Pentaho 6.0.x Install

Introduction

After reading the changelog, I thought that the numbering from 5.4 to 6.0 was not justified. But then I realized that this is the first version of Pentaho under the Hitachi brand, and, seting a round number setted a milestone as completed. A good sign is that they kept the release day of the community version (CE), the same as the commercial one.

Recomendation: Check the ETL, it is a wonderfull tool. Spend time with it, it will let you clean and process data from several sources (Text, NoSql, DB, Excel, SAP ERP) and send it on its way [to services or users] in different formats. Of course it can be used with other suites. Then proceed with the Web server that is primary a client side tool that show processes according to user privileges and calendarize processes. To build dashboards you can choose between two sets of bulding blocks: CTools or Ivy. They are rudimentary but let you set parameters and recover data from the ETL or Report Designer and let user click on graphs for you to run queries. The Report Designer that has its own [complex] way of doing things but will let you create fixed-format reports mainly in pdf or html. The Metadata and Schema tools will help you make business/olap models and data governance.

Demo Install

First Download each file and install it as stated in the guide, play with it and then proceed with another.

Download links

Pentaho files: sourceforge zip files 

1. ETL Tool [>810MB]: v6.0, v6.0.1
2. Tomcat Web Server [>900MB]: v6.0, v6.0.1
3. Report Designer [>530MB]: v6.0, v6.0.1
4. Metadata Editor [>500MB]: v6.0, v6.0.1
5. OLAP Schema Workbench [~30MB]: v3.11
6. OLAP Aggregation Designer [~30MB]: v6.0

Guide

Install steps for the pentaho demo applications have been using similar steps since 4.8. So the old 5.x guide works with the new files. Please follow this post using the new files.

You can skip the Java SDK installation if you already have it on your system. On a new box you’re better off with java SDK 1.8.0 as Pentaho 6.0 now works with it. Warning: If you’re on 5.x you’re probably on java SDK 1.7.0 and you can work with it, just rememeber to backup your development files before upgrading to java 1.8.0.

In that post you’ll also find instructions to install MySql that is an option in case you want to use your data. BTW I now use MariaDB and its working fine.

Memory adjustements:
I tested the apps on a windows 32 bits system and I had to edit the startup batch files to  lower the memory limits:
DATA INTEGRATION 32 bits: spoon.bat
FROM      -Xms1024m -Xmx2048m
TO            -Xms768m -Xmx1024m
REPORT-DESIGNER 32 bits: report-designer.bat
FROM      -Xms1024m -Xmx2048m
TO            -Xms512m -Xmx1024m
BI SERVER 32 bits: start-pentaho.bat
FROM     -Xms2048m -Xmx6144m
TO           -Xms768m -Xmx1024m

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