by ·Comments Off on When to use balanced setting?

Product:
Planning Analytics 2.0.5
Microsoft Windows Server 2016

(this is a copy of text from IBM site)
https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ibm10737313&myns=swgimgmt&mynp=OCSSD29G&mync=F&cm_sp=swgimgmt-_-OCSSD29G-_-F

Summary

The purpose of this document is to help with understanding and managing the memory utilization of the TM1 Application Server.

Understanding of Usage

Your TM1 Application Server (JAVA) memory is impacted by the following applications:

  • TM1Web (viewing/exporting data)
  • PMPSVC (viewing/exporting data)
  • Planning Analytics for Excel (PA for Excel, which uses the PMHub service on the TM1 Application Server)
  • Planning Analytics Workspace (if used to display PA for Excel/Perspectives reports)
  • Operations Console (obtaining server status/logging data)

As much as one would like to know what the best settings are or how much memory is required to host the TM1 Application Server, the answer does not come easy.  The following questions must be taken in to account and even with answers to the following questions, only load/stress testing can provide an accurate estimate to the resources required for your specific load:

  • How many concurrent users are expected?
  • What application(s) are users expected to use?
  • Are users doing reporting only or is data entry included?
  • How much data is to be consumed by a user?  (how many rows/columns/cells)
  • How much data is expected to be exported?
  • Do web/excel books contain more than one tab?  (is it really 1 report, or 20 reports under 1?)

Applications Settings / Governors

To get a better handle on your TM1 Application Server memory management, the below safeguards/settings should be introduced.  It is recommended to implement more restrictive safeguards, raising the restrictions as required and where it makes sense to do so.

TM1Web (via /tm1_64/webapps/tm1web/web-inf/configuration/tm1web_config.xml):

<!– If specified, sets a limit for the maximum number of cells in the workbook file. It will not be possible to open workbooks with a number of cells that exceeds this limit. Leaving this blank will allow all workbooks to be opened. –>
<add key=”WorkbookMaxCellCount” value=”500000” />

<!– If specified, sets a threshold for limiting of exports using the number of cells. If the set threshold is exceeded when performing an export (looped exports will reach this multiplicatively), then the export will not be allowed for that user. Is applied for all users, and for  Websheets and CubeViewer. Leaving this blank will allow for classic-style exporting with no cell count limitations. –>
<add key=”ExportCellsThreshold” value=”200000” />

<!– MaximumSheetsForExport: Maximum number of sheets allowed to Export –>
<add key=”MaximumSheetsForExport” value=”50” />

<!– Determines the maximum number of exports that can occur concurrently. If less than or equal to zero, will allow virtually unlimited concurrent exports (2147483647 max). The default value is 5. –>
<add key=”MaximumConcurrentExports” value=”2” />

<!– CubeViewerRowPageSize: Number of rows to fetch in a page of cubeviewer –>
<add key=”CubeViewerRowPageSize” value=”100” />

<!– CubeViewerColumnPageSize: Number of columns to fetch in a page of cubeviewer –>
<add key=”CubeViewerColumnPageSize” value=”20” />
Planning Analytics for Excel (via Options Menu):

  • Application Settings:
    • Auto spread consolidated input, recommended value: disabled
      •   If not required, disable this setting to prevent users from accidentally spreading
      •   If spreading is allowed, ensure users are educated so that a spread is not attempted on an intersection that spans too many cells
  • Exploration or list settings:
    •  Data display row limit, recommended value: 5000
      •   Reduce the number of rows displayed to ensure a larger than necessary query is no executed
    •  Expand member limit, recommended value: 2000
      •   Reduce the number of rows displayed to ensure a larger than necessary query is no executed
  • Planning Analytics for Excel Design Recommendations:
    • Ensure that Zero Suppression is enabled where possible, to prevent larger than necessary queries
    • Do not include too many sheets/tabs in a single book, create multiple reports where possible
    • Ensure the Excel Sheet does not contains many unnecessary blank/empty columns/rows

 

Tuning the JAVA Process

The TM1 Application Server sits on a Websphere Liberty Application Server, which utilizes the JAvA platform.  The details in this section can assist you with further tuning of the JAVA Process for the TM1 Application Server, however as mentioned earlier in this document – only a proper test/load plan can ensure a successful deployment.

To fine tune the TM1 Application Server’s JAVA Process, edit the jvm.options file (found in \tm1_64\wlp\usr\servers\tm1).  Consider adding the following entries, below the existing jvm.options settings (or updating any settings that may already exist).  Values should be adjusted accordingly to available resources, for example – don’t allocate an Xmx of 24576m if you have less than 32GB of RAM on the server.

