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Product:
Cognos Analytics 11.0.6
Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 server
Microsoft SQL 2014 database server

Problem:
How setup IIS for SSO with CA 11.0.6?

Solution:
This solution is using the tool provided by IBM for configuration of the IIS.
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg22000097

In this example, everything is setup on the same Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 server. You may need to check that the web server you use, have Trusted Delegation on the Domain Controller. Enter GPEDIT or SETSPN -L  ServerName at CMD prompt to see some information. More instructions here for Windows Kerberos;

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff646925(v=ws.10).aspx

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771131(v=ws.11).aspx

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731241(v=ws.11).aspx

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd759186(v=ws.11).aspx

On the Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 server;

– turn off DEP
– turn off UAC
– turn off ‘On access scan’ of anti-virus software
– turn off IEESC (internet explorer enhanced security configuration)
– Set Power Option to ‘High Performance’
– in Folder Options – view – untick ‘Hide extensions for known file types’
– Internet Options, under General – Settings, mark ‘Every time I start Internet Explorer’
– Internet Options, under Security – Local Intranet – sites, Advanced, add the CA 11 servers to the zone.

Create a empty database named “contentstore” on the Microsoft SQL server. Create a SQL login name cognos with password cognos204. Set the SQL user cognos to be DBOWNER of the database “contentstore”.

Setup CA 11
Download the CA 11.0.6 files from here
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24043412

Run installation of all tools, including IBM Cognos Software Development Kit 11, on the server. Start with the IBM Cognos Analytics Server 11.0.6.0 Microsoft Windows Multilingual (CNIN2ML). The new license, allow the administrator to use all tools.

ca_installfrom

Right click on ca_srv_win64_11.0.6.17031315.exe file and select “run as administrator”.
Click next to run the installation in English.
Select IBM Cognos Analytics, and click Next.
Select to Accept the license agreement, and click Next.
Enter the installation directory to d:\program files\ibm\cognos\analytics and click Next.
Select the Custom installation type, and click Next.
Select the First Install option and click Next.
Select all components and click Next.
Click on Install.
If you get a warning from the Windows firewall, check all and click on “Allow access” to continue the program installation.
When finish, click on Done

In later versions of CA11 you must copy file sqljdbc42.jar into folder d:\program files\ibm\cognos\analytics\drivers before configuration.

Start up Cognos Configuration by right click and select “run as administrator”
Check that the CAservername is already filled in at all the fields, at Environment.

ca_services

The Content store need to be change from IBM DB2 to a SQL Server database. Under Data Access – Content manager, right click ‘Content Store’. Select ‘Delete’ and confirm deletion.
Right-click New Resources -Database. Name the database ‘Content Store’ and select the type ‘Microsoft SQL Server database’.
In the right-hand pane at ‘Resource Properties’, fill in;
Database server name with port number (the sql servernamn:1433)
User ID and password (in our example cognos and Cognos204)
Database name (in our example contentstore)
Click on save icon and wait.

ca_websphere

Above the default values for CA11 WebSphere Liberty Profile. Ensure the server have enough memory.

To enable login to Active Directory, you need under Security and Authentication,
Right-click New Resource – Namespace. Provide a name of the domain ‘AD’ and select ‘Active Directory’. Click OK.
Enter the Namespace ID to be the same as the namespace properties ‘AD’.
Enter the host and port to the domain: domain.com:389
Click the save icon.
Right click and test to see that the AD connection works, you must provide an existing AD users name and password for the test.

Click save and click on start (triangle) to start the CA 11 service.
Surf to http://BIservername:9300/bi/v1/disp to test the program.
You should get to the page without the need to login.

In Cognos Configuration – namespace “Change allow anonymous access” to ‘False’.
Save the change and restart the Cognos services from the restart icon.
Test to surf again to http://servername:9300/bi, this time you should get a login dialog.

When installing the developer tools, you must enter the server name in lower case in Cognos Configuration for Cognos Cube Designer, otherwise it will not work to publish a cube.

ca_icons

You can “pin to start”, your most used programs, to make them easy to find.

Install IIS
Ensure that IIS is installed on the Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 server.
Click on Server Manager icon, normally in lower left corner of screen.
Click on Local Server, on the left in the Server Manager.
Scroll down to Roles And Features, click on Tasks icon and select Add Role and Features.
Click Next 3 times to you get to “Select Server Roles”.

Select Web Server (iis) and click “Add features” to any question about installing additional features.
Click Next 3 times to you get to “Role Services”.
Scroll down and select

ca_iis_2
– Security – Request Filtering (already filled in) and Windows Authentication

ca_iis_1
– (expand) Application Development Features – CGI, ISAPI Extentions and Isapi Filters

Click Next and click Install.

Start a Administrative Power Shell

ca_iisbackup
Enter this to make a backup of IIS settings
backup-webconfiguration -name MyIISbackup

Download ARR from here
https://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/application-request-routing

Run ARRv3:0.exe

ca_arr1

Click Install

ca_arr2
Click I accept

ca_arr3
Wait

ca_arr4
Click Finish.

Run the script
Download the script from here
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg22000097

Unpack the file CA_IIS_Config(6.22.17).zip
Open the file CA_IIS_Config.bat in Notepad++

ca_script1

set ca_path Set the location of the Cognos Analytics gateway folder d:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\analytics
set ca_disp This section is where all application dispatcher(s) in entered. (Do not enter servers that are only Content Managers)

• set disp[x]=server_name is where you would put the fully qualified dispatcher name
ex. set disp[0]= CAservername.domain.com

• set disp[x].port is where you would put the dispatcher port number.
ex. set disp[0].port= 9300

set enable_SSO To enable single sign-on capabilities in IIS, set this to True.

Save the BAT file.

ca_scriptA

In Windows Explorer, right click on CA_IIS_config.bat file and select Run as Administrator
A command windows will open with the variables that you have configured. If they are incorrect then press ‘n’ to exit and reopen the bat file to correct the issue. If everything is correct, then press ‘y’.

ca_scriptB

If all is well, there should not be any errors.

Surf to : Http://CAservername.domain.com:80/ibmcognos

If the SSO does not work after above script is run, check first that Windows Authentication is Enabled in IIS Manager. Open IIS Manager and go to the Default Web Site – ibmcognos. Click on Authentication. Mark Windows Authentication and click Enable. Ensure that Anonymous Authentication is Disabled on ibmcognos.

iis_windows

Then add singleSignOnOption=IdentityMapping in Cognos Configuration at Security – Authentication – AD – Namespace – Resource Properties. Click on Advanced properties above Account mappings (advanced) to enter the singleSignOnOption value. Save and restart the Cognos services.

ca_namespace

Restart the server, if it still does not work then you need to manually check out all the steps to ensure it works.

Note: that for pictures to be displayed in PDF reports, you often have to in IIS manager set Authentication to allow (enabled) Anonymous Authentication on the picture folder like /ibmcognos/bi/samples/images.

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSEP7J_11.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.inst_cr_winux.doc/t_gateway_iis.html

Change of GateWay
Inside Cognos Configuration for Framework manager or other tools, or for Internet Shortcut you need to update to use this link
Http://CAservername.domain.com:80/ibmcognos
to get SSO
http://CAservername.domain.com:9300/bi/v1/disp
will give you the login without SSO.

The URI Gateway for Transformer or Framework Manager clients should be:
http://CAservername.domain.com:80/ibmcognos/bi/v1/disp

The URI external dispatcher for Transformer should be:
http://CAservername:9300/p2pd/servlet/dispatch

The URI external dispatcher for Framework Manager should be:
http://CAservername:9300/bi/v1/disp

The URLs in Cognos Configuration for Cognos Analytics 11 can use the fully qualified domain name (FQDN).
The Gateway URL in Cognos Configuration for Cognos Analytics is configured as follows (gateway.domain.com is the FQDN for the Cognos Analytics gateway server and is the alias that was set in CA_IIS_config.bat before running the script.)

http://gateway.domain.com:80/ibmcognos/bi/v1/disp

ca_default

If you examine the .\\webcontent\default.htm and .\\webcontent\index.html file. They have no reference to cgi as before.

