BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator's Guide

Central Management Server (CMS)

The CMS is responsible for maintaining a database of information about your BusinessObjects Enterprise system, which other components can access as required. The data stored by the CMS includes information about users and groups, security levels, BusinessObjects Enterprise content, and servers.

The CMS also maintains the BusinessObjects Enterprise Repository, and a separate audit database of information about user actions. This data allows the CMS to perform its four main tasks:

• Maintaining security

  By maintaining a database of users and their associated object rights, the CMS enforces who has access to BusinessObjects Enterprise and the types of tasks they are able to perform. These tasks include enforcing and maintaining the licensing policy of your BusinessObjects Enterprise system.

• Managing objects

  The CMS keeps track of the location of objects and maintains the containment hierarchy, which includes folders, categories, and inboxes. By communicating with the Job Servers and Program Job Servers, the CMS is able to ensure that scheduled jobs run at the appropriate times.

• Managing servers

  By staying in frequent contact with each of the servers in the system, the CMS is able to maintain a list of server status. Report viewers access this list, for instance, to identify which Cache Server is free to use for a report viewing request.

• Managing auditing

  By collecting information about user actions from each BusinessObjects Enterprise server, and then writing these records to a central audit database, the CMS acts as the system auditor. This audit information allows system administrators to better manage their BusinessObjects Enterprise deployment.

Note:    In previous versions of Crystal Enterprise, the Central Management Server (CMS) was known as the Crystal Management Server, and also as the Automated Process Scheduler (APS).

Typically, you provide the CMS with database connectivity and credentials when you install BusinessObjects Enterprise, so the CMS can create its own system database and BusinessObjects Enterprise Repository database using your organization's preferred database server. For details about setting up CMS databases, see the BusinessObjects Enterprise Installation Guide. See the Platforms.txt file included with your product distribution for a complete list of tested database software and version requirements.

Note:    

• It is strongly recommended that you back up the CMS system database, and the audit database frequently. The backup procedure depends upon your database software. If you are unsure of the procedure, consult with your database administrator.
• The CMS database should not be accessed directly. System information should only be retrieved using the calls that are provided in the BusinessObjects Enterprise Software Development Kit (SDK). For more information, see the developer documentation available on your product CD.
• You can access the audit database directly to create custom audit reports. See the BusinessObjects Enterprise Auditor's Guide for more information.

On Windows, the Setup program can install and configure its own Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) database if necessary. MSDE is a client/server data engine that provides local data storage and is compatible with Microsoft SQL Server. If you already have the MSDE or SQL Server installed, the installation program uses it to create the CMS system database. You can migrate your default CMS system database to a supported database server later.

For details about configuring the CMS, its system database, and CMS clusters, see "Configuring the intelligence tier" on page 93. For more information about Auditing, see the BusinessObjects Enterprise Auditor's Guide.