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Thursday, May 2, 2013

EPM 11.1.2.3 Rapid Deployment


While I was busy celebrating May 1st with my family some people have already studied the new EPM release. Therefore I will not reinvent the wheel by posting another "what's new" update and instead will link to these fine blog posts for those who are thirsty for more information:



One nice addition that hasn't been discussed much yet is the enhanced rapid deployment installation option which allows you to deploy a single Windows server installation of HFM, Planning or Essbase. The Repaid Deployment Wizard requires minimal interaction and produces a fully configured and tested EPM setup complete with an Oracle database.

The steps required to carry out the rapid deployment configuration are described in separate PDF documents per product (see the Deployment section in the EPM 11.1.2.3 Documentation Library). In addition to downloading the EPM installation media you also have to get the Oracle Database installation files from their own Media Pack on Oracle eDelivery.

EPM 11.1.2.3 media

Oracle database media

The EPM installation media (including client installers) and the Oracle Database installer should all be unpacked into the same directory. I recommend getting the Database installation files from the eDelivery site so you can be sure to have the directory structure the deployment wizard expects to find. Here, in addition to the familiar installTool script, you will find the new wizard.cmd batch file:



After launching wizard.cmd you will be presented with a choice for the product suite you want to install (Essbase, HFM or Planning).



All rapid deployment bundles include EPM Foundation and Oracle database and client as mandatory components. The products installed and configured with each option are:

  • Rapid Essbase deployment:
    • Essbase Server
    • Essbase Administration Services web application and console
    • Provider Services
    • Essbase Studio service and client
    • Optional: Smart View (requires MS Office 2010 to be installed)
  • Rapid Financial Management deployment:
    • HFM application server components
    • HFM IIS web applications
    • HFM ADF web application
    • Reporting And Analysis Framework
    • Financial Reporting service and Studio client
    • Optional: Smart View (requires MS Office 2010 to be installed)
  • Rapid Planning deployment:
    • Planning web application
    • Essbase Server
    • Essbase Administration Services web application and console
    • Provider Services
    • Reporting And Analysis Framework
    • Financial Reporting service and Studio client
    • Calculation Manager
    • Essbase Studio service and client
    • Optional: Smart View (requires MS Office 2010 to be installed)

Next configuration panel shows the only settings you need to set during the process: the installation path, deployment password and for HFM the credentials for the DCOM account. The deployment password will be assigned to native HSS admin user and also for the Oracle database users "sys" and "admin".



The wizard checks the installation prerequisites for the chosen product. Note that you only need to have Office and .Net Framework 4 installed in case you want to include Smart View in the installation. Note that you need to unpack the EPM System Release 11.1.2.3.0 Client Installers package into the same directory with the EPM installation media so the Product Zip Check can succeed.



After checking the installation parameters in the Summary panel you can click next to start the deployment process. On my laptop with 8 CPU cores and 8 gigs of RAM it took around an hour to complete the installation, configuration and validations steps so you have to be patient here...



You can verify the status of each installed component in the deployment wizard log file (in my case Z:\Media\EPM-11.1.2.3-winx64\unpacked\diagnostics\logs\deploymentwizard\deploymentwizard_summary_Wed-05.01.2013-19.10.01.log):

(May 01, 2013 07.15.31 PM): Pass [000 min 00 sec] EPM Product Zips Check
(May 01, 2013 07.15.31 PM): Pass [000 min 00 sec] Oracle Database 11g R2 installer Check
(May 01, 2013 07.15.31 PM): Fail [000 min 00 sec] Microsoft Office 2010 Check
(May 01, 2013 07.15.31 PM): Fail [000 min 00 sec] .NET Framework 4 Check
(May 01, 2013 07.15.37 PM): Pass [000 min 00 sec] Prepare Deployment
(May 01, 2013 07.15.38 PM): Pass [056 min 36 sec] Deploy Financial Management Rapid
(May 01, 2013 07.15.38 PM): Pass [014 min 17 sec] Set up Oracle Database
(May 01, 2013 07.29.56 PM): Pass [016 min 43 sec] Install Financial Management Domain
(May 01, 2013 07.46.39 PM): Pass [019 min 45 sec] Config Financial Management Domain
(May 01, 2013 08.06.25 PM): Pass [000 min 36 sec] Install Financial Reporting Studio
(May 01, 2013 08.07.02 PM): Pass [000 min 37 sec] Install Oracle Financial Management Client 64 bit
(May 01, 2013 07.15.35 PM): Skip [000 min 00 sec] Install Oracle Smart View for Office
(May 01, 2013 08.07.39 PM): Pass [004 min 34 sec] Start EPM System
(May 01, 2013 08.12.14 PM): Pass [003 min 26 sec] Validate Deployment
(May 01, 2013 08.12.14 PM): Pass [003 min 04 sec] Generate EPM Diagnostic Report
(May 01, 2013 08.15.18 PM): Pass [000 min 09 sec] Generate Registry Report
(May 01, 2013 08.15.27 PM): Pass [000 min 12 sec] Generate Deployment Report
(May 01, 2013 08.15.41 PM): Pass [060 min 03 sec] Total summary


If you take a look at the installed services you see that the names now follow a more uniform naming convention:



Oracle Database is installed and configured under D:\Oracle\OracleDB:



An Oracle instance called ADMIN is created during the deployment process. All EPM tables, views etc. are created in a single database schema called "admin":



Compact deployment uses the web server functionality built into WebLogic Server. Therefore you need to use port 9000 to access the web applications (on my VM the URL for Workspace is http://hvtest2.local:9000/workspace/ ).

