Migrating SAP BusinessObjects BI is not an easy task. One of our customers recently migrated SAP BusinessObjects from a data center located in one country to one in another country and we faced lots of issues. Initially we didn’t know how to start the SAP BusinessObjects migration project. The path became clearer when we read through various SAP Notes and documentation, but there was no single documentation source that gave us an overall picture. Thus, this article was born.

We migrated from AIX to Linux using the methods discussed in this article, with an Oracle database. In the following scenario we used Unix but the concept remains the same for Windows.

The first step is to check if the target environment is supported, by going to the Product Availability Matrix (PAM), which you can reach at: https://service.sap.com/PAM. PAM bundles technical and release-planning information for SAP software products for quick reference. For example, in the target environment we wanted to go with SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 Support Package 4 Patch 6, and we wanted to know if this version was supported by SAP BW 7.3.

PAM provides:

• A central access point for all SAP software product versions
• Reduction of the risks of late problem discovery
• Direct links to guides and further information

Our SAP BW version was 7.3 Support Package 4 and, after checking SAP documentation, we saw that the SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform 4.1 was supported. Also it’s possible to include a Support Package upgrade in the migration but it’s important to note that both source and target sources need to be on the same version or there will be problems during the use of Promotion Management and other areas such as reports and queries.

Table 1 shows what the source environment was and what the target environment would be after the migration. We use the source/target system identifier (SID) as BID.

Table 2 shows an overview of the activities performed during the migration and the tools and methodologies used to complete this project.

As shown in Table 2, the first task on the target environment was an Oracle installation followed by Oracle SBPs. After this, the SAP BusinessObjects BI installation was done on BID@Target to 4.1 Support Package 4 Patch 00. The source was also upgraded to SAP BusinessObjects 4.1 Support Package 4 Patch 00. After this, both the source and target were upgraded to SAP BusinessObjects 4.1 Support Package 4 Patch 06. Some of the manual pre-steps and post-steps are given below.

Export Activities on the Source System (BID)

During the export activity on the source environment BID, we exported the database schema users BIDCMS and BIDAUDIT, via Oracle tools, as we had to migrate the data from the source environment to the target environment. Database schema users BIDCMS and BIDAUDIT are the users that hold the database tables and indexes roles, and also have the relevant data. The Unix command that’s used to copy the data is tar.

FRS stands for file repository server and FileStore refers to the disk directories where the actual report files reside. The Business Objects FRSs are responsible for listing files on the server, querying for the size of a file, querying for the size of the entire file repository, and adding files to the repository. The two main directories under this location are Input and Output. The Input directory stores the report templates and thumbnail images, while the Output directory stores the results from running those templates. Thus, the Output directory is normally many times larger than the Input directory. FRS can be found on your disk at <Business Objects Home>BusinessObjects EnterpriseFileStore in a default installation. Consistency should exist between the Central Management Server (CMS) database and FRS or else there will be corruption and reports will not be available. In order to maintain consistency there should be synchronization between FRS and the CMS.

Follow these steps:

1. Run a repository diagnostic tool and repair inconsistencies on the source BID: The command used is:

./boe_reposcan.sh -dbdriver oracledatabasesubsystem -connect "UID=<sid>cms;PWD=*******;DSN=BI2;PORT=6400" -inputfrsdir /usr/sap/<SID>/sap_bobj/data/frsinput -outputfrsdir /usr/sap/<SID>/sap_bobj/data/frsoutput -dbkey "[[SIZkp3j1Om.1FV5qZP8Gxg]]"

2. Update the database statistics: The command used is:

brconnect -u system/***** -c -o summary -f stats -t all -f collect -p 8

3. Export a database schema for users BIDCMS and BIDAUDIT, using this command:

expdp system/****** SCHEMAS=BIDCMS,BIDAUDIT DUMPFILE=BID_exp.dmp LOGFILE=BID_exp.log

4. Transfer exports to the target BID system using the scp command

5. Tar and transfer FRS input and output directories from the source system/environment BID, with these commands:

cd /usr/sap/BID/sap_bobj/data

tar -cvf /exportsSC/BOBJ_BI/BID/frsinput.tar frsinput

Import Activities on the Target BID

After the export activity is completed and the data is transferred from the source environment to the target environment, you:

