OBIEE 11g: opmnctl start: failed. Can not resolve <hostname> for interface any

I've been working on a proof of concept for OBIEE 11g. Part of that, naturally, includes building out the system.

I'm a fan of rebuilding things over and over and over. Yeah, it's time consuming, but I end up learning a lot...like what can go wrong.

Which brings me to today.

OS: OEL 5 64 bit
Database: Oracle 11gR2
OBIEE 11.1.1.5

Installed the database, created the repository using the RCU and installed the OBIEE software; when it gets to the configuration steps, it fails. I think it was step 12 or 13, (re)starting AdminServer.

Retry.

Fail.

Continue.

Failed again a couple of steps down. opmn something or another.

Log files:

opmnctl start: failed.
Can not resolve obiee11g for interface any
oracle.as.provisioning.exception.ASProvisioningException
 at oracle.as.provisioning.engine.Config.executeConfigWorkflow_WLS(Config.java:872)
 at oracle.as.install.bi.biconfig.standard.StandardWorkFlowExecutor.executeHelper(StandardWorkFlowExecutor.java:31)
 at oracle.as.install.bi.biconfig.standard.InstanceProvisioningTask.doExecute(InstanceProvisioningTask.java:81)
...snip...
Caused by: oracle.as.provisioning.engine.CfgWorkflowException
 at oracle.as.provisioning.engine.Engine.processEventResponse(Engine.java:596)
 at oracle.as.provisioning.fmwadmin.ASInstanceProv.createInstance(ASInstanceProv.java:178)
...snip...
 ... 14 more
Caused by: oracle.as.provisioning.util.ConfigException: 
Error creating ASInstance instance1.
Cause: 
An internal operation has failed: Error in starting opmn server
Operation aborted because of a system call failure or internal error
Action: 
See logs for more details.
 at oracle.as.provisioning.util.ConfigException.createConfigException(ConfigException.java:123)
 at oracle.as.provisioning.fmwadmin.ASInstanceProv._createInstance(ASInstanceProv.java:317)
 at oracle.as.provisioning.fmwadmin.ASInstanceProv.createInstance(ASInstanceProv.java:166)
 ... 18 more
Caused by: oracle.as.management.opmn.optic.OpticException: Error in starting opmn server
Operation aborted because of a system call failure or internal error
 at oracle.as.management.opmn.optic.OpmnAdmin.executeCommand(OpmnAdmin.java:310)
 at oracle.as.management.opmn.optic.OpmnAdmin.startOpmnServer(OpmnAdmin.java:87)
 at oracle.as.provisioning.fmwadmin.ASInstanceProv._createInstance(ASInstanceProv.java:254)
 ... 19 more

Awesome.

Can not resolve obiee11g for interface any

I destroyed the OBIEE deployment, reinstalled the repository, tried again. Fail.

Finally gave up and started from scratch.

Opened up the documentation (finally) to see if I missed any pre-installation configuration steps. Nope.

Before you install Oracle Business Intelligence and related components, do the following:

- Review Chapter 1, "Installation Overview," to ensure you understand the options and features related to installing Oracle Business Intelligence.

- Review Chapter 3, "Oracle Business Intelligence Requirements," to ensure that your environment meets the minimum requirements.

- Install your database before running Oracle Business Intelligence 11g Installer, and have the database running during the installation.

- Run Repository Creation Utility (RCU) to install the schemas that Oracle Business Intelligence requires. See Section 3.3, "Create Database Schemas Using the Repository Creation Utility (RCU)."

- If you are installing on multiple computers, review Chapter 2, "Recommended Installation Scenarios for Oracle Business Intelligence," for common scenarios.

- Verify that you have sufficient administrator privileges to install the software.

- If you plan to install Oracle Business Intelligence on a computer that uses Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), you must perform additional configuration tasks before you install Oracle Business Intelligence. See "Installing on DHCP Hosts" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Installation Planning Guide.

- If you plan to install Oracle Business Intelligence 11g on a computer that contains Oracle Business Intelligence 10g, shut down the Oracle Business Intelligence 10g installation before installing Oracle Business Intelligence 11g. To upgrade from Oracle Business Intelligence 10g to Oracle Business Intelligence 11g, refer to Oracle Fusion Middleware Upgrade Guide for Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition for further details.

- Ensure that your database is not hardened for security purposes, as installing Oracle Business Intelligence against a hardened database is very likely to fail.

Did I do anything unusual in the initial setup?

No.

Wait.

I changed the hostname.

Using the Google Machine, I queried for Can not resolve obiee11g for interface any which took me to this OTN post.

I believe you could totally avoid this if your host file were setup in the manner of having each alias on an individual line. I found that the behavior of how the host file works on newer windows versions (Vista/7/2008) is affected by the DNS Client Service

In the Host file try to use the below format, utting everything on an individual line similar to:
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 MYSERVER
::1 localhost
::1 MYSERVER

Hmmm...

I changed the hostname. I didn't like "new-host-4". Really?

I updated my hosts file to match what was suggested:

# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
127.0.0.1       localhost
127.0.0.1       obiee11g
::1             localhost6
::1             obiee11g

Reran everything and the configuration completed without error.

Joy.

Maybe I should have followed the instructions for Installing on DHCP Hosts...