This article in Cognos Support Link magazine highlights some of the new features in Cognos 8.3 Business Intelligence, in particular the functionality that allows users to receive targeted information. Read the article on-line here: What’s New in IBM Cognos 8 BI version 8.3: More Targeted Information

If you have many servers to install and configure, the unattended install feature of Cognos 8 can be a real time saver. It will save you from clicking through the installer multiple times and reduces the chances of missing a component. This feature is also useful when installing remotely, where the GUI will be slow, or in the case of Unix and Linux, when X-Windows is not available.

The installation of Cognos 8 product is divided into two steps: first, copying over the files from the installation package and second, configuring parameters with Cognos Configuration.

The first step is to get the install package on to your Unix server.

1. Ftp the install package to the server.
2. Extract it.
   1. gunzip c8bisrvr_solaris_8.1.108.33_ml.tar.gz
   2. tar –xvf c8bisrvr_solaris_8.1.108.33_ml.tar

If this is a Windows install, then use Winzip to extract the files to the local hard disk or to a shared location that will be available from the server.

The first phase of the installation will be automated with the use of an ats file (transfer specification file). These files are automatically generated in the c8/instlog directory whenever the Cognos software is installed. If you have already installed the software elsewhere, you can copy the ats file and use it again, provided the installation parameters are identical. If an ats file is not available, then a default one called response.ats is provided in the installation package. It is read only so you will have to make it writeable before editing it.

The contents of the response.ats file:

[Dialog1]

Title=Welcome to the Installation Wizard

DE=0

EN=1

FR=0

JA=0

[Dialog3]

Title=Installation Location

APPDIR=

BACKUP=0

[Dialog6]

Title=Shortcut Folder

APPFOLDER=Cognos 8

ALLUSERS_FLAG=1

[Component List]

C8BISRVR_APP=1

C8BISRVR_APPLICATION_TIER=1

C8BISRVR_GATEWAY=1

C8BISRVR_CONTENT_MANAGER=1

[Install Conditions]

RebootSystem=0

Edit the file to have appropriate responses for your environment. The shortcut folder is ignored for a Unix install, as this is a Windows only feature.

To launch the install with the ats, use this command:

Windows:

issetup –s location/filename.ats

Unix:

./issetupcc –s location/filename.ats

A return code of 0 indicates success.

There will be two logs written to the c8/isntlog directory: a complete record of the installation and another log containing only the error messages. The log files are identifiable by Cognos product name and a date time stamp. For example, an installation of the the BI Server produces these two log files:

tl-C8BISRVR-8.1-108.33-20060601_1143.txt

tl-C8BISRVR-8.1-108.33-20060601_1143_summary_error.txt

The second phase of any Cognos installation is the configuration, which is usually done manually with the Configuration Manager GUI. To set up the unattended configuration, you must export the configuration settings from a server with the same components, make any necessary changes, then apply this configuration. If you do not have another installation to work from, you can open up Cognos Configuration on the server (note for Unix/Linux: X-Windows is required and the JAVA_HOME must be set), save out the default configuration, edit this file and use it for the silent configuration. Editing this 1000+ line xml file can be error prone, so it is advised to use an xml editor or a text editor that does language highlighting for xml. Here are the steps:

1. Open up Cognos Configuration.

2. Under the File menu, select “export as”.

3. Answer yes to the prompt – the export is plain text, so encrypted passwords will be exposed – be careful where this file is placed.

4. Edit the exported file if necessary.

5. Copy this file to the c8/configuration directory on the server where the configuration is to take place.

6. Rename the file to cogstartup.xml

7. Global configuration settings can be copied from another computer by copying over the coglocale.xml file.

8. Run this command to apply the configuration settings and to start Cognos 8:

Windows:

cogconfig.bat -s

Unix:

./cogconfig.sh –s 

Note that on Unix/Linux, the JAVA_HOME environment variable must be set before running this command.

Errors will show up in the logs in the /logs directory. Check the cogserver.log file for possible errors and to confirm that the service has started correctly.

The first post-installation task after installing Cognos 8 is to configure the web server gateway. This article will step through configuring Apache for use with Cognos 8. For Cognos ReportNet, the same instructions apply, but the directories will be different.

