Generator Configuration
This appendix discusses modifying the configuration of Noetix Generator for Oracle Business Intelligence (Noetix Generator).
Configuration Options
The configuration settings of the Noetix Generator can be modified through the application. The changes are saved in the Generator.config file.
IMPORTANT: Create a backup of the modified Generator.config file because the file will be overwritten during the upgrade or reinstall of Noetix Generator.
To modify configuration settings
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On the Noetix Generator main window, click Tools > Options. The Options dialog box is displayed.
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On the General Settings tab, modify the following settings as required:
Oracle SQL*Plus Location: Specifies the location of the SQL Plus client tool on the computer. This setting is stored in the SqlPlusExeLocation tag in the Generator.config file.
Top Level Name Prefix: Specifies a value that is used to provide an additional identifier to the top-level name specified in Noetix Generator interface. The additional identifier helps preserve uniqueness in the repository to ensure that Noetix Generator does not overwrite existing non-Noetix generated objects. This also helps you segregate your business data into meaningful areas. This setting is stored in the TopLevelNamePrefix tag in the Generator.config file.
UDML file encoding: Specifies the ANSI encoding value. This setting is stored in the UDMLEncodingCodePageName tag in the Generator.config file.
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Hung Generation Abort Timeout: Specifies the value in hours that Noetix Generator must wait before displaying the option to end an ongoing generation. This setting is stored in the StatusTimeoutHours tag in the Generator.config file. This setting is stored in the StatusTimeoutHours tag in the Generator.config file.
NOTE: If the administrator attempts to launch a generation while another one is running and before the timeout value is reached, a message appears stating that a generation cannot be started because one is already in progress.
Maximum number of backups: Specifies the number of repository backups to keep when you want to use the same repository to generate different schema objects. For example, if you specify a value of three, and three backups already exist, it will delete the oldest one before backing up the repository again. This setting is stored in the NumberOfRepositoryBackupsToKeep tag in the Generator.config file.
Object Generation Log Message Frequency: Specifies the number of objects that need to be generated after which the log message appears. Decreasing this setting to 1 will cause the generator to write out an informational message for each Noetix view that is generated into the Oracle BI repository. This can be helpful when troubleshooting repository generation problems. This setting is stored in the GenerationStatusMessageSkipCount tag in the Generator.config file.
On the NoetixAnalytics tab, modify the following settings as required:
Granular Business Model (default): Generates a business model for each module, such as Accounts Payable (AP) or General Ledger (GL), in the Noetix Analytics Operational Data Store (ODS) or Data Mart (DM) data source.
Consolidated Business Model: Generates one business model each for the ODS and DM data sources with business layers for each relationship set defined in the connections. This option lets you create cross-functional reports by selecting more than one subject area.
Oracle EBS Module-based Subject Areas (default): Generates presentation catalogs for each of the selected Oracle E-Business Suite modules in the selected Noetix Analytics ODS or DM data source.
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Relationship set-based Subject Areas: Generates a presentation catalog or subject area for each relationship set in the selected Noetix Analytics ODS or DM data source.
NOTE: You must select the Import Unchanged UDML Files check box before running a regeneration if the logical or presentation layer options have been modified.
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On the NoetixAnswers tab, modify the following settings as required:
Dashboard Presentation Style: Specifies the name of the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) that the generated dashboard templates should use in Oracle BI Presentation Services. If the specified style does not exist on the Oracle BI server, the default style will be used instead. This setting is stored in the DashboardCssStyle tag in the Generator.config file.
Create tabs at the top of each dashboard: Specifies whether Noetix Generator will generate dashboards into Presentation Services that have one tab per dashboard page. The default behavior is to not create one tab per page, providing a cleaner layout. The dashboard launch pages are also generated to make it possible to navigate between dashboard pages without separate tabs.
Answer Generation Log Message Frequency: Specifies the number of report templates that need to be generated before an informational log message is written to the generation log. Decreasing this setting to 1 will cause the generator to write out an informational message for each Noetix answer that is generated into the Oracle BI Presentation Catalog. This can be helpful when troubleshooting problems when generating NoetixAnswers. This setting is stored in the AnswerLoggingSkipCount tag in the Generator.config file.
