Learn about Cognos 10 BI Server core components, common installation issues, Cognos 10 search index requirements post-install and how to navigate the maze of 32 vs. 64 bit. View the video recording and download this deck: http://www.senturus.com/resource-video/installing-cognos-10-2-1-tips-tricks-trenches/?rId=2567
Topics include:
- Cognos 10.2.1 BI Server core components
- Common installation issues
- Tips for a successful configuration (including Dynamic Query Mode support for the RAVE visualization engine)
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Installing IBM Cognos 10: Tips and Tricks from the Trenches
1. Installing Cognos 10:
Tips and Tricks from the Trenches
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2. For more information, please visit the Senturus website, www.senturus.com.
Under the Resource tab you will find upcoming Events, Training Course
Schedule and Recorded Webinars.
You will find this slide deck “Installing Cognos 10: Tips and Tricks from the
Trenches” under the “IBM Cognos Business Intelligence” section.
2
3. Topics
• Presentation Focus: Cognos 10 BI on Windows 2008
• Cognos 10 BI Server core components
• Common Installation Issues
• Post-Install: the Cognos 10 Search Index
• Navigating the Maze of Bitness
• The Knowledge Base is Your Friend…
3
4. Cognos 10 BI Server core components
Cognos Connection web portal Web server
App servers
Data servers
Note: Report Servers correspond to “Application Tier
Components” in the Cognos installation program
4
5. Component Selections
Note: The term “Dispatcher” is often used to
refer to a server that is running the core App Tier
components -- BUT this is not exactly correct.
5
6. What is a Dispatcher, really?
• The “Dispatcher” is a Java application which routes requests between the
various Cognos services that are running on a particular server instance.
Each dispatcher can also route
requests to other dispatchers.
6
7. When Things Go Wrong:
Common Installation Problem Areas
1) Operating System (Windows 2008)
2) Database (SQL Server, Oracle)
3) Web server (IIS 7.x)
7
8. Common Windows OS issues
• Service account not added to Local Administrators
group
• Cognos hasn’t been configured to run using the
service account credentials
• Data Execution Prevention (DEP) has not been
configured to allow Cognos to run.
• Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration is
turned on.
8
9. For more information, please visit the Senturus website, www.senturus.com.
Under the Resource tab you will find upcoming Events, Training Course
Schedule and Recorded Webinars.
You will find this slide deck “Installing Cognos 10: Tips and Tricks from the
Trenches” under the “IBM Cognos Business Intelligence” section.
9
10. Service account not added to Local
Administrators group
Run “compmgmt.msc” to open the
Computer Management console
10
11. Service account not added to Local
Administrators group
Confirm that the service
account is listed
11
12. Cognos hasn’t been configured to run
using the service account credentials
Check the
service’s
properties
Run “services.msc” to open the Services console
12
13. Cognos hasn’t been configured to run
using the service account credentials
Set the
correct
credentials
Run “services.msc” to open the Services console
13
14. Data Execution Prevention (DEP) has not
been configured to allow Cognos to run.
For simplicity, DEP is
enabled here for
essential Windows
programs and services
only.
Alternatively, individual DEP exceptions
can also be explicitly configured for
Cognos.
14
16. Internet Explorer Enhanced Security
Configuration is turned on
Set IE ESC to “Off” in
order to access
Cognos Connection
directly from the server
Note: This change is NOT required for
browsers on client PCs to be able to
connect to the server
16
17. For more information, please visit the Senturus website, www.senturus.com.
Under the Resource tab you will find upcoming Events, Training Course
Schedule and Recorded Webinars.
You will find this slide deck “Installing Cognos 10: Tips and Tricks from the
Trenches” under the “IBM Cognos Business Intelligence” section.
17
18. Common SQL Server and Oracle DB issues
• Incompatible collation sequence
– The Cognos content store requires a case-insensitive collation sequence.
Some common collation sequences for Cognos installations are:
• SQL Server: SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
• Oracle: AL32UTF8
• Oracle: Incorrect JDBC driver file
– The correct JDBC driver for the target Oracle instance must be copied from
the Oracle client installation location to .../webapps/p2pd/WEB-INF/lib
• For Oracle 10, use ojdbc14.jar
• For Oracle 11, use ojdbc5.jar
18
19. Common SQL Server and Oracle DB issues
• Incorrect bitness of database client software
– Cognos 10 requires 32-bit client libraries for native-client
access to third-party data sources, even when Cognos is
installed on a 64-bit OS.
• For SQL Server, the 64-bit SQL Native Client includes both 32-bit and
64-bit libraries (so install the 64-bit SQL Native Client on 64-bit
Windows)
• For Oracle, you must explicitly install the 32-bit Oracle client libraries
when running Cognos on 64-bit Windows.
