Hi Stuart
Thanks for the reply. This is somewhat getting off the original topic of problems caused by Docker. However, to come back on the TI for MDX Views. While what you are proposing would be a nice to have. It wouldn't be a high priority for me. TI can create an MDX View. However, it can't present them. I would be more interest in some examples combining JavaScript and the Rest API, since that can present the results. That doesn't really need any development, just someone at IBM to publish an example. The documentation on the Rest API is a little opaque. It needs more practical examples.
Creating MDX Views or probably just plan MDX Queries is what I am looking at doing using the Rest API. However, at the moment I am too busy building an MDM system to look into this.
I want to take advantage of the ability to do Asymmetric Axes.
For example, the typical situation where you want to show columns where you have Forecast for 12 months of the year, but for Full Year you want to show Budget and Forecast and the Variance.
As you know, with a Native TM1 View you cannot do that as it would repeat the Budget and Variance over every Month as well as the Full Year.
The traditional way to achieve that sort of report is to use an Active Form, aka a Dynamic Report. The problem is that you are then resorting to DBRW formula which are always going to be slower than an MDX Query particularly over a slower network.
However, with MDX you can do that report in one query since MDX supports Asymmetrix Axes.
You can get something similar with an Exploration View. However, those don't seem to cope with the complexity of the MDX that I need to create. Even then, the problem with an Exploration View is the lack of formatting.
A potential solution is PAW. However, that is currently missing some key functionality, particularly around Action Button links to Selectors.
At present I would like IBM to concentrate on getting the front end building capabilities of PAW working so that we can start to replace TM1 Web at least for our key, frequently used data capture sheets, eg monthly forecasting.
If that means that work on turning PAW in a replacement for Architect/Perspective's cube building capabilities is put to one side, that would be fine with me. I am happy to continue using Perspectives, and will use PAX/PAW when I need to look at Hierarchies.
Since IBM took over TM1 they have done a lot of good work at the back end. PI, MTQ, and Temporary Views have done a lot to reduce locking, and TI has always been fast. The new Hierarchies have a lot of potential.
However, the front end development has been less successful. IBM seem to have spent a lot of development work on front end products that are being dropped eg Performance Modeller had a lot of design flaws. Cognos Insight was too slow and was not server based. TM1 Applications was just workflow on top of TM1 Web and the workflow never seemed to be what any of my clients actually wanted. Executive Viewer got dropped. It had some good points but was a viewer not an application builder. CDM got sold. Cognos BI was always too slow and cumbersome when querying TM1. A ROLAP tool is never going to work that well against a MOLAP. Fundamentally Cognos BI/Analytics is a read only reporter. It doesn't allow data capture or allow parameters to be passed to TI. (Yes you can do it but it isn't easy or nice).
PAW has potential but my concern is that development effort is getting diluted into things that are not key. The front end is the key. The development environment can come later. For the front end, the key parts are not fancy visualations it is basic reporting and data capture. That is what finance departments need to get their budgeting and forecasting done and that is still the reason that most customers buy TM1. Excel integration will always be important because Excel is the life blood of finance departments, but TM1 is expanding into the organisation an finance departments need to capture data from non-finance users who are not Excel wizards, and who want something that looks nicer and is more functional that can be built in TM1 Web. A lot of development work went into building query selections for TI Action Button parameters when that wasn't wanted. What was needed was the ability to link parameters to the TI process to selections on the sheet, which is how you use TI from TM1 Web.
I still feel that perhaps PAW will never quite be able to do everything, and that some sort of ability to combine it with JavaScript may be needed. However, if it can provide the core Grid components that it will go a long way.
Regards
Paul Simon
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Paul Simon
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Original Message:
Sent: Thu August 08, 2019 07:23 AM
From: STUART KING
Subject: PAW Docker on Windows 2012
The other option I've seen (which Paul already mentioned) is just using Ti processes. As he mentioned you can use Ti processes to consume MDX based views. The trick is building the MDX string that defines the view. This can be done with string concatenation in the prolog section of the Ti. Typically you will define or update subsets in specific hierarchies based on attributes or some other requirements, you can then reference the subsets names in your views MDX.