Workspace login page


Workspace home page

All in all, the Rapid Deployment Wizard makes it easy to set up a small test or demo installation of Essbase, HFM or Planning. The process couldn't be much easier to follow after you have installation media and other prerequisites figured out (and the prereqs are explained step-by-step in the Rapid Deployment Guide for each product). The hardware requirements described in the guide (quad core, 16 GB RAM) are a bit excessive but the web applications are of course hungry for memory nowadays. With minimum Oracle and EPM services running I can barely run everything required by HFM on a virtual server with just 4 GB of RAM but you will need probably need more if you also use Smart View in MS Office.



Another thing you should be aware of is that the installation process does not seem to cope well with bits and pieces left over from previous EPM or Oracle database installations. Therefore I recommend using a clean Windows Server image as a basis to keep the installation .

20 comments :

  1. Hello Henri,

    I guess rapid installation don't install EPM Architect.

    I Have Laptop with 16 GB RAM and i7 Quad Core, I can create VM with 12 GB. Do you think this will run Planning + EPM Architect+ FDMEE together in one machine?

    11.1.2.2 is running just OK with EPM Architect installed.
    What you Say?

    Thanks in Advance.
    Shiven


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 12 GB should be enough in my opinion. You can use the default JVM parameters (Xms/Xmx) to save memory and also deploy the web applications into a single JVM for less overhead (compact deployment).

      And you're right - the rapid deployment wizard does not install EPMA.

      Delete
  2. Morning

    When I try to install Essbase, I have an error message telling me that AMD64 should be unzip into Client Installer. However I have download all the ZIP file containing EPM. Do you have any idea ? Regards

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was so excited at how simple the EPM Rapid Deploy for Planning 11.1.2.3 was. The only problem I really had was an error "The Network Adapter could Not Establish the Connection". I found a simple answer on John Goodwin's blog and added a loopback adapter. Everything is up and running.

    I'm having an issue adding a schema in Oracle. I'm using the recommended Username and Password and my oracle connection will not authenticate.
    User: emprapid_user
    Pword:Hyperion
    port:1521
    database: oracle thin
    sid: XE

    Does anyone have any ideas of what I may be doing wrong? Thx.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you mean that you created a new Oracle schema yourself? What kind of an SQL statement did you use? Can you try to log in with this account in SQL*Plus client and see if you receive any errors?

      Delete
  4. Henri - Dan P here - did you have to install java first or any other prerequisites? I had a successful install but with no Java nothing works also I did not have the URLs described in the deployment guide for EAS or workspace to verify deployment.

    Seems strange to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry for the long delay... You should not need to install Java separately for EPM servers or clients. I have noticed that some client installers are trying to install a "public" JRE under the Program Files directory though and this seems to fail in some cases. When this happens I have installed the same JRE manually, reinstalled the client in question and it's been working fine afterwards.

      Delete
  5. I ended up using sys admin and password for the log in. Everything is working like a charm.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Henri Vilminko,

    I installed EPM 11.1.2.3 regular deployment...but i dint find any sample HFM application....How can i get the sample APP in HFM

    ReplyDelete
  7. The sample applications are no more shipped with the HFM server installation. You will need to download the EPM Clients package from Oracle eDelivery and install the HFM client in order to get them.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Henri, After successful configuration of EPM 11.1.2.3, I started EPM system. Then I tried to open Workspace via URL given, but login is not happening, it's stuck. Even the launch button is doing nothing. Please help!

    Regards,
    Piyush

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Henri. How I can have access to Dimentions Library after this installation?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As mentioned in the previous comments, EPM Architect is not included in the Rapid Deployment installations. Therefore you cannot find Dimension Library or Application Library in Workspace. You need to install EPMA separately to get to use this functionality.

      Delete
  10. How do I create a VM image, what are the prerequisites and the process..please

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You will first need to create a virtual machine running your selected OS (likely to be Windows Server). The process is documented by the vendor of your virtualization software (such as VMware or Oracle) and is nowadays pretty straightforward.

      Once you have a clean virtual server with OS installed you can follow the steps described in the Rapid Deployment Guides that can be found in the EPM 11.1.2.3 Documentation Library. A separate document is provided for installing a rapid deployment version of HFM, Planning and Essbase.

      Delete
  11. Hi Henri,

    i have question on HFM cluster configuration.

    if i do a instal and configure in first server (selecting all in the Financial management)

    if i do a second server configuration for HFM . do i need to use configure database again with a new schema or the cluster will take care in providing the same db objects to both server

    please let me know your thoughts

    thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HFM always uses a single database schema (in Oracle terms) / database (for MS SQL). You don't need to perform the database configuration task on the second HFM server as the connection information is fetched from the Shared Services Registry (the DB configuration task for HFM should display a green icon after running the config utility on the second server and entering the HSS Registry database details).

      Delete
  12. Hi Henri, sorry to revive an old thread but wondering if you can answer
    "As mentioned in the previous comments, EPM Architect is not included in the Rapid Deployment installations. Therefore you cannot find Dimension Library or Application Library in Workspace. You need to install EPMA separately to get to use this functionality."
    I have installed all products on Linux. For EPMA do I download the entire software for windows and install EPMA only on windows to use Dimension and Application Libraries or is there a separate download just for those two?
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You need to download all the EPM Foundation packages in order to install and configure EPM Architect on a separate server. As far as I remember you need to install and deploy the EPMA web applications on Linux though because WebLogic domains need to be uniform (installed to same OS and to the same path on all servers). The EPM Architect Dimension Server and IIS components need to be configured on the separate Windows server.

      Delete
  13. Good info. Lucky me I recently found your blog by accident (stumbleupon).

    I've saved as a favorite for later!

    ReplyDelete

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