Database Issues

With CA11.0.6 only database driver sqljdbc42.jar is in folder d:\program files\ibm\cognos\analytics\drivers, that should be good enough to connect to a Microsoft SQL database server. You should install a Microsoft SQL Server Native client (msncli.msi) to allow CQM reports to work.

ca_installedprogram

Setup Audit database and import the sample_audit.zip deployment package.
Ensure Audit is configured in Cognos Configuration.
Create the data source connection to Audit database in Cognos Connection. Click on Test to test the data source link.

ca_datasource_check
Click on the Success text (if possible) in test connection to see more information.

ca_data_error
If you get a error XQE-DAT-0001, when you build a new report against the Audit database.
Then you may have forgotten to enter the database name, test will only check to the database server, not to the database you are going to query.

ca_jdbc
Ensure the JDBC connection have all fields filled out, for Microsoft SQL datasources.

When you test a data source to a TM1 server, you may get a error like below when you use AD authentication.
IBM Cognos TM1  / Dynamic  Failed   XQE-CM-0008
If you change to NO Authentication, then the data source test works. Set it back to AD external namespace authentication and build a report  and test that that works to get data from the TM1 cube.

 

More information:

https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg22017067
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27047187
http://www.cognoise.com/index.php?topic=32835.0

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee825145(v=cs.20).aspx

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Product:
Cognos Controller 10.2.1
Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Server
Microsoft SQL 2012 database

Problem:
How to upgrade Controller 10.2.1.x to a later Fix Pack ?

This is a very good article – so i copy the text, to have it here as well.
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21701948

Solution:
It is possible to patch an existing 10.2.1 Controller application server *without* having to perform a full uninstall/re-install of the Controller application server software. However, care needs to be taken (during the patching process) to ensure that all Controller-related services/systems/components are stopped.

To check which version of Controller you are currently using, click “Help – System Info” (inside the Controller client) and check the value of the first/top line.

To upgrade the Controller application server, perform the following tasks:
1. Download a copy of the patch (either a Fix Pack or Interim Fix).
2. Obtain downtime (no users on system)
3. As a precaution, perform the following tasks:
(a) Backup all Controller-related databases (application repositories, ContentStore and FAP)
(b) Launch ” Cognos Configuration” and create a backup of all the settings.
Typically this means click “File – Export As” and save the settings as an XML file (in a safe place)
(c) Launch ” Controller Configuration” and create a backup of all the settings
e.g. create a Word document with printscreens of all the current settings
(d) If using virtual servers (for example ESX) then create a backup image of the virtual server(s)
In other words, ask your ESX administrator to create a virtual snapshot backup of any server (for example Controller application server) before you make any changes.
4. VITAL: Shut down all Controller-related Windows services (running on the application server(s))
Specifically, stop the following Windows services:
IBM Cognos
IBM Cognos Controller Batch Service
IBM Cognos Controller Consolidation
IBM Cognos Controller Java Proxy
IBM Cognos Controller User Manager
IBM Cognos FAP Service

5. VITAL: Shut down other Controller-related subsystems (running on the application server(s))
Specifically,
Launch the “Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager” tool
Highlight the Default Web Site.
Click “Stop”:

Launch the “Components Services” tool
Right-click the “IBM Cognos Controller Consolidation” COM+ application and choose “Shut down”:
6. As a precaution, now take a backup copy of the entire ccr_64 folder (e.g. compress inside a backup ZIP file):
[This process helps make it easier to revert back to the older version of Controller if necessary later].

7. If the Controller application server has a Controller client installed, then uninstall the Controller client first before proceeding:
Important to uninstall the client before you upgrade the server. The uninstall program may use some of the previous versions files.
8. Install patch onto the application server(s) by doing the following:
Extract the compressed patch file
Double-click on installer file issetup.exe (inside subfolder winx64h)
Navigate through the installation wizard (in general by accepting all the default options).
TIP: Ensure that you choose the installation folder to be the same folder as the current installed version
If you have multiple Controller application servers, apply the patch for all remaining Controller application servers.

9. After the patch has finished installing, launch “IBM Cognos Configuration”. Click the buttons (near the top-left corner of the screen) to:
Save the current configuration
Start the IBM Cognos service:
10. Afterwards, launch ” Controller Configuration” and open the section ‘Database Connections’. Click on each database connection, and click on the green ‘play’ button.
Check to see if the ‘Current Version’ is set to be the same as the ‘Upgrade to’ version:
Sometimes (depending on the old/new versions of Controller) the ” Upgrade to” will have increased (because of the patch). If so, then you must press ‘ Upgrade’ to upgrade your Controller application databases (to the latest version).

11. Inside Controller Configuration, check that all the other settings look *exactly* the same as before the upgrade. Most importantly (in particular) check the following two sections:
Report Server:
COM+ Server:
TIP: Refer to the printscreens that you took earlier (in step 3 – before the upgrade) to make sure that the settings look the same as before.
12. If you used “ISAPI” before the upgrade, then:
change “Report Server” to mention cognosisapi.dll instead of cognos.cgi
modify the files “default.htm” and “index.html” (located in webcontent folder) to refer to cognosisapi.dll instead of cognos.cgi
13. Check the Windows service ” IBM Cognos Controller Java Proxy”. Ensure that it is configured to ‘ Log On As’ using the correct Windows user (typically the Cognos Controller system user e.g. \Controller_system).
14. Inside the IIS Manager, highlight the “Default Web Site” and click ” Start”
15. Afterwards, reboot Controller 10.2.1 application server(s) (to automatically start relevant services and ensure that the registry key change takes effect)

16. Upgrade client software on each-and-every end-user’s client device (see below).

Simplified instructions for how to upgrade *Client* software on each-and-every end-user’s client device:
1. Logon to the client device as the SAME Windows administrator which originally installed the Controller client.
2. Launch “Add/Remove Programs” and remove the Controller client ( for example “IBM Cognos Controller Local Client”):
VITAL that you uninstall the old cognos controller client before you install a new Cognos Controller client.
3. Download the new version of the Controller client from the application server
TIP: You can download it from: http://SERVERNAME/ibmcognos/controllerbin/ ccrlocalclient.msi
There are three different versions of the client – see Technote#1371088. For most customers, CCRLocalClient.MSI is the best version to use.
4. Double-click on the client installation file (for example ” ccrlocalclient.msi”)
5. Follow the installation wizard
TIP: If unsure what values to use (for example WSSUrl) then open the file %APPDATA%\Cognos\CCR\ccr.config inside NOTEPAD and read the values from there.
6. If the client device does not have access to the internet (e.g. most Citrix/Terminal servers) then modify the file “ccr.exe.config” (inside C:\Program Files (x86)\ibm\IBM Cognos Controller) as per separate Technote #1441779.

There are patches coming for Cognos Controller. You decide when you need to apply them, depending on how “secure” your network is and the risk of that the Cognos servers will be affected by unwanted software. Recommendation is to always be on latest fix pack.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg22004648
This upgrade instructions affect IBM Cognos Controller 10.2.1, check IBM web site for instructions for other versions.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21965917

Remediation/Fixes
The recommended solution is to apply the fix for versions listed as soon as practical:
10.2.0: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24043783
10.2.1: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24043783
10.3.0: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24043784

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Product:
Planning Analytics 2.0 Local (TM1)
Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 Server
Microsoft SQL 2014 database server

Problem:
How setup PA 2.0 Local?

Background:
This will describe the steps to setup PA 2.0 local with Security mode 5 connected to Cognos Analytics 11 (CA) and install of Toolbox docker and PAW. This doc will not cover SSO or how-to setup a reverse proxy for CA 11.

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSD29G_2.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.tm1_inst.2.0.0.doc/c_tm1_inst_singlecomputerinstallations.html

Newer versions of Planning Analytics use a different setup, please check the official documentation.

Solution:
Ensure that you have a big virtual Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 server, with at least 4 CPU cores, 16 Gb ram and 200 Gb hard disk space. Recommended is to have more RAM – like 64 GB ram.

