Setup Saxbi Server

Prerequisites
Saxbi Server has modest but particular requirements. First and foremost, Saxbi requires a Java 1.6 JRE to be available. The Saxbi Server "batteries included" distribution expects this to be the default Java install on your server and available by typing the java command on a command line. You can verify your version of Java by typing:

java -version

If you need to install a JRE, visit Oracle's website and navigate to the downloads section. You will be able to find an installer for Java for your system. Please install it. You may need to edit your PATH environment variable to include the location of the JRE so that you can simply invoke the java command from a command prompt.

Background
Saxbi Server is packaged up as a common servlet (.WAR file). The Saxbi Server distribution includes this WAR file along with a few other things that make setup a little easier. This includes a runnable servlet container, Winstone. Winstone is similar to Apache Tomcat. Providing Winstone means that Saxbi Server can be run right away without having to deploy to Tomcat or WebSphere (not that deploying to these is too terribly hard). Additionally, Saxbi Server is packaged in the Tanuki Software Wrapper. This let's us treat any Java program as a Windows service. Lastly, Saxbi Server has a database component for storing artifacts. The runnable Saxbi Server distribution includes a database that is pre-configured to work with Tanuki and Winstone.

Setup
Given the above, Saxbi Server is very easy to setup. Just extract the files to a folder such as C:\Saxbi. You will end up with a directory structure similar to C:\Saxbi\saxbi-windows-1.0.5\ which has all of the files in it. Navigate to the \bin subfolder and run SaxbiServer.bat. Assuming that a proper Java JRE is available on the machine, Saxbi Server will start up.

By default, Saxbi Server is configured to use the normal servlet port of 8080. It may be necessary to configure your machine to open up incoming requests from port 8080.

To verify that Saxbi Server is running and accessible, you can navigate to the following URL:

http://localhost:8080/saxbi-server

You should see a large grey and white Saxifrage Systems logo. Also check that you can access the page from another machine to verify that the firewall is not causing connection issues. In this case you will replace localhost with the address or hostname of your server.

Configuration
Note that the database that Saxbi Server ships with only includes one artifact (a simple configuration artifact). Please read about how the Artifact Repository works in order to understand it a little better. Although the "vanilla" Saxbi Server artifact repository is functional, it doesn't do much that is useful. All that it provides is an ID for the built-in Saxbi administrative account.

In order for Saxbi Server to be useful, you will need to add several artifacts. This will likely include the following:


 * An Authentication Provider artifact that tells Saxbi Server what system to use to authenticate users (this is usually an Essbase APS/EDS server)
 * An updated Configuration artifact to reference the Authentication Provider you add
 * A Connection artifact that maps out a connection to an Essbase cube
 * A View artifact that will be accessible to users
 * One or more Selector artifacts that will allow the user to make choices in the view

Once these are all set, users will be able to use the Saxbi app to login to the Saxbi Server, have it check their credentials against the underlying Essbase server, choose a view, configure it, build it, and view the results.