Oracle EPM 11.2 - Release Postponed

Introduction

For quite some time within the EPM world we are all waiting or the new 11.2 EPM release for many reasons. Originally it was scheduled Q1 this year, then moved to October 2019. However I got word it has been delayed and Oracle is now aiming for December 2019.

Continue...

Oracle has extended the EPM 11.1.2.4 support period from mid-2021 to December 2021. However no effort will be made to enhance EPM 11.1.2.4 certification of more recent platforms and browsers. So the latest supported Windows platforms remain Windows 2012 R2 and MS SQL 2012. Latest browsers IE11 (Enterprise Mode) and Firefox ERS 45+.

VMware Workstation - [Bug] Leaking Comitted Memory

Introduction

Personally I use VMware Workstation 12 allot for building EPM environment for testing and developing reasons. Today I discovered a nasty issue, which appears to be a bug.

Issue Description

When using VMware Workstation v12.5.x on Windows 10 with the creative update installed, the virtual print driver leaks committed memory over a short period of time to a 100%. Only Windows based VM's seem to be affected.

I confirmed that e.g. Linux based VM's are not effected. From personal experience Windows Core based VM's also seems to be OK, but I cannot 100% confirm this.

Solution / Workaround

VMware is still investigating the issue, however in the mean while disabling virtual printing in VMware Workstation seems to be a valid workaround.

GeekStuff (EPM): Oracle EPM HFM 11.1.2.4 and Oracle DB 12c

Introduction

At the time of writing the latest available PSU .204 for HFM does not support Oracle Database 12c yet. Although it works well, it doesn't work out-of-the-box.

Can't wait for Oracle to officially support Oracle DB 12c? Read on!

Tools-EPM is now available for Linux/UNIX!

I am happy to announce that Tools-EPM is now available for Linux/Unix as well (previously only for Windows)!

Tools-EPM provides various command-line based utilities that simplify the daily tasks of an
technical EPM consultant/engineer.

Read all about it here.

Geek Stuff (EPM) - Undocumented Parameters EPM Diagnostics Utility

Introduction

Since Oracle EPM 11.1.2.0 Oracle has introduced EPM Diagnostic Utility (validate.bat). For the newbies, the EPM diagnostic utility is a java based tool with the purpose to technically validate an EPM instance. Executing this utility results in two things: A full HTML diagnostics report, and a ZIP file containing all log files from the instance it was executed from. The Oracle EPM documentation related to this utility can be found here.

Since Oracle EPM 11.1.2.3, the EPM diagnostic utility is a good start when validating a installation or troubleshooting issues. However there are some minor downsides: It always performs all tests, always creates a ZIP file after completion and there is not option to selectively test... at least so I thought.

For an automation project, this default behavior was a problem. As such, I examined the java code related to the EPM diagnostic Execution and discovered that it excepts various command line parameters borrowed from the EPM installation utility wizard.

Tools-EPM Released!

I am happy to announce that Tools-EPM has been released!

Tools-EPM provides various command-line based utilities that simplify the daily tasks of an
technical EPM consultant/engineer.

Read all about it here.

How to configure CPU options in the UEFI (BIOS) for maximum Essbase calculation speeds

Introduction

Personally I never paid attention to specific UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) settings when installing and configuring EPM. It was always on factory default values. During a project however, I was triggered to have a look at these setting due to an issue I could not explain.

What I discovered, came as a big surprise to me!