Setup Automation Framework and changing the source of Web Intelligence report using Automation Framework

[former_member185603]

Below blog explains how to setup AFW (Automation Framework) and how to use some of the features with in AFW (Automation Framework). The main reason I started this blog, put all the content in one place , so new comers will be able to follow this blog to setup the AFW instead of searching through various documents or various posts. Hope this blog will help.

Why do I need to install AFW (Automation Framework)?

Automation Framework will help to automate some of the complex and repetitive BI tasks. This is the new tool introduced in BI 4.2 SP5 onwards which I found out this is more useful for repointing the Web Intelligence reports from UNV to UNX universes. Without this tool, we could not have done this change much easily. We can use standard templates as well as we can build custom templates using SDK.

How to setup Automation Framework in windows and change the source of the web intelligence report using AFW (Automation Framework).

If you are upgrading the environment from 4.x to 4.2 SP5, Automation framework will not be installed by default. After installing the 4.2 SP5, we need to modify the installer to add Automation framework.

Running the BI agent Service and Automation Framework from CCM:

To understand the Automation framework architecture, please refer the below link for BI Administration Console Guide

https://help.sap.com/viewer/product/SAP_BUSINESSOBJECTS_BUSINESS_INTELLIGENCE_PLATFORM/4.2.5/en-US

Login to Business objects server. Open command prompt in admin mode.

1. Set JAVA_HOME=<INSTALL_DIR>\SAP Business Objects Enterprise XI 4.0\Winx64_64\SAPJVM


2. CD <INSTALL_DIR>\AdminConsole\MessagingQueueBroker\bin\


3. Startbroker.bat.


4. Make sure the Apache ActiveMQ is running


5. Open CCM, Start Automation Framework Service


6. And Start BI agent service

Configure Enterprise Authentication for Automation Framework:

1. Login to CMC, Authentication -> Double Click on “Authentication”


2. In the Trusted Authentication section, make sure “Trusted Authentication” is enabled.


3. Choose “New Shared Secret”. Choose “Download Shared Secret” . Select “update”


4. Save the Shared Secret Key in the following Directory. <Install_dir>\AdminConsole\Automation Framework\Custom\cms_certificate

Accessing the Automation Framework URL:

http://<BOEserver>:8080/BOE/BIAdminConsole

How to add default templates if they are missing using Fresh Install or Modify install:

1. When you login to AdminConsole , if you noticed Default templates are missing when you select new scenario, follow below steps to recover the Templates

To create those default templates manually through jar file execution by providing valid arguments.

Ensure JAVA Home path is set.

In CMC -> Application -> RESTful Web Service -> Properties provide valid Access URL and ensure that it is accessible from the machine where "Automation Framework" feature is installed.

Login to the machine where Automation Framework" feature is installed.

Open Command Prompt or Terminal and execute the below commands :

On windows:

set JAVA_HOME={BOE Installed Dir}\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\win64_x64\sapjvm\jre

set PATH=%JAVA_HOME%\bin;%PATH%

cd {BOE Installed Dir}\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\java\lib

Execute the jar with 5 parameters :

CMS System Name

User name (a user with administrator rights)

Password

Authentication type

Time Delay (In Milliseconds)

Example: java -jar com.sap.bong.default.objects.jar myBoeCMS administrator password secEnterprise 0

Once you run the above jar, login to Automation Framework, make sure Default templates appear in the scenario section.

 

How to change the source of Web Intelligence report from UNV to UNX:

1. Login to Admin Console.


2. Click on “Landscape Management” to add Business Objects Platform


3. Add System name, Access URL as “http://<Tomcat server>:8080/biprws or "http://<BOE Server>:6405/biprws , it is the same URL from CMC ->Applications -> Restful webservice URL


4. Now click on home button to go back to main page. Click on “Automation Framework “ button to create a scenario.


5. Click on Scenario, and + sign on the right top corner to add new scenario.


6. On the workflow templates, Select “Standard “ templates.


7. Drag “Logon”, Change web Intelligence source, Refresh Document, Logout icons to the right to create a scenario and save the scenario.


