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This chapter applies only if the Discoverer installation is associated with an Oracle Internet Directory and with the two database schemas that Discoverer requires (the PStore and Portlet Provider schemas). For more information, see Section 1.3, "About Oracle BI Discoverer installations."If Discoverer is not associated with an Oracle Internet Directory (and the PStore and Portlet Provider schemas), then Discoverer connections are not available to end users.This chapter explains how to create and manage Oracle BI Discoverer connections, and includes the following topics:Section 3.1, "What is an Oracle BI Discoverer connection?"Section 3.2, "What are the types of Discoverer connections?"Section 3.3, "About managing Discoverer connections"Section 3.4, "About the Discoverer connections page"Section 3.5, "About specifying whether Discoverer end users can create their own private connections"Section 3.6, "How to create public connections"Section 3.7, "How to delete public connections"Section 3.8, "How to specify whether Discoverer end users can create private connections"3.1 What is an Oracle BI Discoverer connection?Discoverer connections enable Discoverer end users to start Discoverer without having to re-enter database login details each time they start Discoverer.An Oracle BI Discoverer connection consists of the following database login details:Database username to identify the Discoverer end userDatabase password to authenticate the Discoverer end userName of the database containing the information that the Discoverer end user wants to analyze(optional) An Oracle Applications responsibility to specify the Discoverer end user's responsibility when using Discoverer with Oracle Applications(relational data source only) The End User Layer to be usedThe language that should be used in DiscovererIn the example shown in Figure 3-1, a connection named Customer Reports has been created. This connection contains login information to enable end users to connect to the database containing customer reports, without having to enter login details.Figure 3-1 Connections page in Oracle BI Discoverer PlusNotesA connection is visible to both Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer end users.If end users do not want to store login details in a connection, they can enter login details directly by using the Connect Directly area of the Discoverer connections page.3.1.1 About Discoverer private connections and Oracle Single Sign-OnIf Oracle Single Sign-On is enabled, Discoverer private connections work as follows:When Discoverer end users select a Discoverer private connection for the first time, they are prompted to enter their Oracle Single Sign-On details (if they have not been authenticated).After Discoverer end users have been authenticated by Oracle Single Sign-On, they can select a Discoverer private connection without entering the Discoverer password.For more information about Oracle Single Sign-On, see Section 13.7.1, "Using Discoverer with Oracle Single Sign-On."3.2 What are the types of Discoverer connections?Discoverer supports the following types of connections:Private connectionPrivate connections are created and maintained by Discoverer end users. They have the following characteristics:Private connections are private to the Discoverer end user that created it.Discoverer end users create and maintain their own private connections.For more information about controlling what types of connection Discoverer end users can use, see Section 3.5, "About specifying whether Discoverer end users can create their own private connections."If Single Sign-On is enabled, Discoverer end users can

Use their private connections from any client machine. If Single Sign-On is not enabled, private connections are stored as cookies, and are accessible only on the machine and browser on which they were created. For more information about Single Sign-On, see Section 3.1.1, "About Discoverer private connections and Oracle Single Sign-On."For information about creating private connections, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware User's Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Plus.Public connectionPublic connections are created and maintained by Discoverer middle tier managers.For example, if you want to provide Discoverer end users with access to the Discoverer sample workbooks, you might create a public connection called 'Sample workbooks'.Public connections have the following characteristics:A public connection is available to Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer end users.Note:When you create a public connection to a multidimensional data source, the public connection is available only to Discoverer Viewer and Discoverer Portlet Provider users. Public OLAP connections are not available to Discoverer Plus OLAP users.Public connections enable Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer end users to access data to which the PUBLIC role has access.Discoverer Plus and Viewer users cannot add, edit, or delete public connections.For more information about how to create public connections, see Section 3.6, "How to create public connections."Note:In a secure Discoverer environment you might want to use only public connections, so that you can restrict database access to login details that you specify. In other words, you might want to prevent Discoverer end users from creating private connections. For more information, see Section 3.6, "How to create public connections."In a secure Discoverer environment you might want to use only public connections, so that you can restrict database access to login details that you specify. In other words, you might want to prevent Discoverer end users from creating private connections. For more information, see Section 3.5, "About specifying whether Discoverer end users can create their own private connections."3.3 About managing Discoverer connectionsAs a middle-tier manager, you use Fusion Middleware Control to perform the following tasks related to Discoverer connections:Provide public connections to enable Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer users to start Discoverer. For more information, see Section 3.6, "How to create public connections."Enable Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer users to create their own (private) connections to start Discoverer. For more information, see Section 3.5, "About specifying whether Discoverer end users can create their own private connections."For information about copying Discoverer connections from one Oracle Business Intelligence installation to another, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Guide to Publishing Oracle Business Intelligence Discoverer Portlets.3.4 About the Discoverer connections pageThere are two Discoverer connections pages:Connect to Discoverer Viewer, which is used to start Discoverer Viewer, by using a set of stored login details or by connecting directly.Connect to Discoverer Plus, which is used to start Discoverer Plus, by using a set of stored login details or by connecting directly.Figure 3-2 shows the Connect to Discoverer Plus page.Figure 3-2 Connect to Oracle BI Discoverer page3.5 About specifying whether Discoverer end users can create their own private connectionsYou can specify whether Discoverer