  • -Xmx12288m
    • Xmx specifies the maximum memory allocation pool (heap) for a Java Virtual Machine (JVM)
      • Xmx is more commonly set using Cognos Configuration.  Changes to Xmx in the jvm.options file will take precedence.
      • Xmx should NOT exceed 24576m, as additional performance problems may be encountered.
  • -Xms12288m
    • Xms specifies the initial memory allocation pool on process startup.
    • Xms should reflect the same value specified by the Xmx parameter.
  • -Xmn6144m
    • Xmn sets the size of the new (nursery) heap.
    • Xmn should be set to half of the value specified by the Xmx parameter.
  • -Xgcpolicy:balanced
    • A garbage collection policy of balanced is recommended when the Xmx exceeds 8192m
    • Depending on application usage, a different garbage collection policy may prove beneficial to performance
      • If using TM1Web, a policy of balanced is recommended
      • If Planning Analytics for Excel is the only application using the TM1 Application Server, a policy of gencon may be better suited
        • Usage of the application, size of reports, number of users all come in to effect.  Both policies should be tested accordingly.
  • -Xverbosegclog:${bin_path}/verbosegc_%Y%m%d.%H%M%S.%pid.log,1,20000
    • Enabling Verbose Garbage Collection logging is recommended
    • The performance impact of having the logging enabled is negligible
    • Should any problems arise with the JAVA process, the output of the Verbose GC logs may prove beneficial to understanding root cause

Using the settings above, the entries in the jvm.options file will look like:
-Xmx12288m
-Xms12288m
-Xmn6144m
-Xgcpolicy:balanced
-Xverbosegclog:${bin_path}/logs/verbosegc_%Y%m%d.%H%M%S.%pid.log,1,20000

 

 

Additional Information

The following documents may prove useful in troubleshooting issues related to the TM1 Application Server

How to Troubleshoot a TM1 Application Server Hang
https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg22002262

How to Troubleshoot a TM1 Application Server Crash
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg22002285

by ·Comments Off on How calculate the amount value

Product:
Planning Analytics 2.0.5 workspace
Microsoft Server 2016

Problem:
You get value in to the TM1 application, from a yearly cost of company car, and you want to know what the monthly cost is. Where you have the values for start date, and the accumulated sum for the month.

Starting solution:
This show part of the solution, to get you to understand the ParseDate function.
You must expand this solution to get a fully working TI process.

You can a find better solutions here:
http://www.tm1forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9736

 

Login to PAW (Plannig Analytics Workspace) and your application.
ti1
Click on the pencil to make it blue so you are in edit mode.
ti2
Right click on dimensions to create a new dimension
ti3
Enter the name of the dimension and click create
ti4
Click OK and click on enter new members
ti5
ti6
Enter StartDate and click on commit
ti7
click on plus sign and select after selection to add a new member of the dimension.
ti8
Enter this values – this will be part of our cube to show the result.
ti9
Select the Breakdate and right click to set format to Date, repeat for StartDate.
ti10
Click on the show members attributes to see the format.
Create a new dimension named Result.Log with only one member.
ti11
ti12
Right click on cubes to create a new cube of above dimensions.
ti13
Mark Result.Event and Result.log and click arrow to move them over.
Enter Result Cube as name of the cube, and click on Create.
ti14
Click on the plus sign to add a new sheet. Select a boxed template.
ti15
Select the cube and right click and select Add new view
ti16
Click on the box and on the icon to change row and columns value. So you get this;
ti17
ti18
Right click on process to create a new process. Name the process AmountCalculated.
ti19
Expand the code window so you see most of it below the cube view.
ti20
Click on parameters tab, and click on plus sign to add input parameters. Here we will enter the values to test the process. In your solution you may get this values from a file instead.
ti21
Enter above names and start values. (p is to show it is a parameter variable)
ti22
Enter script tab, to enter your code.
Enter below code under Prolog End: Generated Statements

# define the cube and dimensions to work with
sDimName = ‘Result.Log’;
sCubename = ‘Result Cube’;

nBreakDateA = ParseDate( pBreakDateA, ‘yyyyMMdd’,0 );
nStartDateA = ParseDate( pStartDateA, ‘yyyyMMdd’,0 );

# write variables values to txt file in servers log folder for debug
asciioutput (‘../logfiles/debuglog1.txt’, str(nBreakDateA,8,2),str(nStartDateA,8,2) , numbertostring(pTotalAmountA));

# check if it is before break date then divide with 12
if (nStartDateA < nBreakDateA);
nMonthAmountA = pTotalAmountA / 12;
else;

