What is Clustering?
Clustering is connecting two or more computers together in such a way that they behave like a single computer. Clustering can be used for parallel processing, load balancing and fault tolerance. That is as far as the definition goes.
What exactly happens in real life? Let's consider an example. John is the administrator in a company responsible for administering BO. On a typical day,several reports are run on the CMS (Central Management Server). One day, John finds that CMS is down for some reason. Yes, the service will mail system engineers that it is down. But, there are many reports that are waiting to be run. What can John do to better handle the situation in the future?
Enter Clustering. John can set up a Clustered environment, where in two or three CMS will run in parallel. So, one CMS will be active, and the others will be passive. If the active one is down for some reason, the other CMS will be up automatically. The end users would not even know that one of the servers is down. It is that quick.
Why is Clustering important for Business Objects?
If for some reason the hardware crashes then BO environment will be on its knees.
•With Clustered environment, if one of the server goes down the other comes up immediately and this is done automatically by BusinessObjects without any external interference.
•With Clustered environment, we can have multiple Job Servers which can run the jobs (reports) in parallel, distributing them between servers.
•We can load balance the server so that resources are distributed evenly between servers.
When is using Clustering recommended?
If there is an Environment with thousands of Jobs running everyday and would need high availability of BO.
What is the procedure to setup a Clustered environment?
Make sure you have all the requirements to build a server like Oracle Client, Java. For SSO, IIS need to be installed on the server. It is better if IIS is installed before installing BO, as BO will install the Web Component Adaptors for IIS and Java during install.
Install: First Sever
a) Insert the BO XI CD.
b) Select “Perform Server Installation”, click “Next”.
c) Enter Product Registration Code, click “Next”.
d) Select the location for BusinessObjects, click “Next”.
e) Setting up the Repository, click “Next”.
f) Setting up the BusinessObjects Repository, click “Next”. Make a note of the credentials as they are needed in second server with same credentials and they are also case sensitive.
g) Select the Web Component Adapter, click “Next”.
h) Click “Next”.
i) Installation will begin once “Next” is clicked. If any changes have to be made it can be made at this time by clicking “Back”.
j) Follow the instructions.
k) Leave the Administrator credentials empty, Click “Finish”.
Install: Second Server (Clustering)
a) Insert the BO XI CD.
b) Select “Perform Server Installation”, click “Next”.
c) Enter Product Registration Code, click “Next”.
d) Select the location for BusinessObjects, click “Next”.
e) Setting up the Clustered Environment, select “Expand”
•Type in the existing CMS Name ex: ASVMB0S302 (First server)
•Check the services which you want to be clustered
Note: It is better to uncheck “File Repository Servers” as each BO XI Environment would have one location to get the reports and post the reports. Once you uncheck “File Repository Servers”, “Enable servers upon install” will be highlighted. Check this box so that the servers are enabled after the install.
f) This is the important part about setting the repository, make sure the credentials are same as the first server (case sensitive)
g) Follow the instructions.
Setting up Single Sign-On (SSO):
This needs to be done on all the servers which are in the cluster.
I - Modifying IIS Settings on the Server
a) Go to IIS Manager on the server
b) Right Click on “businessobjects” by expanding “Web Sites”->”Default Web Site”
c) Click on Properties
d) Click on Directory Security tab
e) Click “Edit” in Authentication and access control
i. Uncheck “Enable Anonymous Access”
ii. Check “Integrated Windows authentication”
f) Click OK and Apply
g) Repeat the steps for “crystalreportviewers115” and “Styles” under “Default Web Site”
II. Modifying web.config file
•Open the web.config (C:\Program Files\BusinessObjects Enterprise 11.5\Web Content) add the below line under <authentication mode="Windows" />. This is to enable the use of SSO in CMC.
<identity impersonate="true" />
If authentication mode is set to “None” change it to “Windows”.
•Save and close the file
Note: This file is different from the one in BusinessObjects Enterprise 11.5\ \InfoView
•Open the web.config using Notepad (C:\Program Files\BusinessObjects Enterprise 11.5\Web Content\Enterprise115\InfoView). This is to enable the use of SSO in InfoView.
a. In the <configuration> section, find the line which reads, <add key="cmsdefault" value="" />. Fill the “” with default CMS machine name.
Note: For the second server (clustered) make sure have the same Default CMC machine name.
<add key="cmsDefault" value="ASVMBOS301" />
b. Find
<add key="authenticationDefault" value="secEnterprise" />
and replace with
<add key="authenticationDefault" value="secWinAD" />
c. Find
<add key="ssoEnabled" value="false" />
and replace with
<add key="ssoEnabled" value="true" />
d. In the <system.web> section under <!– AUTHENTICATION, find the line which reads
<authentication mode="None" />
replace with
<authentication mode="Windows" />
<identity imperonate="true" />
•Save and close the file
•Restart IIS by restarting World Wide Web Publishing Service in CCM (Central Configuration Manager)
Note: Login to CMC -> Manage->Authentication, if the tabs are grayed out go to License Keys and check if the License keys are present. If they are Restart the Server.
•Login to CMC and go to Manage->Authentication, click on Windows AD tab.
•Check “Windows Active Directory Authentication is enabled”
•Click in the box under “Windows AD Configuration Summary” where it says “”
•Click “Update”
•This is how it looks after the credentials are accepted.
Mapping the AD groups
•Click “Add”
•Check the first option under “New Alias Options”. This option will assign the AD account to an Enterprise account, if Enterprise account is already available.
•Check the second option under “Update Options”. This option will not create an account in BO until the first time access BO XI using Windows AD,.
•Click Update
•The mapped AD group will be converted something like
Note: The group is added in BO XI under Groups but there will be no Users in that group. The Users will shows up as they login to BO Enterprise using Windows AD credentials.
Note: The AD credentials should have administration privileges.
•Right click on Central Management Server and click on Properties, under the configuration tab the CMC Data Source should point to the same cluster on both servers.
•For all of the other servers on the second server CMS name should be pointed to the first server.
This completes the process of clustering multiple servers with SSO.
