Monday, October 19, 2009

Microsoft Performance Point SP3 Released !!! Finally :)

Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 3 hits RTM on schedule and is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center.

· Download sites: PerformancePoint Server 2007 SP3 (x86), PerformancePoint Server 2007 SP3 (x64)

· Documentation: Service Pack 3 for Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, IW documentation is being published.

What’s New in SP3

Focused on the supportability of PerformancePoint Server 2007, Service Pack 3 offers not only a wide range of bug fixes but also a few new features and feature enhancements. For Planning customers, this release offers the following new features:

× Submitting line-item details with assignments. This new feature enables users to add, edit, view, and submit line item details. They can also view the submitted line-item details in reports.

× Adjusting security with the PPSCmd utility. This feature enables users to lower security changes within PPSCMD. For example, it is now possible to move security from Read/Write to Read Only within the PPSCMD utility.

× Extending the application calendar beyond 25 years. This feature enables users to manually change the maximum limit of future years to a value greater than 25 and less than or equal to 200.

For Monitoring & Analytics customers, SP3 offers improved usability, with better handling of zone adjustments, scrolling, and filtering and improved messaging. SP3 also provides better integration with Excel Services, SharePoint Server, and ProClarity.

PerformancePoint Server 2007 SP3 is being released in 18 languages (including English). The localized versions of PPS SP3 will be released by tier beginning in December, 2009. All versions are being released to the following channels:

· Microsoft Download Center. Localized versions of SP3 will be available beginning in December 09.

· Volume licensing (VL). The English version will be available in early December; localized products will be available in early January.

· MSDN. All languages are expected to be available by mid-December.

· ProductsWeb. All languages are expected to available within 4 weeks of the respective release dates.

ProClarity 6.3 SP3 was released on October 9 and is available on the Microsoft Download Center.

· Download sites: ProClarity Analytics Server 6.3 SP3 (ENU), ProClarity Desktop Professional 6.3 SP3 (ENU)

· ProClarity 6.3 SP3 documentation: ProClarity SP3 Readme and ProClarity SP3 Hardware and Software Requirements

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

ORA-12154 : TNS Could not resolve the connect Identifier

Accessing an Oracle DB over a 64 bit system was a pain for many SQL Server DBAs.
The purpose of this document is to explain how to fix issues running a SSIS package, Linked Server and SQL Agent which are using Oracle OLEDB under 64bit SQL Server 2008.

The Following solution is based on Oracle 11g version. You can download Oracle 11g client from http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/index.html

You will need 32bit and 64bit both Oracle clients.

Oracle Client & OLEDB component Installation steps in 64bit Windows:

  1. If you have old Oracle clients, copy tnsnames.ora and sqlnet.ora files for backup. 
    (They are under %ORACLE_HOME%/network/ADMIN/.)
  2. Uninstall & Delete previous version of Oracle client include installed directory. 
    If you have or ever installed Oracle client, uninstall them and reboot the server. Then you can delete old Oracle directory. If you don’t reboot, you cannot delete them. 
  3. Run setup.exe of Oracle 11g Client in 64bit SQL Server running machine.
    You have to install 32bit first.
  4. Select “Custom” for OLEDB component installation in "Select Installation Type" step. 
    image

  5. Properly select Oracle Base and Path. 
    image

  6. You must select “Oracle Windows Interfaces 11.x.x” component for OLEDB in “Available Product Components” step. 
    image

  7. After installation, restore TNSNAMES.ORA backup file under the new location of %ORACLE_HOME%/network/admin folder.
  8. Repeat above step #4-#7 with 64bit Oracle 11g Client setup.  
    Oracle "Base directory" is same as the 32bit, but Path is supposed to be different from the previous one in above step #5.  
    i.e) If Oracle 32bit Client Path was C:/Oracle/product/11.1/client_32, 
      Then 64bit Client Path is under C:/Oracle/product/11.1/client_64.
  9. You will see an error message “OracleMTSRecoveryService already exists” as below screenshot during the 64bit client installation. You can “Ignore” it. image

  10. Modify the system registry settings as follows. And then reboot server! 
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSDTC\MTxOCI     and 
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MSDTC\MTxOCI 
    are correct: 
    a. OracleOciLib = oci.dll 
    b. OracleSqlLib = orasql11.dll   (old: SQLLib80.dll) 
    c. OracleXaLib = oraclient11.dll  (old: xa80.dll) 
  11. Test sqlplus.exe or tnsping.exe in command console.