I would like to see Ti functions that can be used to build an MDX view (with hierarchy support) similar to how the ViewColumnDimensionSet, ViewRowDimensionSet, ViewTitleDimensionSet, and ViewSubsetAssign are used today for classic views in TM1. This would allow Ti developers to create MDX views that support hierarchies without having to do a lot of string concatenation or use Excel or other tools to define some MDX. Just a thought...
One other note, the ViewZeroOut Ti function does not currently work (in 2.0.8 and lower) for MDX views. We should have this working in the 2.0.9 release.
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Stuart King
IBM Planning Analytics Offering Manager
Original Message:
Sent: Thu August 08, 2019 02:12 AM
From: Ryan Clapp
Subject: PAW Docker on Windows 2012
Hey Paul,
If your looking to only use PAx as an MDX generator and not as the user interface, I think you may be better off using the REST api directly. Something like Python (free) or ARC (paid IDE) is just as good as PAx with no complex setup.
Cheers
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Ryan Clapp
Original Message:
Sent: Wed August 07, 2019 11:19 PM
From: STUART KING
Subject: PAW Docker on Windows 2012
Hi Paul,
Glad to hear that you got the image with Server 2012 and Workspace running. Although Docker Toolbox/Oracle VirtualBox is not officially supported you are welcome to reach out (stuart.king@ca.ibm.com) if you are stuck.
I agree that Planning Analytics 2.0 is more complexity to deployment than TM1. We are looking into how we can make the Workspace Local deployments easier for our customers that are not yet familiar with Docker or containers. This might include installing Docker and checking for known incompatibilities as part of our Windows Server 2016 deployment process. Not supporting Docker Toolbox with Server 2012 and 2008 was intentional. Lack of support for Docker Toolbox and Docker Toolbox performance were major factors in this decision. I don't believe we will consider a non-containerized solution for Planning Analytics Workspace. Every week we have more and more Cognos Analytics and Planning Analytics customers inquiring about the future of support for containerization. Kubernetes support for Planning Analyicts Workspace Local is imminent (Workspace 45 hopefully). I believe that Docker and containerization is here to stay, but agree that IBM can and should continue to make improvements to make containerized deployments easier.
The other answer to ever increasing deployment complexity is Planning Analytics on IBM Cloud. We have a growing number of TM1 customers that have upgraded to Planning Analytics on IBM Cloud. These customers are happy to let IBM deal with infrastructure complexity and provide a Planning Analytics environment that just works (hopefully that wasn't too much of a corporate line ). We recommend that TM1 modelers start evaluation Planning Analytics Workspace as their next modeling tool. Each new release of Planning Analytics Workspace includes capabilities that remove the dependencies on Architect and Performance Modeler. This is a very active area of development for us.
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Stuart King
IBM Planning Analytics Offering Manager
Original Message:
Sent: Wed August 07, 2019 07:24 PM
From: Paul Simon
Subject: PAW Docker on Windows 2012
Hi Stuart
Yes I was using the Oracle VM VirtualBox which effectively lets you run Docker under Linux on Windows 2012. I know that it is not perfect. As I explained this client has no interest in using PAW in production until the product matures. I only wanted PAW because we need it to run PAX and I only wanted PAX in the development environment to test out MDX statements particularly those using Hierarchies. We intend to use the Rest API to run MDX queries and to display data using JavaScript frameworks.
I am beginning to wonder whether getting PAW/PAX working is worth all the trouble and whether I might be just as well using TI instead since that can create MDX based views.
I can't see my smaller client being that interested Windows 2019. Even my major client needed some persuading to deploy Windows 2016 and they have a much larger IT department. They are certainly not going to upgrade to 2019 anytime soon. Does IBM not appreciate the fact that large organisations tend to test new operating systems for some time before they deploy them?
