Oracle BI EE 10.1.3.3/2 - Top 10 Common Errors

Now that BI EE is gaining traction among a lot of users, i thought i would document a list of most common errors that users might encounter while using OBI EE. I will also be giving in the possible workarounds/solutions possible for these errors. Feel free to chip in with the error that you got and the solution which you used in the comments section.

1.   Failed to load the DLL D:\Oracle\OracleBI\server\Bin\nqsdbgatewayoci10g.dll. Check if ‘Oracle OCI 10G’ database client is installed.

         There can be many variations of the above error. But what this error essentially means is that BI Server is not able to identify the Oracle OCI drivers. So, first thing to check is whether you have installed Oracle client or database on the same machine as the BI Server. If you have these installed already but still getting this error, then if you are on windows check the Path variable. Check my blog entry here to know what your path should have. If you are Linux/Solaris check whether you have ORACLE_HOME, TNS_ADMIN, LD_LIBRARY_PATH properly set. For AIX, check whether ORACLE_HOME, TNS_ADMIN, LIBPATH are properly set. This should get you started and hopefully solve it. Of course there could be many other reasons, but the common reasons are that the environment variables are not properly set.

2.   Unable to start the BI Scheduler Service.

      For this one would have to go through a list of configuration steps. Scheduler is not configured by default since it requires a database to run the schedules on. Check my blog entry here.

3.   Unable to save an ibot. Errors out saying “Authentication Failed”.

      The most probable cause for this is that cryptotools utility was not run in the Scheduler configuration step. Check the 7th and 8th step of my blog entry here

4.   Errors while using Writeback option.

      a.   Template not found.

            This error occurs if the XML template that you have created is not identified by BI Server. Place the Templates in {OracleBI}/web/msgdb/custommessages folder.

      b.   Errors while doing the writeback.

            Check this forum entry here. Try all the options that are mentioned here. Always use OCI drivers for updating/inserting back to the database.

      For detailed step by step instructions, check my earlier blog entry here

5.   Unable to view the charts in BI EE.

      There can be a couple of reasons why this could happen. The display of charts depend on the Java Host service. Try starting that service. If it still does not work, then it could be so that you do not have a flash plugin installed. Check whether the other chart types like SVG, PNG are working. To set up SVG or PNG charts use my blog entry here

6.   Unable to start/stop the BI Server/Presentation Services/ Java host.

      If you are unable to stop/start the services, try starting them from command line. Use the following commands to start/stop the services from command line.

      net start/stop “Oracle BI Server” - For BI Server
      net start/stop “sawsvc” - For presentation Services
      net start/stop “sawjavahostsvc” - For Java Host
      net start/stop “Oracle BI Scheduler” - For scheduler

7.   While setting up external authentication, one might get error messages like init block not initialized.

      One of the possible reasons, if you think everything has been properly setup, is the overlap of users between the repository and the external directory. Remove the overlapping users from the RPD and test it out. For more info on how to setup LDAP/OID authentication check my blog entry here and here

8.   While using Evaluate function, common errors like “Union of non-compatible types. (HY000)”.

      I believe this is a bug in the Evaluate function implementation. One must cast all the arguments to the same data type before passing them as arguments.

9.   Unable to create a new style by following the documentation.

      Again, you have not done anything wrong. I believe there is a documentation bug on this. Check my blog entries here and here

10.   Unable to view/change the images in Answers Title view using FMAP.

      This is again a common problem due to a documentation bug. Try using my blog entry here. One would have to copy the images to 2 folders instead on 1 as given in the documentation.

There could be many other reasons why you might get these errors. But the above list would give you an idea of where to start looking if you are new to OBI EE. Feel free to share your thoughts here.

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