Installation of EPM 11.1.1.1.0 - hints and pitfalls

Question

Hi EPM 11.1.1.1.0 installer guys ,
First of all I would like to note that I have spanned a lot of hours during the last weeks in trying (and failing) a successful installation of EPM 11x.
I will not talk much about the first version - forgot about it.
However installing the latest version 11.1.1.1.0 can be (and in fact is) a challenge; especially for people who have never tried it before.
I do think it's fair to not tell you about all the trouble, wrong assumptions and frustration I had to walked through.
So simple let me rather know you about some pitfalls and how you can work around them.
Please note (that maybe important) that all things I'm talking about here are relating to the following prerequisites:
A) PC: WinXP, SP2, 4GB RAM, x.x MHz, dual core HT, Repository-DB Ora11gR1
B) VMWare: Win2003 Server, 4GB RAM, x.x MHz, dual core HT,Repository-DB Ora11gR1
Download from: [http://edelivery.oracle.com/]
<ol><li>Not all download files are included in the .1 -Version. For the HPS source for example you have to look into the download area of .0- version
</li>
<li>The uninstaller does not work properly. This is a known bug. So if you want to step back or repeat the installation from the same basis as before, or for any other reason if you want to get your system back in a clean pre-installation condition - take a backup of your entire system (snap shot, image or what ever). It's worth the effort!
</li>
<li>A installation of EPM and Ora11gR1 on the same hardware is possible but I would not recommend it.
</li>
<li>I had the effect that during the installation process and more during the configuration and deployment the Ora11gR1 consumed more then 50% of CPU and sometimes increases up to 100% whiteout any obviously reason. So during the entire EPM installation process when ever you don't need the DB alive shut it down and start it only when needed. If you are unsure about that rather let it be, however the installation will take (very) significant more time.
</li>
<li>I have found instructions in the web where a installation of the EPM Oracle-DB site components are described as the user SYSTEM. This is an absolutely no-go! NEVER do install anything into the SYSTEM-Schema of a Oracle-DB. Before you start the EPM installation process prepare your Oracle-Schema initially. You can find a sample DDL script at the end of my posting.
</li>
<li>It seems to be best to install and configure all needed components in one round. This is an important difference to the .0 version where you run in trouble when doing so. Since in version 0 exactly this caused an error. I tried to avoid this in version 1. But in version 1 you now run into trouble when you stripe the installation into two courses (one for Ssh only and the other for the rest). However, if you want (or have to) to split the installation into single tasks or if you want to install a component later on, you will run into the error that the OpenLDAP service disappears. First (during the x+1 installation) it is being set to "Disabled, and after the next reboot it is no longer there. You can reload it to the services with the following command, to be execute in the OpenLDAP directory (&lt;drive&gt;:\Hyperion\products\Foundation\openLDAP).
     slapd.exe install OpenLDAP-slapd "Hyperion Foundation OpenLDAP"
     When you are done with that check the services and manually set the start property to "Automatic" (if you want it starting automatically) . Please note that in version 1 you have to repeat this every time when you install an EPM-component.
</li>
<li>And yet, before you move your hands in order to start the installation - stop ! Take a breake and the time to read the manuals first.
</li>
</ol>
I hope this can help you to make your installation successful !
Warm Regards
Andre
DDL-Script for creating the EPM-Repository-Schema in a Oracle 11gR1 DB:
Connect as SYS (DBA) and run this script:
If you would like to use a separate table space (and not the common USERS) for you EPM data create one (or kindly ask your DBA) and customize it in the script.
CREATE USER EPMREP
IDENTIFIED BY EPMREP
DEFAULT TABLESPACE USERS
TEMPORARY TABLESPACE TEMP
PROFILE DEFAULT
ACCOUNT UNLOCK;
-- 1 Role for EPMREP
GRANT CONNECT TO EPMREP;
ALTER USER EPMREP DEFAULT ROLE ALL;
-- 12 System Privileges for EPMREP
GRANT CREATE SYNONYM TO EPMREP;
GRANT ALTER SESSION TO EPMREP;
GRANT CREATE VIEW TO EPMREP;
GRANT CREATE SESSION TO EPMREP;
GRANT CREATE SEQUENCE TO EPMREP;
GRANT CREATE PROCEDURE TO EPMREP;
GRANT ALTER USER TO EPMREP;
GRANT CREATE TRIGGER TO EPMREP;
GRANT CREATE TABLE TO EPMREP;
GRANT SELECT ANY DICTIONARY TO EPMREP;
GRANT CREATE TYPE TO EPMREP;
GRANT ALTER SYSTEM TO EPMREP;
-- should be revoked after Installation of EPM
-- REVOKE ALTER SYSTEM TO EPMREP;
-- 1 Tablespace Quota for EPMREP
ALTER USER EPMREP QUOTA UNLIMITED ON USERS;