Download software from IBM web site (easiest is to search for the PART NUMBER)

IBM TM1 2.0 Microsoft Windows Multilingual (download also the latest version from the links below) CNG5RML
IBM Planning Analytics Workspace 2.0 Multilingual CNG5UML
IBM Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel 64-bit 2.0 Microsoft Windows Multilingual CNG5WML
IBM TM1 Client 64-bit 2.0 Microsoft Windows Multilingual  (TM1 Perspective) CNG5TML
IBM Cognos Analytics Server 11.0.5 Microsoft Windows Multilingual (for cam security)

You should download the latest version – at least version 11.0.6 from link below.

 CNG1XML
IBM Cognos Framework Manager 11.0.5 Microsoft Windows Multilingual CNG25ML
IBM TM1 Client 32-bit 2.0 Microsoft Windows Multilingual (if you have 32 bit Excel) CNG5SML
IBM Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel 32-bit 2.0 Microsoft Windows Multilingual (if you have 32 bit Excel 2010) CNG5VML

RTM versions are listed here http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24042732

Download IBM Cognos Analytics 11.0.6.0 from here (ca_srv_win64_11.0.6.17031315.exe) http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24043412

IBM Planning Analytics Local 2.0.2 is now available on Fix Central (tm1_winx64h_2.0.2.138_ml.tar.gz)

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24043689

IBM Planning Analytics Workspace 2.0.20  (ipa_workspace_local_2.0.20.770.4.zip)

https://www-945.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/swg/downloadFixes?parent=ibm%7EInformation%20Management&product=ibm/Information+Management/IBM+Planning+Analytics+Local&release=All&platform=All&function=fixId&fixids=BA-PAWL-2.0.20&includeRequisites=1&includeSupersedes=0&downloadMethod=http&login=true

IBM Planning Analytics for Microsoft Excel 2.0.20  (cor_win32_2.0.20.17_ml.tar.gz)

https://www-945.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/swg/downloadFixes?parent=ibm%7EInformation%20Management&product=ibm/Information+Management/IBM+Planning+Analytics+Local&release=All&platform=All&function=fixId&fixids=BA-PAXL-2.0.20&includeRequisites=1&includeSupersedes=0&downloadMethod=http

Fix pack information can be found here

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27049229

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27049597

To get the fix list info in mail

https://www.ibm.com/communities/analytics/planning-analytics-blog/subscribe-to-fix-list-updates-for-planning-analytics-workspace-and-planning-analytics-for-microsoft-excel/

This is only a suggestion for the setup of PA 2.0 Local – you should follow the instructions that come from IBM in the first hand.

If you install to Microsoft Windows 2016 – you should use version 2.0.21

https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24043782

Download Docker Toolbox https://www.docker.com/products/docker-toolbox  if PAW is going to be installed on Windows 2012 server.

Check that on the Windows 2012 R2 server, you have installed:

  • NET Framework 4.6.1
  • C++ 2010 x64 redistributable (vcredist_x64.exe)
  • 7zip (to unpack the media files) http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
  • Telnet client (for testing of access to ports)
  • SQL drivers (sqlncli_x64.msi and sqljdbc4.jar files)

Turn off DEP

  1. Log on to the server.
  2. Open Windows Explorer.
  3. Right-click Computer > Properties.
  4. In the System Properties window, click Advanced System Settings.
  5. On the Advanced tab, under the Performance heading, click Settings.
  6. In the Performance Options window, click the Data Execution Prevention tab, and then select Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only.
  7. Click OK and then restart your system to enable the change.

DEP – Data Execution Prevention, can also be changed like this;
To do this from the Start menu select All Programs, then go to Accessories and then finally right-click on Command Prompt and click Run as Administrator.
Once the command prompt is open, you can now disable the DEP by entering the following command line.
bcdedit.exe /set nx AlwaysOff

Now restart the server
To reverse the action, simply type this command line to enable DEP back on again.
bcdedit.exe /set nx AlwaysOn

Turn off IE enhanced security

To disable IE enhanced security in windows server 2012 R2, launch the Server Manager, on the left hand side click on Local Server. On the right hand side click on the On link next to IE Enhanced Security Configuration.

You will now see the Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration box. Click on Off to turn off the IE ESC for both users and administrators.

Switch to the High Performance power profile

To configure this using a GUI, go to the Start Menu, search for “Choose a Power Plan” under Settings, then select the “High Performance” option. To configure this from a command line, use “POWERCFG.EXE /S SCHEME_MIN”.

By default, hidden files and folders are not visible, change this to make the work easier.

  1. Start Control panel.
  2. Click Folder options.
  3. Click Folder and search options.
  4. Click the View tab.
  5. Check show hidden files, folders and drives.
  6. Scroll down until you notice Hide extensions for known file types, un-check this line by clicking the check box.
    Note; To hide file name extensions, check this line.
  7. Click OK

If you are going to install CA11 and PA 2.0 Local on the same Windows server you must install CA11 first. If they are not on the same server (it is recommended to have them on separate servers) you can install PA 2.0 Local first and set it up with “localhost” in Cognos Configuration Environment tab.

Copy all media files to a folder on the Windows server, like D:\install

Unzip all gz media files to different folders, and remove the .tar files to save space.

SETUP CA 11

Create an empty database on your SQL server, name the database to “contentstore”.

Create a SQL login named cognos with the password Cognos202.

Ensure the SQL login cognos is DB_OWNER on the database “contentstore”.

Turn off On-Access-Scan in the server’s Anti-virus software before installing.

ca11_1

Right click on ca_srv_win64_11.0.6.17031315.exe file and select “run as administrator”.

Click next to run the installation in English.

Select IBM Cognos Analytics, and click Next.

Select to Accept the license agreement, and click Next.

ca11_2

Enter the installation directory to d:\program files\ibm\cognos\analytics and click Next.

ca11_3

Select the Custom installation type, and click Next.

Select the First Install option and click Next.

ca11_4

Select all components and click Next.

Click on Install.

ca11_5

If you get a warning from the Windows firewall, check all and click on Allow access to continue the program installation.

When finish, click on Done.

 

Start up Cognos Configuration by right click and select “run as administrator”.

ca11_6_config

Check to ensure the Windows server name is under Environment instead of localhost for the important URLs. Should be same server name everywhere instead of localhost.

ca11_8_config

The Content store need to be change from IBM DB2 to a SQL Server database.  Under Data Access – Content manager, right click ‘Content Store’.  Select ‘Delete’.

Right-click New Resources -Database.  Name the database ‘Content Store’ and select the type ‘Microsoft SQL Server database’.

In the right-hand pane at ‘Resource Properties’, fill in;

Database server name with port number (the sql servernamn:1433)

User ID and password (in our example cognos and Cognos202)

Database name (in our example contentstore)

Click on save icon and wait.

ca11_7_config

To enable login to Active Directory, you need under Security –  Authentication,

Right-click New Resource – Namespace.  Provide a name of the domain ‘AD’ and select ‘Active Directory’.  Click OK.

Enter the Namespace ID to be the same as the Authentication name like ‘AD’.

Enter the host and port to the domain:  domain.com:389

Click the save icon. You must change domain.com and the server-name to meet your environments need.

Right click and test to see that the AD connection works, you must provide an AD users name and password for the test.

Click save and click on start (triangle) to start the CA 11 service.

Surf to ‘http://servername:9300/bi/v1/disp’ to test the program.

You should get to the page without the need to login.

 

To test the network speed to the AD server, open a DOS prompt, and enter

PING  DOMAIN.COM  -T

This should give you how far it is to the DC server, if Time value is above 50ms you need to talk to IT department.

ca11_9

Change allow anonymous access to ‘False’ under the cognos namespace in Cognos Configuration.

Save the change and restart the Cognos services from the restart icon.

Test to surf again to http://servername:9300/bi, this time you should get a login dialog up.

Login to ensure the connection to Active Directory (AD) is working.

 

SETUP PA 2.0 Local

Turn off the anti-virus program on the server before installing.

Go to the folder where you have unzipped the PA media files.

Right click on file D:\install\pa 2.0.1\pa_2.0.1_win_ml.tar\winx64h\iisetup.exe and select ‘run as administrator’.

Click Next to get English as installation language.

Click I agree to the IBM License Agreement, and click Next.

pa20_2

Enter the path to the installations folder and set the server use type to Production (if this is the production server) and click Next. Server use type can be used by ILMT software to list the server as production or not.

pa20_3

Select all components and click Next.

pa20_4

Mark ‘Make the shortcuts visible to all users’ and click Next.

