Install Private eazyBI

Private eazyBI

These are installation and setup instructions for the latest Private eazyBI

Requirements

• Private eazyBI installation is supported on macOS, Linux, and Windows.
• Java 8, Java 11, or Java 17 should be installed. Only Oracle or OpenJDK JVMs are supported.
• MySQL (version 5.7 or 8.0), PostgreSQL (version 10 to 16), MS SQL (version 2016 or later), and Oracle (version 12c R2 or later) are supported as a Private eazyBI database.
• Minimum requirements for server:
  • CPU with 2 cores;
  • 4 GB RAM;
  • 10GB disk space.

Installation

Open https://eazybi.com/products/private_eazybi and create a new Private eazyBI account to access the latest download files and receive your trial license key.

Unzip the downloaded file and copy the folder eazybi_private with all its contents from the downloaded file into the destination directory where all private eazyBI files will be located.

Directory structure

The eazybi_private directory contains the following subdirectories and files:

• app - for private eazyBI customizations (e.g. custom layouts or view templates);
• bin - startup and other shell scripts;
• config - configuration files;
• data - for storing uploaded files;
• eazybi_private.jar - main application archive file;
• lib - additional Ruby files or *.jar files (added if necessary);
• log - web request and queue job log files.

Database setup

eazyBI will store data in an additional MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, or Oracle database. It is recommended that you create a separate database user for eazyBI needs (by default with a name eazybi_private), which will then create additional databases on a specified database server.

By default, eazyBI will use one database.

The following are database server-specific instructions for the eazyBI database setup.

MySQL

You can create a separate user eazybi_private and grant access to all MySQL databases which start with the eazybi_private prefix:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `eazybi_private%`.* TO 'eazybi_private'@'%'
  IDENTIFIED BY 'secret';

(Replace secret with chosen password). When you will specify the database connection parameters in eazyBI, then the eazybi_private database will be created. Later, when additional eazyBI accounts are created, then each account data will be stored in separate databases with names eazybi_private_dwh_N where N is the account ID number.

In addition, you should download MySQL JDBC driver version 8.0.x and copy included mysql-connector-java-8.0.*.jar to eazybi_private/lib directory (MySQL JDBC driver is not included in Private eazyBI distribution due to GPL license restrictions).

Please also tune MySQL memory settings to speed up data import and report queries. The following my.cnf settings are recommended:

innodb_buffer_pool_size = 1024M
innodb_log_file_size = 256M
query_cache_size= 16M
query_cache_type = 1 

innodb_buffer_pool_size will specify how much database data MySQL can store in memory – adjust it to your available server memory (the more data MySQL will store in memory, the less disk input/output operations will be performed). If you will change innodb_log_file_size then it will require that you delete existing MySQL log files before starting the MySQL server.

PostgreSQL

You can create separate user eazybi_private with database creation rights:

CREATE ROLE eazybi_private PASSWORD 'secret' LOGIN CREATEDB;

If you do not want to add CREATEDB role to the eazybi_private user, then create the database eazybi_private manually with the eazybi_private user as an owner.

Each new eazyBI account will store data in a new dwh_N schema (where N is the account ID number) in the same database.

Please tune PostgreSQL memory parameters. The following postgresql.conf settings are recommended:

shared_buffers = 1024MB
wal_buffers = 32MB

shared_buffers specifies how much database data PostgreSQL can store in memory – adjust it to your available server memory (the more data PostgreSQL will store in memory, the less disk input/output operations will be performed). wal_buffers affects the performance of writing transaction logs to disk.

Microsoft SQL Server

Create MS SQL Server user eazybi_private – if you use SQL Server Management Studio, select SQL Server authentication and uncheck Enforce password policy. In addition, select dbcreator from Server Roles (to allow the creation of new databases) or create manually eazybi_private database with the eazybi_private user as an owner.

Each new eazyBI account will store data in a new dwh_N schema (where N is the account ID number) in the same database.

Oracle

Create an Oracle database user eazybi_private:

CREATE USER eazybi_private IDENTIFIED BY secret DEFAULT TABLESPACE users;
GRANT CONNECT, RESOURCE TO eazybi_private;

In this configuration, all eazyBI data will be stored in one eazybi_private schema.

In addition, you should download the Oracle JDBC driver ojdbc*.jar and copy it to the eazybi_private/lib directory.