Create the web aliases or virtual directories.

c8 represents where Cognos 8 is installed.

Find the httpd.conf file in the Apache/conf directory. Make a copy of this file as a backup. (Either copy it to another directory or make a copy with a different name.) Open the httpd.conf file in a text editor.

At the bottom of the file, add the following lines:

ScriptAlias /cognos8/cgi-bin "c:/program files/cognos/c8/cgi-bin"
<Directory "c:/program files/cognos/c8/cgi-bin">
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride FileInfo
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from All
</Directory>

Alias /cognos8 "c:/program files/cognos/c8/webcontent"
<Directory "c:/program files/cognos/c8/webcontent">
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride FileInfo
Order Allow,Deny
Allow from All
</Directory>

Save the http.conf file and restart Apache.

Going to the virtual directory (ex., http://localhost/cognos8) will now bring up the Cognos 8 welcome page.

Notes:

• The ScriptAlias section must be before the Alias section.
• The actual directory path has quotation marks around it because of the space in the path; otherwise, the quotation marks are not necessary.
• By default, access to any directories on the server is denied by Apache. The <Directory> section explicitly allows Apache to access the Cognos 8 directories. If this is mis-configured, then you will see the a 403 error, and “client denied by server configuration” errors in the Apache error.log file.
• The “cognos8″ string can be changed to another name, but only if the Gateway URI parameter in Cognos Configuration is also changed. The cgi-bin string cannot be changed.

Troubleshooting

404 error – Object not found

The 404 error indicates that the virtual directory does not exist. Double check the alias names in the httpd.conf file.

403 error – Access forbidden

The 403 error indicates a permissions problem. The Apache server might be running under an account that does not have read access to the Cognos 8 directories. Another possibility is that the alias is pointing to the wrong directory. The error.log file in the apache/logs directory should have an error message with more specific details.

Another item to check is to ensure that the web server has read access to the cogstartup.xml file in the c8/configuration directory.

Unable to connect to the Cognos BI server

If you see this error, then the virtual directories are configured correctly. The problem is that the Cognos 8 service is not running.

Cognos 8 Business Intelligence ships with sample data and reports for a fictional company named “The Great Outdoors”. The samples are useful for testing the functionality of the product and for following the examples in the documentation. The Cognos 8 samples are similar to the samples shipped with Series 7 and ReportNet, but not exactly the same. It is recommended to use the sample data that shipped with the version of the product installed, or some of the sample reports will not work correctly. If you are using several versions of the Cognos software concurrently, this means restoring the data into different schemas or different databases. This tutorial will walk through restoring the sample data on DB2 and then setting up the sample reports. The five SQL scripts used to setup the database can be downloaded here: cognos8_sample_setup_db2.

Create the sample database

To start, connect to the DB2 database.

Create a database named cogsamp83 to use for the sample data by running this script:

db2 -tvf create_sample_db.sql

Create the Buffer Pools and Tablespaces. This step is not required if the buffer pools already exist. Prefix the names with ‘COG’ to indicate that they were created for the use of the Cognos databases.

db2 –tvf create_buffer_pools.sql

Create a tablespace called COGSAMPLE:

db2 –tvf create_tablespace.sql

Create the five database schemas. If you are using Data Manager, create the optional sixth schema to use as a target for data manager.

• GOHR GO Human Resources
• GOMR GO Multilingual Retailers
• GORT GO Retailers
• GOSL GO Sales
• GOSLDW GO Sales Data Warehouse
• GODMT GO Data Manager Target

db2 –tvf create_schemas.sql

db2 –tvf tune_sampledb.sql

CATALOG TCPIP NODE dbnode

REMOTE dbhost SERVER 50000

CATALOG DATABASE cogsam83

AT NODE dbnode

WITH ‘Sample Data for Cognos 8′

Restore the sample data

The sample files for DB2 are located here: <InstallationLocation>\c8\webcontent\samples\datasources\db2. If you only installed the Cognos 8 BI Server, then the samples schemas will have not been installed. You must retrieve the files from a separate Cognos installation package.

Extract the files in the GS_DB.tar archive. If you are using WinZip, you must disable CR/LF conversion; otherwise DB2MOVE will not read the files correctly. This done under the WinZip options menu, configuration, miscellaneous.

