared Services. 

SAMPLE is created after the LCM export that you have performed earlier. If you do not see it, click “REFRESH” just below “File” on the top left corner of the screen/HSS menu.

On the right, expand “Native Directory” till you get to the application name. Check.

Click “Define Migration” and keep going.

On the “Migration Wizard” window, under “Destination Options” you will see “Import Operation Type” followed by a drop down. Choose “Delete” and click NEXT.

Execute Migration.

Log on to Planning, and refresh security filters.

The users you wanted deprovisioned should be gone by now.

How to rename PlanType (database) name in Hyperion Planning

Say you have a Hyperion Planning application “Candy” with Plan Types “PlanType2,” “PlanType3,” and your main database “NYC.”

However, you need are told to rename “NYC” to “Handy” so that the App-DB name would be Candy-Handy.

This is how you can achieve this.

Before making any changes, however, make sure that you have stopped all the Services on the app server. Not doing so may lock tables.

After stopping the services, log on to Oracle SQL Developer (I have Oracle 11G and SQL Developer). You log on to what DB you use.

Find the HSP_OBJECT table for the Schema User used for the Application Candy. Mine is called Candy_adm. So, I choose the HSP_OBJECT table under user Candy_adm.

In the HSP_OBJECT table, under column OBJECT_NAME, find the old database name that you want to rename. In this case, since, I have three plan types (NYC for PlanType1, and PlanType2 and PlanType3), they fall under column OBJECT_ID – 100, 101, and 102.

Rename NYC to Handy as you want the new database to be Handy. Save

Now, open table HSP_PLAN_TYPE.

Rename NYC to Handy. Save.

If you already have the old database (NYC) created in Essbase, go to EAS console and rename the name of the database as well.

Start EPM services in the app server (the ones that you had stopped).

Open the planning application Candy. You should be able to see the Handy database name instead of NYC.

Refresh DATABASE so that you have it in Essbase as well.

Hyperion Planning Naming Restrictions

While working with Hyperion Planning applications, be it creating applications, outlines, dimensions, members, developing calculation scripts or formulas, or performing administrative works in Planning on a day to day basis, it is a good idea to know about some restrictions that Planning has.

Application/database naming convention

                Unicode-mode application/database – no more than 30 characters

                Non-unicode mode application/database – no more than 8 bytes

                No spaces

                No special characters such as, asterisks, backslashes, brackets, colons, commas, equal signs,      greater than or less than signs, periods, plus signs, question marks, quotation marks, semicolons, slashes, tabs, or vertical bars.

                No extended characters except for underscores for Planning application names in relational database environments

                No DEFAULT, LOG, METADATA, or TEMP as application names in ASO databases.

Dimension, Members, Aliases, and Data Forms

                Unicode-mode dimensions, members, or aliases – no more than 80 characters

                Non-unicode mode dimensions, members, or aliases – no more than 80 bytes

                Distinguish between upper and lower case only if case sensitivity is enabled.

                No HTML tags in members names, dimension names, aliases and descriptions

                No quotation marks, brackets, backslashes, or tabs. Though permitted, brackets are not recommended in BSO outlines. Cause error when converting to ASO outlines.

Do not use the following characters to begin dimension/member names: at signs, backslashes, brackets, commas, dashes, hyphens, equal or less than signs, parenthesis, periods, plus signs, quotation marks, underscores or vertical bars

Do not place spaces at the beginning or end of names as Essbase ignores such spaces

Do not use forward slashes in member names.

No spaces in prefixes for time periods in custom calendars

For member/dimension names, do not use: Calculation script commands, operators, and keywords, report writer commands, Function names and function arguments, Names of other dimension members, unless shared, and generation names, level names, and aliases in the database.

In case Dynamic Time Series is enabled, do not use History, Year, Season, Period, Quarter, Month, Week, or Day.

Planning User Names

                Can be up to 80 characters long

Hyperion Planning Utilities

Hyperion Planning comes loaded with several utilities that come in very handy. Knowledge about what those utilities are, what they do, how to use them, the proper syntax to run them can be of huge benefit during routine as well as ad hoc activities in the EPM world.

In regards to the EPM 11.1.2.1 version, the Utilities reside in the Planning1 directory (default) in the application server where you have Planning installed and configured. In my case, the folder is \\appserver\d$\oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\Planning\planning1. It might be different depending on how you have configured Planning.

Here, I have tried to list some of the utilities that are available in the Planning1 folder and a brief description regarding what they do. If you are interested to know more about any of them, Oracle document library is a great resource. I have also written blogs on some of those utilities. So you can feel free to search for them.

