Essbase API - Ephemeral Port Issues/Resources

One of the most popular posts on my blog has been the post where I showed how to open up the number of ports available to Essbase. This is necessary as the Essbase API is quite chatty and, when combined with the small number of available dynamic ports and the long default timeout on these ports in Windows, running out of ports has become an issue.  Most users see this when running many, many repetitive API calls against Essbase. 

One example is when users run the Essbase Outline Extractor against a large database.   Back in the old days when the Essbase API was designed, it probably wasn’t much of a consideration.  These days, however, with million member outlines and really fast computers, it is very easy to run out of ports.

We are currently testing some new Dodeca functionality we plan to introduce this summer that optionally performs some intensive caching of the Essbase outline.  Of course, we ran into the port issue very quickly and, in the course of looking at how the ports have changed in the new versions of Windows, found a couple of interesting links to pass along.

First, I found a nice link that explains how dynamic ports work.  Better yet, this link covers dynamic ports on non-Windows operating systems.  You can see this link at http://www.ncftp.com/ncftpd/doc/misc/ephemeral_ports.html.   This link also talks about the new, larger default dynamic port range in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 which now feature a default range of 16,384 ports.

I also found a link to a Microsoft KnowledgeBase article that talks about the new defaults and shows ways to both display, and dynamically increase, the range of ports.  The KnowledgeBase article is located at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929851/.   I ran the commands listed there on my Windows 7 laptop:

C:\Users\timt>netsh int ipv4 show dynamicport tcp
Protocol tcp Dynamic Port Range
---------------------------------
Start Port      : 49152
Number of Ports : 16384

I then increased the number of ports dynamically:

C:\Users\timt>netsh int ipv4 set dynamic tcp start=5000 num=60536
Ok.

C:\Users\timt>netsh int ipv4 show dynamicport tcp
Protocol tcp Dynamic Port Range
---------------------------------
Start Port      : 5000
Number of Ports : 60536

The changes appear to permanent.  I rebooted my machine and found the new configuration remained.

Essbase JAPI 11.1.2.1 - Location of samples directory has changed

I noticed when we were doing our initial work on our Dodeca servlet that the Essbase JAPI samples directory was not where it used to be.  In 11.1.2, it was located at:

C:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1\products\Essbase\aps\samples

I am setting up my new 11.1.2.1 laptop today and found the samples directories, along with some of the other directories, have changed locations to live in the equivalent of the old HYPERION_HOME\common directory:

C:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1\common\EssbaseJavaAPI\11.1.2.0\samples

By the way, that is not a typo; the directory name does reference 11.1.2.0 although the accompanying lib\ess_japi.jar manifest.mf file does properly state the version as 11.1.2.1.

KScope11 - More new Hyperion sessions added

As a member of the ODTUG Board of Directors and participant in the ODTUG Hyperion SIG, I can tell you many, many exciting things are happening with the upcoming KScope11 conference.   I am planning a series of short blog posts to talk about each of these things.

This week, five new sessions were added to the KScope11 agenda.  The conference now features over 100 Hyperion sessions and will truly be a gathering place for Hyperion experts and insiders.  The new sessions are:

Commenting on Essbase Commentary Options at ConocoPhillips
Presenter: Henry Robin, ConocoPhilips

LROs, Cell Text, Related Content? Essbase provides many options for adding commentary to your reporting and analysis solutions. Join ConocoPhillips as they share how they provided an automated system for capturing and reporting variance commentary. We will discuss our current solution as well as possible future changes based on Oracle's direction for Essbase commentary. Don't miss this chance to learn more about ways to capture critical text information about your Essbase numbers!

(Planning OR Essbase) AND FDM) AND ERPi = Success!
Presenter:  Anthony Scalese, Ranzal & Associates

This session will explore the capabilities of FDM, and now ERPi, to integrate with other target EPM applications such Essbase (BSO & ASO) and Strategic Finance.  Out of the box features such as the ability to execute calc scripts before and after a load as well as leveraging load rules will be showcased.  The session will highlight how the introduction of ERPi further expanded the already world class analysis & reporting capabilities of Essbase by adding drill through to transactional detail.  This session will conclude with an overview of automation capabilities of FDM, discussion of use cases and thorough Q&A. 

Essbase Custom Defined Functions are fun!
Presenter: Toufic Wakim, Oracle Corporation

This session will explore a number of interesting cases of Essbase CDFs used by Oracle customers explained by one of Oracle's most experienced Essbase CDF experts.

Using MaxL to Automate Essbase
Presenter: Natalie Delemar, Ernst & Young

What is this thing called MaxL (and why the funny capitalization)?  All will be revealed through practical code samples and interactive examples that show why MaxL is an essential Essbase tool.  You will see:  the many ways to invoke MaxL, driving MaxL scripts via the OS shell, Essbase database manipulation with error checking, encryption, script nesting and logging.

Mission Critical! Deploying Highly Available Oracle EPM Systems
Presenter: Eric Helmer, Linium

Mission Critical implementations of the Hyperion Enterprise Performance Suite are becoming more commonplace.  As corporations are turning to global integration and follow-the-sun real time analytics, Hyperion applications must accommodate thousands of users 24x7.  Join Oracle ACE Director Eric Helmer as he dissects larger Hyperion implementations and strategies to achieving a global, highly available enterprise.  Learn how many Fortune 500 companies achieve world class availability through clustering and failover techniques, disaster recovery procedures, load balancing, and virtual machines.

If you haven't registered for KScope11 yet, you can register at http://www.kscope11.com/.

Do You Have A Killer EPM Application?

My friend Ron Moore from Marketing Technologies Group in New York is currently doing an on-line survey to find out who has the best EPM applications deployed.  He, in turn, plans to use this information during a panel discussion at the ODTUG KScope11 conference in Long Beach.

If you think you have a 'Killer App', please take the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/odtug.

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.