A number of times we come across instances when Business Objects universes containing vital information are being rendered orphan due to more than one reason. Some of those include the previous version installations getting corrupted, the situation being aggravated further by the absence of the CMS.
In such cases if a user likes to open the old universe using a new Business Objects installation then frequently messages of the following type is encountered:
If the tables of the old CMS are available then the situation is quite good. In that case the old CMS tables can be copied to a new database. Then in the Central Configuration Manager a new CMS server can be added to run on the new CMS database. The old universe to be rescued can then be opened, its connection changed to Shared Type (Not Secured) and then saved. This Universe can now be linked to any new Universe having secured connection from the newer installation.
But in cases where the old CMS files are not available there is only the following technique available to rescue a completely orphaned Universe.
Step 1: Create a new Universe using the Designer (a blank Universe would do). Use a Secured Connection for the Universe. Save the Universe and export it to the repository.
Step 2: Go to Central Management Console -> Home -> Universe. Look into the Properties of the particular Universe and find the file location of the Universe in the repository.
For the above Universe the corresponding File location in the Windows File System would be:
D:\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise 11.5\FileStore\Input\a_018\006\000\1554
Step 3: Copy the old .UNV file and replace the new .UNV file at the above location with the old one.
Step 4: Import the Universe from the repository. The following message would be displayed during import. Do click on OK.
Step 5: For this imported Universe go to File -> Parameters and select a Secured Connection.
Save
the Universe and export the same to the Repository. The
Universe should be now available for further use.
Please note that the above exercise was performed with BusinessObjects XI.