BI Connector - Server Edition allows you to connect Tableau Server to OBIEE (both Subject Areas & Reports) and create intuitive visualizations in minutes.
The following is a general tutorial for installing and configuring BI Connector Server Edition for OBIEE Subject Areas and Reports on a Windows PC.
Note: OBIEE Reports connector is an add-on module to BI Connector. It requires a separate license.
Please verify the following pre-requisites for BI Connector Server Edition:
- Windows Server with at least 2 cores and 8 GB memory (refer to Tableau Server recommendation).
- Tableau Server should be installed on the same machine.
- .NET 4.5 version or higher.
- BI Connector Server Edition should be installed on the same machine as Tableau Server.
- To publish from Tableau Desktop to Tableau Server, the DSN Name in Tableau Desktop for BI Connector OBIEE Connection must match the DSN name in Tableau Server.
- When Tableau Server is run as a Windows service, verify that Tableau Server is set up with "Run as User" in "Configure Tableau Server" application. Refer to this Tableau article for more information.
- BI Connector's license should be registered with the same Windows User as Tableau Server's user. Please review this article for preventing issues when publishing worksheets to Tableau Server.
- Internet Access: Internet access for online license activation.
Step 2: Uninstall BI Connector
If you have already installed any older versions of BI Connector Server Edition on your PC, uninstall it by following the below steps.
- Close Tableau Server if opened in the browser.
- Stop Tableau Server.
- Uninstall the existing BI Connector
In your PC —> Go to Control Panel, Programs / Software, Uninstall BI Connector.
Extract BIConnector-Server-Edition-x64-Tableau.exe zip file. You will see following three files:
- BIConnector(ServerEdition)-setup-x64-Tableau(x.x.x.xxxx).exe
- BIConnector(ServerEdition)-Readmore-Tableau.txt
- BIConnector(ServerEdition)-TrialLicenseKey-Tableau.txt
Double click on BIConnector(ServerEdition)-setup-x64-Tableau(x.x.x.xxxx).exe file. Click Next in the InstallShield Wizard UI.
Review and Accept EULA and click Next.
Click Install.
Keep Launch ODBC Administrator tool check box checked and click Finish.
Step 5: Configuration
If ODBC Data Sources Administrator screen does not open automatically from the previous step, you can search in Windows Search box for "ODBC" and select ODBC Data Sources (64-bit) to launch this screen.
- In the System DSN tab, if you already have a DSN for BI Connector, it will be displayed. This DSN can be used for connecting to OBIEE Subject Areas. Else create a new DSN for Subject Areas using the steps defined in Configuring DSN for Subject Areas.
- Create another new DSN for OBIEE Reports using the steps defined in Configuring DSN for Reports.
Note: You must create a System DSN. Do not create a User DSN because BI Connector Server Edition will not work as a Windows Service.
Configuring DSN for Subject Areas
In the System DSN tab, click Add. Following window will be displayed.
Click Finish. BI Connector Activate License UI will be displayed.
- Enter your information such as Name, Organization Name, Email Address, Phone Number.
- The default 30 day trial license key will be displayed.
- Click Activate. BI Connector will connect to Licensing Server and try to activate your trial license.
When activated, you will see "Activation Successful" message. Click Close.
Next, you are going to configure the OBIEE as a data source.
In the Create a New Data Source UI for BI Connector, input the following information.
- Give a name to your Data Source, e.g., My First OBIEE Connect.
- Give a description of the Data Source, e.,g My first OBIEE test connection.
- Enter the Server Name for your OBIEE instance. The server name would come from the URL that you use to access the OBIEE Answers in your organization. If your OBIEE URL is "https://obieedev.mycompany.com/analysis/saw.dll", you should enter "https://obieedev.mycompany.com" in the Server Name field.
- Enter the OBIEE URL port in the Port field. This is typically:
- If your OBIEE URL starts with http:// and does not have a port number, then port number is typically 80.
- If your OBIEE URL starts with http:// and has a port number (e.g., 9704), then use that port number (e.g., 9704).
- If your OBIEE URL starts with https:// and does not have a port number, then port number is typically 443.
- If your OBIEE URL starts with https:// and has a port number (e.g., 9804), then use that port number (e.g., 9804).
- If you are using Single Sign-on(SSO) in your organization, please check this article to configure it.