# check if the distance is not in the same year
nStartYear = stringtonumber( subst (pStartDateA, 1,4));
nEndYear = stringtonumber( subst (pTotalDateA, 1,4));

# write variables values to txt file in servers log folder for debug
asciioutput (‘../logfiles/debuglog3.txt’, numbertostring(nStartYear),numbertostring(nEndYear) , pStartDateA, pTotalDateA );

if (nStartYear <>  nEndYear);
nTotalDateA = ParseDate( pTotalDateA, ‘yyyyMMdd’,0 );
nResult=  ((YEAR(DATE( nTotalDateA  )) – YEAR(DATE( ( nStartDateA ))) )*12)+ (MONTH(DATE( nTotalDateA )) – MONTH(DATE( ( nStartDateA ))) ) ;

# write variables values to txt file in servers log folder for debug
asciioutput (‘../logfiles/debuglog4.txt’, numbertostring(nStartYear), numbertostring(nEndYear) , numbertostring(nResult)  );

# if total is far from start date to today – you use the same formula  but nResult is total number of months
nMonthAmountA = pTotalAmountA / nResult;
else;
# change here what values you want to use for the calculation
nStartmonth = stringtonumber( subst (pStartdateA, 5,2));
nEndmonth = stringtonumber( subst (pTotaldateA, 5,2));
nOfMonths = nEndmonth – nStartmonth +1;
# calculate value if less than a year
nMonthAmountA = pTotalAmountA / nOfMonths;
endif;
endif;
ti23
Then enter below code as Epilog

# write variables values to txt file in servers log folder for debug
asciioutput (‘../logfiles/debuglog2.txt’, str(nStartmonth,8,2) ,numbertostring(nMonthAmountA) ,numbertostring(pTotalAmountA), numbertostring(nOfMonths));

# create a new dimension element with the date and time as value to make it uniq
sDate = (timSt(now, ‘\Y-\m-\d \h:\i’));
DimensionElementInsertDirect( sDimname,’ ‘, sDate, ‘N’ );
# update the log cube with the values
CellPutN( nStartDateA+21916, sCubename,’StartDate’, sDate );
CellPutN( pTotalAmountA, sCubename,’TotalAmount’, sDate );
CellPutN( nMonthAmountA, sCubename,’MonthAmount’, sDate );
CellPutN( nBreakDateA+21916, sCubename,’BreakDate’, sDate );

# 1 in excel is 1900, but in TM1 that is 1960 – therefor the addition of 21916 days.
ti24
Click validate, and correct any ‘ that may be of wrong format.
ti25
Save and run.
ti26
Enter your values and click OK.
ti27
Above error if there is no /logfiles/ folder parallel to the data folder.
Create on folder c:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\tm1_64\samples\tm1\logfiles, if you use a sample TM1 application that do not have a separate log folder.
ti28
Connect to the server and check the log files to see variables values.
ti29
Click on refresh for the view to see the result.
ti30

Things to review:
nBreakDateA = ParseDate( pBreakDateA, ‘yyyyMMdd’,0 );
Above code change the string to a date number, but should be changed so it is not use the 1960 as start date.

if (nStartDateA < nBreakDateA);
Above code check if the date is before a specific date, you can change this to be automatic check for 12 months .

if (nofmonths > 12);
# if total is for from start date to today – you use the same formula
nMonthAmountA = pTotalAmountA / nOfMonths;
else;
Above code check if the difference is more than 12 months, then you can enhance it to calculate the value from January to today date only, if the total is only for this year.

# asciioutput (‘../logfiles/debuglog1.txt’, str(nBreakDateA,8,2),str(nStartDateA,8,2) , numbertostring(pTotalAmountA));
Remark out the debug asciioutput lines from your code.

More information:
http://www.wimgielis.com/tm1_newdateformatter_EN.htm
https://www.exploringtm1.com/date-time-functions-tm1-10-2/
https://www.exploringtm1.com/accumulating-values-in-tm1/

Operators in TI IF Statements

by ·Comments Off on The server may be unavailable or the gateway may not be correctly configured.

Product:
Cognos BI 10.2.2 (or Cognos Analytics 11.0.x)
Microsoft Windows 2008 Server

Issue:
You have not access to the Cognos Connection. The IBM Cognos service is running, what it looks like in Windows Services. The cogserver.log is empty since last restart.

Error message:
IBM Cognos gateway can not connect to IBM Cognos BI server.

Cause:
The root cause, a corruption in the \wlp\usr\servers\cognosserver\workarea for WebSphere Liberty Profile (WLP)
Solution:
Stop the IBM Cognos Windows service.
Backup the “workarea” folder.
Delete the “workarea” folder at  C:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\analytics\wlp\usr\servers\cognosserver\workarea
Start IBM Cognos service again.