8. Click on “Workflow template”, add the scenario from the previous step.


9. Logon – Select the Landscape you want to logon to, Change Webi Intelligence Source – Select the webi document want to change it to,, Universe mapping -> select the UNV universe and UNX universe. And run the Task. It should change the source of the webi report from UNV to UNX.

Note: From SP5, there is no need to use restful webservice URL link to WACS server, you can connect to Tomcat server, since Restful service is part of Tomcat.

Refer the SAP KB article: 2585147

[former_member254991]

Hi Jawahar

 

For some reason drag drop in UNV and UNX box is not working (unable to drop) on my system. Did you face this issue as well ?

 

Regards

Ravi

[former_member185603]

Ravi, No. Which browser are you using? I used IE 11. I did not see any issues.

[former_member254991]

Same, using IE 11. I even tied manual input of values of two universes but that failed

We upgraded from SP4 to SP4 Patch1 and eventually on SP5

[former_member185603]

What is failing? Task is failing.. Can you check your restful webservice URL? is it pointing to 8080 or 6405? I had similar issue when I tried to use 8080, after changing the port to 6405, it worked. Task completed successfully.

[former_member341172]

Hi,

See the steps below how to setup Automation Framework in Unix environment:

1. Install the Automation Framework


2. Configure enterprise authentication for Automation Framework. Refer to Configuring Enterprise Authentication for Automation Framework for more information.


3. JAVA_HOME

In Unix (for single session otherwise /etc/profile):

• export JAVA_HOME=<INSTALL_DIR>/sap_bobj/enterprise_xi40/linux_x64/sapjvm


• export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

4. Start ActiveMQ Brokerexport (run startbroker.sh)

• JAVA_HOME=<INSTALLDIR>/sap_bobj/enterprise_xi40/linux_x64/sapjvm


• cd <INSTALLDIR>\AdminConsole\MessagingQueueBroker\bin\

5. Start the Automation Framework Service

• Repeat step 3 when using a new terminal session - Export (JAVA_HOME)


• Run <INSTALLDIR>/AdminConsole/Automation Framework/startWfManager.sh.

6. Start the Agent

• Repeat step 3 wehn using a new terminal session - Export (JAVA_HOME)


• Run <INSTALLDIR>/AdminConsole/Agent/startAgent.sh.

7. Follow SAP Note 2566764 to add the default templates.

• Example: java -jar com.sap.bong.default.objects.jar myBoeCMS administrator password secEnterprise 0

 

In addition, to read more how to work with Automation Framework:

https://help.sap.com/viewer/55dcdd714f614d1ca77af92b79ff5e44/4.2.5/en-US/a730ba34c9f14601ac1d57b2802...

 

 

[former_member341172]

Hi jawahar.konduru2

I get the same issue as Ravi described.

P.S. The universe folder selected to BI Audit just to demonstrate the issue. The same issue appears for all Universe Folders.

Web Service Properties:

http://1.1.1.1:6405/biprws

RESTful Web Service Properties:

http://1.1.1.1:6405/biprws

Where the 1.1.1.1 is the IP address of the BO server

I have created a test report based on UNV and tried to test the conversion to UNX. See the steps below for more information:



Do you have any idea what can be causing this issue and what could be the solution?

Thank you in advance,

Vytautas

[former_member185603]

Hi Vytautas,

 

Can you please let me know which browser are you using? Chrome, IE (Version)? It may be browser thing.

[former_member341172]

Hi Jawahar,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I am using IE 11.321.14393.0 Java 8 Update 171. Please note that I have also as Ravi updated BO from SP04 patch 04 to SP5.

When starting the Automation Framework Service and the Agent I have noticed in ActiveMQ Broker “Disallowing use of vulnerable protocol”.

INFO  [org.apache.activemq.artemis] AMQ241002: Artemis Jolokia REST API available at http://localhost:8161/jolokia



INFO  [org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server] AMQ221053: Disallowing use of vulnerable protocol 'SSLv2Hello' on acceptor 'ssl-acceptor'. See http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/poodlecve-2014-3566-2339408.html for more details.