1. Create and assign an SAPUPROF profile for all Oracle users as per SAP Note 1519872.

2. Change the password of the database user 'SYSTEM' to ********.

3. Import a database schema for users BIDCMS and BIDAUDIT. Commands used were as shown below:

impdp system/****** DIRECTORY=dpump_dir DUMPFILE=BID_exp.dmp LOGFILE=BID_imp.log

4. Untar (tar –xvf command as shown below) FRS Input and Output directories to target BID location [Untar is basically the extracting the software using the standard unix command tar]

cd /usr/sap/BID/sap_bobj/data

tar –xvf frsinput.tar frsinput.tar

tar –xvf frsoutput.tar frsoutput.tar

5. Rename the SIA using cmsdbsetup.sh. Create a new CMS using serverconfig.sh.

Post-Import Activities on the Target BID

You need to perform these post-import activities on the target BID:

1. Check the SAP BusinessObjects license. You can provide a concurrent license for users, or a temporary license is fine just for the post-processing.

2. Create an additional Job Server according to the source system. Check the option to start the server upon an SIA start.

3. Create an additional Web Intelligence Processing Server according to the source system. Check the option to start the server upon an SIA start.

4. Rename, disable, and stop the four Crystal servers. (Crystal Servers are for Crystal reports but since our customer did not use Crystal reports it was stopped.)

5. Uncheck the option to start the server upon an SIA start from the right-click Properties. This is so the servers do not start automatically after a restart.

6. Tomcat changes – Edit the file /usr/sap/BID/sap_bobj/tomcat/bin/setenv.sh and add the following entries: TZ=CST and Increase Tomcat memory.

7. With the Unix visual (vi) editor /usr/sap/BID/sap_bobj/tomcat/bin/catalina.sh, add this line to CLASSPATH:

/usr/sap/BID/sap_bobj/enterprise_xi40/java/lib/sapjco3.jar.

8. Check/change TZ of bobjBID user.

9. Configure the Tomcat manager:

/usr/sap/BID/sap_bobj/tomcat/webapps/BOE/WEB-INF/config/custom/BIlaunchpad.properties

/usr/sap/BID/sap_bobj/tomcat/webapps/BOE/WEB-INF/config/custom/CmcApp.properties

/usr/sap/BID/sap_bobj/tomcat/webapps/BOE/WEB-INF/config/custom/OpenDocument.properties

10. Using the Unix vi editor, open the above files and update the entries as mentioned below. These files are customer-specific entries and vary from customer to customer:

authentication.visible=true

authentication.default=secSAPR3

cms.default= <target_host>:6400

cms.visible=true

11. Using the Unix vi editor, add parameters to: /usr/sap/BID/sap_bobj/data/.bobj/registry/64/software/sap businessobjects/suite xi 4.0/default/webintelligence/calculator/.registry

"BICSLOVChunkSize"="4500"

"BICSResultChunkSize"="20000"

12. Change the BID hostname in all BusinessObjects applications: CMC > Applications

13. Change the BID hostname: CMC > Promotion Management > Settings > CTS Settings

14. Check/correct audit database configuration:

a)      https://hostname:8080/BOE/CMC - Auditing - Check/correct the database hostname and refresh. Check and update the status

c)      Click the CONNECT button to check connectivity between BusinessObjects and the SAP system

(Note: Confirm the password of the user used in the connection by testing it in a test Remote Function Call [RFC] on any of the ABAP systems.)

15. Check that users and roles are updated from SAP systems and check the update date:

CMC > Authentication > SAP > BW

16. Make entries of corresponding SAP BW systems in the local (unix) /etc/services. It depends on your environment. In my example it is sapmsBWD 3601/tcp.

17. Check OLAP connections via CMC > OLAP Connections

18. Launch BOE/BI using SAP authentication. Run and refresh any report.

Apart from the above, the following three criteria need to be taken care of. They are needed as metadata is inconsistent in the target environment. Also, in some places, as mentioned below, the source hostname is present. If that is not changed to the target hostname, some of the queries will give errors. It’s important to complete all the steps below to make the metadata consistent:

Step 1. Promote Life Cycle Manager (LCM) override settings

Step 2. Promote override settings on the source system connections

Step 3. Promote Query as a Web Service (QWaaS) queries

Step 1. Promote LCM Override Settings

LCM is a tool that can be used to promote content or a repository from one system to another system. From the latest versions of SAP Business Objects 4.0 and above, it is called Promotion Management and it is part of the CMC. The CMC is a web-based tool used to perform day-to-day administrative and user tasks, including user management, content management, and server management. Promotion Management can move a repository from one system to another (both systems should same versions with manageable size) or move small chunks between systems very quickly. The latest versions of Promotion Management can promote hundreds of thousands or more diagnostic objects at a time.