Be sure to extract the files to a location where you have full permissions. You might have to copy the GS_DB.tar.gz file to another location if you are using Windows Vista or a Windows Server edition.

DB2MOVE cogsam83 IMPORT -U cognos -P admin1234

The command will write to a log file named import.out in the same directory.

Create the views and stored procedures. Edit the first line of the gs_db_modify.sql file to connect to your sample database with the correct user id and password. Then execute gs_db_modify.bat, which will run the SQL, creating the views and stored procedures required for the Cognos samples. This will create a log file called gs_db_modify.log.

Connect from the Cognos Connection portal

DB2 LIST NODE DIRECTORY

DB2 LIST DATABASE DIRECTORY

Create another datasource called ‘great_outdoors_warehouse’. Use the exact same steps, connecting to the same database, with the additional step of adding a session command. We need to point the connection explicitly to the gosldw schema.

<commandBlock>

<commands>

<sqlCommand>

<sql>SET CURRENT SCHEMA = GOSLDW</sql>

</sqlCommand>

</commands>

</commandBlock>

Restore the sample packages and reports

With the database connections created, the next step is to restore the sample packages and reports. The packages are located in <install directory>\webcontent\samples\content. Depending on what Cognos software is installed, the number of files here will vary. The reporting samples are in Cognos_Samples.zip.

Copy over the Cognos_Samples.zip file to the deployment folder. If this is a multi-server installation, copy over the zip file to the <install>\cognos\c8\deployment folder on the server where content manager is running.

Click the New Import icon.

Drill into a folder and select a report to run to test the samples setup.

This tutorial walks through the installation of IBM Cognos 8.3 Business Intelligence Server on Windows.

To start the installation, double click the issetup.exe in the win32 directory. On Windows Vista or Windows 2008 server, right click issetup.exe and select ‘Run as Administrator’.

Accept the license agreement and click Next.

Select a location for the install. By default, Cognos 8 will be installed in c:\program files\cognos\c8.

Expand the selection. Select Cognos Content Database if you need to install the Apache Derby content store. This is not checked by default, as it is only for stand-alone development or demo systems.

A Program Folder will be created in the Windows Start menu. You can change the name from Cognos 8 if you have other versions of Cognos 8 co-existing on this same server.

An installation summary page will appear. Click next to start the installation.

The installer will copy over the files.

When the files have been copied over, this page will appear. Check ‘Start Cognos Configuration’ and click the Finish button to open Cognos Configuration.

Cognos Configuration opens.

Under the file menu, select save, or click the save icon, to accept the default settings. Cognos Configuration will verify the settings and write to several configuration files. Close the dialogue window when the save is complete. If a red X or an exclamation mark appears, click the Details button to see the error or warning message.

Click the play button to apply the configuration and to start the Cognos 8 service. If a red X or an exclamation mark appears, click the Details button to see the error or warning message. As we did not configure a mail server, a warning will appear. Not having a mail server will only affect the notification services, so we can proceed with the installation and configure the mail server at another time.

Two Windows services will have been installed and started: Cognos 8 and Cognos Content Database.

To quickly test the installation, open up a web browser and type in the following URL to test the content manager: http://localhost:9300/p2pd/servlet. If it is running correctly, this message will appear.

To test the dispatcher, type in this URL: http://localhost:9300/p2pd/servlet/dispatch. The browser will be redirected to http://localhost:9300/p2pd/servlet/dispatch?b_action=xts.run&m=portal/cc.xts&gohome=, which will bring up Cognos Connection. The images and formatting will be absent because we are connecting directly to the Cognos servlet running on the default application server (Apache Tomcat).

At this point, the web server (usually IIS on Windows) is to be configured. However, for this tutorial we are installing Cognos as a stand-alone application independent of any third party products so we will skip the web server configuration. It can be configured at a later time. To see the graphics in Cognos Connection, copy the contents of the webcontent folder from c8/webcontent to c8/webapps/p2pd. Refresh the browser after the copy is complete.

This tutorial walked through the installation of Cognos 8.3 on Windows. By using the Cognos Content Database (Apache Derby) and Tomcat, it is a true stand alone installation, suitable for a demo or a small development environment. For a more robust system, it is highly recommended to use a web server gateway, which can be added at anytime.