Oracle Hyperion on the Cloud: Discussion

In the previous few posts I presented Hyperion EPM & BI V11.1.1.3 being installed, configured and running on Amazon EC2 server instance. Now, how could this server instance translate to your team's success?

First, in terms of time this strategy not only shrinks considerable time during SDLC (server and software installation and configuration phases) from a few weeks to mere "days" or mere "hours", it also provides considerable savings in terms of resource costs, facilitates difficult target deadlines, adds buffer to project timeline, etc.

Secondly, atleast within a development environment apart from providing time-based cost savings, this strategy meets the environment expectations at a 'fraction of the cost' compared to traditional servers. I will write a separate post on "server-based cost benefits" along with "time-based cost benefits".

Finally and most importantly, "SCALABILITY". Due to the advantage Amazon EC2 instance provides in terms of scalability of memory, space, etc. this presentation is just a sample of the services I could render to your team's success. Your corporation could immediately harness the benefits at a fraction of a cost, from my collection of server instances for supported Oracle Hyperion versions (9.x and 11.x). All within a period of few hours to a couple of days! Also any custom environments (supporting application servers and relational dbs) can be created and delivered within just a few days of time.

In simpler terms, why install and configure your EPM & BI server and software all over again, when it could be delivered up and running for development with a few hours?

Oracle Hyperion EPM & BI V11.1.1.3 on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2): Installation & Configuration

(Please review the 'Discussion' section at the bottom of the post to see how your team could benefit from this presentation.)

We will now review the final step of EPM on the cloud, i.e., installing and configuring EPM & BI V11.1.1.3 on the cloud server instance. Before starting the installation here are a few preliminary tasks to be done on the new cloud instance,

1. Install MS Office 2007 (for Essbase Spreadsheet Add-in and Smartview)
2. Install and configure MS SQL 2005 (for relational db)
3. Install Internet Information Services 6 (for Performance Management Architect)

After the above tasks, create a temporary working directory to unzip all the installation files.




This is how the folder looks after unzipping all the installation files.


Run the Hyperion EPM Installer.

Click OK.

Click Next.

Select the Home directory for the installation and click Next.

Select either of the options based on what level of control you want on products to be installed.

Click Next.

Click Next.

After successful installation, select Configure to configure all the installed products.

Click Next.

Provide MS SQL relational db details for Shared Services.

Select required Planning modules and click Next.

Select to create Windows Services for all configured products.

Provide MS SQL relational db details for all other products mentioned on the above screen.

Click Next

Select the Embedded Java Container Option which is provided by default by Oracle.

Select the default ports for the application server.

Select default options.

Select default ports for Essbase server and click Next.

Ensure all preliminary tasks are complete and all required products are selected for configuration before starting the configuration process. The EPM Configurator Tool will allow configuration of products even at a later time if not selected during the initial configuration.

Review and check if all configuration tasks are complete and click Finish.

As post-configuration primary tasks, review to check if all configured products are working properly as shown below for few of the modules, Hyperion Shared Services, Hyperion Admin Services, Hyperion Essbase, Hyperion Essbase Studio, Hyperion Workspace and Hyperion Financial Reporting. If any of the modules aren't starting, check and start their respective Windows Service.

DISCUSSION:

Oracle Hyperion EPM & BI V11.1.1.3 is now installed, configured and running on Amazon EC2 server instance. Now, how could this server instance translate to your team's success?

First, in terms of time this strategy not only shrinks considerable time during SDLC (server and software installation and configuration phases) from a few weeks to mere "days" or mere "hours", it also provides considerable savings in terms of resource costs, facilitates difficult target deadlines, adds buffer to project timeline, etc.

Secondly, atleast within a development environment apart from providing time-based cost savings, this strategy meets the environment expectations at a 'fraction of the cost' compared to traditional servers. I will write a separate post on "server-based cost benefits" along with "time-based cost benefits".

