Active Directory SSO for SAP BusinessObjects BI4

 Firstly, let’s define our server names and IPs (you must obviously adjust these and the commands below to reflect your server names and IPs:

• Domain Name: DOMAIN (FQDN: DOMAIN.INTERNAL)
• Service Account: biservice (password: Password1)
• Domain Controller: adserver.DOMAIN.INTERNAL
• BusinessObjects Server: bi4server.DOMAIN.INTERNAL
• BusinessObjects AD Group: DOMAIN\UserGroup

 

Step 1

Create an Active Directory service account, biservice (pass: Password1). Ensure the user config has ‘Password never expires’ option checked on.

On the BusinessObjects server, add the DOMAIN/biservice user to the Local Administrators group. Also assign the biservice user the right ‘Act as part of Operating System’ in the Local Security Policy snap-in.

 

Step 2

Run the following command on the Active Directory server to create appropriate Service Principal Names (SPNs):

• setspn -a BICMS/biservice.domain.internal biservice
• setspn -a HTTP/bi4server biservice
• setspn -a HTTP/bi4server.domain.internal biservice

 

Verify the SPNs have been created by running ‘setspn -l biservice’.

 

Step 3

Change the user config of ‘biservice’ user in Active Directory configuration, and under the Delegation tab, turn on ‘Trust this user for delegation to any service (Kerberos only)’.

 

Step 4

Under the AD Authentication area in the Central Management Console, take the following actions:

• Enable Windows Active Directory (AD)
• AD Administration Name = DOMAIN\biservice
• Default AD Domain: DOMAIN.INTERNAL
• Add AD Group: DOMAIN\UserGroup
• Use Kerberos Authentication
• Service principal name = BICMS/biservice.domain.internal
• Enable Single Sign On for selected authentication mode

 

Click Save to save all your entries. Check under the Groups area to make sure your AD group has been added.

 

Step 5

Modify the Server Intelligence Agent (SIA) process on the BusinessObjects server to run as the DOMAIN\biservice user.

 

Step 6

Test this by logging into Web Intelligence Rich Client by using an AD user who is part of the group. SSO should occur once you select ‘Windows AD’ authentication and click OK (no need to input your username or password).

 

Step 7

Create a file called ‘bscLogin.conf’, save it into C:\Windows\ directory on the BusinessObjects server, and put the following content into it using Notepad:

com.businessobjects.security.jgss.initiate { com.sun.security.auth.module.Krb5LoginModule required debug=true; };

 

Create a file called ‘krb5.ini’, save it into C:\Windows\ directory, and put the following content into it using Notepad:

[libdefaults] default_realm = DOMAIN.INTERNAL dns_lookup_kdc = true dns_lookup_realm = true default_tgs_enctypes = rc4-hmac default_tkt_enctypes = rc4-hmac udp_preference_limit = 1 [realms] DOMAIN.INTERNAL ={ kdc = ADSERVER.DOMAIN.INTERNAL default_domain = DOMAIN.INTERNAL }

 

Verify this file is completed correctly by navigating to C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\win64_x64\jdk\bin\ folder on the BusinessObjects server, and execute ‘kinit biservice’ in a command prompt. If a new ticket is stored, the file is correct.

 

Step 8

Stop Tomcat. Modify the BI Launch Pad’s .properties file to reveal the authentication dropdown. Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Tomcat6\webapps\BOE\WEB-INF\config\custom and create a file called ‘BIlaunchpad.properties’ with the following text:

authentication.visible=true authentication.default=secWinAD

Open up the Tomcat Options, and add the following lines to the Tomcat Java Options:

-Djava.security.auth.login.config=c:\windows\bscLogin.conf -Djava.security.krb5.conf=c:\windows\krb5.ini

 

Start Tomcat, then try and do a manual logon to BusinessObjects, and check Tomcat trace logs for a ‘commit succeeded’.

 

Step 9

Stop Tomcat. Modify C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Tomcat6\conf\server.xml, by adding ‘maxHttpHeaderSize=”65536″‘ in Connector Port 8080 tag.

 

Navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Tomcat6\webapps\BOE\WEB-INF\config\custom and create a file called ‘global.properties’ with the following text:

sso.enabled=true siteminder.enabled=false vintela.enabled=true idm.realm=DOMAIN.INTERNAL idm.princ=biservice idm.allowUnsecured=true idm.allowNTLM=false idm.logger.name=simple idm.logger.props=error-log.properties

 

Open up Tomcat Options Add the following lines to Tomcat Java Options:

-Dcom.wedgetail.idm.sso.password=Password1 -Djcsi.kerberos.debug=true

 

Delete logs in C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Tomcat6\logs\ and C:\SBOPWebapp_BIlaunchpad_IP_PORT\.

 

Start Tomcat, go to C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Tomcat6\logs\, check stdout.log has ‘credentials obtained’ shown.

 

Test silent single sign on is now working in a browser (not on the BusinessObjects server).

 

Step 10

Copy BIlaunchpad.properties and global.properties from C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Tomcat6\webapps\BOE\WEB-INF\config\custom to C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\warfiles\webapps\BOE\WEB-INF\config\custom so that patches don’t overwrite them and SSO stops working.

 

Step 11

Create a keytab on the AD server by running the following command:

ktpass -out bosso.keytab -princ [email protected] -pass Password1 -kvno 255 -ptype KRB5_NT_PRINCIPAL -crypto RC4-HMAC-NT

 

Copy this file to c:\windows of BOBJ server then stop Tomcat.

 

Add the following line to C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\Tomcat6\webapps\BOE\WEB-INF\config\custom\global.properties

idm.keytab=C:/WINDOWS/bosso.keytab

 

Open up the Tomcat Configuration, remove the Wedgetail line in Java Options, restart tomcat and make sure ‘credentials obtained’ still showing up in stdout.log.

 

Now check silent single sign on still operating correctly.

 

Step 12

Remove debug=true from the C:\windows\bscLogin.conf file, and also remove the debugging line in Tomcat Configuration, Java Options.

 

Conclusion

Hopefully this walkthrough gives you a good idea of what is required to get AD SSO working on BI4.

 

Don’t forget to look at SAP note 1631734.  Also included in the SAP note is troubleshooting assistance for each step.