Maximum Answer Generation Errors Allowed: Specifies the maximum number of errors allowed by the generator during the Generate NoetixAnswers step before stopping the generation with an error. This setting is stored in the MaximumAnswerGenerationErrorsAllowed tag in the Generator.config file.
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Save invalid answers to Presentation Services for diagnostic purposes: Specifies whether invalid report and dashboard templates should be saved to Presentation Services. If the check box is not selected, a warning message will be logged in the generation log, but the associated report and dashboard template will not be saved to the Presentation Catalog. Select the check box for troubleshooting problems with specific report and dashboard templates. This setting is stored in the SaveInvalidAnswers tag in the Generator.config file.
NOTE: Invalid report and dashboard templates should be manually deleted after the troubleshooting process has ended. Noetix Generator will not remove them during regeneration.
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On the Oracle BI tab, modify the following settings as required:
Oracle BI 12c launch scripts location: The location of Oracle BI scripts that you had provided during the installation of the Noetix Generator. The value of this setting is stored in the obiLaunchScriptsLocation tag in the Generator.config file.
Oracle BI nQUDMLExec.exe Location: Specifies the location of the nQUDMLExec.exe that Noetix Generator uses to generate the UDML files. This setting is stored in the nQUDMLExecLocation tag in the Generator.config file.
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%ORACLE_HOME% Location: Specifies the home location for Oracle Business Intelligence. This setting is used by Noetix Generator to properly configure the environment necessary to use Oracle BI’s nQUDMLExec.exe and nQUDMLGen.exe utilities.
This setting is typically configured to reference the Oracle_BI1 folder in the Oracle BI installation (for example: C:\OBI11g\Oracle_BI1). If the value of this setting is configured to be %BI_ORACLE_HOME%, Noetix Generator will inherit the value from an existing environment variable configured at the operating system level.
NOTE: This setting is not applicable for Oracle BI 12c.
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%ORACLE_INSTANCE% Location: Specifies the Oracle Business Intelligence instance Noetix Generator should generate into. This setting is especially important for Oracle BI servers configured with multiple instances.
This setting is typically configured to reference the instance1 folder in the Oracle BI installation (for example: C:\OBI11g\instances\instance1). If the value of this setting is configured to be %ORACLE_INSTANCE%, Noetix Generator will inherit the value from an existing environment variable configured at the operating system level.
NOTE: This setting is not applicable for Oracle BI 12c.
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%COMPONENT_NAME% Value: Specifies the Oracle BI component Noetix Generator should interact with. This setting is used by Noetix Generator to properly configure the environment necessary to use Oracle BI’s nQUDMLExec.exe and nQUDMLGen.exe utilities.
This setting is typically configured to use Oracle’s default component name of coreapplication or coreapplication_obis1. If the value of this setting is configured to be %COMPONENT_NAME%, Noetix Generator will inherit the value from an existing environment variable configured at the operating system level.
NOTE: This setting is not applicable for Oracle BI 12c.
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%ORACLE_BI_APPLICATION% Value: Specifies the name of the Oracle Business Intelligence application configured in the Oracle WebLogic Server. This setting is used by Noetix Generator to properly configure the environment necessary to use Oracle BI’s nQUDMLExec.exe and nQUDMLGen.exe utilities.
This setting is typically configured to use Oracle’s default application name of coreapplication. If the value of this setting is configured to be %ORACLE_BI_APPLICATION%, Noetix Generator will inherit the value from an existing environment variable configured at the operating system level.
NOTE: This setting is not applicable for Oracle BI 12c.
NOTE: For details on determining the correct values for the Oracle Business Intelligence environment variables, see Post Installation Tasks in Install Noetix Generator for Oracle Business Intelligence.
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On the WebLogic tab, modify the following settings as required:
%JAVA_HOME% Location: Specifies the home location of the Java Runtime Environment that is used by the Noetix Generator to generate application roles into the Oracle WebLogic Server using the WebLogic Scripting Tool (WLST). Specifying a value for %JAVA_HOME% will cause Noetix Generator to inherit the JAVA_HOME setting from the computer’s environment.
%MW_HOME% Location: Specifies the MW_HOME location, used by the WebLogic Scripting Tool. This is typically the folder where WebLogic Server is installed. Specifying a value of %MW_HOME% will cause Noetix Generator to inherit the MW_HOME setting from the computer’s environment.