Finally and most importantly, "SCALABILITY". Due to the advantage Amazon EC2 instance provides in terms of scalability of memory, space, etc. this presentation is just a sample of the services I could render to your team's success. Your corporation could immediately harness the benefits at a fraction of a cost, from my collection of server instances for supported Oracle Hyperion versions (9.x and 11.x). All within a period of few hours to a couple of days! Also any custom environments (supporting application servers and relational dbs) can be created and delivered within just a few days of time.

In simpler terms, why install and configure your EPM & BI server and software all over again, when it could be delivered up and running for development with a few hours?

For more information on available EPM server instances and custom server instances, please contact me via this blog. I will be writing another post detailing all instances I provide and related information.

Oracle Hyperion EPM & BI V11.1.1.3 on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2): Prerequisites & Groundwork

In this blog we would be reviewing the following pre-installation steps for installing Oracle Hyperion EPM & BI V11.1.1.3 (32-bit) on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2),

1. EPM and BI stack choice (32-bit)
2. Server/environment prerequisites for installing EPM/BI V 11.1.1.3
3. Prerequisites for a cloud server instance
4. File transfer process set-up
5. Cloud server instance set-up and start

Step 1: EPM and BI stack choice (32-bit)

The EPM and BI stack installation we would be reviewing on the cloud instance is a typical installation involving widely used financial analysis and reporting products, primarily Hyperion Planning, Hyperion Essbase and Hyperion Financial Reporting.

The following are the modules/components we would have to install for the above stack. The required files are available at http://edelivery.oracle.com/

1.Oracle Hyperion EPM System Release 11.1.1.3.0 - Start Here: Installation Documents and Readmes English
2. Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management System Installer, Fusion Edition Release 11.1.1.3.0
3. Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management System Foundation Services Release 11.1.1.3.0 Part 1 of 4
4. Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management System Foundation Services Release 11.1.1.3.0 Part 2 of 4
5. Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management System Foundation Services Release 11.1.1.3.0 Part 3 of 4
6. Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management System Foundation Services Release 11.1.1.3.0 Part 4 of 4 for Microsoft Windows (32-bit)
7. Oracle Hyperion Enterprise Performance Management Architect, Fusion Edition Release 11.1.1.3.0 for Microsoft Windows (32-bit)
8. Oracle Essbase Client Release 11.1.1.3.0
9. Oracle Essbase Server Release 11.1.1.3.0
10. Oracle Hyperion Provider Services Release 11.1.1.3.0
11. Oracle Hyperion Financial Reporting, Fusion Edition Release 11.1.1.3.0
12. Oracle Hyperion Planning, Fusion Edition Release 11.1.1.3.0
13. Oracle Hyperion Smart View for Office, Fusion Edition Release 11.1.1.3.0 for Microsoft Windows

Note: Download the above files onto your laptop/desktop before proceeding to the next steps, as it takes considerable time to download all the required files.

Step 2: Server configuration and prerequisites for installing a EPM/BI V 11.1.1.3

For the EPM & BI stack we would be installing, the following are the details of server configuration and related features,

OS: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter edition, 32-bit architecture,
Memory & Space: Atleast 1.7 GB of memory, 160 GB of instance storage on a 32-bit platform,
Relational DB: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express,
For Add-In: Microsoft Office 2007,
For Performance Management Architect: Internet Information Services 6

Note:

The above configuration and features are my choice of requirements directed at provided this presentation. Server configuration and features (choice of relational db, MS Office version, etc) choice will be your firm's choice based on several variables, existing product licenses, IT practices, etc. And the most encouraging aspect of a cloud instance is that it is highly scalable (I will write more as we move forward). For a detailed list of supported matrix and related features for V11.1.1.3, you can either contact me or visit, http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/bi/hyperion-supported-platforms.html

Step 3: Prerequisites for a cloud server instance

Before you could obtain a cloud server instance you will need to do the following,

Sign-up for Amazon Web Services Sign-up for Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)
Obtain a well supported GUI based S3 browser
Sign-up for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)

Step 4: File transfer process set-up

Now, we will look at the process of transferring required Oracle Hyperion EPM & BI V11.1.1.3 software files. There would two separate files transfer processes, first from your local machine to S3 and then from S3 to your cloud server instance. The reason behind these separate processes is due to the time it takes to download the software files, it is "way faster' to transfer files from S3 to your cloud than downloading files directly to your cloud from http://edelivery.oracle.com/ . And this separation of processes wouldn't require to have the cloud instance running during the actual file download duration onto your local machine.