Note: Most of the utilities (may be all) are case sensitive, so please take great care during type those commands and their syntax.

OutlineLoad.cmd – The mother of all the processes to load metadata in Hyperion Planning, this is a very handy utility using which you can load metadata in Planning application. CSV, TXT files can be used to for default dimensions as well as user-defined dimensions, attributes, and UDAs. Make sure the metadata or data file is formatted correctly.

The following is a common syntax. It has some other parameters as well.

OutlineLoad [/S:server] /A:application /U:userName [/E:outputFileName] [/I:inputFileName/D[U]:loadDimensionName|/DA:attributeDimensionName:baseDimensionName][/X:exceptionFileName] [L:logFileName]

FormDefUtil.cmd – The form definition utility comes in very handy if you want to export the forms in planning application and import in a different target environment, for example, export-import between development and production, or so forth. You can export either a single form or all the forms in a planning application. It creates an XML file(s) which you can use to import in the target environment.

Syntax

FormDefUtil.cmd export Name_of_Form servername username Application_Name.

In case you are exporting all the forms, replace “Name_of_Form” with “-all” and in case you are importing, replace “export” with “import.”

ExportSecurity.cmd and ImportSecurity.cmd – By using the ExportSecurity utility in conjunction with ImportSecurity.cmd, we can export and import access permissions across applications. Running this utility creats a secfile.txt file which can be used to import security in the target environment or application. Before running the ImportSecurity.cmd utility, we need to edit the secfile.txt file to make sure we have the right names.

The syntax for ExportSecurity.cmd is

ExportSecurity.cmd /A=Application_Name,/U=admin_username (can use other parameters as per need)

For example, If the name of the application is khoonks and username is nirmal, the syntax would look something like:
ExportSecurity.cmd /A=khoonks,/U=nirmal (you can add other parameters as required)

The default location where the resulting secfile is created is what we call the "bin" folder. The location in 11.1.2.1 (my environment) is oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\Planning\planning1.

We can specify the output file name/location by using the parameter "TO_FILE"
In the following example,
username is nirmal, application is khoonks, and we would like to export the resulting security file to a file named "mysec.txt" in E:\my_folder.
So the syntax would be something like:
ExportSecurity.cmd /A=khoonks,/U=nirmal,/TO_FILE=E:\\my_folder\\mysec

Moreover, we can also use the (-f) option to encrypt the password while doing the security export. In this case the syntax of a batch script to call the ExportSecurity.cmd would look something like:

call D:\oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\Planning\planning1\ExportSecurity.cmd -f:D:\oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\Planning\planning1\passwordFile /A=appname,/U=ADMIN,/TO_FILE=E:\\samplefolder\\subfolder\\mysec_secfile

The above script will create a file called mysec_secfile.txt inside the "subfolder" folder in the specified path. 

NOTE: In the above example, there is a space before "-f" and after "passwordFile"
The utility is very sensitive in terms of case and spaces. Therefore, make sure they are correct.

ImportSecurity.cmd “appname,username”
For example, if the app name is khoonks and username is nirmal, the syntax would be:
ImportSecurity.cmd "khoonks,nirmal"

ProvisionUsers.cmd – The provision users utility can be used to synchronize Planning users, groups, and roles in Shared Services console with Planning application and with Essbase.

Syntax is

ProvisionUsers /ADMIN:admin_user /A:Application_Name

SortMember.cmd – The sort member utility can be used to sort dimension members outside of Planning. This is an alternate for sorting members in Dimensions tab in Planning web. If you want to sort members without having to open planning, you can use this.

The syntax is

SortMember servername admin_username password Dimension member_name descendants ascend

Other parameters such as descend, etc can be used as per requirement.

Apart from these utilities, there are other utilities as well which can come in handy in Planning administrative job.

You can go and check the Planning1 folder to see and find out what the other utilities are and what they do.

FormDefUtil.cmd – a way to export and import Planning Forms

FormDefUtil is a pretty decent Planning utility that can be used to export planning data forms from one environment to another. Being a planning utility it resides in the Planning1 folder (at least in the 11.1.2 version of EPM).

Path - D:\oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\Planning\planning1.

In order to launch the FormDefUtil utility

            Open the command Prompt

            Go to the Planning1 folder where the FormDefUtil utility is.

From here you can either export or import forms by typing in the required syntax

If you want to export all the forms that you have you can type in

FormDefUtil export –all server username application (FormDefUtil export -all localhost admin sampleapp)

If you want to export only one form, you can type in

FormDefUtil export FormName server username application (FormDefUtil export retirement localhost admin sampleapp)

The above export command creates an XML file that you can import in a different environment.