Correction Overrides is one of the new features of LCM. The LCM Correction Overrides tool allows administrators to manage the migration of server host settings from environment to environment very easily. For example, if development uses a different operating system/database in the source environment than the operating system/database in the target environment, it would be an issue to manually change the connection setting every time a Universe is migrated. With LCM Correction Overrides, you can automatically have the development system attach to different database settings, if required, so that you don’t have to manually change it each time you do a migration.

In the source system, take these steps to create and export an override. You need to log on to the source system as well as the target system in order to complete the tasks. You need to regularly log on to the source system and then the target system and work through CMC > promotion management to make the data consistent.

At times you have to log on to the source system to create the entries for Promotion Management. SAP has also mentioned in its documentation that nothing happens to the source environment and it also doesn’t overwrite anything in the source environment, so there is nothing to worry about in this regard.

1. Make sure the source system is defined as the origin system. Follow menu path CMC > Promotion Management > Settings > Manage Systems. Select a system and click the Origin button (Figure 1). This opens the screen in Figure 2, where you notice the origin definition with 6400.

Figure 1

Choose the Origin option

Figure 2

The hostname with option (Origin)

2. Add an entry for the target system. (There is no need for connectivity to the BID@Target environment; just create the system entry.) Follow menu path CMC > Promotion Management > Settings > Manage Systems > Add to go to Figure 3. Enter the <new_hostname>, Port number, Display Name, and Description as shown below and then click the OK button.

Figure 3

Add the system ([new_hostname])

3. Create the override. Follow menu path CMC > Promotion Management > Override Settings (Figure 4). Log off by clicking the Log Off option.

Figure 4

Click on Log off

Log in again, this time to the system marked as Origin, by clicking the Login button (Figure 5). That takes you to Figure 6.

Figure 6

Add the [old_hostname]:6400(Origin)

The objective is to log in as Origin as shown in Figure 6, which takes you to Figure 7. Log on with an administrator user name and password to the <old_hostname>:6400 (Origin) in Figure 7, which takes you to Figure 8. This is just to show that you are logging on to a new connection, but on the old server (environment).

Figure 7

Log on with an administrator user name and password

Go to the Scan drop-down menu shown in Figure 8 and select the Start option. The scan option is used to fix any corruption in metadata.

Figure 8

Set the Connection Override tab to Active status

In the Connection Override tab, select all the objects and click from Inactive to Active for each one.  Then click the QaaWS Override tab (Figure 9). Select all the objects and click from Inactive to Active for each one.

Figure 9

Change the objects in the QaaWS Override tab to Active

Click the Save button in Figure 10.

Figure 10

Override Name that has the status of Active

Similarly, go to the Crystal Report Override tab. Select and set all entries to Active and click the Save button. After all the objects in all the tabs have been activated and saved, click the Promote Overrides button in Figure 11. That takes you to Figure 12.

Figure 11

Override names with the option to click the Promote Overrides button

Figure 12

Export the data in LCMBIAR format

Click the Export button. It allows you to save the file lcmOverrides.LCMBIAR, as shown in Figure 13. The system automatically creates the system name called lcmOverrides lcmbiar. An lcmbiar file/format is a collection of any binaries with a BI object and its associated stored metadata. Save it to a local folder (to the desktop) by clicking the Save button, as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13

Save file lcmOverrides.lcmbiar to the desktop

4. Transfer the lcmbiar file to the target landscape and upload it into the destination BI system. You can transfer it via Filezilla software or by just mapping the drives in the windows.

Steps On the Target Environment

In the target environment you need to import the file lcmOverrides.lcmbiar with override settings and change the hostname. When the file is imported it applies to all the users and not just one particular user. Since this is an SAP BusinessObjects migration, it is expected that nobody would log on to the target environment.

1. Transfer (copy) the lcmbiar file to the target system and upload it into the target BI system. Log on to the CMS on the target environment and follow menu path CMC > Promotion Management > Import > Override File.

That takes you to Figure 14 where you select the file lcmbiar file. Select the file as mentioned in Figure 14, and then that takes you to Figure 15 where the file is selected to be opened and then imported. The file named lcmOverrides.lcmbiar is shown in Figure 15.

Figure 14

The file from the file system that needs to be selected

Figure 15

Selection of the file that will be opened and then imported

2. Change the hostnames in the objects to the new hostname of the BID. Follow menu path CMC > Promotion Management > Override Settings. It takes you to Figure 16 where you select the Override Settings button.

Figure 16

Click the Override Settings button

Log off as shown in Figure 17 and re-log on to the local system. Log on to the BID@Target Environment: localhost:6400.

Figure 17

Log off from the system

Once you log off the system automatically shows Figure 18.

Figure 18

Login to localhost:6400

Then log on as shown in Figure 19.

Figure 19

Log on to the target environment

When you click the Log On button in Figure 19, it takes you to Figure 20.

Figure 20

Click the Edit button for each individual object

Select each individual object one by one, as shown in Figure 20, and click the Edit button, which takes you to Figure 21. Change the hostname to the new hostname and click the Save button.

Figure 21

Change the hostname to the [new_hostname] for each individual object

Following is the information that needs to be updated for every connection.

GROUP: <Group_Name>: You can get it from SAP transaction SMLG (from SAP Business Warehouse system).

MSHOST: <CI-hostname>.<dns_name>.com or ASHOST: <CI-hostname>.<dns_name>.com: You can get it from the hostname of the system (in a Unix system type the command hostname).

For the BID@Target Environment, define BW using the values in Figure 22, which includes SYSID as BWD (which is the SID for the BW development system).

Figure 22

Update the SYSID to BWD

Similarly, edit all the objects under all the tabs and change the relevant hostnames.

The hostname of the old SAP BusinessObjects BI system should be changed to the new SAP BusinessObjects BI system. Now select the QaaWS Override tab and then change the hostname of the old SAP BW system to the new SAP BW system as shown in Figures 23 and 24, respectively.

Figure 23

Update the QaaWS Override tab from [old]_[hostname] to [new]_[hostname]

Figure 24

Click the Done button

Click the Done button shown in Figure 24, then the Save button, and finally the Close button.

Step 2. Promote Override Settings on the Source System Connections

The Connection Override tool allows users to promote connections on which other objects depend without having to reconfigure them on the destination system. It’s used specifically when the source and destination systems use the same connection with different back-end data or log-in information. Remember that when promoting the overrides, you are not promoting the actual connection until it is included in a job.

Export From the BID@Target Environment

You now need to export connections from the target system (BID@Target Environment) and import them back onto themselves (BID@ Target Environment). This is in order to make the metadata consistent.

1. Create a new job named Connections by following menu path CMC > Promotion Management (Figure 25).

Figure 25

Select the New Job button

2. Log in to BID@Target Environment as the source and click the New Job button, which takes you to Figure 26 where you log on to the <new>_<hostname>:6400.

Figure 26

Log on to the [new]_[hostname]:6400

Figure 26 shows how to log on to the <new>_<hostname>:6400 and Figure 27 is the follow-up screen in which you log on as administrator.

Figure 27

The next (second) screen to log on to the [new]_[hostname]:6400

3. Select the Destination as Output to LCMBIAR file and click the Create button in Figure 28.

Figure 28

Destination as Output to LCMBIAR file

When you click the Create button you see Figure 29.

Figure 29

All connections are selected

4. Select all the connections and click the Add & Close button.5. This opens the screen in Figure 30 where you click the Promote button.

Figure 30

Click the Promote button

As soon as you click the Promote button, you get the screen for export shown in Figure 31.

Figure 31

Export the file

6. Click the Export button.

7. That takes you to Figure 32, where you click the Save button to save the file as a local file on your desktop, as shown in Figure 33.

Figure 32

Save the file

Figure 33

File being saved on the desktop

Figure 34 shows that the file is downloaded. Click the Close button to close the screen.

Figure 34

Downloaded file

Import Connections to the BID@Target Environment

1. Import the connections LCMBIAR file onto BID@Target Environment by following menu path CMC > Promotion Management > Import > Import File, which takes you to Figure 35.

Figure 35

Select the file *.lcmbiar from the previous exported file

2. Select the file and click the Open button to export it.

3. Browse in the File System shown in Figure 35, and select the LCMBIAR file you exported earlier. Then click the OK button, as shown in Figure 36.

Figure 36

File *.lcmbiar selected

3. From Figure 36, select the source file (from the filesystem) which automatically takes you to the next screen in Figure 37.

Figure 37

Log on to the BID@Target Environment

4. Log on to BID@Target Environment as the destination as shown in Figures 37 and 38.

Figure 38

Log on to the BID@Target Environment

5. That takes you to Figure 39. Click the Create button to create the job, which takes you to the pop-up in Figure 40.

Figure 39

Create a job

Figure 40

Select Yes and import the job

Click the Yes button in the pop-up to replace and create the import job.

6. The job is created. Once you click the Yes button you get a screen as shown in Figure 41. Promote the job by clicking the Promote button.

Figure 41

Promote the job

7. Clicking the Promote button takes you to Figure 42 with the Source as From file and the destination as target@environment. Click the Promote button again.

Figure 42

The source and destination where the job should be promoted

8. Once the Promote button is clicked, the status of the job shows if it was successful. Figure 43 shows a Success message.

Figure 43

The status shows the job has been promoted

Step 3. Promote QaaWS Queries

Export and import each QaaWS connection in a separate promotion job. Detailed solutions are mentioned in the following steps. QaaWS offers SAP BusinessObjects metadata (Universe) and report designers the ability to publish reports as web services. This step is done so that the metadata, reports, and queries are consistent in the target environment.

Promote QaaWS Queries One at a Time

Export the QaaWS queries from the BID@Target Environment and import it back onto itself (BID@Target Environment) to make the data consistent.

1. Create a new job named QaaWS1 by following menu path CMC > Promotion Management > New Job, which takes you to Figure 44.

Figure 44

Log on to the BID@target environment

2. Log on to BID@Target Environment as the source, as shown in Figure 44. The target environment is shown in Figure 45.

Figure 45

The logon BID@target environment

3. Select the Destination as Output to LCMBIAR File (Figure 46) and click the Create button.

Figure 46

The source and destination

4. Add selected QaaWS queries (Figure 47). Refer to Table 3 for the selection of QaaWS queries per job. Then click the Add & Close button.

Figure 47

Select QaaWS queries and click the Add & Close button

5. When you click the Add & Close button in Figure 47, the screen in Figure 48 opens. Click the Promote button.

Figure 48

Click the Promote button

6. In the next screen (Figure 49), click the Export button.

Figure 49

Click the Export button

7. In the Save As pop-up that opens (Figure 50), save it as a local file with the name job1.lcmbiar.

Figure 50

Save the jobs

Import Jobs Onto the BID@Target Environment

Now that all those jobs are saved in Figure 50, you import them as shown in Figure 51.

Figure 51

Select the file and click the OK button

1. Import the exported QaaWS query LCMBIAR file onto the BID@Target Environment by following menu path CMC > Promotion Management > Import > Import file.

2. Browse and select the LCMBIAR file exported earlier and click the OK button (Figure 51).

3. The source will be From File.

4. Log in to the BID@Target Environment as the destination (Figure 52). Log in to the BID@target environment as shown in Figure 53.

Figure 52

Go to the destination

Figure 53

The BID@Target Environment

5. This opens the screen in Figure 54 where you click the Create button to create the job.

Figure 54

Create the job

6. In the pop-up window that opens, click the Yes button to replace and create the import job (Figure 55).

Figure 55

Import the job

7. The job is created. Now promote the job by clicking the Promote button (Figure 56). Once the Promote button is clicked, you are asked for the system confirmation and to show the Source and Destination, and the objects to be promoted (Figure 57). Repeat this step for all the QaaWS jobs and their queries.

Figure 56

Promote the job

Figure 57

Promote with the source and destination

8. Check the logs and the status of the completed job.

9. Similarly, create the next jobs to select and import the remaining QaaWS queries. Refer back to Table 3 for a selection list of queries in jobs for BID.

Ramesh Kannan

Ramesh Kannan has over 20 years of information technology experience in SAP consulting, and specializes in SAP Cyber Security, SAP NetWeaver, SAP BusinessObjects, SAP BI, and SAP Data Services products. He also has extensive experience in migration, upgrades, and Unicode conversions. Ramesh has worked with clients such as Shell in Europe (The Netherlands and France) and the UK, and other oil & gas companies in the US. Ramesh has a bachelor's degree in engineering (computer science) and a post-graduate diploma in business management.

You may contact the author at ramesh_kannan@hotmail.com.

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