19
20. Common IIS 7.x Configuration issues
• Role Services have not been installed for ISAPI and
Windows Authentication
• ISAPI changes made in Cognos Configuration, but
not in the HTML config files
• Application Pool not configured for 32-bit applications
(when running 32-bit Cognos components on 64-bit
Windows)
• Application Pool Identity not set to “NetworkService”
20
21. Role Services have not been installed for
ISAPI and Windows Authentication
Both of these
should be checked
21
22. ISAPI changes made in Cognos Configuration
but not in the HTML config files
Gateway URI
was updated
for ISAPI
22
23. ISAPI changes made in Cognos Configuration
but not in the HTML config files
“index.html” and “default.htm”
must be edited for ISAPI support
23
24. ISAPI changes made in Cognos Configuration
but not in the HTML config files
Find “cognos.cgi” in both files…
24
25. ISAPI changes made in Cognos Configuration
but not in the HTML config files
…and change it to “cognosisapi.dll”
25
26. For more information, please visit the Senturus website, www.senturus.com.
Under the Resource tab you will find upcoming Events, Training Course
Schedule and Recorded Webinars.
You will find this slide deck “Installing Cognos 10: Tips and Tricks from the
Trenches” under the “IBM Cognos Business Intelligence” section.
26
27. Application Pool not configured for 32-bit
applications
(this issue only affects 32-bit Cognos components running on 64-
bit Windows)
27
28. Application Pool not configured for 32-bit
applications
(this issue only affects 32-bit Cognos components running on 64-
bit Windows)
Set “Enable 32-Bit
Applications” to True
28
30. Post-Install: the Cognos 10 Search Index
In order to use the enhanced search functionality that is
included with Cognos 10, you must:
1) Build the initial search index
2) Create a scheduled task to periodically update the index
30
31. Post-Install: the Cognos 10 Search Index
In the “Content Administration” area of Cognos
Connection, click the “New Index Update” icon
31
35. Post-Install: the Cognos 10 Search Index
After the initial index build is complete, click “New Index
Update” again -- but this time create a scheduled task to
periodically update the index
35
36. For more information, please visit the Senturus website, www.senturus.com.
Under the Resource tab you will find upcoming Events, Training Course
Schedule and Recorded Webinars.
You will find this slide deck “Installing Cognos 10: Tips and Tricks from the
Trenches” under the “IBM Cognos Business Intelligence” section.
36
37. Post-Install: the Cognos 10 Search Index
For distributed
installations,
update the
settings for
the index-
related
services
For distributed installations, disable the Index Data
Service and Index Update Service everywhere except
the primary Content Manager instance.
37
38. Navigating the Maze of Bitness
• Java code is architecture agnostic (can run on a 32-bit or 64-bit JVM)
• Gateway and Report Execution processes are 32-bit native C++ code
C++ code (32-bit)
Java code
C++ code (32-bit)
38
39. Navigating the Maze of Bitness
Cognos 10 BI is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions – but there
are still some 32-bit restrictions to be aware of in 64-bit Cognos:
• Web gateway extensions (e.g. ISAPI) are 32-bit
• If using a 64-bit web server, the web server must be able to load and run
32-bit libraries (64-bit IIS permits this; 64-bit Apache does not)
• Report execution processes (BIBusTKServerMain.exe) are 32-bit
• 32-bit database client libraries are required for native-client integration with
third-party databases.
• 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Cognos components can't be installed in the
same directory with each other
• Because Framework Manager and Transformer are 32-bit components, they
must be installed in a separate directory from any Cognos BI 64-bit server
components.
39
40. Navigating the Maze of Bitness
• 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Cognos components can't be
installed in the same directory with each other
• Because Framework Manager and Transformer are 32-bit components, they
must be installed in a separate directory from any Cognos BI 64-bit server
components.
• Components that run inside the JVM (Dispatcher, Content
Manager Service, etc.) are 64-bit when running on a 64-bit OS
• This primarily provides increased performance/responsiveness/scalability for
operations within Cognos Connection
40
41. The Knowledge Base is Your Friend…
http://www.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/Overview/
Software/Cognos/Cognos_Business_Intelligence
41
42. Senturus Cognos 10 Upgrade Package
Senturus In your
Upgrades Development $3,495
Cognos 8 to environment Fixed Price
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For More Information please contact Sales@Senturus.com or
Call Jim Frazier @ 650-949-2921
42
43. Other Senturus Solution Offerings
• Cognos 10 Proof of Concept Engagements
– Active Reports
– Business Insight
– Cognos Mobile
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• Provide a Demonstration of the reports and their benefits to a
larger audience
• $4,995
• For More Information please click on the links above, and
contact Sales@Senturus.com
43
44. Cognos Training by Senturus
• Online, Hands-On, Fully interactive Training
Senturus offers a complete schedule of Cognos courses. In Senturus’ online
training, students have full two-way communication with the instructor and
other participants. While students complete the hands-on exercises, the
instructor is able to see each student's computer screen and offer guidance. A
full set of course materials is included and hard copies sent prior to the class.
Courses include
– Authoring Active Reports in IBM Cognos 10
– Self-service Authoring with IBM Cognos Business Insight
See course schedule for online training
(http://www.senturus.com/training_course_schedule.php)
• Private Custom Training
The Senturus’ private classroom training minimizes classroom time and provides
a level of flexibility not possible with standard public classroom training. All
courses can be customized using your company’s data for an extremely relevant
training experience. See the details and descriptions of private courses offered.
44
45. For more information, please visit the Senturus website, www.senturus.com.
Under the Resource tab you will find upcoming Events, Training Course
Schedule and Recorded Webinars.
You will find this slide deck “Installing Cognos 10: Tips and Tricks from the
Trenches” under the “IBM Cognos Business Intelligence” section.
45