OBIEE 11.1.1 - How to turn off EM centralized control

Note: This is not for the faint hearted and is not recommended, but is available in emergencies.

There is a flag in the central config file which can be used to turn off all of the EM central configuration. Edit the biee-domain.xml file from location ORACLE_HOME\user_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\config\fmwconfig.  The flag is near the top; it says: centralConfigurationEnabled="true" . If you change this to "false", then none of the config files will be modified centrally.

(You will need to restart the managed server and BI System Components)

So what happens: In OBIEE 11G, The instanceconfig.xml file stores the OBI Presentation Server configuration settings. Many configuration settings are available in Enterprise Manager and those should be set within EM only. If any particular setting is not available in EM then we make changes directly in the instanceconfig.xml file. Like changing the default value of the maximum number of rows in a pivot table.

If you change any of the settings directly under EM control, as soon as you restart the BI components you will find the original values returned and your settings overridden. Setting centralConfigurationEnabled="false" will disable the EM settings overwriting any new values.

Important Note: Turning off EM centralized control for managing BI config files is NOT recommended.