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wlst.cmd File Path: Specifies the location and file name of the WebLogic Scripting Tool command file. Noetix Generator executes this file to create application roles in WebLogic. By default, the file path for wlst.cmd is #wlstMwHome#\wlserver\common\bin\wlst.cmd. For Oracle Business Intelligence 12.2.1.3 or later, the path should be set to #wlstMwHome#\oracle_common\common\bin\wlst.cmd.
NOTE: The macro string #wlstMwHome# can be added to the path to make this path relative to the MW_HOME path specified in the %MW_HOME% Location parameter.
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%CLASSPATH% arguments:Specifies the Java classpath variable that will be used when launching WebLogic Scripting Tool.
NOTE: The macro string #wlstMwHome# can be added to the path to make this path relative to the MW_HOME path specified in the %MW_HOME% Location parameter.
CAUTION: This value cannot be changed from the Options dialog in Noetix Generator and can only be changed by directly editing the Generator.config file. Contact before editing this value.
Number of roles per script: Indicates the number of application roles created that need to be generated per WLST script to reduce the load on the Oracle BI server during the creation of roles. By default, the value is set to 100.
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Click OK to save the settings. The Options dialog box will be closed.
NOTE: You need to restart Noetix Generator to apply the new configuration settings.
Configuring the Generator debug log
When the generator runs, it will by default write diagnostic information to a text file, debug.log, in the [Generator install folder]\logs folder.
The generator currently has settings for four levels of diagnostic information. In order of increasing verbosity, they are DEBUG, TRACE, VERBOSE, and ALL. DEBUG is the recommended default. You can control this setting by making changes to the log4net/root/level node in the NGOManager-log.config file, in the [Generator install folder] folder. Usually you will only modify this file if directed by .
If you are using the command-line version of the generator, apply these changes to ngo-log.config instead.
Using Logging to Troubleshoot Generation Problems
Noetix Generator provides robust logging capabilities to aid the troubleshooting process when errors or warnings are logged during a generation. This section explains how to utilize these logging capabilities.
Automatic Logging of Diagnostic Information
To simplify troubleshooting and communication with Magnitude Support, Noetix Generator writes diagnostic information to the debug.log file, including as generation status, SQL issued, and warnings and errors from 3rd party tools and components. Noetix Generator also writes the following external generation artifacts to the log file:
Generation Arguments File: The generation arguments used during the generation process are written to the log file.
NOTE: Passwords are not written to the log file.
SQL*Plus Spool Files: The contents of the spool files that are created during the execution of Noetix Generator’s PL/SQL scripts are written to the log file.
Hookscript Files in use: The contents of the hookscript files that are currently being used to customize Noetix Generator metadata are written to the log file.
Verbose Object Logging During Generation
Noetix Generator can log information about metadata that is extracted from NoetixViews or Noetix Analytics and loaded into repository objects during the generation process. This can be useful when troubleshooting issues with specific views or tables.
NOTE: The generator’s logging level must be set to “VERBOSE” in order to use this capability. See “Configuring the Generator debug log” section for information on modifying the logging level.
To configure verbose object logging:
Navigate to the folder where Noetix Generator is installed and open the NGOManager-log.config file in a text editor if you want to configure logging for the Noetix Generator GUI, or ngo-log.config if you want to configure logging for the console version of the generator.
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Add a parent <filter> tag to the <appender name=”DebugFileLog”> tag as follows:
<filter type="Noetix.logging.Verbose.VerboseFilter, Noetix.logging">
</filter>
Add child <filter> tags to the parent <filter> tag created earlier, based on your logging needs. Refer to the Error! Reference source not found. for details on creating filters.
Save the configuration file and then close and reopen Noetix Generator if it is currently open.
Launch a generation then open the [Generator Install Folder]\logs\debug.log file to inspect the log messages written as a result of the added filters.
Verbose Object Logging Filter Reference
Logging filters are defined as XML tags with the following structure:
<filter type="Noetix.logging.Verbose.VerbosePropertyFilter, Noetix.logging">
<key value="[Object Type to Filter]"/>
<stringToMatch value="[Object IDs to Log]"/>
<Select value="[Object Properties to Log]"/>
</filter>
Any number of these tag structures can be added within a parent <filter type="Noetix.logging.Verbose.VerboseFilter, Noetix.logging"> tag in order to log information about different types of objects.