Click next to start the installation.

It should finish without any errors.

pa20_6_fixpack

Go to the folder for the latest version of the PA 2.0 Local media and run the setup again in same folder. Ensure you install to the same folder as before. (maybe it is possible to run the setup direct with this refresh media file tm1_winx64h_2.0.2.138_ml.tar.gz)

 

Right-click IBM Cognos Configuration for IBM Cognos TM1 – 64. and select Run as Administrator.

Go to Environment and enter the server name of the BI (CA11) server (if BI is not on same server as PA, then some fields should point to PA) instead of localhost.

pa20_7

Click on save icon.  If you get message from Windows Firewall , click on Allow access.

Right click on TM1 Admin server and select start.

Go to TM1 applications and enter the server name of the TM1 server you are configure instead of localhost. Click on the save icon.

Right click on IBM Cognos TM1 under IBM Cognos TM1 services and select start.

Go down to TM1 servers, and start the SData and Proven_Techniques sample TM1 data models.

SData is default used by Opsconsole as the holder of user’s login.

We use Proven_Techniques to test the CAM security later.

Close Cognos Configuration.

 

Start TM1 Architect and test that you can login to Sdata.

User name is Admin and password is apple.

FIREWALL

To access the PA 2.0 Local from other computers, you need to open some ports on the Microsoft Windows firewall on the 2012 server.

On the Start menu, click Run, type WF.msc, and then click OK.

In the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, in the left pane, right-click Inbound Rules, and then click New Rule in the action pane (upper right corner).

fw_1

Select Port and click next.

fw_3

Specify the local ports to: 80,443,9300,9510,9513,5495,5498, 5895,5898,9362,9580,9543
(ports 80,443,9510 are for End Users, the rest is for TM1 developers)

Click Next.

Ensure ‘allow the connection’ is select and click next.

fw_4

Mark all options for the rule to apply and click next.

fw_5

Enter a name, like “Cognos Tm1” and click on Finish.

Repeat the above for a new rule for the TM1 applications ports.

Here is best to open a series of ports – can be this suggested range;

PortNumber Range 12340 -12350
HTTPPortNumber Range 12540 -12550
ClientMessagePortNumber Range 12440 -12450

fw_2

We may have missed some needed ports, like 1433, that you also need to open in the Windows firewall on the server.

If there exist router firewalls between the servers, then you also need to open the ports in there.

TEST TM1WEB

Ensure the PA 2.0 LOCAL server is in the Trusted Zone in your Internet Options for your IE browser. Add both the server name and the *.domain.com

Surf to http://PAservername:9510/tm1web to test tm1web.

for IBM Cognos Performance Management Hub use:
http://PAservername:9510/pmhub/pm/admin

for TM1 Operations Console use:
http://PAservername:9510/pmhub/pm/opsconsole

TM1 applications should you not setup yet, if you are going to use CAM security.

http://PAservername:9510/pmpsvc

SETUP CAM SECURITY

Start Cognos Configuration for CA 11, and change to not allow anonymous login.

Save and restart the CA 11 windows service (IBM Cognos).

Open Cognos Configuration for PA 2.0 and in Environment section copy the URL for gateway and internal dispatcher to notepad. This should be used in your TM1S.CFG file.

Close TM1 architect, if it is open.

cam1

Click start and select Command Prompt (admin).

From the cmd dialog enter notepad and press enter.

This will start a notepad in admin mode that can write to \program files\ folder.

From inside Notepad select open and find tm1s.cfg in folder d:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\tm1_64\samples\tm1\Proven_Techniques\.

You need to change notepad to show all files and not only .txt.

 

Add this values to the tm1s.cfg file

IntegratedSecurityMode=2

ClientCAMURI=http://biservername:9300/bi/v1/disp

ServerCAMURI=http://biservername:9300/p2pd/servlet/dispatch

ClientPingCAMPassport=900

 

Update the values for ports to this

PortNumber=12345

HTTPPortNumber=12545

ClientMessagePortNumber=12445

 

Add these values

IPaddress=T

AllowSeparateNandCRules=T

DistributedPlanningOutputDir=.\tunit

ForceReevaluationOfFeedersForFedCellsOnDataChange=T

EnableNewHierarchyCreation=T

ParallelInteraction=T

MTQ=2

 

See here for more values to tm1s.cfg

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SS9RXT_10.2.2/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.tm1_inst.10.2.2.3.doc/c_parametersinthetm1s.cfgfile_n1503fe.html

Save the tm1s.cfg file for Proven_Techniques

From inside Notepad (in administrator mode) open the tm1p.ini file for your user.

You will find it in folder C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Applix\TM1

Change AllowImportCAMClients = F to AllowImportCAMClients = T.

Add CognosGatewayURI = http://biservername:9300/bi/v1/disp

 

Save the file and close notepad.

Check that Cognos BI service ‘IBM Cognos’ is running.

Restart your TM1 services, like IBM Cognos TM1 Server – proven_techniques.

 

Start TM1 Architect and login to proven_techniques.

Use the native login of Admin and password apple.

When inside, select the application and right click and select security – clients/groups.

From menu clients, select add new member.

At the login prompt enter the AD username and password you have.

You should get to Cognos Connections add users dialog where you can select Cognos and your AD namespace.

Go to you AD namespace, and search for the Windows users you want to be able to work in your application. In this test, only add one user (you).

You can also click on TYPE in upper right corner and enter the username like this;

AD/roos

Where first is your AD namespace name and after the slash is the NT user name.

Click on the arrow to add the user, and it should resolve to display name.

Click OK to add the user to your TM1 application.

Mark ADMIN for that user before you exist TM1 architect.

Close TM1 Architect.

 

Start NOTEPAD from Admin command prompt.

Open the tm1s.cfg file from d:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\tm1_64\samples\tm1\Proven_Techniques folder.

Change to IntegratedSecurityMode=5

Save the tm1s.cfg file and exit notepad.

Restart the TM1 windows service proven_techniques.

 

Wait a long time to allow the services to start.

Start TM1 Architect and login to proven_techniques, you should be prompted with the CA 11 login page, and come in as the user you have just added.

 

You need to repeat above step of adding users for your TM1 applications, so you get the first CAM user to be Admin inside the TM1 application.

 

To get TM1WEB and PMPSVC to work with CAM security you need to update some file in your Cognos BI (CA 11) server.

cam2

On your PA 2.0 Local (TM1) server unzip the file d:\program files\ibm\cognos\tm1_64\bi_interop\bi_interop.zip to a new folder.

Stop the Cognos Analytices service (IBM Cognos)

Copy the webcontent to the folder d:\program files\ibm\cognos\analytics\webcontent to merge the content.

Copy the templates to the folder d:\program files\ibm\cognos\analytics\templates to merge the content.

Start Notepad from a admin command prompt, to be able to save the files later.

From inside notepad open the file d:\program files\ibm\cognos\analytics\webcontent\planning.html

Change

// Update the following to point to the location of the planning service(s)

var planningServices = [“http://machine.company.com:9510”];

to point to the new PA (TM1) server

// Update the following to point to the location of the planning service(s)

var planningServices = [“http://PAservername.domain.com:9510”];

Save the file.

 

From inside notepad open the file d:\program files\ibm\cognos\analytics\webcontent\pmhub.html

Change

// Update the following to point to the location of the pmhub service(s)

var pmhubURLs = [“http://mypmhubserver1:9510″,”http://mypmhubserver1.domain.com:9510”];

to point to the new PA (TM1) server and to the PAW server, like this

// Update the following to point to the location of the pmhub service(s)

var pmhubURLs = [“http://PAservername.domain.com:9510″,”http://PAWservername.domain.com:9580”];

Save the file.

 

From inside notepad open the file d:\program files\ibm\cognos\analytics\webcontent\tm1\web\tm1web.html

Change

// Update the following to point to the location of the TM1Web service(s)

var tm1webServices = [“http://localhost:8080”, “http://localhost:9510”];

to point to the new PA (TM1) server

// Update the following to point to the location of the TM1Web service(s)

var tm1webServices = [“http://PAservername.domain.com:9510”];

Save the file.

Start the CA 11 ( IBM  Cognos) service. Wait until it is started.

