Norm's PerformancePoint Server Blog

Deploying PerformancePoint Planning Server in a Test Lab

Hi, my name is not Norm – it’s Ross. I’m also a technical writer focusing on content development for IT Professionals using PerformancePoint Server.

I would like to share a draft copy of the document I’ve been working on, currently titled “Deploying PerformancePoint Planning Server in a Test Lab”. The goal of this document is to provide the minimum amount of detailed information needed for a successful distributed deployment. For example, information such as where to get the prerequisites files, which accounts to create in Active Directory, and what you need to configure on SQL server when deploying a simple distributed deployment of PerformancePoint Planning Server using only three servers, PPS Planning Server, an Active Directory domain controller, and SQL Server.

Please let me know what you think of this document. Does it provide value to you? Are there any improvements/suggestions that you would like to see? Would you like to see similar-type documents? In addition, another goal of this document is for it to be modular, where additional content to help fill out the larger picture of deploying and using PerformancePoint Server could be added. For example, a possible add-on to this document would be “Integrating SQL Server Analysis Services with Planning Server”. Then, possibly another add-on after that would be “Using Planning Business Modeler and PPS Add-in for Excel with PPS Planning Server”. Any feedback would greatly appreciated. Thank-you.

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This document provides detailed information for setting up a distributed deployment of PerformancePoint Planning Server in a test lab environment.

By following the guidelines provided within this document you will be able to successfully deploy PPS Planning Server by completing the following tasks:

• Installing software prerequisites
• Adding user accounts and assigning permissions in Active Directory and SQL Server
• Installing PPS Planning Server
• Verifying installation of PPS Planning Server

Overview

As shown in the following figure this scenario is comprised of three servers, an Active Directory domain controller, a PerformancePoint (PPS) Planning Server, and a SQL Server.

Before installing the software prerequisites you should read the following regarding the preconfigured baseline information for each of the three servers used in this test lab scenario.

In the remainder of this document each of the servers will be referred to as follows:

• DC = Active Directory Domain Controller
• PPS = PerformancePoint Planning Server
• SQL = SQL Server 2005 database

The pre-configured baseline for these servers is listed as follows:

DC

Operation System	Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition
Domain	Fabrikam.com
Domain functional level	Windows Server 2003
IP address	192.168.0.1
Subnet mask	255.255.255.0

PPS

Operating System	Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition
IP address	192.168.0.2
Subnet mask	255.255.255.0

SQL

Operating System	Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition
SQL Version	SQL Server 2005 with Service Pack 2 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=d07219b2-1e23-49c8-8f0c-63fa18f26d3a&DisplayLang=en Cumulative update package 7 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949095/
IP address	192.168.0.3
Subnet mask	255.255.255.0

 

Installing Software Prerequisites

You need to install all of the following prerequisites (both stage 1 and stage 2) in order to have the ability to choose all of the options for installing PerformancePoint Planning Server.

PPS Prerequisites – Stage 1

Prerequisite component	Description and location
Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 9.0 (SP2)	File name: Sqlncli_x64.msi - part of “Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 – February 2007” http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=50b97994-8453-4998-8226-fa42ec403d17&displaylang=en
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0	Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package (x64) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=B44A0000-ACF8-4FA1-AFFB-40E78D788B00&displaylang=en
Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0	ASP.NET 2.0 is included in the .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistribution Package and installed as part of the package.

Stage 1 prerequisites allow you to complete the first stage of the installation, which will then let you begin the second stage using Planning Server Configuration Manager.

PPS Prerequisites – Stage 2

Prerequisite component	Description and location
Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0	File name: msxml6_x64.msi - This is a prerequisite for installing Analysis Management Object 9.0 (SP2). http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d21c292c-368b-4ce1-9dab-3e9827b70604&displaylang=en
Analysis Management Objects 9.0 (SP2)	File name: SQLServer2005_XMO_x64.msi – part of “Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Management Objects Collection”, which is one of the downloads included in the “Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 – February 2007” http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=50b97994-8453-4998-8226-fa42ec403d17&displaylang=en
ADOMD.NET 9.0 (SP2)	File name: SQLServer2005_ADOMD_x64.msi - part of “Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 – February 2007” http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=50b97994-8453-4998-8226-fa42ec403d17&displaylang=en
Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0	IIS 6.0 is included in Windows Server 2003. To install IIS 6.0 you go to Control Panel | Add or Remove Programs | Add/Remove Windows Components | Application Server
IIS 6.0 Isolation Mode	The application isolation mode needs to be set to worker process, which is the default when IIS 6.0 is installed and there is not a previous version of IIS already installed on the computer.
ASP.NET 2.0 Registration with IIS	To register ASP.NET with IIS you need to use the aspnet_regiis.exe command-line utility. For example, in this scenario using Windows Server 2003 64bit Edition at the following command prompt <drive letter>:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727 you would type aspnet_regiis –ir
ASP.NET 2.0 Web Service Extension in IIS	To enable Web Service Extensions in IIS you need to use Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager to configure the Web Service Extensions to “Allowed”. For example, you need to change both “All Unknown CGI Extensions” and “All Unknown ISAPI Extensions” from the default of “Prohibited” to “Allowed”.

Stage 2 prerequisites are required in order to have all of the installable options available when completing the installation using Planning Server Configuration Manager.