Now you can access Oracle OLEDB provider in BIDS (Business Intelligence Development Studio) & SSMS both places. What I tested was:

  • Design SSIS package with Oracle data source (OraOLEDB) in BIDS
  • SSIS package debug & run in BIDS
  • C# & VB sample code test to access OraOLEDB.Oracle provider in VisualStudio
  • Add the developed SSIS package & run on SSMS
  • Add SSIS package job in SQL Agent & run on SSMS
  • Add Linked Server to access Oracle Server through Oracle OLEDB in SSMS

One thing you have to keep in mind is that BIDS is based on Visual Studio 32bit modules. When you design & test a new SSIS package on it, actually it’s using 32bit Oracle OLEDB modules. 
After the SSIS package added in 64bit SQL Server, SQL Agent is using 64bit Microsoft & Oracle OLEDB modules.

NOTE1:

While you are developing or testing SSIS package, you might see the following ignorable messages:  “Warning: Cannot retrieve the column code page info from OLE DB…”.

NOTE2:

When you add new SSIS package in SQL server, you have to select “Rely on server storage and roles for access control” in Package Protection Level as below screenshot to avoid XML password encryption error. For some reason, saved Oracle password couldn’t be decrypted by SSIS service on my test.

NOTE3:

You might see the following error “Cannot obtain the required interface (“IID_IDBSchemaRowset”) from OLE DB Provider “OraOLEDB.Oracle” for linked server XXX (Error:7399)” in an Oracle Linked Servers as follows.

image

To resolve this, open properties of OraOLEDB.Oracle provider, and set “Enable” for “Allow inprocess” option as follows.

Instance>>Sever Objects>>Linked Servers>>Providers>>OraOLEDB.Oracleimage

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Microsoft Reporting Services in Silverlight Applications is Possible

 

Reporting Services in Silverlight apps

The main obstacle to the spread of Microsoft Silverlight as a platform for line-of-business RIA’s is the lack of built-in reporting components. At the same time, not a single corporate application can function without effective reporting system.

Perpetuum Software allows you to combine two powerful Microsoft technologies: Silverlight and Reporting Services, so that you can leverage their advantages in your business intelligence applications.

Silverlight Viewer for Reporting Services provides you the ability to view Reporting Services reports in Silverlight applications. The component is a native Silverlight control and it easily integrates into any Silverlight application. Thus, it is possible to use the entire set of features which are, as a rule, available in the original desktop applications, including dynamic scaling, smooth panning with animation, interactive sorting, search and so on.

Silverlight Viewer can be used in applications, located directly on the html page, as well as the out-of-browser mode.

Delicate setup of viewer appearance with the use of styles and templates allows the inclusion of the component into the design of any application. All aspects of the Silverlight Viewer component behavior can be controlled from the code.

The user will view only the necessary report pages without loading the entire report. This feature provides quick reporting while reducing internet traffic Fonts will be loaded automatically if they are not set on the client side.

The main competitive advantages of the Silverlight Viewer for Reporting Services are:

  • WYSIWYG report preview in web browsers with support for scaling, scrolling, panning. The reports are displayed in vector graphic. The advantage is that it provides high quality report representation which is impossible to achieve when reports are converted to html;
  • Out-of-browser mode;
  • Abilities of the full-functional desktop applications: search, interactive sorting, dynamic zooming, navigation through the reports via hyperlinks, input of the report parameters by the user and so on;
  • Smooth animation when you manipulate reports, no sudden changes on the display occur when you scroll, zoom in or out or navigate the report;
  • Support for styles and skins allow the change of any control elements;
  • Reports export to PDF, Excel, Html, Cvs, Xml, Mhtml, TIFF;
  • Automatic font loading.

The current product version only supports MS Sql Reporting Services 2005. The support for MS Sql Reporting Services 2008 will be available in the next Silverlight Viewer for Reporting Services release.

Use the functionality of the Silverlight technology for displaying reports from Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services!

Download Silverlight Viewer for Reporting Services...

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Error in Performance Point 2007

I was involved in a Project with Microsoft Performance Point 2007 that requires Integration with lot of PPS Web Service APIs and 3.5 Asp.NET Application

I logged most the issues I faced and I’d like to leave this thread as an open discussion thread to help other in there deployments and Development with PPS.