Personally I feel that the use of Docker has dramatically increased the complexity of installing and configuring TM1. At my major client we have 5 environments and each environment now needs a TM1 Server box, a SQL and Content Store Server box, a BI App Server box, an IIS box, a Websphere Liberty box, and a PAW Docket box, plus a CDM box, and a load balancer. That is a lot of VMs. Fortunately we have a dedicated infrastructure guy who is very good at working with IT to get the right ports etc open, but even then he needed to make several calls to the IBM helpdesk as the documentation was inaccurate or missing. It took literally months to get PAW working. TM1 don't want to become infrastructure experts. They just want to develop cubes, etc.
I am only aware of one customer that runs TM1 on Unix. Every other customer I have heard of uses Windows. I would prefer that IBM removes the need for Docker and gets back to a simpler installation that reflects what the vast majority of its customers do, as far as I am aware. The installation and configuration process needs to be a lot simpler and more reliable than it is.
Regards
Paul Simon
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Paul Simon
Original Message:
Sent: Wed August 07, 2019 06:38 AM
From: STUART KING
Subject: PAW Docker on Windows 2012
Hi Paul,
If you had Planning Analytics Workspace working on Windows 2012, Windows 2008, or Windows 10 then it would have been configured with Docker Toolbox. IBM does not support Docker Toolbox. Although we know Planning Analytics Workspace can work with Docker Toolbox, our QC teams do not test Planning Analytics Workspace. There are also a number considerations with Docker Toolbox such as automatic startup of Docker Toolbox and Workspace that may be problematic for production environments.
The reason we only support Windows 2016 is that Windows 2016 support Docker without Docker Toolbox. Windows 2012 and lower does not. We are working on support for Windows 2019, which will probably have better Docker support.
Let me know if this information helps.
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Stuart King
IBM Planning Analytics Offering Manager
Original Message:
Sent: Tue August 06, 2019 04:11 PM
From: Paul Simon
Subject: PAW Docker on Windows 2012
Hi Trish
Thanks for the reply. According to the Product Compatibility Matrix, PAW is not supported on Win 2012. However, I have definitely had it working in the past with PA 2.0.3.
I am not really interested in PAW itself, so I am not that bothered whether PAW functions correctly or not. However, you need to have PAW running in order to use PAX which I want to use for testing MDX Cube Queries which I will then use via the Rest API and JavaScript. So, as long as PAW runs well enough to support PAX, then I don't need all of it to work.
My question was really whether the 2.0.8 version of PAW requires a later version of Docker which can no longer run PAW 2.0.8. However, as you are an IBMer you are probably going to stick to the corporate line that it is not a supported combination. Unfortunately the reality is that many companies have not yet upgraded to Win 2016 and Win 2012 is still in support until 2023 so there is no real urgency to move.
Anyway, I have got back the image where I had Docker running with PAW 2.0.3. I am starting up Docker and I will let you know if I manage to get it working.
Regards
Paul Simon
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Paul Simon
Original Message:
Sent: Tue August 06, 2019 11:53 AM
From: Trish Smith
Subject: PAW Docker on Windows 2012
Hi Paul,
PA 2.0.8 (TM1 Server) can be installed on Windows Server 2012. It is just Planning Analytics Workspace that is only supported on Windows Server 2016 (it's always been only 2016, I believe). You can check this out in the Software Compatibility Reports https://www.ibm.com/software/reports/compatibility/clarity/softwareReqsForProduct.html.
IBM® Planning Analytics Workspace Local can be co-located with IBM Planning Analytics Local or it can be installed on its own dedicated server. Installing Planning Analytics Workspace on its own server is recommended. https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSD29G_2.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.tm1_inst.2.0.0.doc/c_paw_architecture.html
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[Trish] [Smith] [MBA, BMath, Mom]
[Content Developer]
[IBM]
[Ottawa] [ON]
[613-356-5435]
Original Message:
Sent: Sun August 04, 2019 04:28 PM
From: Paul Simon
Subject: PAW Docker on Windows 2012
Hi
Installation instructions for PA 2.0.8 only refer to installing Docker on Windows Server 2016 or Linux. My client has Windows Server 2012 and is not planning to upgrade anytime soon, which is probably fairly common. Is there anyway to get Docker to run on Windows Server 2012? Previous versions of PA did. If it is possible, is there documentation for this?
Regards
Paul Simon
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Paul Simon
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#PlanningAnalyticswithWatson