OBIEE 12.2.1.2 - RPD Upload Backups?

Question

I am continuing to explore and compare the differences between 12c and 11g and noticed of course that the handling of the RPD upload is different.

I ran through a quick download/upload of the RPD and I noticed that the RPD does not seem to be backed up anymore?

In 11g, when I uploaded an RPD via the EM, if I went into the correct directory in 11g I could see RPD's that have auto incremented based on my uploads. So if worse comes to worse I could still go in this folder and pull up an old RPD.

In 12c, when I run the upload script I see that it updates the liverpd file - then it adds another incremented liverpd (liverpd.rpod_5)file, and keeps one previous RPD file (liverpd.rpd_4)for a total of 3 files.

I tried to download the older RPD file (liverpd.rpd_4) and open it but the password I was originally using does not work.

While not a huge thing, I was curious is there any way to open that one previous liverpd file?

I personally prefer to have a back up of the back up of the back up just in case of a disaster.

Or is this just how 12c is, where we can not access any of the RPD files in this folder UNLESS we use the RPD download/upload script?

Gianni Ceresa · Answer

Christian gave you the answer already

11g was nice and friendly and was doing something you are supposed to do yourself as part of your development process: version the RPD.

12c gave up doing things which aren't its main job, no versioning anymore.

The RPD managed in 12c is a bit more complex than what you saw ...

When you stop OBIEE and look at files liverpd.rpd is useless as it's empty. The other files similar names and underscores you can't open them as you don't know the password (it it's the one you used yourself).

Making it short: RPD managed is totally different in 12c.

For backups it's up to you to setup processes making backup of the RPD based on a schedule using the datamodel.sh (or .cmd) script on server or locally (script installed with the Admintool).

The password you provide to the script for the RPD isn't the password of the RPD you uploaded, the repository on the server doesn't have a password anymore, so it's just a random password to protect the file once you get it offline. The security is provided by the user credentials you must provide to the script: if you have the right privileges you can download the RPD without knowing any other password than the one of your account.

It's up to you to develop with a versioning tool like GIT or Subversion or anything like that. It's one of the good practice and do not expect something else (the BI server) to do your job keeping versions.

New version, new rules

3310714 · Answer

No, not the liverrpd.rpd* files.  As you mentioned, it cannot be opened.  What I meant was the actual RPD file you modify using the Admin Tool.  After your modifications, you run the uploadrpd command to upload it to the server.  Those can be you backup files.

chillychin · Answer

Sorry do you mean that the liverpd.rpd_4 (in my example) can still be used or opened?

I was under the assumption that it could not be opened