Below are a list of Issues and Fixes that will help you solve your problem.

Configuring PPS on Production Environment

1. Install PPS on the SharePoint Server

2. Configure PPS to Install Dashboard Viewer for SharePoint on the Moss Server

3. Please note the following Steps will be done on all Moss Servers in the production farm

a. Locate the web.config file for your SharePoint site, as well as the PerformancePoint Monitoring Designer web service and its Preview directory.

clip_image002

b. Use any text editor (or Visual Studio), and do a search/replace to replace all references to System.Web.Extensions 1.0.61025.0 to .Net's3.5.0.0.

c. Add the following line to your web.config under the <configuration> node:

<runtime> 


    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1"> 


      <dependentAssembly> 


        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Extensions" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" /> 


        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.61025.0" newVersion="3.5.0.0" /> 


      </dependentAssembly> 


    </assemblyBinding> 


</runtime>





Remember there are 3 web.configs that needs to change here:



i. under PPSMonitoring/WebService



ii. under PPSMonitoring/Preview



iii. SharePoint Site[MM1]



4. Open your SharePoint web.config for the current web application and find HTTPHandlers replace it with the following Set[MM2]




<httpHandlers>

<remove verb="GET,HEAD,POST" path="*" />

<add verb="GET,HEAD,POST" path="*" type="Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationRuntime.SPHttpHandler, Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" />

<add verb="OPTIONS,PROPFIND,PUT,LOCK,UNLOCK,MOVE,COPY,GETLIB,PROPPATCH,MKCOL,DELETE,(GETSOURCE),(HEADSOURCE),(POSTSOURCE)" path="*" type="Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationRuntime.SPHttpHandler, Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" />

<add verb="*" path="Reserved.ReportViewerWebControl.axd" type="Microsoft.Reporting.WebForms.HttpHandler, Microsoft.ReportViewer.WebForms, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" />

<add verb="*" path="*.asmx" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />

<add verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />

<add verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" validate="false" />

<add verb="*" path="_vti_bin/ReportServer" type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.SharePoint.Soap.RSProxyHttpHandler, RSSharePointSoapProxy, Version=10.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91" />

<add verb="*" path="Reserved.ReportViewerWebPart.axd" type="Microsoft.ReportingServices.SharePoint.UI.WebParts.WebPartHttpHandler, Microsoft.ReportingServices.SharePoint.UI.WebParts, Version=10.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91" />

</httpHandlers>




5. If you installed URL Scan in our production Environment (as in testing) you may face a problem on all Images are not Displayed in the PPS Dashboard Viewer WP The Solution would be the following



a. Open the following folder “C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\urlscan”



b. Edit URLScan.ini file



i. AllowDotsInPath = 0 to 1



6. Go to the following path in both SharePoint Servers



C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\wpresources



Replace the content of the web.config with the following




<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>

<configuration>

<system.web>

<customErrors mode="Off"/>

<httpHandlers>

<add verb="*" path="*.aspx" type="System.Web.UI.PageHandlerFactory, System.Web, Version=1.0.5000.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" />

<remove verb="*" path="*.asmx" />

<add verb="*" path="*.asmx" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />

<add verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />

<add verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" validate="false" />

</httpHandlers>

</system.web>

<runtime>

<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Extensions" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />

</dependentAssembly>

</assemblyBinding>

<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.SharePoint" publicKeyToken="71e9bce111e9429c" culture="neutral" />

<bindingRedirect oldVersion="11.0.0.0" newVersion="12.0.0.0" />

</dependentAssembly>

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.SharePoint.Dsp" publicKeyToken="71e9bce111e9429c" culture="neutral" />

<bindingRedirect oldVersion="11.0.0.0" newVersion="12.0.0.0" />

</dependentAssembly>

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.SharePoint.Dsp.OleDb" publicKeyToken="71e9bce111e9429c" culture="neutral" />

<bindingRedirect oldVersion="11.0.0.0" newVersion="12.0.0.0" />

</dependentAssembly>

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.SharePoint.Dsp.SoapPT" publicKeyToken="71e9bce111e9429c" culture="neutral" />