Answer 1

Hi all,
After posting the stuff above I had to notice, that it seems to be impossible to make the Essbase Studio running with an Oracle DB back end. I have checked a lot of hints and variation in essbase.properties and server.properties under the Essbase Studio path.
There seems to be a serious problem during the connection process to the DB.
Via a logon trigger I was able to prove that a connection is established,
however every time there comes a error message saying that a table is not there.
If someone has the same problem, please post it too.
If someone was able to make it work - even better, please let me (and others) know how to make it right.
Thank you!
Andre
PS:
This it what I get when I try to start
Essbase Studio Server.:
D:\Hyperion\products\Essbase\EssbaseStudio\Server&gt;startServer.batD:\Hyperion\products\Essbase\EssbaseStudio\Server&gt;setlocalD:\Hyperion\products\Essbase\EssbaseStudio\Server&gt;set
CONFIGTOOL_HOME="D:\Hyperion\common\config\9.5.0.0"D:\Hyperion\products\Essbase\EssbaseStudio\Server&gt;call
""D:\Hyperion\common\config\9.5.0.0"\setJavaRuntime.bat"Log file location is:D:\Hyperion\logs\esbstudio\server.log13:53:21 11/27/08 INFO
Starting up
13:53:21
11/27/08 INFO Oracle Essbase Studio Server. Version
11.1.1.1.00, Build 114, October 7 2008
13:53:23
11/27/08 (system) WARNING Failed to load driver for sap13:53:23 11/27/08 (system)
WARNING Failed to load driver for mysql
13:53:23
11/27/08 (system) SEVERE Cannot load Netezza connector13:53:23 11/27/08 (system)
WARNING Failed to load driver for netezza
13:53:23
11/27/08 (system) SEVERE Cannot establish connection to Oracle
server
13:53:23
11/27/08 (system) SEVERE Cannot establish connection to Oracle
server
13:53:23
11/27/08 (system) SEVERE Cannot initialize catalog storage.
Make sure that server.properties has correct information
-------------- Exception
com.hyperion.cp.catalog.exceptions.CatalogInitializationException:
catalog.CatalogInitializationException.StorageInitializationFailure
at
com.hyperion.cp.catalog.storage.StorageFactory.getStorageInstance(StorageFactory.java:155) at
com.hyperion.cp.catalog.transaction.TransactionManager.initialize(TransactionManager.java:64) at
com.hyperion.cp.catalog.Catalog.initialize(Catalog.java:98) at
com.hyperion.cp.catalog.Catalog.initialize(Catalog.java:156) at
com.hyperion.cp.catalog.Catalog.&lt;init&gt;(Catalog.java:85) at
com.hyperion.cp.catalog.Catalog.&lt;clinit&gt;(Catalog.java:73) at
java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
at java.lang.Class.forName(Unknown
Source)
at
com.hyperion.cp.catalog.CatalogInitializer.run(CatalogInitializer.java:54) at
com.hyperion.cp.server.RequestListener$SystemTask.run(RequestListener.java:1302) at
com.hyperion.cp.server.RequestListener.runSystemTask(RequestListener.java:167) at
com.hyperion.cp.server.RequestListener.&lt;init&gt;(RequestListener.java:129) at
com.hyperion.cp.server.ServerMain.main(ServerMain.java:202)Caused by:
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
at
sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method) at
sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Unknown Source) at
sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Unknown
Source)
at
java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Unknown Source) at
com.hyperion.cp.catalog.storage.StorageFactory.getStorageInstance(StorageFactory.java:149) ...
12 more
Caused by:
com.hyperion.cp.catalog.exceptions.CatalogInitializationException: No
table EPMREP.CP_NONE_TRANSACTIONS found
at
com.hyperion.cp.catalog.storage.StorageEngine.validateSignature(StorageEngine.java:193) at
com.hyperion.cp.catalog.storage.StorageEngine.&lt;init&gt;(StorageEngine.java:87) at
com.hyperion.cp.catalog.storage.SQLStorageEngine.&lt;init&gt;(SQLStorageEngine.java:20) ...
17 more
----------------------------------------D:\Hyperion\products\Essbase\EssbaseStudio\Server&gt;