In order to import form in the target planning app, you can type in

FormDefUtil import –all server username application (FormDefUtil import -all localhost admin sampleapp)

SOME MORE

All forms within an application:
FormdefUtil.cmd export -all localhost khoonks (username here) normal (application name here)

it will ask for password

One form that you want to export:
For example, if you want to export a form named "Other Expenses" from the "normal" application, the syntax would be 

FormdefUtil.cmd export "Other Expenses" localhost khoonks normal

It will ask for password.


After the execution of the script, the output fill will be seen in the Planning1 folder > D:\oracle\Middleware\user_projects\epmsystem1\Planning\planning1. 
Output is an XML file and it is something like "Other Expenses - Capital.xml"

In order to import only one app, you can type in

FormDefUtil import filenamepluslocationoffile server username application (FormDefUtil import formname.xml localhost admin sampleapp)

After you run the command, if it asks for the password, type in the password and wait for it to run.

There are other parameters that you can use with the FormDefUtil utility. You can refer to http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E17236_01/epm.1112/hp_admin/frameset.htm?ch12s06s04.html for more information.

During the budget preparation for the next year, we had a requirement where we had to delete the SUPPORTING DETAILS that were entered in Planning Data Forms.

It was not simply deleting all the details but we had to “wipe out everything from some of the supporting detail forms” where we had to “delete only the numbers and keep the description in some of the supporting detail reports.”

Well, in this case, there are two different options that came to my mind.

1                1. Use the “Clear Cell Details” options in Workspace. Administration -> Manage -> Clear Cell Details and specify the Plan Type and dimensions.

2                2. Use SQL script.

I thought about using the first option to start with, and I cleared the cell details using the Workspace. However, it wiped away the descriptions as well. So, it was not the proper method of clearing cell details in this case.

Therefore, I chose to use the second option of running the SQL script. The following Oracle link is where you can look to see how to “clear cell details.”

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17236_01/epm.1112/hp_admin/ch10s04s02.html

This document mentions two different SQL scripts – “sddelete.sql” and “aadelete.sql” and these can be found under the Hyperion home path D:\oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1\products\Planning\config\sql.

By modifying the script as per our need and running the script, we were able to delete only the data in the supporting detail forms without having to delete the description.

If you have similar kind of situation, you can use the two scripts in order to delete supporting details.

TNS:could not resolve the connect identifier specified – ORA 12154

I was trying to load some data and each time I ran the SQL script, I got the message “ORA 12154 TNS:could not resolve the connect identifier specified.” Since, I am not on the Oracle side but rather on the Hyperion side, some research regarding “TNS names” and the “ORA 12154” error helped me solve the problem. The reason I am entering this on my blog is because it might be helpful to folks who come across the same issue.

The above error can be seen for various reasons as per documents:

                a. Oracle net libraries not being able to get the TNS alias from “TNSNAMES.ORA” file.

                b. Something is wrong with the way the alias is created in the “TNSNAMES.ORA” file, such as   incorrect syntax.

                c. TNS alias could not be resolved into a connect adapter.

There are several things we need to check and make sure they are correct.

1. Verify that the TNSNAMES.ORA file has the "service name" and "alias" that are being used. In my case, the path to the file is \\SERVER\D$\oracle\database\product\11.2.0\client_1\network\admin

2. Take a look at a file SQLNET.ORA in \\SERVER\D$\oracle\database\product\11.2.0\client_1\network\admin folder and make sure that you have TNSNAMES in NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH.

For example:

NAMES.DIRECTORY_PATH= (TNSNAMES, EZCONNECT)

3. Try and see if  you can log in to Oracle using SQL developer, SQL PLUS or any other tool that you use in your environment.

4. Ensure that the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE "PATH" has the path for the TNSNAMES.ORA file specified.