<bindingRedirect oldVersion="11.0.0.0" newVersion="12.0.0.0" />

</dependentAssembly>

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.SharePoint.Dsp.Sts" publicKeyToken="71e9bce111e9429c" culture="neutral" />

<bindingRedirect oldVersion="11.0.0.0" newVersion="12.0.0.0" />

</dependentAssembly>

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.SharePoint.Dsp.XmlUrl" publicKeyToken="71e9bce111e9429c" culture="neutral" />

<bindingRedirect oldVersion="11.0.0.0" newVersion="12.0.0.0" />

</dependentAssembly>

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.SharePoint.intl" publicKeyToken="71e9bce111e9429c" culture="neutral" />

<bindingRedirect oldVersion="11.0.0.0" newVersion="12.0.0.0" />

</dependentAssembly>

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.SharePoint.Library" publicKeyToken="71e9bce111e9429c" culture="neutral" />

<bindingRedirect oldVersion="11.0.0.0" newVersion="12.0.0.0" />

</dependentAssembly>

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.SharePoint.Security" publicKeyToken="71e9bce111e9429c" culture="neutral" />

<bindingRedirect oldVersion="11.0.0.0" newVersion="12.0.0.0" />

</dependentAssembly>

</assemblyBinding>

</runtime>

</configuration>


Performance Point 2007 Hotfixes


I was looking around through Microsoft website looking Performance Point 2007 hot fixes and I found out that they release a lot of hot fixes that address lots of Issues in Performance Point

I hope this will you since I faced many issues with this product that these hot fixes solve

Build Number Link KB Number
3.0.4318.00 Description of the PerformancePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: June 17, 2009 971928
3.0.4317.00 Description of the PerformancePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: May 26, 2009 970524

Some of the new fixes that are available in the latest hotfixes that might be of interest to you are:

  • Fix for the disappearing Analytical Chart toolbar when you click on the Filter buttons to remove empty items (it still does disappear when you click on the drop down arrow and select Reset View though)
  • Fix for exporting an Analytical Chart with more than 14 items in the legend.  Now all of the items will be exported to Excel if there are more than 14
  • Another fix for exporting to Excel with scorecards to resolve issue of exporting values from 9.5 to 9.9 so that they maintain their format instead of being multiplied by 100
  • For Planning the fix was to remove a duration restriction for extending the calendar to a value greater than 25 (now you can go up to 200)

These are just a few of the minor fixes that were done, check out the official links above to see the complete list for each hotfix and just a reminder that these are cumulative, so if you download the latest it will include all of the previous hotfixes also.

Here is the previous list I posted and I updated the list to include the KB number.

Build number Link KB Number
3.0.4315.00 Description of the PerformancePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: April 28, 2009 969842
3.0.4313.00 Description of the PerformancePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: February 26, 2009 968131
3.0.4312.00 Description of the PerformancePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: February 24, 2009 967900
3.0.4311.00 Description of the PerformancePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: February 9, 2009 967343
3.0.4305.00 Description of the PerformancePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: February 2, 2009 961878
3.0.4300.00 Description of the PerformancePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: December 22, 2008 961041
3.0.4209.00 Description of PerformancePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 2 958291
3.0.3917.00 (I had 3.0.3916.00 after my install) Description of PerformancePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 1 948060
3.0.3520.0 RTM Release of PPS 2007  

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

SQLServer2008_R2_thumb

Microsoft Released a new version of SQL Server 2008 called it release 2 or R2

It contains a lot of updates: use the below like to view it’s latest version http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E19689BD-38DD-46C4-8645-F58CA4D61D1F&displaylang=en

 

For what’s new inside SQL 2008 R2 Check the following link

http://blogs.msdn.com/mattm/archive/2009/08/14/no-new-features-in-for-integration-services-in-sql-server-2008-r2.aspx

Monday, August 3, 2009

Deploying Reporting Services 2005 in Integrated Mode

Probably the biggest benefit of running Reporting Services in SharePoint Integrated Mode is that you can deploy and manage reports directly in SharePoint rather than the Report Manager web application. This is probably easier for our business users. As a matter of fact you no longer use the Report Manager after you switch to SharePoint Integrated Mode. The highlights of the capabilities provided by SharePoint Integrated Mode are the following:

  • A Report Viewer Web Part that provides report viewing capability, export to other rendering formats, page navigation, search, print and zoom.
  • Web application pages so that you can create subscriptions and schedules as well as manage reports, models, and data sources.
  • Support for using standard Windows SharePoint Services features including document management, collaboration, security, and deployment with report server content types.
  • A new delivery extension that you can use in subscriptions to deliver reports to SharePoint libraries.