Start with download and install of Cloudberry Explorer for S3 onto your local machine. There are several free S3 browsers in the market, S3Drive, S3Browser, S3Fox, Cloudberry, Jungledisk, etc.

After you open the browser two panes are visible, one for your local machine and the other for S3.

Register your S3 account on Cloudberry.


Create a bucket name to store your files on S3.



Access the security properties of your bucket and review/edit user provisioning.


Copy the required files from your local machine into S3.



Note: Repeat the process on the cloud server instance to transfer files from S3 to the cloud.

Step 5: Cloud server instance set-up and start

We now arrive at the final step of groundwork before installing V11.1.13 on the cloud instance. Login to your Amazon web services account and access the EC2 dashboard to launch the instance.

Select an instance of choice, for this presentation I selected a small instance which would suffice for the purpose of this presentation.

Create a private key pair and configure a firewall for the EC2 instance. Amazon provides a lot of flexibility and features to handle your several instances in EC2. I would write more on this as we move forward. You should be able to see the following message after completing the above steps.

Connect to the instance and download the shortcut file for the Remote Desktop Connection.

Obtain the decrypted windows administrator password by providing the key pair.

Connect to the cloud server instance using your RDC shortcut and review the instance's information.

Install Cloudberry S3 Explorer and copy required files from S3 into the cloud server instance. This process is very fast and shouldnt take more than a few minutes. After completing these prerequisite steps and groundwork for setting-up a cloud based instance, we will now install Oracle Hyperion EPM & BI V 11.1.1.3 stack.

However, before we proceed to the next step, I want to review the significance of a cloud server instance presented here and where it stands in the context of a EPM & BI SDLC. Asking the following questions about a traditional server (atleast in the development space) brings the impact to the surface,

a. How long does it take to establish the server requirements before a full SDLC or an upgrade?
b. How long does it take a vendor to process and deliver the server?
c. How long does it take to configure the new server?
d. What dependencies/compatibility/restrictions does the new server have on other applications and supporting features?
e. What is the cost associated with all of the above?
f. What is the cost of resources?

Saying, 'A cloud server instance can get up and running within a fraction of time and cost of a traditional server' is very practical and true.

Oracle Hyperion EPM & BI V11.1.1.3 on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2): Introduction

The Problem:

Two weeks back I was trying to install Oracle Hyperion EPM and BI Version 11.1.1.3 on my laptop and play around with the new features. However, my installation bombed on me with configuration failures with Java home and JRE executables. I solved the environmental variables issues manually, but the EPM Configuration script couldnt find required JRE exes. My laptop is on a non-supported platform, Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 64-bit OS, however Oracle EPM/BI V11.1.1.3 is supported on Vista 'only' on series above 'Home Edition'.

The Big Picture:

It is indeed very typical for IT teams to face such a challenge (called as rack and stack) wherein servers with supported OSs aren't immediately available and as such the traditional approach towards client/server environments tends to add a lot of overhead (excluding the constant actual development and implementation processes) in terms of time, resources and hardware based expenses just for installation and configuration.

For some time now we have been hearing a lot of positive things about cloud computing (Amazon and GoGrid) and the potential it carries to revolutionize how an individual and/or corporation looks and interacts with data, information, storage, "servers", etc. Within the context of EPM and BI, what I am about to present in the next few blogs will showcase how a cloud based EPM and BI is deployed and how such a strategic combination adds tremendous value to your corporation's financial analysis and reporting processes. The instance we would be looking at would involve installing and configuring the latest version of Oracle Hyperion EPM & BI, V11.1.1.3, followed by discussions on what this approach has to offer your team/corporation on an immediate basis.