Startup PMPSVC for the first time, now when you have cam security in your application and support for it setup in the cognos bi (CA 11) server.

Surf to http://PAservername.domain.com:9510/pmpsvc/

pmpsvc_1

Ensure you can select your TM1 application in the dropdown list

(if the list is missing – please try a different web browser)

All url should be correct populated.

If you are missing information – check the TM1 Cognos Configuration section. You may have a localhost line there.

Mark the Cognos BI dispatcher and click OK to save the settings (they are save to the file d:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\tm1_64\webapps\pmpsvc\WEB-INF\configuration\ fpmsvc_config.xml).

Now only applications with the same security (IntegratedSecurityMode=5) will work in TM1 application portal (pmpsvc).

User who need to access the admin functions in pmpsvc, can need to be part of the first TM1 application you added to the list of PMPSVC TM1 applications (instances).

The new Planning Analytics Workspace (PAW) in IntegratedSecurityMode=1 point to ONE TM1 instance, that must contain the admin users who can change the PAW settings.

PAW only work with IntegratedSecurityMode=1 applications or IntegratedSecurityMode=5 applications, you cannot mix IntegratedSecurityMode for applications that interact with the PAW.

Simplest is to use IntegratedSecurityMode=1 in your application, but then the TM1 super user need to handle the name and password administration.

With IntegratedSecurityMode=5 you can use the Active Directory (or LDAP) functions, and user and password administration can be handled by your IT department.

 

Before installing docker;

intelcputool1

Check that VTX are enable on the Microsoft Windows 2012 server, by download and install the Intel processor identifier. Download it from here:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/7838/Intel-Processor-Identification-Utility-Windows-Version
Run the utility, and go to the cpu technologies tab. The Intel VT-x with EPT must read a value of Yes. If No, you must active VTx in your system before we start installing PA 2.0 Local PAW.

intelcputool2

This mean your VMWARE guru need to change in HOST BIOS, enable VT-X support in the HOST VMware console, and for change VT-x support for the image you plan to run PAW in.

Note; that some versions of Hyper-V or VMWARE does not support VT-x, here can you not install PAW.

Best is to create a folder, d:\vbox, for the virtual machines on your server.

Go to Control Panel \System and Security\System.

Click on Change Settings.

Go to “Advance” tab.

Click on Environment Variables.

docker_1

Set the “MACHINE_STORAGE_PATH” system variable to point to folder d:\vbox

 

Go to CMD prompt and enter SET to see a list of all variables in use.

Check that the MACHINE_STORAGE_PATH is listed correct.

 

SETUP DOCKER

For Microsoft Windows 2012 you must download the “docker toolbox” installation program.

Right click on DockerToolbox.exe and select “run as administrator”.

Untick ‘help Docker improve Toolbox’ and click Next.

docker_2

Enter the path for the program (d:\program files\docker toolbox) and click Next.

docker_3

Choose Full Installation and click Next.

docker_4

Uncheck ‘Install VirtualBox with NDISS driver’ and click Next, at additional tasks.

docker_5

Click Install.

docker_6

If you get the question to install ‘Oracle Corporation Universal Serial Bus’, click Install.

docker_7

Uncheck ‘View Shortcuts in File Explorer’ and click Finish.

docker_8

This should give you some new icons on the desktop for Oracle VM VirtualBox.

To get VBOX to run as a service you need to download VBoxVmService-5.1-Plum.exe from  https://sourceforge.net/projects/vboxvmservice

This will only work with VirtualBox Version 5.1.

The Only help I found was here;

https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4762&start=390

 

SETUP PAW

Important to reboot the Windows server before installing the PAW program.

You need to download the latest PAW installation file from IBM Fix Central.

Unzip the ipa_workspace_local_2.0.20.770.4.zip file to a folder on the server.

paw_1

Place the files in an easy accessible folder, because you will check the log files here.

The start.bat file contain values you can change.

paw_0

Open it in Notepad before installation, to change the memory the PAW image will use and the Ports the program will use. If it is run one its own server, then leave the default ports at 80 and 443.

In the case we install it on the same server where we have Cognos BI or IIS installed, then change the ports to 9580 and 9543 (so they will not collide with IIS port 80).

You should not change the CPU COUNT to less than 4 CPU, then it will become slow.

But your host server must have at least the same amount of CPU, and best if it have 2-4 Gb ram more than the PAW will use.

If your VMware host use the network 192.168.40.x you should change the Networks values to a different not used network.

 

Example of START.BAT shown below:

@echo off

REM Start up a bash shell and run the Windows start script for IBM Planning Analytics Workspace

SET PAW_DIR=%~dp0

 

SET DOCKER_MACHINE_NAME=paw

SET VM_MEMORY=6144

SET VM_CPU_COUNT=4

SET VM_DISK_SIZE=20000

SET HOSTONLY_CIDR=192.168.40.1/24

SET STATIC_IP=192.168.40.100

SET NETMASK=255.255.255.0

SET BROADCAST_IP=192.168.40.255

SET HTTP_PORT=9580

SET HTTPS_PORT=9543

 

REM Avoid a breaking change in Docker Compose 1.9

SET COMPOSE_CONVERT_WINDOWS_PATHS=1

 

REM Share the parent directory with the Virtual Machine

cd %PAW_DIR%/..

SET HOST_SHARED_FOLDER=%CD%

cd %PAW_DIR%

 

SETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS

SET KEY_NAME=”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GitForWindows”

SET VALUE_NAME=”InstallPath”

 

FOR /F “tokens=2*” %%A IN (‘REG.exe query “%KEY_NAME%” /v “%VALUE_NAME%”‘) DO (set GIT_PATH=%%B)

 

IF NOT “%GIT_PATH%”==”” (

SET BASH_PATH=%GIT_PATH%\bin\bash.exe

) ELSE (

SET BASH_PATH=C:\Program Files\Git\bin\bash.exe

)

 

if exist “%BASH_PATH%” (

SET TERM=

start “IBM Planning Analytics Workspace Administration” “%BASH_PATH%” –login -i “scripts\winstart.sh”

) else (

@echo on

echo Install Docker Toolbox for Windows and try again.

explorer “https://www.docker.com/products/docker-toolbox”

pause

)

 

On the Windows server right click on start and select ‘command prompt (admin)’.

In the CMD window, CD to the folder where you have your Start.bat.

paw_2

Enter START.BAT to start the PAW installation.

You must enter START.BAT, if you enter only START it will fail.

The program will check the ports,

and give you an option to change the memory and cpu usage.

Creating the virtual machine “paw” takes a very long time.

paw_3

Press Y when you get the question about starting the Administration Tool.

paw_4

This will start a IE Browser one your host accessing the Admin page, accept both license before you can move on.

paw_5

In the Configuration tab you should enter your TM1 servers name.

TM1 Admin server URI = https://PAservername.domain.com:5898

TM1 Application Server Gateway URI = http://PAservername.domain.com:9510

Under Authentication Mode when using TM1 you should point to the Window server where you have your TM1 instance using a specific port, that will be your TM1 application to control who will have access to the Administration tool.

TM1 Login Server URI=https://PAservername.domain.com:12545

(Note: that all new functions use the new HTTPport for access)

paw_6

Click on validate button, to check the values you entered are working.

If you get an Error: Request timed out after 10010ms, you maybe  have entered the wrong port number.

Click UPDATE when you get the Validate to work.

paw_7

The start of PAW will take some time, click on STATUS and then on REFRESH to see the progress.

When CPU usage is low like 1%, then it is ready and you can surf to the PAW (Planning Analytics Workspace).

Surf to http://PAwservername:9580/

paw_8

Login with the user and password you have in your TM1 application.

paw_9

In our test, click on a new book and expand and drag some view of the cube onto the canvas.

paw_10

Click on Save icon up at the left side to save your designs.

 

Here some Error messages you may get when installing PAW

(The log files are found in folder d:\install\ipa_workspace_local_2.0.20.770.4\log\admintool)

Error:

Docker Machine is not installed. Please re-run Toolbox Installer and try again.

Solution:

Reboot your Windows server.

