The way I would install BusinessObjects XI 3.1 .NET SDK

[saurabh_pathak]

This would look like a simple thing that most of us must have done someday, but installing it wrongly on development machine /web app server, could lead to many issues which might waste lot of productive time.

I would recommend installing the sdk from the original media. Most of us would say that we don’t have CDs, DVDs etc…  CDs and DVDs have taken back seat as installer is made available online in the form of *.iso or *.zip etc. Another question would be what is original media? To answer that I would say that the installation files/folder used to create BI Enterprise Server or install the entire product can be called as original media. The other way is to use the MSI Installer that is being offered by SAP to install SDK, which has improved since SP3 and SP4.

Original Media vs. MSI Installer

1. Size of original media is above 1 GB & MSI Installer is merely 100MB or so.
2. Original media can be used to create BI Enterprise Server, but MSI Installer does not provide this facility.

How to download the Original Media or MSI Installer from Service   Market Place (SMP)?

1. Go to SAP Support Portal.
2. Select Software Downloads> BusinessObjects Downloads.
3. On the left hand side select SAP BusinessObjects Download> Browse the SAP BusinessObjects Portfolio.
4. Click on Installation and Upgrade> SBOP Business Intelligence Platform (SBOP Enterprise).

Original Media:

MSI Installer:

How to install .NET SDK from Original Media?

When you use the original media opt for custom install. You would see following:

Select Client Component, you would see Developer Components as soon as you expand the node and unselect whatever is not required.

Select whatever you want to install. Return to parent node and select Database Access. Installing everything is not required you can opt for 'Will be installed on local hard drive'.  With above, you have installed the .NET SDK on the machine.

Things to be cautioned about:

1. Always install .NET SDK from the original media or MSI Installer.
2. Patch level of BI Enterprise Server & Development machine should be same at any given point. For e.g. If BI Enterprise Server is on SP3 + FP 3.2 make sure that your SDK are also on SP3+ FP3.2.
3. Use the service pack that is close to your current product level rather than going incremental. For e.g. install SP3 full and then apply FP 3.2 rather than applying SP1, SP2, SP3 and then FP3.2.

This begs the question "Why should I have the same patch level when it’s already working on my Dev/UAT/Pre-Production environment?"

I would simply say that system registries and assemblies are keeping well. But don’t blame on anything if suddenly things starts breaking. I have seen many issues with clientdoc.dll, crpe.dll, RAS Server has failed etc… Summarizing few reasons below

1. To match every file SAP recommends to ensure that SDK is at same patch level as the Enterprise server
2. With every patch programming interface changes slightly resulting changes in functionality in libraries and assembly files.
3. At SAP, everything is tested at the same patch level; the behavior is not predictable when the mix runtimes come into picture.

For more references you can always log on to SMP and search for KB1501944, KB1441232, KB1364701 and KB1474553.