1Overview of Oracle Discoverer 4iOracle Discoverer is a business intelligence tool for analyzing data. Using Oracle Discoverer's award-winning user interface, users can access and analyze database data. There are two Oracle Discoverer 4i products:Oracle Discoverer 4i Plus is the Internet version of the award-winning product, Discoverer Plus (Release 4.1). With Discoverer, business professionals can get and analyze data in a company's database without having to understand difficult database concepts. Using Wizard dialogs and menus, Discoverer guides them through the steps to get and analyze data to support their business decisions.Oracle Discoverer 4i Viewer is a tool for viewing workbooks created by users of the client/server or web versions of Discoverer Plus. Oracle Discoverer 4i Viewer can also be used to integrate database output into a web site and portal and is easily customized to conform to a particular web site look and feel, or to build custom Discoverer applications for the web. Oracle Discoverer 4i Viewer is also optimized for performance and designed to minimize network traffic.1.1 Oracle Discoverer 4i and Oracle9i Application Server Oracle Discoverer 4i is installed as part of Oracle9i Application Server. The default installation is to install all Discoverer components on a single machine. However, you can install different components on different machines to improve performance (for more information, refer to Chapter 3, "Installing Oracle Discoverer 4i on multiple machines".1.2 The Discoverer 4i architectureOracle Discoverer 4i has a multi-tiered architecture. This architecture takes advantage of the distributed nature of the Web environment. While it is possible to install all tiers of the Discoverer 4i architecture on the same machine, we recommend distributing your installation over multiple machines to maximize performance.1.2.1 The three tier architecture of Discoverer 4i PlusDiscoverer 4i Plus has a three tier architecture:ClientDiscoverer ServicesDatabase 1.2.2 The n-tier architecture of Discoverer 4i ViewerDiscoverer 4i Viewer has an n-tier architecture:ClientHTTP ServerDiscoverer ServicesDatabase 1.2.3 The Client tier (Discoverer Plus and Viewer)The first tier of the Discoverer 4i architecture is the client--a user's computer. There is no setup or installation to do on the client machine, nor does this machine need to have access to any database. 1.2.3.1 The Client tier and Discoverer PlusIn the case of Discoverer Plus, the only requirement for the client machine is that it runs a Java-enabled Web browser (e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer, or Netscape Navigator with Oracle JInitiator). By accessing the URL that you (the Discoverer administrator) provide, users can log on

And run Discoverer to analyze data.1.2.3.2 The Client tier and Discoverer ViewerIn the case of Discoverer Viewer, the only requirement for the client machine is that it can run HTML through a web browser (e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator). By accessing the URL that you (the Discoverer Administrator) provide, users can connect and run Oracle Discoverer 4i Viewer to view data.1.2.4 The HTTP Server tier (Discoverer Viewer only)For Discoverer Viewer, the HTTP Server tier (and specifically the HTTP Server's servlet engine) is where the Discoverer 4i Viewer servlet is installed. Running the Java-enabled servlet engine on the HTTP Server tier removes the need for Java to run on the client tier.Note that in a multiple machine installation, a component from the Discoverer Services tier (the Locator component) is usually installed on the same machine as the HTTP Server tier.1.2.4.1 What is a servlet?A servlet comprises modules of Java code that run on a server machine to answer HTTP requests from client machines. Using a servlet minimizes client-side processing.1.2.4.2 What is a servlet engine?A servlet engine comes as part of (or as a plug-in to) the HTTP Server software and is the environment in which servlets run. The servlet engine incorporates a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and implements the Java Servlet API.1.2.4.3 What is the Discoverer 4i Viewer Servlet?The Discoverer 4iViewer Servlet uses an XML/XSL processor to generate HTML pages from HTTP requests.The Discoverer 4iViewer Servlet and the XML/XSL processor are installed in the HTTP Server's servlet engine1.2.5 The Discoverer Services tier (Discoverer Plus and Viewer)The Discoverer Services tier is the portion of the Discoverer architecture that the Discoverer administrator installs and maintains. The Discoverer Services tier consists of the following components: the Discoverer Plus Java applet and HTML pages (Discoverer Plus only)the Locator component (Discoverer Plus and Viewer)the Session component (Discoverer Plus and Viewer)the Preferences component (Discoverer Plus and Viewer)The Discoverer Java applet and HTML pages are installed on an HTTP server machine. The Locator is also usually installed on the HTTP server. The remaining components are installed on one or more application servers. You can install Discoverer Services on one server machine or across many machines. In addition, the following CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) components from VisiBroker are installed:Object Activation Daemon (OAD) SmartAgentThese CORBA components are responsible for activating new components and providing a location service when a user requests that a Discoverer session begin.

