OBIEE 11g - Stopping Oracle BI 11g on Windows without Prompting for Credentials

Problem

So the problem is shown in the screenshot below. This screenshot was taken after being prompted for the credentials where I’ve gone ahead and entered the credentials and simply took the screenshot a little later than I wanted.

However, as you can see when using the option I stated previously, it prompts you to “Please enter the username of a Weblogic admin user”. This happens every time you use the stop function coming from the Oracle BI 11g program menu.

Solution

If you must or plan on continued use of Oracle BI 11g on a Windows OS and just feel using this start and stop method is the easiest for you then to prevent getting prompted for the credentials at shutdown follow the steps below.

First, navigate to the actual command executable file that the Stop Oracle BI program files option is actually calling when you select it. You don’t need this first step, I’ve already done the work for you and you can start at the second step so read on.  Here’s a quick screenshot of what that file looks like though.

You will notice that it is simply a batch file. You’ll also notice that this file calls another XML based file.  This secondary call leverages Apache ANT.  Most non-Java Developers have never heard of ANT but let me tell you it is a great tool for compiling and building a project. Oracle’s Dev Squad is somewhat astute so they know what they’re doing.

Second, locate the XML file that is being called, StartStopServices.xml, as we will need to modify it slightly.

Open the StartStopServices.xml file and you will notice that the XML syntax has some type of attributes and conditional formatting laced into it.  This is ANT syntax.

For our problem (more the solution, rather) we need to locate the following syntax as shown in the screenshot below.

As any layman can see, there is a conditional operation property being applied to the “should.get.credentials” condition which checks when to prompt a user for the credentials. The conditional check is using the isset variable element for “should.create.credentials” and “is.stop.all”. I’ll give you one guess on which one we need to comment out in order to prevent being prompted when using the Stop Oracle BI services program menu option.

So edit this file (make a backup first genius) by either deleting this line or using XML comment syntax to comment out the line so it is no longer read at runtime. Save the file. Now, as long as your boot.properties file(s) have been set and are properly encrypted (i.e.: you’ve started and stopped your WebLogic Server and Oracle BI 11g system several times previously) you will no longer get prompted for the WebLogic Server admin credentials when selecting the Stop Oracle BI services option from the program menu.