Start application

On macOS and Linux, start the application with the bin/start.sh shell script. Please review the bin/start.sh script and, if necessary, customize it (for example, increase Java memory parameters in the JAVA_OPTS environment variable).

On Windows, start the application with the bin\start.bat batch file. Please review bin\start.bat and customize it if necessary (for example, change JAVA_OPTS).

If you get an error message java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException  then please check that you are using Java 8 or later (check with java -version).

Wait until you see the message Private eazyBI (version ...) started on http://localhost:8080/eazybi and then open http://localhost:8080 in your browser – you should see the eazyBI settings page.

In the eazyBI settings page, specify database connection parameters for eazybi_private database. By default, all eazyBI account-specific data will be stored in the same database (as described earlier in the Database section). Optionally, you can select the Use separate DWH database option and specify a different database where account-specific schemas (with uploaded or imported data) should be stored. Database connection parameters will be stored in the config/database.toml file.

Select Use OLAP DWH database if you have large data volumes and would like to use ClickHouse OLAP DWH database to improve performance.

In addition, on the settings page, please specify your eazyBI license information – the license name and key. License information will be stored in the config/eazybi.toml file.

If the database and license information are correct, you will be redirected to the sign-up page to create the first system administration user account.

eazybi.toml configuration file

In the config/eazybi.toml file, you can configure different eazyBI parameters. The configuration file uses the TOML format. Please see the explanatory comments and commented examples for each section in this file.

If you would like to add e-mail notifications support (to invite users, reset passwords or receive notifications about failed import jobs) from eazyBI, then provide SMTP server information that can be used for outgoing e-mails (the mailer section in the configuration file). In addition, uncomment and specify the default_url_options section that is used to generate full URL links back to your private eazyBI server.

In the accounts section, you can provide connection parameters and schema definition files for accounts with a custom schema. See the “FoodMart custom” account as an example.

Linux service startup script

bin/init.d/eazybi.sample is a Linux service startup script that can be modified and copied to /etc/init.d/eazybi. Please specify the EAZYBI_HOME variable in this script to point to the full path of the eazybi_private directory. By default, this startup script will use $EAZYBI_HOME/bin/start.sh to start eazyBI – if needed, create a separate copy of the start.sh script if different parameters should be used when starting eazyBI as a service.

Windows service

Private eazyBI distribution by default does not include support for running as a Windows service. But you can use an application like AlwaysUp to create a Windows service that will start the bin\start.bat file from the Private eazyBI installation directory.

Provide access to eazyBI from other computers

By default, Private eazyBI will be accessible just locally at the address http://localhost:8080. If you want to provide access to private eazyBI from other computers, then edit bin/start.sh or bin\start.bat and set EAZYBI_HOST  to 0.0.0.0 at the end of the file.

If you would like to change the default web application port 8080 to a different port, then edit bin/start.sh or bin\start.bat and modify EAZYBI_PORT .

Export to PDF using Google Chrome

If you want to export dashboard pages to PDF or send regular emails with eazyBI dashboards as PDF attachments, please install Google Chrome on your Private eazyBI server.

Version upgrade

To upgrade the Private eazyBI version, here is what you should do:

1. Shut down Private eazyBI.
2. Download the latest Private eazyBI version from the "License and Downloads" tab in your eazybi.com Private eazyBI license account.
3. Replace the eazybi_private.jar file in your eazybi_private directory with the .jar file from the latest Private eazyBI version.
4. If eazyBI major (for example, 7.2.0 → 8.0.0) or minor version (for example, 7.1.0 → 7.2.0) is changed:
   1. Backup the existing startup file bin/start.sh  (or start.bat ).
   2. Copy the latest startup file from the downloaded archive to the bin directory.
   3. Put back the changes you have made in the startup file.
   4. If you use "systems" to start eazyBI, then there could be made changes in the file bin/systemd/eazybi.service .
   5. If you use "init.d" to start eazyBI, then please check bin/init.d/eazybi.sample  for any changes in the latest version.
5. Review all your customizations. If you have customized view or layout templates, then extract the new templates from the upgraded jar file and reapply your customizations.
6. Check the changelog for any additional action mentioned to be performed before the upgrade.

After that, it should be safe to start Private eazyBI again.