Error:

Creating CA: D:\vbox\certs\ca.pem

Creating client certificate: D:\vbox\certs\cert.pem

Running pre-create checks…

(paw) Image cache directory does not exist, creating it at D:\vbox\cache…

(paw) No default Boot2Docker ISO found locally, downloading the latest release…

(paw) Latest release for github.com/boot2docker/boot2docker is v17.05.0-ce

(paw) Downloading D:\vbox\cache\boot2docker.iso from https://github.com/boot2docker/boot2docker/releases/download/v17.05.0-ce/boot2docker.iso…

(paw)

Solution:

Good you had internet connection, so it could download the file.

Error:

Running pre-create checks…

Error with pre-create check: “This computer doesn’t have VT-X/AMD-v enabled. Enabling it in the BIOS is mandatory”

Solution:

Change the VMWARE host to support VTX.

Error:

Invalid command line. Found extra arguments [–virtualbox-no-share –virtualbox-hostonly-cidr 192.168.40.1/24 –virtualbox-memory 6144 –virtualbox-cpu-count 4 –virtualbox-disk-size 20000 paw]

Solution:

You have been changing the file \scripts\winstart.sh in attempt to get past the VTX issue.

Check that you have not missed a space.

Error:

Running pre-create checks…

(paw) Image cache directory does not exist, creating it at C:\machine\cache…

(paw) No default Boot2Docker ISO found locally, downloading the latest release…

Error with pre-create check: “Get https://api.github.com/repos/boot2docker/boot2docker/releases/latest: dial tcp: lookup api.github.com: getaddrinfow: No such host is known.”

Solution:

Place the file boot2docker.iso in correct folder, d:\vbox\cache

Try again to run the Start.bat file

 

TO SETUP PAW TO USE CAM

If not already started, run START.BAT, and select NO on update PAW, instead say YES to start the Admin configuration.

paw_11

Here at the Configuration tab click on CAM button and fill in the values for the BI server.

IBM Cognos BI Gateway URI = http://CAservername.domain.com:9300/bi/v1/disp

IBM Cognos BI Dispatcher URI = http://CAservername.domain.com:9300/p2pd/servlet/dispatch

IBM Cognos BI Authentication Namespace ID = Exact the same Namespace ID you entered in Cognos Configuration for CA11 (this is case sensitive).

paw_12

Click on validate and OK.

Go to status tab and click on the RESTART button to make the changes take effect.

 

Error you may see when working in PAW;

PAW_error_1

Error:
Cannot get the data.

Cannot create the session for server SDATA.

Solution:
The SDATA application use Native security and you have setup PAW to use CAM security.

Only use CAM security enabled TM1 applications with your PAW installation.

paw_error_2

Error:
The server it temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

Solution:
Wait or reboot the services.

SETUP TO RUN AS A SERVICE

Important to reboot the windows server before configuring PAW to be run as a service.

Rigth click on VBoxVmService-5.1-Plum.exe and select run as administrator.

vbox_1

Mark “I accept the agreement” and click next.

vbox_2

Click install.

vbox_3

Click finish.

vbox_4

Open the file d:\vms\VBoxVmService.ini in notepad.

Looks like this;

[Settings]

VBOX_USER_HOME=C:\Users\admin\.VirtualBox

RunWebService=no

PauseShutdown=5000

 

[Vm0]

VmName=ubuntu

ShutdownMethod=savestate

AutoStart=yes

 

[Vm1]

VmName=winxp

ShutdownMethod=savestate

AutoStart=no

 

Change it to point out your location for images that is d:\vbox\machines

Change it to handle the paw image and take away the last image.

Should look like this now

[Settings]

VBOX_USER_HOME=D:\VBOX\machines

RunWebService=no

PauseShutdown=5000

[Vm0]

VmName=paw

ShutdownMethod=acpipowerbutton

AutoStart=yes

Save the file.

Restart the server.

The log file will be written to d:\vms\VBoxVmService.log

Check the log file to ensure the service start up correct.

You must test reboot of the Windows server to find the best settings for this vbox service settings to work with PAW.

Example of Error you can get:

Error:
Callee RC  E_FAIL (0x80004005)

Solution:
You have too little memory free, the last shutdown of the vbox did not work.

Reboot the Windows server.

HOW TO BACKUP THE PAW

paw_stop_1

Run the START.BAT from a command prompt to get to a java prompt.

paw_stop_2

Enter scripts/paw.sh stop to stop the server

 

Enter scripts/backup.sh to stop paw services and make a backup and start them again

paw_stop_3

All the example scripts you can use, are in this folder, d:\install\ipa_workspace_local_2.0.20.770.4\scripts

Explore and create better scripts for your use.

paw_stop_4

The backup files are stored in a folder under d:\install\ipa_workspace_local_2.0.20.770.4\backup.

 

The TM1 application, can you backup with a bat file that contain this lines (you need to adjust the paths for your environment);

REM execute the backup command on data folder

“d:\program files\7-zip\7z” a d:\pal\planning\work\backup\tm1backup.zip -r d:\pal\planning\datafiles\*.*

TM1 reboot

Stop these WINDOWS services before you reboot your server with PA 2.0 Local

NET STOP VBOXVMSERVICE

NET STOP “IBM COGNOS”

NET STOP “IBM COGNOS TM1”

NET STOP SDATA

NET STOP PROVEN_TECHNIQUES

NET STOP PLANNING

NET STOP TM1ADMSDX64

 

When TM1 instance is down, you can also make a backup of the log files folder.

More information:

https://www.ibm.com/communities/analytics/planning-analytics/blog/

Note: in code you need to replace “ with ” to make it work.

How  install new PAW on new Windows version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6REUFVQD-xA

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Product:
Cognos Controller 10.3
Windows Server 2012 R2
Microsoft Excel Professional Plus 2013 (32 bit version)

Problem:
When starting Excel 2013 from icon in Cognos Controller or when open the data entry form I get a error.

Error message:
Error launching menu item “controller link”
Error Details
… macro cc.CompareDb . Macro is maybe not in this workbook…
… could not find c:\program files(x86)\IBM\IBM Cognos Controller\adxloader.Controller.ExcelLink.dll. Can it have been moved, change name or been removed?…

Solution:
There may be old references to old Cognos Controller versions in the registry for this user.

Start Excel 2013
On file – options – add-ins
Click on GO button for manage Excel Add-ins
if there is a line for
Adxloader.controller.excellink
mark it and you will get a message that say it can not find the add-in, should it be removed from the list?
Click Yes.
Close excel.

Please try again to see if excel is working now.

Fun fact:
To see what AD groups you belong to and other information,
start a Command prompt as admin on the computer
Enter gpresult /v > c:\temp\YOURINFO.TXT

This will list both groups for you and the computer and other information.

In case above does not work for one user, but the other users have less problem with Cognos Controller and Excel. Run above command on the two users computers, and compare the TXT files for them to find out if the user that Cognos Controller is working for have more RIGHTS on his computer than the person who have issues.

Check the section “The user is part of the following security groups” last in the list.

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Product:

Cognos Analytics 11.0.6

Information:

Cognos Analytics 11.0.6 adds support for Planning Analytics Local. Here are the new integration highlights in version 11.0.6.

Dashboard support for packages with TM1 and Planning Analytics cubes

As of version 11.0.6, you can make Cognos Analytics dashboards using packages from TM1 or Planning Analytics cubes. As always you create the packages in the Cognos Administration console or with Framework Manager. See Dashboard Enhancements in Cognos Analytics 11.0.6 for information on the OLAP support now available in dashboards.

REST connectivity to Planning Analytics

Cognos Analytics connects to TM1 data sources using TM1 client software which needs to be installed on the Cognos Analytics server. Cognos Analytics connects to Planning Analytics using the TM1 REST API which doesn’t require any additional software to be installed. You create a connection to Planning Analytics from the Cognos Administration console by selecting the IBM Planning Analytics data source connection type.

If you are upgrading from TM1 to Planning Analytics, within the Cognos Administration data source you can replace the TM1 connection with a Planning Analytics connection. Subsequently you need to re-publish any packages that refer to that data source, but no need to make any changes to the associated reports.

Support for Planning Analytics hierarchies

Sometimes referred to as “attribute hierarchies” and “named alternate hierarchies”, they are commonly known as simply “PA hierarchies” and are arguably the most important new TM1 server feature in Planning Analytics Local. Here’s a 3 min video on them.

