MicroStrategy ONE

Specify URLs and URL Paths to Export

MicroStrategy allows you to export content from various locations. Certain locations are specified by a URL. For example, an attribute form may contain a URL that specifies the location of an image. The image is fetched during the exporting process and placed in the PDF output at the appropriate location. Similarly, the output can be customized using HTML containers where URLs represent the content to be included.

As of MicroStrategy 2020 Update 1, administrators can specify which URLs or URL paths are permitted when fetching content to be included in an export. This concept, where only certain URLs are permitted, is largely referred to as whitelisting.

To effectively whitelist URLs and URL paths for export, perform the steps below:

  1. Identify Blocked URLs
  2. Add URLs to Whitelist

Identify Blocked URLs

A list of blocked URLs is generated every time one or more URL is blocked during export. The list of blocked URLs is found in two logs: NEEBlockedURL.log and BlockedURL.log.

The log NEEBlockedURL is generated by PDF Export Engine Services, which is used to export dashboards as PDFs. To locate the log, navigate to the following folder:

Windows: .../Common file/MicroStrategy/Export/

Linux: .../mstr/MicroStrategy/log/

When you open the log, it will contain information like the time, Host Server, PDI, THR, and the blocked URL.

The log BlockedURL is generated by the Intelligence Server, which is used to export documents and reports as PDFs and to export documents and dashboards to Excel. To locate the log, navigate to the following folder:

Windows: .../Common file/MicroStrategy/Log/

Linux: .../MicroStrategy/log/

When you open the log, it will contain information like the time, Host Server, PDI, THR, and the blocked URL.

Add URLs to Whitelist

Once you have your list of blocked content, you can add them to the Allow URLs to Export list.

To modify this field, you must have the Web Administration privilege, Configure Server Basic privilege, and read/write access for the server definition.

If you are using MicroStrategy Web ASP, please see Additional Step for MicroStrategy Web ASP Customers in KB484127 before proceeding.

Relative paths are case sensitive.

  1. Log in to a project using an account with administrative privileges.
  2. From the upper right of any page, click the username drop-down and select Preferences. The Preferences page opens.
  3. From the pane on the left, select Project Defaults.
  4. From the pane on the left, select Security. The Security project defaults page opens.

  5. From Allow URLs to Export, enter a URL or URL path.

    Use a relative path or the following protocols: https://, http://, or file:///.

    If images are in a location similar to C:\Custom Folder\Images\image.jpg and the MicroStrategy installation path is also in C, you can add a slash (/) to the list of URLs to whitelist all of the files on your C drive. This slash represents the root directory.

  6. Click Add.
  7. Click Apply. This setting applies to all projects in your environment and affects all MicroStrategy products that have export functionality.
  8. Clear your Export cache.
  9. In Developer, log in to a project source. You must have the Monitor Caches privilege.
  10. Expand Administration > SystemMonitors > Caches > Documents.
  11. Select a project and click OK.
  12. Locate caches with the format PDF or Excel and delete them.

Related Articles

KB484127: Securing PDF and Excel Export with Whitelists