To configure a filter, the following must be specified:
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<key value=”[Object Type to Filter]”/> tag: The <key> tag defines the type of object to log information about, for example: physical tables, table columns, logical dimensions, etc.
Valid object types can be found in the [Generator Install Folder]\OBIViewsExtractor.xml file, in the type attribute of the <Query> tags in the file. This file defines the queries used to extract metadata from NoetixViews or Noetix Analytics into Noetix Generator and is organized by the Oracle BI repository layer.
NOTE: Only one object type value can be specified for each filter and must exactly match the case and format in OBIViewsExtractor.xml.
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<stringToMatch value=”[Object IDs to Log]”/> tag: The <stringToMatch> tag defines the ID of the object or objects to log. These IDs correspond to the values in the <IdColumn> of the <Query> tag for the object type you want to log.
A query tool, such as TOAD, can be used to query the database table or view represented in the <From> tag for a list of <IdColumn> values that are candidates for logging. For example, querying the n_gen_all_tables_v.table_id column would return a list of physical table IDs.
TIP: An asterisks can be used as a wildcard representing any number of characters to log multiple objects, or when the full ID of the object is unknown. For example, a stringToMatch value of “*APG0_*” would log information about all Noetix views with the APG0 prefix.
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<Select value=”[Object Properties to Log]”/> tag: The <Select> tag defines the properties or child objects to include in the messages written to the log file. The list of properties and child objects that can be logged can be determined from the OBIViewsExtractor.xml file. The name attributes on the <Column> and <Query> tags in the file represent the properties and child objects that can be logged.
When defining the <Select> value, the properties to log should be defined in a comma-delimited list that follows the spelling and case from OBIViewsExtractor.xml. For example, <Select value=”Name,Query”> will log the values of the Name and Query properties of matching physical tables.
Child objects, such as the list of columns belonging to a physical table, can be logged by including the name from a child <Query> tag in the <Select> value. The properties of the child objects to log should be included in a comma-delimited list wrapped in curly braces after the child object name. For example, <Select value=”Name,Query,Columns{Name,DataType}”> will log the names and data types of the columns associated with a physical table, in addition to the Name and Query of the parent physical table.
TIP: The <Select> tag is optional. If it is omitted, the ID of each matching object will be logged.
Verbose Object Logging Examples
This section provides examples of verbose object logging filters.
Log Physical Tables: This filter logs the name, comment and list of columns (column name, data type and position) for all physical tables that have an ID ending in “AP1_CREDIT_CARDS”.
<filter type="Noetix.logging.Verbose.VerboseFilter, Noetix.logging">
<filter type="Noetix.logging.Verbose.VerbosePropertyFilter, Noetix.logging">
<key value="Noetix.OBIEE.Model.Physical.Table"/>
<stringToMatch value="*AP1_CREDIT_CARDS"/>
<Select value="Name,Comment,Columns{Name,DataType,Position}"/>
</filter>
</filter>
Log Business Models: This filter logs the name, list of dimensions (dimension name and description), and list of dimension levels (level name, description and number of elements) for all business models the generator extracts from source metadata.
<filter type="Noetix.logging.Verbose.VerboseFilter, Noetix.logging">
<filter type="Noetix.logging.Verbose.VerbosePropertyFilter, Noetix.logging">
<key value="Noetix.Generators.Model.Rolap.Model"/>
<stringToMatch value="*"/>
<Select value="Name,Dimensions{Name,Description},Levels{Name,Description,NumberOfElements}"/>
</filter>
</filter>
Log Alias Tables: This filter logs the name, comment, list of primary keys (primary key name), and list of columns (column name and position) for all alias tables with “AP_INVOICES_INV” in their IDs.
<filter type="Noetix.logging.Verbose.VerboseFilter, Noetix.logging">
<filter type="Noetix.logging.Verbose.VerbosePropertyFilter, Noetix.logging">
<key value="Noetix.OBIEE.Model.Physical.AliasTable"/>
<stringToMatch value="*AP_INVOICES_INV*"/>
<Select value="Name,Comment,PrimaryKeys{Name},Columns{Column,Position}"/>
</filter>
</filter>