OBIEE 11g on DHCP Assigned Network

So, you’ve decided to work with OBIEE 11g on a non-static IP or DSN network. Let’s say you’ve even got one or two rough VM Images up and running. Then one day perhaps after a W/LAN refresh your OBIEE 11g instance no longer boots up.  And you ponder to the stars, why might this be happening, and of course, How do I fix it?  Well if all things are equal and this is truly the case that the IP address for your server has changed you will need to check your WebLogic Server Admin Console for the answer.

The problem is that the WebLogic Server (WLS) actually holds on to the DNS or the IP address of the machine from which it was once originally booted up.  On subsequent boot attempts if the IP address or DNS does no resolve then you will have an issue getting your services up and running.

To resolve this issue, start up just your WLS Administration Console, which knows by default to depend on only resolving to the machine from which it is booted.  Navigate to Environments > Servers and locate your Oracle_BI server (bi_server1) Managed Server instance.  Click on it to go into the properties of the OBI managed server.  Under the Configuration > General tab structure locate the “Listen Address”.  Adjust the value in this field to make sure that this address is the same as the machine on which your instance is really running.  Or better yet enter a DNS (use the /etc/hosts file on *Nix or /driver/etc/hosts file on Windows if not on a big network).

Restart all related OBI 11g services or do a clean reboot if you are feeling saucy.  That should clear out the issue and allow your OBI 11g instance to boot up as intended.

For further notation, I would suggest always using a DNS for this field if possible.  Otherwise, if using a WLAN router or the sort, most routers have the ability to “assign” a specific machine with a specific dynamic IP address even on a refresh.  If your router (let’s say at your home office, etc.) has this feature that may be an option here.

Good Luck!