BW Publisher Configuration in a BOE Cluster (Linux OS)

Question

I have a question about configuring BW Publisher service in  a BOE Cluster (with 2 servers).  The BOE cluster is on 64 bit Linux servers with Oracle db for CMS and Audit.
The BW publisher service on server 1 is configured to run against a SAP host (letu2019s say u2018host1u2019 and using SAP gateway, SAPGW00).  The command to configure BW Publishing service is,
$ ./bwcepub.sh 1 u2013a<Program ID> -g <hostname> -x<SAP Gateway>
After executing the BW Publisher script, the service is running fine. Further configuration on BW and BOE system is letting users publish Crystal reports from the CR 2008 to BW and then to BOE. No problems in that area.
However if a new SAP host has to be configured against the BW Publisher service (a different instance of BW Publisher service) on server 1 (scenario u2013 one BOE server with multiple SAP BW systems connected to it), what is the best process for BW Publisher service configuration?  Create one more instance of BW Publisher service with different Program ID and hostname?  I have tried this approach and got the following message:
WARNING: The BW publisher is already running as user bobjadm. Exiting...In order to run the publisher as the same user but from a different session, define variable BWCEPUB_PREFIX to something unique, e.g. session2_ so that the publisher can keep track of the different sessions. Once BWCEPUB_PREFIX is defined as a unique, non-empty string, re-run the publisher command.
Upon some search in the SAP notes, found the following workaround (which applies for Solaris OS).
The suggestion is to issue the command, export BWCEPUB_PREFIX=2, verify and re-issue the BW Publisher start command again.
However I am not sure if it will fix the issue.
Also, the 2 instances of BW Publisher service is running only on server 1 (pointing to 2 different hosts), server 1 is a single point of failure and what process should be implemented for fail over (so that server 2 can take the publishing load)?  I have checked the processes running on server 2 and do not see any running instances of BW Publisher service (which is configured and running fine on server 1).
To summarize u2013
(1)     What are best practices to run a BW publisher service in a BOE cluster?
(2)     What is process to setup fail over BW Publisher service in a BOE cluster?
(3)     Can 2 instances of BW Publisher service point to 2 different hosts? If so, what additional configuration is required   on BW and BOE servers?
Appreciate any info that you can share.  Thanks.

Answer 1

I have reviewed the SAP notes, and this is what is mentioned there:
There are two ways to accomplish this:
(Option 1) Install and use local SAP gateway on the Enterprise XI server and create an RFC destination to the first BW system as a publishing destination. Point the BW publishing service to the other BW system, create a RFC destination on this BW system, and reference itself as the gateway. This way, the SAP local gateway on the Enterprise XI server is pointing to one BW system and the BW publishing service is pointing to the other BW system.
- Option 1, as per the IK install guide, is not suggested as it might make the Linux/Unix system unstable.  Hence the only option left is to review otpion 2 below.
(Option 2 ) Reference the same SAP gateway for both RFC destinations. This means the RFC destinations created on the two BW systems are referencing one SAP gateway, which is referenced in the BW publishing service.
- This otpion can probably used however i would like to give the background again here.
When the BW publisher server was activated, the following command was issued.
$ ./bwcepub.sh 1 -a(prog id) -g(hostname) -x(sapgw00).
This configuration done later works perfectly fine for users to publish CR to BW and BOE. 
Then came the 2nd entitlement system and the following command was issued -
$ ./bwcepub.sh 2 -a(a new prog id) -g(a new hostname) -x(sapgw00).
This action triggered the error that i have captured in this thread originally.  However the work around suggested by the SAP note 1206631 needs to be tesed (option 2 above).
Question though - if the same GW host needs to configured for the 2nd entitlement system (as per the SAP notes workaround), the command looks like this:
./bwcepub.sh -a(a new progid -g(same hostname as the first server) -x(same SAP gateway as the first server).
is this correct?  i just want to make sure that BW one BOE system can have multiple entitlement systems connected to it (in Linux).    Any help / info towards this is highly appreciated.
Edited by: Srinivas Vankayala on Sep 10, 2009 7:40 PM