Smart View Private Connection Issue - Resolved!

I had managed to go for the past 5 months, since I moved to Windows 7 64-bit on my laptop with Essbase 11.1.2, without the need to connect to Smart View.  This week, I decided I wanted to test something in Smart View and compare it with Dodeca but, low and behold, I could not create a private connection with Smart View to save my life.   After some investigation, I found some nasty messages in my apsserver.log (or, more specifically, in C:\Oracle\Middleware\user_projects\domains\EPMSystem\servers\AnalyticProviderServices0\logs\apsserver.log):

[2011-04-16T20:34:42.184-05:00] [AnalyticProviderServices0] [ERROR] [] [oracle.EPMOHPS] [tid: 18] [userId: ] [ecid: 0000IxX6708EgKWzLwyGOA1De^CQ000001,0] [APP: APS#11.1.2.0] [[
java.lang.NullPointerException
 at com.hyperion.dsf.server.framework.BaseLogger.writeException(Unknown Source)
 at com.essbase.smartview.util.EssLogger.writeException(Unknown Source)
 at com.essbase.smartview.xml.XmlHandler.invoke(Unknown Source)
 at com.essbase.smartview.xml.XmlHandler.invoke(Unknown Source)
 at com.essbase.smartview.xml.XmlHandler.invoke(Unknown Source)
 at com.essbase.smartview.xml.EssbaseSmartView.doPost(Unknown Source)
 at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:727)
 at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:821)
...  blah, blah, blah!

I did a quick search of the web and found nothing relevant, so I turned to my friend and fellow ACE Cameron Lackpour..   Cameron had just finished working his way through the Oracle Knowledgebase notes on Smart View on Oracle support.  He came up with this nugget:

https://support.oracle.com/CSP/main/article?cmd=show&type=NOT&id=1098634.1

It told me the cause of my ills was an incomplete configuration and gave me a couple of different methods to complete the configuration.  I chose to export and edit the datasources.xml file.

In the xml, I simply had to add my Essbase server name:

Once that was complete, I was able to create a private connection:

KScope Hotels

Yesterday, I found out during the ODTUG Board Meeting that the hotels for KScope11 are starting to fill up.   I will staying at the Renaissance Long Beach Hotel as most of the Hyperion focused events, including Hyperion Midnight Madness, will be there.  Many of the other Hyperion attendees will be there as well, so I am sure there will be many, many networking opportunities which can be just as valuable as the conference sessions themselves.  Does anyone remember the spirited games of Jenga at the hotel in Monterrey?  Jenga Joe, are you staying at the Renaissance?

EPM 11.1.2.1 on the cloud

11.1.2.1 has now been out a week and thus should not be news to anyone here.  One interesting thing different about this release, however, is the cloud instance that has popped up so that anyone can easily take advantage of giving 11.1.2.1 a test drive.

Emerging Solutions' John Booth has put an Amazon cloud instance online.  John has also worked hard on the cloud instance that will be used for hands-on labs at KScope 11.  For the latest details, see John's blog at http://www.metavero.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51:epm-test-drive&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50.

If you have never used the Amazon cloud, Cameron Lackpour has posted a blog on how to get started with John's image.  See Cameron's blog post at http://camerons-blog-for-essbase-hackers.blogspot.com/2011/04/yeah-yeah-11121-is-here-so-what_12.html.

As for me, I am getting busy providing Dodeca support for 11.1.2.1.  It should be available either late this week or early next week.