It is simply an application that serves the needs of the business users. It helps the organization grow revenues, increase profits and drive operational efficiency. Clearview Informatics delivers business intelligence (BI), customer relationship management (CRM) and office productivity (OP) solutions configured for your business.

What follows is a walk through of the installation of Yellowfin Business Intelligence 4.0. This is the simplest type of install on Windows, as I have opted to use the default settings almost everywhere.

Start by double clicking on the install executable. The Yellowfin splash screen will appear.

Click Next to continue. Accept the terms and conditions and click next again. The next screen will give you the option to install the sample database and the Japanese language pack.

Click next to continue. The next screen will prompt you to browse to the liscense file. This file is provided by Yellowfin or an authorized partner.

Yellowfin installs with Apache Tomcat, although it can be deployed on other application servers as well. The next screen gives you the option to install Tomcat as a service, and to choose a port other than the default port, which is 80.

Yellowfin requires a database to use as a repository. To keep things simple, choose the embedded HSQLDB database, which is fine for demo purposes or a small scale development environment.

On the next screen, choose the installation path.

The installation will now begin. A progress bar will appear. When it finishes, click the Next button to continue.

You will be prompted to select or create a Program Group for the Start menu shortcuts.

The installation is now complete. Click the Finish button to exit the installer program.

To test the installation, start Yellowfin by using the shortcut in the Windows start menu or by starting the Yellowfin service. Once started, open up a web browser and go to localhost:<port number> . You should see the Yellowfin BI splash screen with a login prompt in the upper right hand side of the screen.

The default administrator login is user ‘admin@yellowfin.com.au’ and password ‘test’.

Because the sample data was installed, the sample dashboard will appear.

Congratulations, the Yellowfin Business Intelligence installation is now complete.

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

When the Cognos 8 SDK is installed, the java libraries (jar files) are installed in the ..\c8\sdk\java\lib folder. The sample applications are located in individual directories in the ..\c8\sdk\java folder. Also included are two scripts, build-samples.bat (for Windows) and build-samples.sh (for Unix and Linux) for compiling the java samples. Here are the steps for compiling the samples:

1. Verify that you have a JDK installed. Cognos 8 requires JDK 1.4 or higher. The JDK can be downloaded from Sun Microsystems here.

2. Check that the JDK location is in the Windows PATH environment variable. To do this, type ’set path’ from the command prompt.

3. Open up the file CRNConnect.java in the ..c8sdkjavacommon folder. Edit the following line (line 102), if necessary, to reflect the location and port number of your Cognos 8 server:

public static String CM_URL = "http://localhost:9300/p2pd/servlet/dispatch";

4. In the build-samples. bat file, modify the following line to reflect where the JDK is installed:

set JAVA_HOME=c:/jdk1.4.2_15 

5. If necessary, modify this line to point to where Cognos 8 is installed:

6. Run build-samples.bat to compile the samples. This script will compile the sample code and create .class files in the folders. In each of the folders there will be a run.bat file.

7. To test your compiled sample code, execute the run.bat file in the CapabilitiesGUI directory to run the sample Capabilities application.

8. If the URL is correct, click the OK button to connect to Cognos 8.

Troubleshooting

Upon running the sample code, the following error will occur if the java compiler compatibility flag needed to be set:

Exception in thread “main” java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: Bad version number in .class file.

The samples will use the JRE that ships with Cognos 8. The error occurs because the java complier defaults to a version that is not compatible. To set the compatibility, in the build-samples.bat file, add the following two switches after “%JAVAC%”: -source 1.4 -target 1.4

The line will read as follows:

“%JAVAC%” -source 1.4 -target 1.4 -classpath “%CLASSPATH%” Alerts/*.java CancelExec/*.java Common/*.java CapabilitiesGUI/*.java ContentStoreExplorer/*.java CreateDrillThrough/*.java DeployPackage/*.java DispatcherControl/*.java ReportCopyMove/*.java EventTrigger/*.java ExecReports/*.java ExecReportsAt/*.java GroupsAndRolesGUI/*.java HandlersCS/*.java PermissionsGUI/*.java PrintReport/*.java QueryCM/*.java RenderReport/*.java ReportAdd/*.java ReportCreate/*.java ReportDelete/*.java ReportParams/*.java ReportSpec/*.java ReportUpgrade/*.java runreport/*.java SaveAs/*.java Scheduler/*.java Security/*.java SendEmail/*.java Submit/*.java TesterCM/*.java ViewAll/*.java ViewCMReports/*.java ViewCMPackages/*.java

Execute build-samples.bat again to recreate the class files.