More information:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg22011841
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21991231
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21347919

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21341113

by ·Comments Off on PRS-TRS-0902 The “XSLT” transform instruction encountered an error while processing

Product:
Cognos Analytics 11.0.12  (kit_version=11.0.12.18062512)
Microsoft Windows Server 2016

Problem:
When in Cognos Connection you go to Administration console. Click on system in left column to have a view of the system health. You get a error instead of the Metrics-system tab.

Error Message:
SOAPFaultException
PRS-TRS-0902 The “XSLT” transform instruction encountered an error while processing the source at location “/cogadmin/transforms/gen-ui-markup/metrics.xslt”.
PF-COM-6204 The complete error has been logged.

Possible cause:
After replace the oracle driver in folder C:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\analytics\drivers to ojdbc7.jar file, the restart of the servers was not done correct.

Solution:
Restart the content manager server first.
Wait to it is finish.
Then restart the other CA (BI REPORT) servers.
Wait until they all are up.

More information:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ibm10726007
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSEP7J_11.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.inst_cr_winux.doc/t_databaseconnectivityforcontentstore_stepsfororacle.html#DatabaseConnectivityforContentStore_StepsforOracle

by ·Comments Off on Failed to configure CA certificate chain!

Product:
Planning Analytics 2.0.5
Planning Analytics Workspace version 35
Linux Red Hat

Issue:
After setup of HTTPS to PAW you can not surf to the paw webpage.
If you check the pa-gateway log files in folder /ibm/paw/log/pa-gateway/ you see a error like this
AH01903: Failed to configure CA certificate chain!
in the pa-proxy-error.log file.

Solution:
Go to the /ibm/paw/config folder and check the file rights
ls -l
drwx—— dockeruser dockeruser 8774 Sep 26 11:03 pa-workspace.pem
if above will give that only the user dockeruser can read the certificate file, and therefor can not Apache read the file and include it in the upstart.
You need to ensure that the group docker can read the files.
To change owner and group of the file enter:
chown dockeruser:docker pa-workspace.pem
To change read rights to the file enter:
chmod 755 pa-workspace.pem
https://ss64.com/bash/chmod.html
https://ss64.com/bash/chown.html

Stop PAW with command in /ibm/paw/scripts folder;
./paw.sh stop
Start paw with command
./paw.sh

Now it should work. (you need to change path and users to match your environment.)

Troubleshoot:
In PUTTY you can write this BASH commands to check the PAW environment.
To check what docker containers that is running enter:
docker ps
if the first one say pa-gateway is restarting, this mean that the Apache server is not up and the pa-gateway can not load.
To go into the pa-gateway container enter:
docker exec -i -t pa-gateway /bin/bash
To read the Apache log enter:
more /var/log/apache2/error.log
Enter exit to return to Linux:
exit
To move to config folder enter:
cd /ibm/paw/config
To check content of paw.env file enter:
more paw.env
To edit paw.env file enter:
nano -w paw.env
Check that below rows are inside the paw.env file, this activate the https:
export EnableSSL=true
export ServerName=paw-server-name.domain.com
To save the changes in NANO enter:
ctrl+o
To exit NANO text editor enter:
ctrl+x

 

Sometimes a container is damage, then you can try to recreate it as below:

Stop the PAW containers with command:
./paw.sh stop
To erase pa-gateway container enter:
docker rm pa-gateway
To start paw and recreate containers missing enter:
./paw.sh

https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/rm/

How setup HTTPS with PAW:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSD29G_2.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.tm1_inst.2.0.0.doc/t_paw_enable_ssl.html

by ·Comments Off on The page cant be displayed

Product:
Cognos Analytics 11.0.7
Microsoft Windows 2012 server

Issue:
When you surf to Cognos Connection in a new setup of CA11 you get different error messages

Surf to: https://servername.domain.com/ibmcognos
Error: This page cant be displayed
Make sure the web address is correct
Look for the page with your search engine
Refresh the page in a few minutes

Surf to: https://servername.domain.com/ibmcognos/ibmcognos/ibmcognos
Error: server error in /ibmcognos application
the length of the URL for this request exceeds the configured maxUrlLength value.

