Invoking HTTPS(not HTTP) request from OBIEE ACTION.

nishusinha

Hi,

In obiee under  Create new  action option i see a option of invoking a http rquest and get the repsonse,But my scenario is a bit different,Here i have to invoke a HTTPS request along with  that

the server  for which i am going to provide the request and get the response from has user name and password,which needs to be provided in order to get the response from API.

In plsql i see a parameter to use uttl.http set_Authentication .But in OBIEE i am not sure how to achieve this and also how to make a a https request rather than HTTP.

Also while passing the parameter can we use presentation variable.i see an option of using session variable but not presentation variable.

Could you please help me with  three question

1)How to Invoke a https request from BI

2)How to pass username and password while invoking the request

3)Can we use presntation variable while passing the parameter.

Regards,

Nishu

[Deleted User]

On my phone so just a quick one:

ad 3 - why use a request variable. That's just a session variable which gets overwritten by a presentation variable or other means.

nishusinha

Thanks a Lot Christian ,That should defnitetly work as an alternative to Presentation Variable,

Gianni Ceresa

The "Invoke an HTTP request" action can perfectly deal with a HTTPS request, just enter a URL with https instead of http. In the name of the action they can't really express all the possible URLs you can request or the name of the action would take the whole screen.

Does the URL you are calling use HTTP Basic Authentication ? Or another form of authentication?

HTTP Basic Authentication accepted username & password in the URL using this kind of format:  http://username:password@example.com/password@example.com/

As this kind of authentication is fairly weak there isn't much using it anymore, therefore I never tested it over HTTPS to see if it still work, and I also never had an OBIEE action having to deal with it.

If you need something more complex to be able to go through your authentication you maybe want to look into using a browser script or java method kind of action as you can code whatever you would need to do there inside.

nishusinha

Hi Gianni,

Thank for the reply.

I will try the above and confirm

In order to make the HTTPS call, i think we need to import the certificate in OBIEE server,If that is so, do we have any location where we need to import the certificate etc or is it going to be same as what we do while we implement SSL in OBIEE.

Regards

Gianni Ceresa

3487083 wrote:In order to make the HTTPS call, i think we need to import the certificate in OBIEE server.

Did you try and you get an error (screen or log) telling you there is an issue with certificates?

If the target host has valid SSL certificates, there is not need to import IMHO, they will be accepted.

If your target has fake SSL certificates (self-signed or so), you maybe have something to do. But HTTP basic auth + self signed SSL = somebody really want to look like secure while it isn't ...

nishusinha

Hi Gianni,

I tried using the below format

https://username:password@example.com/api/xxxx/xxxx/xxxx?param1=xxxx&param2=xxxx&param3=1&param4=xxxxpassword@example.com/api/xxxx/xxxx/xxxx?param1=xxxx&param2=xxxx&param3=1&param4=xxxx

This works if i directly put in address bar of url ,But in case of OBIEE when i put  and execute the action i get an error (below screenshot).

I tried using HTTP as well instead of https but got same Error in BI.

I tried https://username:password@example.com/password@example.com/API&PARAMETERS (this does not work in browser as well as in BI)

I am Checking with target team about the authentication type and will confirm.

Regards

nishusinha

Sorry it seems the above post  has added some character into it.

The Url which works in Browser is

https://username:password@example.com/api/xxxx/xxxx/xxxx?param1=xxxx&param2=xxxx&param3=1&param4=xxxxpassword@example.com/api/xxxx/xxxx/xxxx?param1=xxxx&param2=xxxx&param3=1&param4=xxxx

But the same does not work in OBIEE

Gianni Ceresa

But what is the target SSL certificate like?

Working in your own browser doesn't mean it isn't a self-signed one, you maybe just installed (or somebody for you) the self-signed CA one in your browser and done.

nishusinha

Hi Gianni,

The Target Certifcate is signed By Certificate Aurthority and the Authentication in place is Basic.

we would be  trying  out browser sscript or java script method or if the DB does not have anysort of firewall in place then from there itself.

Regards.