Backup reports to--and restore reports from--a file?

[cgwaters]

My users save their AOLAP and Webi reports to either of two public folders. I'd like to perform weekly backups of the reports in these two folders -- in case users need to restore a report to an earlier version.

Is it possible to create a backup of such reports, writing them to a file (perhaps an .LCMBIAR file) ... and then restore any of the reports, if needed?

I don't need to backup security or dependencies.

[cgwaters]

Thanks! Originally, I was doing a Live-to-Live backup, using the CMC's Promotion Management interface. When this stopped working a few months ago, SAP Support told me it was due to the number of reports in the folders (about 5,000)...and that PM jobs are not meant to be used when there are more than a 100 objects.

My team lead has asked me to consider backing up to an .LCMBIAR file instead of doing a Live-to-Live backup. I hadn't considered using the PM interface to create an .LCMBIAR file. In any case, I reviewed your three references (and other references) but haven't been able to conclusively determine whether it's possible to restore an individual report (perhaps by its ID or CUID) from an .LCMBIAR file. Do you know?

[mhmohammed]

Hi Chris,

Starting BO 4.2 SP3 for sure (dont' know about BO 4.2 SP2), we can select specific objects (report(s)/universe(s)...) to recover from a BIAR file. Prior to that version, we had to do a full content recovery. I have done it many times using BO 4.2 SP3. Hope that helps!

Thanks,
Mahboob Mohammed

[cgwaters]

That's great to hear, thanks!

For restoring, are you using the Promotion Management GUI or the command line LCM_CLI.BAT? I'm very interested in seeing/understanding the process for selecting specific objects to be restored.

[mhmohammed]

Hi Chris,

I used the Promotion Management GUI (from CMC). Below is a blog for the process, it doesn't show the option to select specific objects to restore, as that option didn't exist in 2012, when this blog was written.

https://docs.bmc.com/docs/display/public/BABSM8100/Importing+an+LCMBIAR+file+into+SAP+BusinessObject...

Thanks,
Mahboob Mohammed

[cgwaters]

Thanks, again. I'm still running BO 4.1 SP7 but am planning to upgrade soon.

So somewhere within these steps...

5. Click Promote.
The Promote - Job Name window appears.

6. From the Destination drop-down list, select the destination system.
Confirm the logon credentials of the destination system.

7. Click Promote to promote the contents to the destination system.

...it will prompt me to select specific objects (i.e., reports and universes) to restore?

[mhmohammed]

Yes, after step 6, you'll see a list of existing objects/content in the BIAR File, where you can select what to restore.

Thanks,
Mahboob Mohammed