OBIEE 12c bi_server1 and BI services difference

3310714

Hi,

I'm confused what's the difference between the managed server (bi_server1) in Weblogic/EM and the 5 BI services (OBIS1, OBISP1, etc) in EM.  Is the bi_server1 like a container for the 5 BI services?  When do I need to start/stop the bi_server1?  I'm assuming starting/stopping bi_server1 will also start/stop the 5 BI services? 

Any insights are appreciated!

Gianni Ceresa

Hi,

They are different kind of things. "bi_server1" is a managed server of Weblogic.

The AdminServer control it and weblogic can have many (or even none) managed servers. It is an application server where java apps can be deployed.

The services are components running on your server and they are really the heart of OBIEE. You can have a weblogic managed server without OBIEE, but you can't have OBIEE without the components (OBIS, OBIPS etc.). The Presentation server is the one really using weblogic and the "bi_server1" managed server to deploy the web front-end.

When you start/stop OBIEE 12c with the provided script it does things in the right order already:

- start node manager

- start admin server

- start managed server

- start services

Node manager is the one doing the job and making all these pieces communicating and sending the start/stop commands.

The stop is done in the opposite order.

OBIEE require all these pieces to be up in order to work (actually if node manager goes down things still work, but you will not be able to manage pieces anymore without restarting it).

The provided /bitools/bin/start.sh and stop.sh scripts take care of all these things, covering the order and and dependencies for start and stop actions.

It's better to make things cleanly and do not stop "bi_server1" without stopping the services before as the services aren't properly stopped.

Because the services and the managed server aren't directly linked together you can even end up with the services up but the managed server down, or more frequently the managed server up but the services down.

The picture isn't totally explicit but you see that node manager cover both the weblogic (admin server and managed server) and BI system components parts.

Probably not super clear as it's difficult to find the right word for each part but I hope I gave you a better view of it.

3310714

Hi Gianni,

Many thanks for your detailed insights.  It's easier to understand than the Oracle Documentation (which I have read first).  

If my understanding is correct, the managed server (bi_server1) serves up the application pages (Analytics, BI Publisher) and the 5 BI processes does the actual work of processing requests from users.   Is that correct?

Gianni Ceresa

Yes, you can see things like that.

The pages of /analytics (answers) and /xmlpserver (publisher) or even /va (visual analyzer) are server from the managed server and these pages interact with the services in the background and the services interact with each other based on the action you performed.

If you look on your server you see real processes for the services, and when you execute something you see the load increasing on these services based on the task you executed.

3310714

Hi Gianni,

I have a follow up question.  Do you know why when I stop just the BI Presentation Service, the Analytics page won't serve up?  I'd think the Presentation Service won't affect loading of the Analytics page since that is running on bi_server1. 

Gianni Ceresa

Because the job is done by the BI Presentation service.

You can still access static elements like the images etc. But any content requiring the BI Presentation service will not work. The java pages deployed on bi_server1 need the service in the background to be able to show you something.

It's why you always need all the pieces up and running (ok, you can stop the scheduler service and OBIEE will still work, just your schedules agents will not work, but you get the point).