INFO  [org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server] AMQ221053: Disallowing use of vulnerable protocol 'SSLv2Hello' on acceptor 'ssl-acceptor'. See http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/poodlecve-2014-3566-2339408.html for more details.

INFO  [org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server] AMQ221052: Deploying topic jms.topic.executeWorkflowList

INFO  [org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server] AMQ221052: Deploying topic jms.topic.taskTimeOut

In the Automation Framework logs I have found the following errors:

AMQ119017: Consumer is closed



|Agent Registration Fail: Landscape in which the current agent belongs to is not yet registered in BI Adminstration Console (or) landscape exist without any connection. Kindly register landscape, If already registered create atleast one connection and then try again

[wobi]

Like Thienel, I was testing the Webi-Report-based unv2unx conversion in the past - with some problems in my multi language Environment. And too much wacs mem needed.

Now I am testing the new Approach with Bi 4.2.SP6.

The whole Automation Frameworks seems still rather fragile. I needed to install it after update – from 4.2.SP4 ok – one time effort.

I needed to consult the Manuals to start the additional needed Artemis code... no “automation” for this…

the documentation is rather minimal and Abstract... using SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform Document Version: 4.2 SP6 – 2018-07-18

And the concept is rather confusing. Mix of csv files based info and manual picked input.

Btw: I can’t update the csv files with the replace feature?!

I will test if in detail anything is better or more reliable than the old webi-report approach.

But I guess it’s all the same – only out-sourced to the automation framework.

 

Wobi

[former_member341172]

Hi again,

Just would like to share that it was indeed the issue with the browser. For some reason it did not work with IE. But it works fine with Mozilla. Seems to be strange since SAP BO used to be pro IE 🙂

Workaround: you can type the ID of the universe for e.g.:

175049,615581

{OLD},{NEW}

 

[former_member341172]

In addition to Universe selection issue using IE browser, the selection of Document using the pop up window does not work as it should. For e.g. I have selected a single WebI document and pressed OK. Instead of a single document 136 documents have been selected and I have no idea what documents have been selected and why. I can replicate this issue many times.

It works fine using Mozilla.

SAP BO 4.2 SP 05 (no patch) IE 11.321.14393.0 Java 8 Update 171.

[former_member341172]

I am not able to replace the csv files in BO as well. It seems that the only way is to delete the csv file and import the new one. But please note that the document ID will change which will be needed in Automation Framework task scenario.

[former_member341172]

Hi,

Does anyone knows why it is needed to refresh document when creating Change Source for WebI ducoments scenario?

Logon, Change web Intelligence source, Refresh Document, Logout.

I succesfully manage to change the source without the refresh (Logon, Change web Intelligence source, Logout.) and am wondering if it will have any impact on WebI documents or universes in the future?

[wobi]

Dear Thienel,

"Legend" would say that refreshing bonds the Report structure with its data 😉

Other aproaches do not force a refresh - and for my tests with the automation Framework I simply refreshed an emoden based Report 😉

 

• Wobi

[TJe]

Drag&Drop of the universe is sometimes tricky, most time worked in Chrome (tricky was sometimes to find the correct position of the mouse pointer in the input field). This dialog has changed in SP6.
For SP5 you can try to enter the universe mapping as CSV value. e.g: unv_id,unx_id;10,20
(specify the correct ids of your universes).
In SP6 it is not possible to set the parameter values manually anymore.

[TJe]

Hi Thienel,

found a similar issue on my 4.2 SP5 Patch 1 system.
The folder "..\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\win64_x64\" had two bootstrap files, which normally should not be the case. File contains the cluster name. One file had a clustername like <server> the other had a clustername <sever>.sap.corp (FQN). Basically the registered landscape did not contain the clustername used by SIA and used by the Landscape registration.

Here some CMS queries that can be useful:
Select si_cluster_name from CI_APPOBJECTS, ci_systemobjects where SI_ID=4
Select SI_ID, SI_CLUSTER_NAME, SI_NODES_HOSTNAME from CI_APPOBJECTS where SI_KIND ='Landscape'
SI_CLUSTER_NAME should be the same in both result sets.

Solution (worked on my test machine)
Just renamed one of the bootstrap files (guess the older one, only one could be renamed as the other is used by the SIA).
Delete the Default landscape and recreate.

We are currently validating if this is a common issue and we can create an SAP Note.

[TJe]

Hi Wolfgang,

yes, Automation Framework is new in SP5 and must be installed if you update from a previous version.

indeed the WebI change source component in Automation Framework is the same implementation like the previous one offered as WebI based solution. This has some advantages as it is not running in connection server anymore. Some of the restrictions are the same, e.g. you should should select not more than 100 Web Intelligence documents to execute the change in a single run (related to WebI Processing server).

For worklist (CSV format) I have used TXT files instead (CSV is shown as type: Excel, TXT are shown as type: Text). Text files (*.txt) can be updated, Excel (*.csv) files not.
In SP5 it was also possible to use Agnostic files (myfile.wl), this is not possible anymore in SP6.

regards
Thomas

[TJe]

Most time we have used chrome as we had serveral issue with IE.
The behavior of input parameters has been changed in SP6.

[TJe]

If you don't want the refresh you can just create a workflow template without refresh.
On my tests, I have created a workflow template for each task template, so I can create flexible scenarios just based on each available task template.

[wobi]

Google Chrome Version 68.0.3440.106 (Offizieller Build) (64-Bit)

vs. IE 11.0.75
At the Moment I prefer IE since Chrome does not allow me to edit e Scenario ...

- Wobi

[wobi]

Using txt files instead of Bi Administration Console Guides mentioned CSV  - seems working -better than csv !

• Wobi

[wobi]

Well – I have to use both browsers since the download of History data works only in Chrome ^^

sic!

Wobi

[former_member198673]

Hi Jawahar,

Thanks for the post.

Do I need any special access to run these jobs in Automation Framework as all the jobs run by me/Admin are going to pending state?  (BO 4.2 SP6)

Please help me.

Thanks,

M

[former_member254991]

Make sure ActiveMQ broke service, Automation Framework and BI Agent are running

[former_member254991]

Does change source work if Webi has prompts ? I tried it and seems to be giving error

while trying to invoke the method org.json.JSONObject.has(java.lang.String) of a null object loaded from a local variable at slot 12

 

If I remove prompts from the report change source works. How do we pass values, or rather just bypass this

[former_member254991]

On further investigation issue seems to be only with prompts that are based on Universe parameter

[mirko_nowotzin]

Hello,

Are we able to bulk update all WebI document query datasource assignments from unv (MDX OLAP based on BEx Query) to BEx Query (BICS) using the Automation Framework?

Thanks and regards,
Mirko

[former_member675771]

From my understanding - when you have reports with mandatory prompts, the Automation Framework tool cannot refresh those documents and eventually fails to update the source of Webi. So we created a custom template and removed the 'Refresh' from the workflow and now the Scenario changes the source of Webi from unv to unx successfully.

[former_member675771]

Hello Mirko,

We are able to update bulk Webi documents by adding their Doc IDs in a CSV file, but our reports are based on Relational universes(SQL).

[asmitha_6]

Hi

the version we are using is BI 4.2 SP7 PATCH 8. setup automation framework and made sure the services are running. but scenarios are always in pending state.

this is what I can see in 'artemis.log'.

 

AMQ221053: Disallowing use of vulnerable protocol 'SSLv2Hello' on acceptor 'ssl-acceptor'. See http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/poodlecve-2014-3566-2339408.html for more details.
21:35:52,288 INFO [org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server] AMQ221052: Deploying topic jms.topic.94408-taskReceiveAck
21:35:54,809 INFO [org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server] AMQ221053: Disallowing use of vulnerable protocol 'SSLv2Hello' on acceptor 'ssl-acceptor'. See http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/poodlecve-2014-3566-2339408.html for more details.
21:35:56,383 INFO [org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server] AMQ221052: Deploying topic jms.topic.executeWorkflowList
21:35:56,452 INFO [org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server] AMQ221052: Deploying topic jms.topic.stopWorkflowList
21:35:56,494 INFO [org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server] AMQ221052: Deploying topic jms.topic.clearWorkflowList
21:35:56,525 INFO [org.apache.activemq.artemis.core.server] AMQ221052: Deploying topic jms.topic.taskTimeOut

 

I have checked bootstrap file and have only one. the cluster name used by SIA and Landscape registration are same. i am not sure what else to check.

Please can someone help ?

[TJe]

Hi,

have checked with a dev colleague and here is the feedback:

This is an information message and not the error and we get this from Artemis Active MQ. And it does not cause any issue. I don’t have further information on this.

However I found some information on https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/ARTEMIS-576 which says:

the message here indicates that the default protocols from the JVM are vulnerable and Artemis is taking action to remove the vulnerable protocol in order to be safe.

Regarding scenarios not starting:

Can you please check if all automation framework services are running without error in the logs.
Also please make sure to start the services in the correct order. After starting/restarting ActiveMQ you must also restart the other two services.

hope this helps,
regards
Thomas

 

[ayman_salem]

the problem is solved, see my Answer:

Answer Accepted for "SAP BI 4.2 SP07 Patch 8 - automation workflow - Scenarios are always in Pending Status"

https://answers.sap.com/questions/13140462/sap-bi-42-sp07-patch-8-automation-workflow-scenari.html?c...

[asmitha_6]

Thanks Thomas. As Ayman suggested, i had to copy the certificates which solved the issue.

[saaidia]

Hello,

Thank you for all these verry useful details.

I tried to test the "change source and refresh document " workflow in Biadmin console (4.2 SP 9)

after running it s just showing pending.

it seems that i have issue with the parameters "Documents Worklist" and "UniverseMapping Worklist" : i added 2 text files, one with the id of the webI documents and the other file contains the universes one per line.

 

Thank tou for your help with these two parameters as input for the standard workflow.

 

Best regards

Riadh

[TJe]

Can you test a simple worklfow like Login, Logout.
May be there is a configuration issue and no workflow is executed. Guess it is not a problem of the worklists, in that case you should get an error.

[saaidia]

Hello Thomas,

Thank you very much for your answer. I tried with just a logon workflow. it is pending no results showed, i do not know how to debug the issue.

thank you very much for your help. How could i check the configuration please? i have BO 4.2 SP9.

Best regards.

Riadh

[saaidia]

Hello,

I checked the log files in <INSTALLDIR>\AdminConsole\Automation Framework\service-logs

The log file BOEXI40AutomationFramework.2023-02-09.log is empty

The file stdout.txt coutains these lines :

2023-02-09 06:30:26 Commons Daemon procrun stdout initialized
Initializing....
Starting OSGI container....
Executing Method :- isRunning
Executing Method :- run
Login to CMS is not successful, look into Automation framework log for more details.
Error occur in starting the osgi container, refer container's log for more details
Stoping OSGI container....
Executing Method :- isRunning
Executing Method :- shutdown
Automation Framework - Stopped!!

 

Thank you

Best Reagrds

Riadh

[TJe]

Hi Riadh,

since 2 years, I'm not working in this area anymore and cannot really support, but try to remember what could be the issue.
Looks like not all configuration steps are completed (defining Authentication in the CMC, modifying configuration files ...)
As far as I remember there are some SAP notes available, which may include the solution for your problem.
Not sure the help configuration section contains useful information: BI Administration Console Guide

[amithkumar_goel]

Hi Riadh,

 

The reason workflow is in pending state is because Automation framework service might have not started properly. There could be multiple reason why the service is not started correctly, Kindly go through below KBA which will help you in troubleshoot your issue.

 

https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2677189

 

Also, Automation framework log can be found at location "<SAP BO-Install Directory>/SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\logging\", which might give you exact reason why login to CMC was not successful (might be trusted Authentication is not configured properly😞

 

I'll also suggest you to upgrade to 4.3, where starting/stopping of different service is simplified into one service.

 

Regards,

Amith Goel.

[saaidia]

Tahnk you very much.

The issue is resolved.