- Enter your OBIEE username in User Id field. This is the userid that you would normally use to log in to OBIEE Answers. Do not use the Admin username.
- Enter your OBIEE password in Password field.
- Click on Test connection to verify the connection to OBIEE.
- Select "Subject Areas'' radio button to connect and work with OBIEE Subject Areas (There is no need of caching Subject Areas).
- Click on Save Button to save the details and close the dialog (Password will not be saved).
Click Test Connection. Verify it is successful.
Configuring DSN for Reports
Now, you already have a DSN configured for connecting to OBIEE Subject Areas.
Create a new System DSN for OBIEE Reports. In the System DSN tab, click Add.
In the Create New Data Source UI, select (1) BI Connector Driver and (2) Click Finish.
Note: If you are upgrading to the latest version of BI Connector Desktop Edition from an earlier version, follow this step else skip it. You will see the BI Connector - Create a New Data Source UI. Click on License Info button.
BI Connector Activate License UI will be displayed.
- Enter your information such as Name, Organization Name, Email Address, Phone Number.
- Enter the new license key that you received.
- Click Activate. BI Connector will connect to Licensing Server and try to activate your trial license.
On successful activation, you will see the (1) "Activation Successful" message. Click on (2) Close.
Next, you are going to configure the OBIEE as a data source.
In the Create a New Data Source UI for BI Connector, input the following information.
- Give a name to your Data Source, e.g., My First OBIEE Connect.
- Give a description of the Data Source, e.,g My first OBIEE test connection.
- Enter the Server Name for your OBIEE instance. The server name would come from the URL that you use to access the OBIEE Answers in your organization. If your OBIEE URL is "https://obieedev.mycompany.com/analysis/saw.dll", you should enter "https://obieedev.mycompany.com" in the Server Name field.
- Enter the OBIEE URL port in the Port field. This is typically:
- If your OBIEE URL starts with http:// and does not have a port number, then port number is typically 80.
- If your OBIEE URL starts with http:// and has a port number (e.g., 9704), then use that port number (e.g., 9704).
- If your OBIEE URL starts with https:// and does not have a port number, then port number is typically 443.
- If your OBIEE URL starts with https:// and has a port number (e.g., 9804), then use that port number (e.g., 9804).
- If you are using Single Sign-on(SSO) in your organization, please check this article to configure it.
- Enter your OBIEE username in User Id field. This is the userid that you would normally use to log in to OBIEE Answers. Do not use the Admin username.
- Enter your OBIEE password in Password field.
- Click on Test connection to verify the connection to OBIEE.
If the Test connection is successful, you will see the following window. Click OK in the Test Connection UI.
- Select "Reports" radio button to connect and work with OBIEE Reports.
- You can use "Manage Reports List" option to select Reports or Folders containing reports to keep in the cache for faster access while working in Tableau/PBI/Qlik Sense. Please check this article for more information.
- Click on Save button to save the details and close BI Connector UI (Password will not be saved).
Note :
1. If the connection is not successful, you will see the following window. Please click OK.
Verify the URL, port, user id and password and Test connection again. Even if the URL/port/userid/password are correct and you are still not able to successfully connect to OBIEE, the error could be due to network/SSO configurations such as WebAuth that might block all web service connections to OBIEE. Please contact us at [email protected].
2. If your license key is not valid for Reports functionality (example, if you are using your old license key that is valid only for Subject Areas), you will see the following error message.
Click OK and use the new license key to get Reports functionality by following above-mentioned steps.
New trial license key is available in BIConnector-TrialLicenseKey.txt. file that was extracted from the zip file in Step 2. If your trial license key has expired and you would like to purchase a license key, click the "upgrade" link in the message box, you will be redirected to BI Connector's Contact Us page to where you can contact support team for buying a new permanent license.
In the ODBC Data Sources Administrator UI,
- Notice that there are 2 different DSNs created for OBIEE Subject Area (OBIEE Connect) and OBIEE Reports (OBIEE Connect - Reports) have been added
- Click OK to close the UI.
Now proceed to Step-by-Step User Guide for BI Connector Server Edition - Connect Tableau to OBIEE Subject Areas or Step-by-Step User Guide for BI Connector Server Edition - Connect Tableau to OBIEE Reports.