You can review all of the details of SharePoint Integrated Mode in SQL Server Books Online.

This tip will walk through the steps to configure Reporting Services to run in SharePoint Integrated Mode. The following assumptions will be made:

  • You have installed Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007
  • You have installed Reporting Services 2005
  • Both of the above are on a single server. This is not a requirement; it just simplifies the installation. You can get the details on the additional steps for a distributed install here.

Create a Report Server Database for SharePoint Integrated Mode

In order to run Reporting Services in SharePoint Integrated mode, you need to create a new reporting services database. Start Reporting Services Configuration (click Start, All Programs, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, Configuration Tools, Reporting Services Configuration). Click Database Setup and you will see the following:

Note that the Server Mode is Native; this is the default when you install Reporting Services. Click the Change button and you will be prompted: Changing the report server mode requires creating a new report server database. Do you want to continue? Click Yes and the SQL Server Connection Dialog will appear:

Fill in the Database Name, make sure that Create the report server database in SharePoint Integrated mode is checked, then click OK. The Task Status dialog will be displayed; click the Apply button to complete the database setup:

Leave Reporting Services Configuration open; we will return to it after the next step.

Install Reporting Services Add-In for SharePoint Technologies

The SharePoint code required for running Reporting Services in SharePoint Integrated mode is contained in the Reporting Services Add-In for SharePoint Technologies. The add-in is packaged in the file SharePointRS.msi; you can download it here. Launch the msi file to install the add-in accepting the wizard defaults.

Configure Reporting Services Integrated Mode in SharePoint

The final step in setting up Reporting Services in SharePoint Integrated mode is to perform configuration steps in SharePoint itself. Return to Reporting Services Configuration and click on SharePoint Integration. You will see the following:

Click the link Click here to go to SharePoint Central Administration. This will launch a new browser window and navigate to the SharePoint Central Administration web site. Click on the Application Management tab and you will be presented with quite a few options; the only options we are interested in are under the Reporting Services heading as shown below:

Click Manage integration settings. You will be prompted to enter the Report Server Web Service Url and Authentication Mode; e.g. http://bi-moss:5150/reportserver and Windows Authentication. Note that your Report Server Web Service Url will be different than what is used in this example. In my case I installed SQL Server 2005 and allowed the installation to automatically configure Reporting Services. I installed SharePoint on a new IIS web site but allowed it to run on its default port of 80. Since the automatic Reporting Services configuration uses the default IIS web site and port 80, I changed the default web site to use port 5150 to eliminate the conflict. Another point about the default configuration of Reporting Services is that the application pool identity will be set to Network Service. You should change it to a domain account (e.g. the same one as the SharePoint application pool).

Click Grant database access. You will be prompted to specify the server for the report server database. In this example my server is BI-MOSS. Note that your server will be different that what is used in this example.

You can just go with the defaults in the Set server defaults page for now.

Testing Reporting Services in SharePoint Integrated Mode

To test running Reporting Services in SharePoint Integrated Mode, we will use the Adventure Works sample reports that come with SQL Server 2005. Open the sample project then click Project, Properties from the top-level menu. Edit the properties as necessary for your environment; e.g.:

For TargetDataSourceFolder and TargetReportFolder I have selected a document library in my SharePoint site. TargetServerURL is set to the URL of my SharePoint site collection. This would normally be something like http://servername/reportserver. However when you are running in SharePoint Integrated Mode, the URL must be the SharePoint site collection URL.

Right click the project in the Solution Explorer and select Deploy from the context menu. Open a browser and navigate to the document library specified in the project properties above; you will see the following:

Note that you can also deploy reports to the document library by clicking on Upload. Click on one of the reports to display it; e.g. Product Line Sales:

The Actions button provides the following capabilities:

You can also render a report by using the Report Viewer web part which is part of the Reporting Services Add-In for SharePoint Technologies. With the web part you have additional control over the toolbar; the above report shows the full toolbar. You can render the report with just the navigation part of the toolbar:

You can render the report without the toolbar: