Most BusinessObjects documents access data through a secured connection that is stored in the repository. However, BusinessObjects users can also create documents that access data through personal connections or shared
connections, which are not defined in the repository. These types of connection are defined in two locations:
• in the document itself
• in LSI (Local Security Information) files stored in the LocData folder on the user’s machine: pdac.lsi for personal connections, and sdac.lsi for
shared connections.
When users send documents based on shared connections to Broadcast Agent, the connection information is obtained from within the document itself. However, if the document contains a VBA macro which directly accesses the shared connection, the sdac.lsi file on the server must contain the shared connection
Configuring database connections
LocData folder
All Broadcast Agent servers and BusinessObjects client machines use a LocData folder, whose location is determined during the installation process using the Configuration Tool.
In many deployments, a single LocData folder on the primary node is referenced by all the other machines over the network, in order to simplify administration. This folder contains files which define the database connections:
• bomain.key
Defines the default connection to the repository. • additional .key files
These define connections to alternative repositories that the user can reference at login.
• sdac.lsi file
Defines shared connections • pdac.lsi
Defines personal connections Recommended configuration
If you want shared connections to be available to all users (rather than just to the user who created the connection), set all the cluster machines and client machines to use the LocData folder on the primary node.
When the installer on each machine asks for the path of the LocData folder, give the network path of the LocData folder on the primary node. This folder must be under a mapped network drive on each Windows machine, or a mounted network path on each UNIX machine in the deployment. All machines then access the same .lsi and bomain.key files.
Synchronizing sdac.lsi files
If you do not set all the cluster machines and client machines to use the LocData folder on the primary node, you need to verify that all BusinessObjects client machines and Broadcast Agent servers have a copy of the same sdac.lsi file in their local LocData folder. When you install the secondary nodes, their
sdac.lsi files are automatically replaced with a copy of the sdac.lsi file from
When a user adds a new shared connection, the new sdac.lsi file must be
copied to all other clients and to the servers. To update all the secondary nodes, copy the new sdac.lsi file to the primary node and click the Cluster files
synchronization button in the Administration Console. This copies the .key files and the sdac.lsi file from the primary node to the secondary nodes.
Enabling VBA custom macros to access shared connections
If a user sends a document based on a shared connection to Broadcast Agent, and the document includes a VBA custom macro that directly accesses the shared connection, the sdac.lsi file in the LocData folder on the machine
where the VBA code is running must contain the connection information for the shared connection.
If the sdac.lsi file on the server does not include the shared connection, then
the task will fail with the following error:
(303) Error with no ErrorHandler with BreakOnVBAError =FALSE.
If all machines in the deployment share the same LocData folder on the primary node, the task will be processed correctly because there is only one sdac.lsi
file in the cluster and it includes all shared connections.
Documents containing OLAP data providers
In BusinessObjects, you can retrieve data from OLAP servers, if you have installed the BusinessObjects Access Pack for these products. This section covers what users can and cannot do when they schedule documents containing OLAP data providers.
NOTE
Broadcast Agent now refreshes WebIntelligence OLAP documents in Windows.
Users can schedule documents containing data providers built on a Microsoft OLAP Services database, but must verify that the BOManager user account has permission to access the OLAP Services database.
Microsoft OLAP Services authenticates users with Windows security information. The users’ Windows login, not their BusinessObjects login, allows access to the data in the OLAP Services database. When users manually refresh a
BusinessObjects document containing an OLAP data provider, the database retrieves their Windows user name and password from the operating system.
Configuring database connections If these are the same as the user name and password defined by your Windows administrator on the OLAP side, users gain access to their OLAP data, and successfully refresh the document.
Broadcast Agent processes a document containing OLAP Services data providers as follows:
• A Windows user name and password, defined with the Configuration Tool, is used to start BusinessObjects on the Windows server.
• A user schedules a document containing a Microsoft OLAP Services data provider.
• At the scheduled time, Broadcast Agent launches BOManager on the server, using the user name and password that was defined with the Configuration Tool.
• To allow BusinessObjects to retrieve data from the database, OLAP Services checks the Windows user name and password defined on the server machine where BusinessObjects is active.
• If the Windows user name and password on the server machine running BusinessObjects are the same as those defined on the OLAP side,
BusinessObjects gains access to the data, and refreshes the document. If the user account does not have OLAP permission, BusinessObjects cannot refresh the document, and Broadcast Agent returns a failed task.
Repository sizing and Broadcast Agent transactions
Broadcast Agent passes SQL transactions to the security and document domains of the repository.
Transactions between Broadcast Agent and the security domain do not require significant repository resources. However, if you are using Broadcast Agent to publish documents on the repository, verify that the document domain is large enough to store the documents.
You can also control the number of documents in the repository by advising users to switch on the Overwrite mode option when they send documents to Broadcast Agent. As the administrator, you can switch on this option in the Broadcast Agent Console (see Overwrite mode on page 110).
LDAP
The Business Objects Enterprise suite can use Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) to manage the identity of your Business Objects users in a corporate directory. LDAP enables you to store user information for all your enterprise applications on a single corporate directory.
Business Objects users can be stored in LDAP, in the corporate repository, or in both. If your deployment makes use of LDAP, Broadcast Agent publishes to users and distributes to groups stored in LDAP in the same way as it does to users and groups in the Business Objects repository.
The passwords of Broadcast Agent user in the repository must match those of the users in the LDAP directory.