Get up and running with Smart View 11.1.2.1.102

There has been a flurry of activity on various blogs around the new patch release of Smart View 11.1.2.1.102 as at last it is starting to mirror the essbase add-in and apparently provide much more, seeing as this is the hot topic at the moment I thought I would jump  on the bangwagon and go through the steps to get you up and running with the latest version.

It is not just a case of updating Smart View as the essbase server and APS need to be patched to 11.1.2.1.102 be able to use this new functionality.

The readme for the patches do explain the process to follow but there are a few errors  and seeing as I am going to be carrying out the process I thought I would share it, whether it is any use to anybody who knows at least you get some nice screenshots to look at.

The prerequistite to following these steps are that you are lucky enough to be currently running 11.1.2.1 and you do want to sample the new Smart View functionality.

Log into My Oracle Support

First to download the essbase server patch.
Type 11823697 in the search box and then select the patch

From the Platform dropdown select the OS you will be installing the patch on and then click download.

The zip file will be in the following format  p<patch_id>_<coreversion>_<Plattform>.zip
e.g. p11823697_111210_MSWIN-x86-64.zip

Repeat the process for the APS patch - 11823281

Finally repeat the process for the SmartView patch – 12968304

There is a newer version of Smart View available - 11.1.1.2.103 - patch - 13502314

I am going to be patching on a windows OS but the process is pretty much the same for unix/linux just a slight variation in the command line syntax.

Patching is done by using Oracles patching utility OPatch, this is installed by default in <MIDDLEWARE_HOME>/EPMSystem11R1/OPatch

I will be patching the essbase server first.

Extract the downloaded patch to the above directory on the essbase server

You should end up with a directory created to match the patch ID.

Before starting the patch update make sure you stop the essbase server and then it is worthwhile backing up the following essbase directory -
<MIDDLEWARE_HOME>\EPMSystem11R1\products\Essbase\EssbaseServer

OPatch will basically copy a new set of files from within the patch directory and replace the existing ones in the essbase bin, java and localized directories.

OPatch is initiated from command line and the format for windows is

opatch.bat apply <MIDDLEWARE_HOME>\EPMSystem11R1\Opatch\<PATCH ID> -oh <MIDDLEWARE_HOME>\EPMSystem11R1 -jre <MIDDLEWARE_HOME>\jdk160_21

Open a command prompt, change directory to the OPatch directory and run the above command (update <MIDDLEWARE_HOME> to match the environment and <PATCH ID> to 11823697).

For example
E:
cd E:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1\OPatch
opatch.bat apply E:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1\OPatch\11823697 -oh E:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1 -jre E:\Oracle\Middleware\jdk160_21

Executing the command should output something like the following

And then list all the files that are being copied, I am not going to screenshot all the lines.

The important information is at the end of the output

If you see the above in the command window then all is good and the patching is done.

To view which EPM patches have been applied on the server through OPatch you can use the following command.

opatch.bat lsinventory -oh <MIDDLEWARE_HOME>  -jdk <MIDDLEWARE_HOME>\ jdk160_21

Once the patching is complete start up essbase.

Open a Maxl session and you should the patch .102 in ESB11.1.2.1.102B147

Login to make sure all is good.

Now that essbase is done you can move on to APS, the process for patching is pretty much the same so I won’t go into as much detail.

It is worth backing up <MIDDLEWARE_HOME>\EPMSystem11R1\products\Essbase\aps

Stop the APS service, you may also need to stop other services depending on what other EPM products are deployed on the APS server.

Extract the downloaded patch to the Opatch directory on the server hosting APS

The patch id for the extracted directory is incorrect as it should be 11823281 and not 194, rename the directory to 11823281.

Once again the OPatch utility is executed again following the same syntax logic as with the essbase patch.

The patching is complete and the APS service can be started up again.

Now I am not going to go through the step to install SmartView directly on a client as it involves extracting and running an executable and then following on the screen information.

If you are running on windows 7 please make sure you run the SmartView.exe as an administrator.

If you want the new version of Smart View to be available from workspace then extract SmartView.exe and version.xml from to the patch to <MIDDLEWARE_HOME>\EPMSystem11R1\common\epmstatic\wspace\SmartView on the server hosting workspace

Extract the online documents from smartview-user.zip to <MIDDLEWARE_HOME>\EPMSystem11R1\common\epmstatic\smartview\docs\<language>
e.g. c:\Oracle\Middleware\EPMSystem11R1\common\epmstatic\smartview\docs\en

The new version should be available from workspace.


If you want to be able auto-deploy the latest version of Smart View when connecting from an existing version of Smart View then

edit essbase.properties on the APS server in <MIDDLEWARE_HOME>\user_projects\epmsystem1\aps\bin

Update
smartview.webservice.autodeploy.force=false
smartview.webservice.autodeploy.warn=false

To
smartview.webservice.autodeploy.force=true
smartview.webservice.autodeploy.warn=true

Save the file and then restart the APS web application.

Connect in excel  and the new client version available window should pop up, click “Click here to Install”, choose run, close all MS Office software and then follow the on screen instructions.

You should then be ready to use the new functionality; the details on the new functionality can be found within the patch in the document sv_new_features.pdf or have a read of Glenn’s excellent article or the Oracle by Example on the new features.

Go forth and enjoy!!!!