Planning Analytics hierarchies appear and behave no differently than any other OLAP hierarchy in Cognos Analytics, but now you can have a TM1 dimension that has multiple hierarchies.

You need to use a Planning Analytics data source connection to see multiple TM1 hierarchies within a dimension; if you try to use a TM1 data source connection only the first or default hierarchy will appear within each dimension.

Support for localized Planning Analytics cubes

TM1 10.2.2 introduced the ability to localize objects in a cube without needing alias tables as documented here. This is supported in Cognos Analytics via a Planning Analytics REST connection only.

Cognos Analytics users can see a localized Planning Analytics cube in their language by either setting the Content Language in their user preferences or by setting the report language in the report properties. Note that you do not need to use the language settings that appear when creating a package for Planning Analytics cubes as those are for the legacy alias table localization functionality only.

Link to the CA 11 versions  http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24043412

Above text from:

Cognos Analytics 11.0.6 support for Planning Analytics

 

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Product:
Cognos Controller 10.3
Microsoft Windows 2012 R2
Microsoft SQL 2016 database server

Problem:
You have two environment, PROD and TEST, and want from same computer client be able to connect with same Cognos Controller 10.3 client to these environments. You can not have two different versions on Cognos Controller client installed at the same time on your laptop, because it is risk that it will not work with the Cognos Controller Excel add-in. Here it is same version of Cognos Controller client that should talk to two different Controller Application servers.

Possible solution:
Please take care and ensure that the client works with the correct database, and that you always clear the local cache inside Cognos Controller 10.3 when you start the program. This to ensure you do not have data from the other database inside the client.

Install the Cognos Controller client from the CCRLOCALCLIENT64.MSI file (that you find on the controller server in folder
C:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\ccr_64\webcontent\ccr ).
Here you have instructions on how to install Cognos Controller 10.3 client
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21608353

After the installation, then you on the client create this files.
Go to folder C:\Program Files\ibm\IBM Cognos Controller Local Client\
Copy the file ccr.exe to ccrtest.exe and ccrprod.exe, so you have 3 exe files in the folder.
Copy the file ccr.exe.config to ccrtest.exe.config and ccrprod.exe.config, important the names match the previous names.
Then open ccrprod.exe.config in notepad.
It is only the row WSSUrl you need to change – so it point to the TEST or the PROD server.

<add key=”WSSUrl” value=”http://controllerPRODservername.domain.com/ibmcognos/controllerserver”/>

update the ccrprod.exe.config text file and then save it.

update then ccrtest.exe.config text file with the TEST server name and save it. Also only on this row  <add key=”WSSUrl” value=”http://controllerTESTserver/ibmcognos/controllerserver”/>

Now you have a CCRPROD.EXE that will use the CCRPROD.EXE.CONFIG file to find the server when you start the program.

Now right click on CCRPROD.EXE and select “create shortcut” – place the shortcut on the desktop.
Now right click on CCRTEST.EXE and select “create shortcut” – place the shortcut on the desktop.

There should now be TWO icons for Cognos Controller 10.3 on the desktop of this user.
(if you want to install this on several users, then you should copy the 2 *.exe and the 2 *.config files you created and the 2 ccr – shortcut files to each users hard-disk, keeping them in the same folders as now.).

To start Cognos Controller 10.3 for the test environment, then you click on the CCRTEST.EXE icon.
After you have logged in, you go to menu Maintain – Special Utilities – Clear Local Cache.
Then you can start working in your Cognos Controller 10.3 Client session.

To see what database you are using in the program toolbar – go to Maintain – User – Personal Defaults
On the Layout tab, mark windows setting “Display Data Source and User ID”.
Click OK.

Restart your Cognos Controller 10.3 client program.

============== This is how the ccr.exe.config file can look like===================

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?>
<!–
IBM SOURCE CODE HEADER START
# =====================================================================
# IBM Confidential
#
# OCO Source Materials
#
# IBM Cognos Products: ccr
#
# (C) Copyright IBM Corp. 2004, 2014
#
# The source code for this program is not published or otherwise
# divested of its trade secrets, irrespective of what has been
# deposited with the U.S. Copyright Office.
# =====================================================================
# IBM SOURCE CODE HEADER END
–>
<configuration>

<configSections>
<sectionGroup name=”profile”>
<section name=”Settings” type=”System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler, System, Version=1.0.3300.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089, Custom=null”/>
</sectionGroup>
<section name=”log4net” type=”log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net” requirePermission=”false”/>
</configSections>
<profile>
<Settings>
<add key=”SelectDb” value=”true”/>
<add key=”Language” value=”2057″/>
<add key=”CASUrl” value=”C:\Program Files\IBM\IBM Cognos Controller Local Client\”/>
<add key=”WSSUrl” value=”http://servername.domain.com/ibmcognos/controllerserver”/>
<add key=”HelpUrl” value=”http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter”/>
<add key=”InstallExcelLink” value=”false”/>
<add key=”CacheDir” value=””/>
</Settings>
</profile>
<system.web>
<webServices>
<soapExtensionTypes>
<add type=”ClientExtension, ControllerExtension” priority=”0″ group=”0″/>
</soapExtensionTypes>
</webServices>
</system.web>

<log4net>
<root>
<level value=”ERROR”/>
<appender-ref ref=”CCRClient”/>
</root>
<appender name=”CCRClient” type=”log4net.Appender.FileAppender”>
<staticLogFileName value=”false”/>
<file type=”log4net.Util.PatternString”>
<conversionPattern value=”${LOCALAPPDATA}\CCRClientLogs\%date{MM_dd_yyyy}.txt”/>
</file>
<appendToFile value=”true”/>
<layout type=”log4net.Layout.PatternLayout”>
<conversionPattern value=”%date %-5level %logger – %message%newline”/>
</layout>
</appender>
</log4net>

</configuration>

==================================================================================

Here you can download the Cognos Controller 10.3 fix pack 1 version
https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24043262

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Product:
Planning Analytics 2.0 local
Microsoft Windows 2016 server Version 10.9.14393

Problem:
Can I install PAW on Windows 2016 server with the native docker that come with Windows 2016?

Solution:
No. PAW does not support native docker on windows 2016. PAW in current state, need that you install the “docker toolbox” on your windows server.  The new version Planning Analytics Workspace 21 includes a native install for Windows Server 2016.
https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24043782
https://community.watsonanalytics.com/discussions/questions/30105/does-planning-analytics-workspace-server-run-on-wi.html

More Information:
This is the steps to install the docker that is part of Microsoft Windows 2016. But this does not work with PA 2.0 Local.

Install Microsoft Windows 2016 server.
Ensure that Windows is connected to the internet.
Update the Windows 2016 server to latest fix pack version.
Start a power shell session as a administrator.
Right click on the power shell icon and select run as administrator.
Paste this line to install DOCKER
Install-Module -Name DockerMsftProvider -Force

install docker1
Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

PS C:\Windows\system32> Install-Module -Name DockerMsftProvider -Force

NuGet provider is required to continue
PowerShellGet requires NuGet provider version ‘2.8.5.201’ or newer to interact with NuGet-based repositories. The NuGet
provider must be available in ‘C:\Program Files\PackageManagement\ProviderAssemblies’ or
‘C:\Users\admin\AppData\Local\PackageManagement\ProviderAssemblies’. You can also install the NuGet provider by running
‘Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -MinimumVersion 2.8.5.201 -Force’. Do you want PowerShellGet to install and
import the NuGet provider now?
[Y] Yes [N] No [S] Suspend [?] Help (default is “Y”): y
WARNING: Unable to download from URI ‘https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=627338&clcid=0x409’ to ”.
WARNING: Unable to download the list of available providers. Check your internet connection.
PackageManagement\Install-PackageProvider : No match was found for the specified search criteria for the provider ‘NuGe

You will be asked to update NUGET – above error happens when you do not have internet connection from your Windows 2016 server.
Ensure you have internet connection from your Windows server.

