OBIEE is a very interesting tool. If all goes well during the install process, you don't have to worry about anything. Just input the data, and next, next, next.
If, however problems due happen, it can be pretty boring to find out why.
So here are some helpfull pointers:
1 - RTFM -
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/bi-enterprise-edition/documentation/index.html
2 - pay atention to your hosts file. Don't have any entries with the hostname and IPS other than 127.0.0.1 (unless you definitely know you need it).
3 - the diagnostics directory under <MDW_HOME>\instances\instance can be very useful when diagnosing the separate components.
4 - most (stupid = not your fault :P) problems during install process may happen simply due to memory shortage. The page at
http://download.oracle.com/docs/html/E18558_01/fusion_requirements.htm indicates no less than 2GB of physical memory and 4GB of total memory (physical + swap). Well, my VMs never had more than 2GB, and the swap was around 2.5GB and the virtual memory was always in the dog house. So bear this in mind.
I had problems that just went away after a reboot and a restart of the install process like (creating ASinstance, Creating BI components, etc)
5 - problems during "start process coreapplication_obips1" can be tested by the "sawping" comand. this because the Presentation Services webpage (by default <hostname>:9704/analytics) contact with the sawserver and if there are problems with the port, or the services aren't up. That and the DSN created by OBIEE can have the IP instead of the hostname in it's configuration. Check it out.
Also, this is a very demanding memory process (atleast so it seemed by taskmanager's behaviour).
Memory problems could occur.
6 - problems during "start process coreapplication_obijh1" can be that you're machine is having problems with the 1024M parameter in <MDW_HOME>\instances\instance\config\opmn\opmn\opmn.xml. you can switch it to 768M (
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=1124066)
7 - when you reboot, you have to give it some time to start all the services. Even after the browser window opens with the Analytics page and the shell is closed. use <MDW_HOME>\instances\instance1\bin\opmnctl status to check the components. Components with
alive are ok, with
init are still starting (give them a chance) and with
down will not start on their own. You can use the Admin Pages (EM or Console) or the command:
opmnctl startproc ias-component=<component name on status list>.
hope it was helpful.
BR.
