Starting the Analytic Server on UNIX

You can start the server in the foreground or in the background.

Before you can access the server, you must be logged on to the UNIX server on an account that has at least Read/Write/Execute access to the Essbase directories. Ideally, this is the same account that was used to install DB2 OLAP Server.

After you start Analytic Server, all Analytic Server activities are recorded in the Analytic Server log (essbase.log), which is stored in the ARBORPATH directory. After you start individual applications, application and database activities are recorded in an application log (appname.log), which is stored in the application directory ($ARBORPATH/app/appname).

If you have problems connecting to Java on HP-UX, or if DB2 OLAP Server ends abnormally on HP-UX, see Troubleshooting common connection problems.

Starting Analytic Server in the foreground

To start the Analytic Server in the foreground:

  1. From the command prompt, type:
    $ARBORPATH/bin/ESSBASE
    or, if your path includes $ARBORPATH/bin, type:
    ESSBASE
    If you encounter any errors during startup, check your path and environment settings.
  2. If this is a first-time installation, Essbase prompts you for the following items:
  3. If this is not a first-time installation, the system prompts you for the system password that you specified when you first ran the server.

    The server then displays the following message:

    Waiting for Client Requests...

You can now use the Essbase Agent to perform high-level supervisor operations.

Starting the server in the background

If you are starting the Analytic Server for the first time after installing, you must start it in the foreground once before you can start it in the background. You must start Analytic Server in the foreground the first time after installing because you need to be prompted for a company name, an administrator user name, and a password. Analytic Server requires this startup information to run. However, if you installed Version 8.2 in the same directory as an existing installation, it is not necessary to start the server in the foreground before starting it in the background.

After you have started the server in the foreground and followed the prompts to enter your company name, Essbase administrator user name, and password, type EXIT to stop the server and follow the instructions to start the server as a background process.

To start the server as a background process:

  1. If this is a first time installation, you must start the server in the foreground.
  2. To start the Analytic Server in the background on UNIX, or on Windows systems utilizing a UNIX-like shell such as MKS, enter the following command at the command prompt of your operating system:
    $ARBORPATH/bin/ESSBASE password -b &
    If your path already includes $ARBORPATH/bin, type this instead:
    ESSBASE password -b &
    You can start the Analytic Server without using the ampersand (&) at the end of the command, but if you do not type the &, the command prompt is not returned after the server is started.

Hiding Analytic Server passwords on UNIX

To hide the system password from the UNIX process listing created by the ps -ef utility on Solaris and HP-UX, you must create a simple shell script and use it to launch the Analytic Server agent. Create a shell script named essbase.secure, consisting of the following lines:

#!/bin/sh
PASS=$1
ESSBASE -b -secure << EOF &
${PASS}
EOF

After creating this script, launch the Agent to start the script in the background. The script obtains the password from process listing details:

essbase.secure password
Note:
On AIX servers, there is no need to hide the Essbase system password because it is hidden automatically.

Shutting down Analytic Server

To shut down the server when Analytic Server is running in the foreground, type EXIT.

To shut down the server from any terminal connected to it, use the SHUTDOWNSERVER command in ESSCMD.