If you are not sure how to check the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE "PATH", - in Windows XP
a. Start -> My Computer -> Right Click -> Properties.
b. Click the ADVANCE tab and then ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
c. Under "SYSTEM VARIABLES" you will see a bunch of "varialbes" and "values" They should be in alphabetical order. Key in "P" to get to the variables starting with "P"
d. When you get the "PATH" click the EDIT tab.
e. You will see a lot of paths here. The easiest way to view is to copy and paste it to a word processor such as Notepad or Textpad, whatever you prefer or have.
f. Check and see if the path to TNSNAMES.ORA is specified here.
g. Also ensure that you have the path for Oracle_Home specified.
h. One thing very tricky about the PATH that I have noticed is that even when you have the path specified, it does not work. In that case, if your variable path is towards the end of the path, try to move it towards the beginning. I am not sure if it is a glitch or if there is restriction in the number of letters, but I have noticed quite a few times when it worked by moving the path towards the beginning.
i. Another interesting and sometimes confusing issue is that sometimes we happen to have the Client installed more than once and the path points to the wrong one. This is also sometimes an issue. So make sure that you have the path of the right one.
j. Check the registry for Oracle_Home (the value). If you are not sure how to check it.
          a. Start command prompt. START -> RUN -> Type in "REGEDIT" and hit enter. You will see the REGISTRY EDITOR screen.
          b. On the left pane -> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE\ORACLE\Key_OraClient11g_home1. On the right pane, you will see the path. Ensure they are correct.
k. Check entry for TNS_ADMIN in the registry editor: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE\ORACLE. If it is there make sure it has the right path: ...client1\network\admin. If it is not there, create one.
i. If you think you have more than one instance of Oracle client, you can check if there are more in the registry editor: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ORACLE\ALL_HOMES\HOME_COUNTER.

After ensuring all of the things specified above are correct try to run the SQL script, it should work unless there are some other issues with the system.

Cannot log in to EAS - Java related

If you are not able to launch the EAS console from your Workstation, these are some of the steps that you could follow. For example, when you try to launch EAS you might get a box that would tell you to save/open the file called EASCONSOLE.JNLP.

You can do a couple of things in this situation.

1. Make sure that you have the right version of Java installed.

2. Save the EASCONSOLE.JNLP file somewhere on your computer. Right-click the file and click OPEN WITH ->CHOOSE PROGRAM.

3. Browse and choose the javaws.exe file. The path in my case is C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin.

4. Check “Always use the selected program to open this kind of file”

5. Click OK.

6. Try to open your EAS console, and you should be able to log in now.

Also some other things to be noted.

1. Go to your control panel and open JAVA.

2. Click the JAVA tab and VIEW.

3. Make sure that the proper version is enabled.

Ports that come in handy in the Hyperion ecosystem

Ports are very important in the use of any application, especially the complex systems such as the EPM System. For example, if you had to type in the URL to access a Workspace, you are typing in the Port as well apart from the Server where the Workspace resides. The concept of Port is even more important if you are doing an EPM installation/configuration. Because we use several different Ports during EPM deployment, knowledge about what Port the different products in the EPM family use becomes very handy.

I have provided the following information regarding the Ports in accordance to system 11.1.2.1. Even though it may hold true to other versions as well, please do refer to manuals as per the version you are using for accuracy.

WebLogic Administration Server Port     7001

Foundation Services

1. Listen Port                                  28080

1. SSL Listen Port                          28443

Web Server Ports

1. Oracle HTTP Server                  19000

1. IIS                                              80

Performance Management Architecture Web Application

1. Listen Port                 19091

1. SSL Listen Port         19047

Performance Management Architecture Server         5251
Default Web Server Port           80 (HTTP) or 443 (IIS)
Essbase Ports

1. Essbase Agent                                                 1423

1. Essbase Server Applications                            32768 - 33768

1. Essbase SSL Agent                                         6423

1. Oracle Essbase Integration Services Server      3388

Administration Services Web Application

1. Listen Port               10080

1. SSL Listen Port       10083

Provider Services

1. Listen Port              13080

1. SSL Listen Port      13083

Essbase Studio Ports

1. Listen                     5300

1. HTTP Listen Port   9080

Reporting and Analysis Framework Web Application Ports

1. Listen Port              4500

1. SSL Listen Port      4504

Reporting and Analysis Framework Agent             6860
Reporting and Analysis Framework Services         6800-6805
Financial Reporting Ports

1. Listen Port               8200

1. SSL Listen Port       8243

Financial Reporting Print Service                 8297
Financial Reporting Scheduler Service          8299
Web Analysis Ports

1. Listen Port                     16000

1. SSL Listen Port             16045

Planning Ports

1. Listen Port                   8300

1. SSL Listen Port           8343

When an application is accessible via a network it means that it is using a TCP/IP port. When a port is used by an application, it cannot be used by another one. Even during installation/deployment, we will get an error message stating that a particular port is being used by another application. Therefore, the skill to find out what port is being used by what application comes in very handy.
If you want to find out what is using a specific Port, you can open the COMMAND PROPMT and type in

"netstat -aon | more"

or if you know the Port number, you can type in something liek "netstat -aon findstr "6800""

This way you will be able to find out what is being used, whether a particular port is listening, etc.