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Well, it’s been a while since my last update – I went on holiday for two weeks, and we drove up to the north west of Australia.

Before I went away however, I sat the first exam for the Business Objects Certified Professional certification for Data Integrator – and managed to pass! Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like a training course will be released anytime soon to match the second BOCP-DI exam, and I’ve got lots of other stuff to look at, including doing the 2008 update to my BOCP-CR.

I’ve managed to volunteer to do a part on the next BOUG meeting, to talk on Migrating from 6.5 to XI. I’m going to talk (briefly) on best practices (like know XI), what to do in preparation and during the migration, and what not to do. The meeting is next week, 11th June.

One of things I’ll mention in the ‘what not to do’ section is the Content Search, which is packaged as part of the Productivity Pack with SP2. The Content Search indexes (runs) all the reports and universes. So, if you suddenly import 500 reports into the new XI system, and you don’t have any limits set on how many Deski reports can run at any one time (set in the CMC, under Deski Report Server), the service runs unchecked trying to index all the new reports and the system resources max out – definitely scary for your IT administrators.

Have you had any experiences like this with migrations?

So I’ve been a bit slack recently, with my blogging. I actually haven’t thought of anything interesting to blog about – the curse of the blogger I guess.

I stumbled across an IM client that pulls in MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, Facebook and others – Digsby (digsby.com). I’m now using it for all IM, it’s very nice being able to chat to people on Facebook and MSN all through the same client (plus the skins are nice).

Anyway, what have I been up to in BI? I’ve been doing some universe updates in 5.1.6 (old school!). And have begun doing the e-learning so I can go for the my BOCP-CR 2008 Update. The changes in Crystal Reports 2008 are very nice actually. Things like optional parameters, dynamic sorting and, of course, the ability to embed SWF files (read: Xcelsius 2008 SWF’s) and link them to data are fantastic. Now I just have to learn how to use it all! =)

I’ve been doing lots of troubleshooting recently as well, with Business Objects Enterprise XI R2 SP2. I’ve been deploying a three-tier system for a Tier 1 company and, to say the least, their security is a wee bit tight. Our administrator’s aren’t allowed to log in as administrators on the VMs, so you can’t run the CCM, see processes or do any kind of helpful troubleshooting. It now seems that even services running as ‘Local Service’ have limited rights – for instance, the Output File Repository Server is returning error messages about free disk space, even though it’s 70 GB or so free.

Ah, the joys of working with IT teams =)

I also got followed by a certain person who led me to this website: gooddata.com. Very interesting video about their product, but I’m not too sure how many larger companies would send their trusted data to another company. Still, it looks like a nice product.

- Josh

Well, I think I’ve become a Migration Specialist.

I *think* so because I can’t seem to get anyone to confirm for me I’ve done all the pre-requisites to becoming a Migration Specialist. You can no longer do the Migrating from 5.x and 6.x to XI R2 course in a classroom – in Australia, that is.

So I completed the following courses/exams online:

• BO 6.5 Accredited System Admin Exam
• Migrating 5.x and 6.x to XI R2 course
• Migration Application Foundation 6.x to XI R2 course

I already have my BOCP for Business Objects Enterprise.

I’m pretty sure that is all that is required. But, if you know differently, let me know!

On a side point, I test-rode a 2005 Buell Lightning (1200) on Saturday morning. Insane amount of power, and seeing as I didn’t go quicker than 80km/h (residential zones!) I didn’t get to play with more than two gears… Still, very nice – though I think I like the look of the Firebolt more than the Lightning…