Have you ever thought of accessing your BusinessObject’s platform through the Internet? Do you need to access externally your BusinessObjects platform without using a VPN connection? Is secure access for your external users a must for you? If the answer to these three questions is “Yes, I do” and your seeking for a solution, you have just landed on the page that will guide you to successfully meeting your objectives. So look no further because in this article, I will explain how you can improve your current BusinessObjects environment in a very simple way. As a matter of fact, one of our customer’s requested we find a way to allow his users access the BusinessObjects platform through the Internet in a secure way and without using a VPN connection. After analyzing several scenarios, we decided to split the web server (WAS) so that, in the end, our customer would dispose of two web servers: a server for external access and another for internal users. In the lines below, I will explain the steps and key items to developing this original solution.
Infrastructure changes
Many companies don’t usually connect servers with data (i.e: Database servers) in DMZ networks. Given this is our case, I recommend we split the BOXI Web Server. Our next step would be to place one web server in the DMZ network and the other web server, including the repository server, should be kept in the LAN. Finally, we should set up a new configuration, one for each firewall (INTERNET–DMZ and DMZ–LAN).
Having made these changes to the infrastructure, the internal users (LAN users) will still be able to connect to the BOXI platform, just as they would normally do, and at the same time the external users, who will connect through the Internet, will be able to access a secure web server, through an HTTPS connection, and use any BOXI web tool they need, such as Infoview, WebI, etc. This means, for example, that the external users can connect in a secure way to their Infoview by using a web browser and without the need of a VPN connection.
Security requirements
We must not forget yet another important requirement which is to assure our users with a secured access once they’re connected through the internet. This is a topic that I will treat more in depth in the next lines.We can use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol to allow for communication between external users (users connected through the Internet) and the external web server in the DMZ network.
To set up the SSL for the server communication we need to perform the following steps:
1. Set Environment Variables
Before starting, it’s always good to make sure that the following environment variables are set correctly. The values which I will outline within the course of this article and that I’ll be using as a reference are correct for those of you have installed Business Objects with the default settings. Otherwise, use the list below as a guide to finding the correct paths.
- CATALINA_HOME -- C:Program FilesBusiness ObjectsTomcat55
- JAVA_HOME -- C:Program FilesBusiness Objectsjavasdk
- TOMCAT_HOME -- C:Program FilesBusiness ObjectsTomcat55
- Path -- C:Program FilesBusiness Objectsjavasdkbin (Add this to the existing Path)
2. Keystore and Keypair Creation
Next, open a command prompt (Start->Run, cmd) and run the following command to create a keystore.
keytool -genkey -alias tomcat -keyalg RSA -keystore C:keystore
The keytool utility will then ask you for your general personal information before generating your keypair. This information is used to identify your server. When you visualize a message from keytool asking you for the “key password for Tomcat”, just hit return to use the same password.
Check to make sure your key was created by running this command:
keytool -list -v -keystore c:keystore.keystore
3. Enable SSL in server.xml
While you are waiting for your signed certificate, you can enable SSL in Tomcat. We proceed to doing so by opening up Tomcat’s server.xml file, which is located by default in C:Program FilesBusiness ObjectsTomcat55conf. Look for thefile for the SSL Connector entry, which should look like this:
<-- Define a SSL Coyote HTTP/1.1 Connector on port 8443 -->Let’s start by looking at the design area, where we find 5 tabs on the top of the application (“Report element”, “Format”, “Data access”, “Analysis” and “Page Setup”).
The new WebI XI 4.0 tries to centralize similar features in a more logical manner. In such way, under “Report Element", we find the basic elements for the initial design.
This section is divided into 3 areas, where initially we’ll find these tabs: “Table”, “Cell” and “Section”. We won’t find any new characteristic added here, though a significant change lays in the way we interact with the elements.
What is worthy of mention is that we can now insert elements into a table in the habitual drag & drop way or by simply using a new interface to set any of them more rapidly.
The second section is focused entirely on “Charts”. This area has undergone major improvements and we now have many more graphic options to work with. WebI includes new chart types, new properties and other features developers have been expecting for quite some time.
The third section instead is based on how we allocate the report elements. We will therefore find the regular “Turn Into”, “Set as section”, “Order”, “Align” and “Hyperlinks” functions.
Apart from these three sections, if we click on an active report element, a new section pops up complementing the options that are available to us when right clicking over a report element. For example, if we click on a table, we can set up the Breaks or Insert/Remove Rows.
In the "Format" tab we now have a better distribution of all options which are now centralized and easy to access in order for us to format in any aspect our element. Previously all these options were spread across the report and accessed either by right clicking on the element or by selecting from the formatting bar or the “Data” tab. Moreover, what I believe is well worth of mention is that WebI now adapts dynamically to each formatting option that fits with the selected item. In other words, if we select a cell, the tab is adjusted to modify multiple cell parameters; the same stands for table, report etc.
In the "Data Access" tab we find all the options related to data access and data manipulation. The first section involves working with the query panel (“Data Providers”). We can now create new queries to new data sources. It basically adds a new query to our document with the selected data source. Alternatively, we can edit one of the active queries, do a data purge or even refresh it. Under “Tools”, instead, we can change the data source specifically for one of the active queries or export the data to a flat file, CSV or PDF. The second section called “Data Objects” is where we can create our report data variables or merge specific dimensions.
Under the "Analysis" tab, the related functions are much more consistent. This is the case, for example, if we want to filter the data; now individual reports like “Filters”, “Ranking” or “Input controls” are grouped in one same block. Still under “Analysis” we find “Data Tracking” with no significant developments. The "Breaks" and "Sorts" options are centralized aswell, now grouped under "Display". Special mention goes to the “Conditional” tab, which includes a feature, legacy from the former WebI: “Alerters”. Finally, we can move on forward to the last set of options under the ”Interact“ tab where we’ll find the “Drill”, “Filter Bar” and “Outline” options and, as for the “Functions” tab, we’ll find the default aggregation functions such as sum, count, min, max etc.
The last tab to consider is named "Page Setup". This is one of the parts which I find particularly useful as it is more defined if compared with the old version.
Divided into three parts, the first block manages the reports. No new functionalities have been added here. The second block focuses on the distribution for each page of the report, defining the orientation and the page size, and the “Show/Hide” and “Height” for the header and footer. Finally, in the third block we have a new feature called “Scale to Page” where we can adjust our items either in width or in height fitting them in single or multiple pages. Additionally we can also control the report margins as well as the page display by toggling between quick display and view page.
Last but not the least, we find three new menus “Reading”,”Design” and “Data” that are quite useful.
These are intended to be shortcuts to the three main actions that a developer would carry out in WebI offering different views for each action. In case we want to evaluate the report results, all we need to do is right click on “Reading” and the “Summary View” will appear along with the report results. If we want to go back to the creation area, we simply click on “Design” and it will display the canvas either in structure mode or populated with data. Finally the “Data” shortcut shows us a nice overview of all the data providers involved in our queries.
I hope you found this second part of my article helpful and insightful. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment or to ask any questions related to the new WebI 4.0 layout and I will readily reply to you.