Surf to: http://servername.domain.com/ibmcognos/bi/
Error: The website declined to show this webpage
Most likely causes:
This website requires you to log in

Surf to: https://servername.domain.com/ibmcognos/bi
Error: A blank page in Internet Explorer

Solution:
Go to Internet Information Services Manager
Check if you have set a HTTP redirect on the default web site, remove and try again.
Check if you have bindings on the default web page, if HTTPS is setup to a specific server name. Try with HTTPS set to a blank host name in the IIS Site binding setting.
Check if you have marked Require SSL for the Default Web Site, in IIS.

by ·Comments Off on When trying to log on to a TM1 server in Planning Analytics for Excel a HTTP 503 error appears

Product:
Planning Analytics 2.0.5 (PAX)
Microsoft Windows 2016 Server

Issue:
When you select a TM1 server in list of TM1 connections in Planning Analytics for Excel a HTTP 503 error appears.
If you test the connection to PAW in the options box it is OK.

Possible solution:
Inside the ADMINTOOL for PAW (planning analytics workspace) the value for TM1 Application Server Gateway URI is wrong, it may point to HTTPS when it should point to HTTP.
This if you have changed your setup of TM1WEB(WLP) from HTTPS to HTTP to do some testing.

Copy the URL to a web browser (IE) and test if you can surf there.
Example of URL are:
http://tm1webservername.domain.com:9510

More information:
https://www.exploringtm1.com/client-connection-to-pax/
https://www.ibm.com/communities/analytics/cognos-analytics-blog/cognosanalytics-and-planninganalytics-integration-walkthrough-part-3/

by ·Comments Off on The GSKit function ‘gsk_environment_init’ failed with the error code ‘9’

Product:
Planning Analytics 2.0.5 TM1
Microsoft Windows 2016 terminal server
TM1 package connector version 10.2.6100.8-0

Issue:
Inside TM1 architect you get a error when you run a TI process that uses the Package connector. Error happens when you start to import data to TM1 with the process.

Error Message:
Error: MetaData procedure line (0): CCognosPackage::BuildDataSource Exception: (TR3117) Unable to retrieve security objects. Please verify credentials.
– CCL-BIT-0005 A socket reported a communication error.
– CAM_Connect=0xffffffff -2113929065CAM-CRP-0321 The GSKit function ‘gsk_environment_init’ failed with the error code ‘9’

Solution:
Ensure that on the Planning Analytics server, where the TM1 applications are, that you have the GSK*.dll files that come with the TM1 package connector version. If they have been replace to solve other issues, you need to copy them back.

A clean new install of TM1 Package Connector on the PA 2.0.5 server can also help.

More information:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21988056

by ·Comments Off on Missing Library gsk8ssl.dll

Product:
Planning Analytics 2.0.5 TM1 Perspective version 11.0.5.79-0
Microsoft Windows 2016 terminal server
TM1 package connector version 10.2.6100.8-0

Issue:
When you start TM1 Perspective you get a error, if TM1 Package Connector is installed on the same computer. If you remove TM1 Package connector – then TM1 perspective works fine.

Error message:
Microsoft Excel
Missing Library c:\program files\ibm\cognos\tm1_perspective\bin\gsk8ssl.dll
C:\program files\ibm\cognos\tm1_perspective\bin\gsk8km.dll

Suggested solution:
After install of TM1 Perspective, copy the gsk8*.dll files from the c:\program files\ibm\cognos\tm1_perspective\bin folder to the package connector folder c:\program files(x86)\ibm\cognos\c10\bin folder. Overwrite the existing files.

Test to start TM1 perspective again.

If you use a older TM1 Package Connector version, then above error is also gone.

by ·Comments Off on A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time

Product:
Planning Analytics 2.0.5
Planning Analytics for Office
Microsoft Windows 2016 server

Problem:
When you connect to PAW server from PAX inside Excel you get a error.

Error message:
System.Net.WebException: Unable to connect to the remote server —> System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond 192.168.200.10:8080
at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.DoConnect(EndPoint endPointSnapshot, SocketAddress socketAddress)
at System.Net.ServicePoint.ConnectSocketInternal(Boolean connectFailure, Socket s4, Socket s6, Socket& socket, IPAddress& address, ConnectSocketState state, IAsyncResult asyncResult, Exception& exception)
— End of inner exception stack trace —
at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()
at Cognos.Office.Reporting.Common.ImageBalloon.ShowAnimation()

Possible solution:
That a proxy server is setup inside IE – Internet options that is preventing the communication to happen.

Go to Control panel on your laptop
Click on Internet Options
Click Connections tab
Click LAN settings button
Unmark Proxy server
Click OK and test again.

More information:
https://www.exploringtm1.com/how-to-install-planning-analytics-for-excel-pax/
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSD29G_2.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.tm1_inst.2.0.0.doc/t_tm1_inst_sso_pax.html

Setup of SSL at TM1WEB
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSD29G_2.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.tm1_inst.2.0.0.doc/t_pa_use_ibmkeymgmt.html