VA - SAS Report (2G) - Typename: Report.BI - Metadata Permissions?

[mrtball]

Hello All,

I'm getting an interesting issue when attempting to export VA Reports (SAS Report (2G)) in Management Console the scenario is:

**I'm pretty sure this is metadata permission related but can't find where permission is being denied**

Our Production environment works fine and this issue is confined to our test environment.

1. In SAS MC using my personal SAS user >  find report in Metadata > Right Click Report > Export SAS package...

2. Step through export wizard > The export wizard reports that 'The Export process completed with errors' with the error in the log being listed as: ERROR - Error exporting content for SAS report (2G) objects.
java.io.IOException: com.sas.report.repository.RepositoryUnknownTypeException: Unknown metadata object type: 'Report.BI'
at com.sas.bireport.logical.ReportExportListener.exportContent(ReportExportListener.java:179)

3. If i step through this with sasadm account the above works fine

4. If i add my user to unrestricted metadata role the above works fine.

I've been looking around to see if there are any permissions denied on the report folder location / the actual report and the SAS report (2G) type but all permissions look fine and match our prod environment which is working fine.

Just wondering if anybody has seen this behaviour before? Or knows of any other areas to check permissions?

• The log file is attached.
• Screen shot of SAS Report (2g) settings is attached.

Thanks,
Tom

[AndrewHowell]

Tom,

What options were selected when performing the Export? For example "Include dependant objects", etc.

Can you provide screenshots of the export process? Or alternatively, attach a copy of the Substitutions Properties File which is embedded within the SPK file?

Regards,

Andrew.

[mrtball]

Hello Andrew,

Thank you for your response.

The sequence of the export process is in the attached image. 

Thanks,
Tom

[AndrewHowell]

The first screen in the screenshot has the "Include dependant objects" box cleared - this means that ONLY the report itself is migrated, and none of anything the report depends on. If these components don't already exist in the Target environment, this could be one reason the report fails. (Metadata permissions may be another, already mentioned).

I'd recommend re-exporting, but setting the box to include dependant objects.

[anja]

Hi,

What version of SAS are you running?

Make sure the user has ReadMetadata, WriteMeta and WriteMemberMetadata, and has access to all physical content the report might "rely" on.

You can test whether your user can start a workspace server (do a test connection in SASMC)

Could you try to do an export/import in batch to see if that works?

Thanks

Anja

[mrtball]

Hello Anja,

Thanks for your response...

We are running SAS9.4 M2

The user has full permissions on the table which the report depends on. Are there any other items which you think it might have depencies on?

Is it a particular workspace space server we would need to focus on as we have MA & EBI workspace servers? i can validate / connect to both of these.

I've attempted the batch export but with the same outcome - command prompt output is attached.

Thanks,
Tom

[PaulHomes]

Whilst the scenario is different, the exception message (Unknown metadata object type: 'Report.BI') is the same, so you may want to have a look at SAS Problem Note 46955: SAS® Visual Analytics might display "Report could not be saved" when you att... and check on the SAS Content Server connectivity and permissions for the SAS Trusted User (via its membership of SAS System Services group).

[JuanS_OCS]

I subscribe to @PaulHomes initial guess. I think the problem is on the access to the SAS Content Server.

Something elese that might cause the problem, if your server works with SSL certificates (meaning, your URL starts with https), is that the SAS Management Console you are using, does not have installed the certificates (or latest certificates). You can validate this by trying to validate your SAS Content Server (Servers Manager - SAS Content Server - right button - Validate). If the validation is OK, then your certificates should be OK. If not, you will receive a PKIX handshake validation error and it would mean that your SAS Administrator needs to install the certificates into your SAS Private Java certificate store (with the SAS Deployment Manager or the keytool, preferable the SAS Deployment Manager).

[AndrewHowell]

@JuanS_OCS raises a valid point: how different/similar are the two environments - security configuration, etc? My export/import suggestion was based on the assumption that the two platforms are essentially installed & configured identically.

[mrtball]

Hello All,

Thanks for your responses...

@PaulHomes : With regards to the note I can see all the VA components are on our test metadata server. And the ReadMetadata permissions are in place on the SAS folder structure. 

With regards to the content server some interesting behaviour, my user account is unable to validate the content server via SAS MC on both prod and test. I add my user into Metadata - Unrestricted and i am able to validate the server. This however i think is maybe a side issue as this is happening on both our test and prod environments as I am able to export SAS report (2G) on Prod but no Test.

@JuanS_OCS : We are currently running on HTTP so i don't believe the SSL Certificates should be a problem.

@AndrewHowell : The Prod / Test environment are from an applicational sense very similar. I wouldn't however describe them as identical as we have 4 servers on prod and the same SAS apps are consolidated onto 2 servers in test. So there is likely different underlying configurations for the 2 however in essence the SAS application and metadata is very similar.  I've not yet run into any issues like this one which indicate a difference in configuration.

Thanks,
Tom

[mrtball · Accepted solution]

Hello All,

Quick update on this - this wasn't a permissions issue but we were missing SAS Visual Analytics Extensions for Services from our Test Mid-Tier server.

With regards to the export working with unrestricted Metadata Perms - after discussing with SAS Support apparently the unrestricted Metadata role skips connecting to the content server which is why the export working when accounts were added here.

The was fixed after we'd installed / configured / rebuilt & deployed SAS Visual Analytics Extensions for Services and the WIP application.

Thanks,
Tom