Web browser accesses the URL on the HTTP Server.The Discoverer 4i Viewer Servlet interprets the HTTP request.The Locator starts a Session component on an Application Server machine and a Discoverer session starts.The Discoverer session requests and receives data from the database.The Discoverer session transmits data to the Discoverer 4i Viewer Servlet.The Discoverer 4i Viewer Servlet generates an HTML page and sends it to the browser.1.3.2.1 How the Discoverer 4i Viewer Servlet interprets the HTTP requestThe Oracle Discoverer 4i Viewer Servlet interprets the HTTP request from the client browser, and makes the necessary calls to the Discoverer Services. The server response represented in XML is generated by the Servlet and sent to an XML/XSL processor. The XML/XSL processor combines XML with an XSL configuration file that defines the representation of the User Interface and generates the output (e.g. HTML) to send back to the browser. The Oracle Discoverer 4i Viewer Servlet is composed of two primary layers - the application logic layer and the presentation logic layer. The application logic layer manages the handling of the HTTP request, the state of the Discoverer Services, and generates the XML representing the logical state of the Discoverer server and the data for a given client. The presentation logic layer takes the XML and uses XSL to generate a response in a given format (e.g. HTML, Microsoft Excel, XML etc.). The presentation logic can be customized to alter the appearance of the user interface (by editing XSL files). See Chapter 5, "Customizing Oracle Discoverer 4i Viewer" for details.1.4 Scalability and load balancingOracle Discoverer 4i Plus and Oracle Discoverer 4i Viewer are automatically installed to run on the Oracle9i Application Server as a single machine installation. However they are designed to be deployed on multiple machines (for more information, refer to Chapter 3, "Installing Oracle Discoverer 4i on multiple machines"). The Discoverer Services can be replicated so that different sessions can be started on alternate machines to balance the load. In this way very large numbers of Discoverer users may be supported, since there is no single bottleneck. Multiple Discoverer sessions can run on a single machine, or can be spread across multiple machines as required.The Discoverer 4i Viewer Servlet can also be distributed.

Databases that do not have an entry in the tnsnames.ora file on the Discoverer middle tier.For example, you might enter the following string in the Database field:(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS_LIST=(ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=machine_a.company.com)(PORT=1521)))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=database1)))Ensure that you remove spaces from the TNS string.By default, users must enter the TNS alias of the database when creating connections to Discoverer. You can, however, allow users to enter a connect string rather than a TNS alias, by setting the environment variable DISCOVERER_ALLOW_DB_CONNECT_STRING to YES.3.8 How to specify whether Discoverer end users can create private connectionsTo specify whether Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer users can create private connections:Start Fusion Middleware Control. For more information, see Section 4.1.2, "How to start Fusion Middleware Control and display the Farm Home page."Navigate to the Fusion Middleware Control Discoverer Home page. For more information, see Section 4.1.3, "How to display the Fusion Middleware Control Discoverer Home page and Discoverer component Home pages."From the Discoverer menu, select Administration.The Discoverer Administration page is displayed.In the Private Connections region, specify whether users can create private connections, by using the Allow users to define and use their own private connections in Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer check box.If you want Discoverer end users to be able to create their own private connections, select the check box. Otherwise, clear the check box.Click OK to save the changes.If you enable Discoverer end users to create private connections, they see a Create Connection button on the Discoverer Connections page, as shown in Figure 3-2.Notes The Details column on the Discoverer connections page is only visible in Internet Explorer.