Adding user accounts and assigning permissions

In this test lab scenario the following user accounts were created in Active Directory on the DC computer in the FABRIKAM domain:

DC

User Account Name	Description
PPS_SIA	This is a required domain joined user account used by PPS Planning Server and is referred to as the service identity account. The account option “Password never expires” needs to be selected.
PPS_GAA	You must have a domain joined user account configured, which will be used when first opening and connecting to PPS Planning Server, which is referred to as the global administrator account during the installation process.
dbAdmin	This domain joined user account is used during the second stage of the installation process of PPS Planning Server. This user account is also added to SQL server and assigned the necessary account permission in SQL server.

In this test lab scenario the following user account was created in SQL Server 2005 on SQL:

SQL

User Account Name	Description
dbAdmin	In this lab scenario the following login name FABRIKAM\dbAdmin was added to SQL Server. The following server roles: dbcreator, public, and sysadmin were assigned to this login account. This account is used for the second stage of the installation process of PPS Planning Server, where access and permissions is required for the creation of database files.

In this lab scenario, the dbAdmin account was added as a member of the Administrators group on PPS.

Installing PPS Planning Server

In this lab scenario we used the user account FABRIKAM\dbAdmin to login to PPS and begin the installation process.

To install Planning Server

1. Insert the Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 CD. When the program starts, a startup screen appears. If it does not, browse the CD and click Setup.hta.
2. From the installation startup screen, select Planning Server to begin the Planning Server installation. Prerequisite checks are run and the Microsoft Licensing Terms are presented. Note: Any missing prerequisites are indicated in the Prerequisites dialog box. All prerequisite checks must succeed. If one or more fails, cancel Setup, install the missing prerequisites, and then rerun Setup.
3. Accept the License Terms, and then click Next.
4. On the Directory Selection page, select the installation directory you want, verify that enough disk space exists, and then click Next.
5. Click Install to run Planning Server Setup.
6. Planning Server Setup runs, extracting all installation files to the directory path that you specified in step 4.
7. On the Planning Server Setup Has Completed page, ensure that the Run the Planning Server Configuration Manager check box is selected, and then click Finish. Note: If you choose to exit Setup without starting Planning Server Configuration Manager, the components will not be configured for use, and your Planning setup will remain incomplete. You must rerun Planning Server Configuration Manager to complete Setup and successfully configure your Planning Server. To rerun Planning Server Configuration Manager, do the following:
1. Navigate to the Windows Start menu.
2. Click Start, point to Programs, Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, and then click Planning Server Configuration Manager.
8. On the Planning Server Configuration Manager Welcome page, click Next.
9. On the Prerequisites page, verify that all prerequisites have passed. If there are any that fail, note them, cancel Planning Server installation, install all prerequisites, and then rerun Planning Server Configuration Manager.
10. On the Installation Options page, select Distributed configuration, ensure that all of the following components are selected (Planning Server databases, Planning Process Service, Planning Web Service, and Planning Administration Console) and then click Next.
11. On the Databases page, in the SQL Server location field, type the IP address of the computer running SQL Server, which in this test lab scenario is 192.168.0.2, and then click Next. Note: This procedure assumes a clean SQL Server computer with no previous PerformancePoint Server databases. If previous PerformancePoint Server databases are detected on the selected SQL Server computer, then an error message appears. To correct this error, select a new SQL Server computer or SQL Server instance, or manually delete the existing PerformancePoint Server databases. Do not rename existing databases, because this will leave the *.mdf and *.ldf files in an orphaned state, and make new PerformancePoint Server database creation impossible.
12. On the Global Administrator Account page, confirm that the account in the Domain and User Name field is the account that will be used for the first member of the Global Administrator (GA) role. In this test lab scenario you would enter the account, PPS_GAA. This account will be used to log into the Planning Administration Console for final system configuration and future administration. Click Next.
13. On the Service and Application Pool Identities page, specify a domain, username and password for the service identity account. In this test lab scenario you would enter the account, PPS_SIA. Click Next.
14. On the System Logs page, leave the default for all options, and then click Next.
15. For this test lab scenario on the Port Configuration page, uncheck “Require SSL connections to all Planning Server Web sites. This will allow you to view the network traffic for analysis without having the traffic for the connections to the Planning Web sites encrypted. Of course, this is not necessarily what you would want to do in a production environment. Then click Next.
16. On the Validation page, pre-installation validation occurs and confirms that the installation will proceed successfully. When this finishes, click Next.
17. On the Confirmation page, review this information, and then click Configure.
18. On the Summary page, you can view the results of the installation. To indicate a successful installation It should read “Configuration completed successfully” Click Close.
19. The installation of Planning Server is complete.

In this test lab scenario you should now logoff from PPS as FABRIKAM\dbAdmin.

Verifying installation of PPS Planning Server

To verify the successfully installation of PPS Planning Server in this test lab scenario perform the following tasks:

1. To verify the installation of Planning Server
2. Logon to PPS as FABRIKAM\PPS_GAA.
3. In this test lab scenario, open Internet Explorer and browse to: http://localhost:46788, where 46788 is the default port number specified for the Planning Administration Console.
4. In this lab scenario the following should be entered in the location dialog box: http://PPS:46787, where PPS represents the name of the server where the Planning Web Service was installed and where 46787 is the default port number for the Planning Web Service. Click Connect.

You should now have a working installation of PPS Planning Server; however, before you can begin working with models or applications, you must first create a PerformancePoint Planning application on the system that can be accessed by service clients, such as Planning Business Modeler and Planning Add-in for Excel.

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Thanks Ross      -Norm