Creating users in a Series 7 namespace can be automated with Access Manager Batch Maintenance, but writing the required input file is an error prone and time consuming chore. This Visual Basic script will take a list of users from a comma-delimited file (it could be exported from Excel or some other system), create the users in the namespace, create the user classes, assign the users to their user class and then create a signon for the user. When the file is ready, the input file is run with Access Manager Batch Maintenance (via a batch file, so additional code can be inserted here if necessary). Finally, an email message is sent with the log file attached.

Notes:

• This example is written in Visual Basic, and it can be run as is on a Windows system under the Windows Scripting host (a vbs file). It can also be integrated into a Visual Basic or Cognos Script application.
• The message is sent via Outlook on the machine where the script is run. If you are not using Outlook or Outlook is not installed where this script is being run, then this subroutine must be replaced by alternate code.

Download the files:

accman_maintenance.vbs

users.csv

Here are two sample scripts to illustrate how to automate Impromptu using the Cognos Script macro language. Cognos scripts can be easily integrated into a Visual Basic, VB Script or an ASP script, as the language follows the same conventions as Visual Basic.

The first script will run a report and save the output as a pdf file. The format can easily be changed to csv or another supported format. This script is useful when you have long running reports that you would like to run in off hours.

This second script runs the report and saves the output, like in the first script, but it also sends it as an email attachment. It uses Microsoft Outlook libraries to create and to send the message.

Download the sample code here:

save_pdf

email_pdf

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.

IBM makes available a free version of their flagship DB2 database called DB2 Express-C. It is a competitor to Oracle Express, Microsoft SQL Server Express and MySQL. It is ideal for a development environment or a small pilot project, and it can be updated to a fully supported licensed version at any time. Cognos 8 Business Intelligence supports reporting off this database and using it as the content store. This tutorial will step through the installation of DB2 Express-C on Windows.

Download DB2 Express-C from the IBM website: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/db2/express/download.html

Extract the files, and double click setup.exe to get started. On Windows Vista or Windows 2008 Server, right click the setup.exe and select ‘Run as Administrator’.

On the left hand sidebar menu, click Install a Product.

Click Install New. The installer program will start. Click next.

Accept the license agreement and click Next.

Choose the installation type.

Click the View Features button to see what features will be installed with the Typical or Compact installation. For this tutorial, I will be installing the typical installation.

Choose a location for the database. By default, it will install to c:\program files\IBM\SQLLIB.

Provide a user account or select LocalSystem account. For this tutorial, I will use an account I created for the DB2 database called db2admin.

The name of the DB2 instance that will be created appears.

Click the configure button to see options for this instance.

A summary page will appear. Click the Finish button to continue the installation.

The installation starts by copying over the files. If you are running Vista, you will be prompted to allow the installer to continue.

After the files have been copied over, the post installation page appears. Click the Finish button to continue.

The DB2 first steps menu comes up.

Select Database Creation on the left hand sidebar menu. Click Create SAMPLE Database to test your installation and to install the sample database.

Once complete, open up the DB2 Control Center. Click on Database Administration, Start DB2 Control Center. It can also be launched from the Windows Start menu, Programs, IBM DB2, instance name, General Administration tools.

The sample database will be visible in the DB2 Control Center.

DB2 installs six services. In this screen capture, DB2COPY1 is the instance name.

If you need to return to the First Steps menu, there is a short cut placed in the Windows Start Menu, under Programs, IBM DB2, <instance name>, Setup Tools.

Test connectivity to DB2

Once installed, test connectivity to the database with the following steps:

Open up a command prompt and run db2cwadmin.bat

A new window will open. Enter ‘DB2′ at the prompt. This will start the DB2 command line client (CLI).

Connect to the database with this command:

CONNECT TO sample USER <userid> USING <password>

Run a simple SQL command as another test: select * from curried.sales where region = ‘Quebec’

Troubleshooting

On Windows Vista, the following error occurs when DB2 starts if the installer was run with administrator priveleges: DB2JAVIT : RC = 9505.

This forum posting has some details: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=165035

Upon reboot and logging in after the installation, this error might appear: SQL5005C System Error.

To resolve this problem, add your user to the DB2ADMNS or the DB2USERS group. This is done through the Computer Management console, under Users and Groups. Note that this console does not exist on all editions of Windows Vista, but users and groups can be managed using the NET command on all Windows editions.

NET LOCALGROUP – retrieve a listing of all local groups

NET USERS – returns a list of all local users

NET LOCALGROUP db2admns curried /add – add user ‘curried’ to the local group ‘db2admns’

NET LOCALGROUP db2admns – returns a list of users who belong to the group ‘db2admns’

Additional DB2 Resources:

DB2 Express-C home page: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/db2/express/

DB2 Express-C download page: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/db2/express/download.html

DB2 Express-C developer handbook: http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247301.html

Directory of IBM and 3^rd party resources: http://www.db2express.com/