Run the command again in Power Shell:
Install-Module -Name DockerMsftProvider -Force

Then run this:
Install-Package -Name docker -ProviderName DockerMsftProvider -Force

install docker2

This text will be the response:
WARNING: A restart is required to start docker service. Please restart you machine.
Name: Version: Source: Summary:
—-
Docker 17.03.1-ee DockerDefault Contains Docker EE for use with Windows Server 2016…

Restart the Windows server with this command in power shell:
Restart-Computer -Force

You will now have a windows service called Docker that is running. There will also be a new network adapter called vEthernet (HNS Internal NIC).

To test you can enter this in power shell:
docker run hello-world:nanoserver

It will start by download the container and then run it.

nanoserver
Give above if it works.

If you in CMD enter:
docker version
you will get the version like this
C:\Windows\system32>docker version
Client:
Version: 17.03.1-ee-3
API version: 1.27
Go version: go1.7.5
Git commit: 3fcee33
Built: Thu Mar 30 19:31:22 2017
OS/Arch: windows/amd64

Server:
Version: 17.03.1-ee-3
API version: 1.27 (minimum version 1.24)
Go version: go1.7.5
Git commit: 3fcee33
Built: Thu Mar 30 19:31:22 2017
OS/Arch: windows/amd64
Experimental: false

Here to download Docker Toolbox
https://www.docker.com/products/docker-toolbox?cm_mc_uid=80072513057014906872494&cm_mc_sid_50200000=1496826036

Here to understand Docker

https://store.docker.com/editions/enterprise/docker-ee-server-windows

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Product:
Cognos Controller 10.3
Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 Server
Microsoft SQL 2014 server

Problem:
Surf to controller web give blank page. If you try to surf to http://localhost:9080/fcm.web/login instead of http://servername:9080/fcm.web/login it works fine.

Solution:
Ensure you surf to FQDN and that is in your Trusted Zone in IE. Local intranet zone is not good enough. You must surf to http://servername.domain.com:9080/fcm.web/

How to install Controller web:
During installation on your Cognos Controller server select to install the controller web parts.
This will create the folder C:\Program Files\IBM\cognos\ccr_64\fcmweb

Locate the file server.env in the C:\Program Files\IBM\cognos\ccr_64\fcmweb\wlp\etc\ folder.
Open the file server.env and set the JAVA_HOME installation directory to JAVA_HOME=C:/Program Files/IBM/cognos/ccr_64/fcmweb/jre/jre.
To synchronize Controller Web with Uniform Data Language (UDL) files defined for databases used by Controller, run SyncDBConf.bat as an administrator from the command prompt.

SyncDBConf.bat takes two parameters:
The UDL files folder: the path to the folder containing UDL files (specifying database connections) defined for Cognos Controller.
The datasource folder: the output path for the folder that shall contain the data sources generated from the UDL files.
For example:
C:/Program Files/IBM/cognos/ccr_64/fcmweb/SyncDBConf.bat       ..\Data     wlp\usr\shared\config\datasources

Locate the file com.ibm.cognos.fcm.web.properties in the C:\Program Files\IBM\cognos\ccr_64\fcmweb\wlp\usr\servers\fcm.web folder.
Open the file com.ibm.cognos.fcm.web.properties and set the login mode to loginMode=NATIVE.

Optionally you can change the available memory.
Locate the file jvm.options in the C:\Program Files\IBM\cognos\ccr_64\fcmweb\wlp\etc\ folder.
This is part of that file;

# Java Heap size.
# In production, setting min and max to same value can provide the best performance by avoiding heap expansion and contraction.
# But high min value increases startup time, which may be undesired in a dev environment.
-Xms2g
-Xmx4g

Create a Microsoft Windows service by running the file install_service.bat in the folder C:\Program Files\IBM\cognos\ccr_64\fcmweb\install_service.bat.
In the Windows Services console find IBM Cognos Controller Web and start the service.
Log in to Controller Web via your browser using the following url: http://[servername.domain.com]:9080/fcm.web/login.

The Controller web server name must be in TRUSTED ZONE in internet explorer.
Go to the Control panel on your workstation – click on internet options.
Click on Security tab
Mark Trusted sites and click on Sites button.
Enter the name of your Controller web server and click add. You may need to untick the “require server verification for all sites in this zone”.

You must surf to http://servername.domain.com:9080/fcm.web/

If you surf to http://servername.domain.com:9080/FCM.WEB/ you get a message like this

IBM WebSphere Application Server
Context Root Not Found

Close IE and try again with correct address.

If you surf to http://servername.domain.com:9080/ you get a message like this
Update Available. Click to download WebSphere Application Server Liberty Runtime

Do not update – close IE and try again with correct address.

If you change the Cognos controller databases, after the initial configuration of IBM Controller Web, then you need to stop the Controller Web Windows service, before you run SyncDBConf.bat again to collect the new database definitions.

To make Controller WEB work with CAM (Cognos Access Manager) :

You must configure IBM Cognos BI to not allow for anonymous authentication. You must also specify the Controller Web settings as below.

In the Cognos BI installation folder, /templates/ps/portal/, create a file with the name variables_CCRWeb.xml.
The content of the file variables_CCRWeb.xml must be as follows:

<CRNenv c_cmd=”http://controllerservername:9080/fcm.web/cam_login”>

<cookies>

<param name=”cam_passport”/>

</cookies>

</CRNenv>

Locate the file com.ibm.cognos.fcm.web.properties in the C:\Program Files\IBM\cognos\ccr_64\fcmweb\wlp\usr\servers\fcm.web folder.
Open the file com.ibm.cognos.fcm.web.properties and set the following properties:

biUrl: the URL that the user must go to when CAM authentication is needed. This property is only valid for CAM login mode.
biDispatchEndpoint: the endpoint to which Controller Web connects to validate CAM users and CAM passports. This property is only valid for CAM login mode.
loginMode: the authentication type. The accepted values are: CAM and NATIVE.

This is how it can be in the file;

# IBM SOURCE CODE HEADER START
# =====================================================================
# OCO Source Materials
#
# BI and PM: ccr
#
# (C) Copyright IBM Corp. 2004, 2009. All Rights Reserved
#
# The source code for this program is not published or
# otherwise divested of its trade secrets, irrespective of
# what has been deposited with the U.S. Copyright Office.
# =====================================================================
# IBM SOURCE CODE HEADER END

### SYSTEM RUNTIME SETTINGS ####
# See com.ibm.cognos.fcm.web.ui.infrastructure.SingletonSystemContext for current details

# global grace period before revalidating cache (milliseconds). Default: 6000 ms (if not defined)
# cache.validation.graceperiod=6000

### REALTIME EVENTS ###
# Examples:
# applicationID=fcm.web
# realtime=true
# jms=false

### CLASSIC and BI SERVER ###

# @TOKEN@ elements below must be transformed during deployment to match actual installation.
# Login mode can be set to NATIVE or CAM.
# Examples:
ccrwsUrl=http://controllerservername.domain.com/ibmcognos/controllerserver/ccrws.asmx
biUrl=http://biservername.domain.com /ibmcognos/cgi-bin/cognosisapi.dll
biDispatchEndpoint=http://biservername.domain.com:9300/p2pd/servlet/dispatch
loginMode=CAM
# loginMode=NATIVE

# eof

More information:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21997780
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21998917

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21984087

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Product:
Cognos Controller 10.3
Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 Server Standard
Microsoft SQL 2016 database server

Problem:
How copy a controller database to test database?

Solution:
Take a backup of your existing controller prod database in Microsoft SQL.
You can export the backup by use of Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio or from a command line on the SQL Express server with this command:

SqlCmd -U admin -P cognos123 -S .\SQLEXPRESS -Q “BACKUP DATABASE [ControllerLive] TO DISK=’C:\backup\ControllerLive.bak’ “

Above is if you use SQL login admin with password cognos123, and the database name to take backup of is named ControllerLive. Enter the command in Notepad++ and save as a ANSI cmd file – that you then run from an administrative command prompt on the SQL server.

SqlCmd -E -S .\SQLEXPRESS -Q “BACKUP DATABASE [ControllerLive] TO DISK=’C:\backup\databases\ControllerLive.bak’ “

Above is when you use Windows authentication and the logged in Windows user on the SQL server is executing the SQL backup. You need to update the path to reflect your environment.
This BAK file is then copied to the server where you have your test environment.

Best is to restore the BAK file with use of Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. But if you know the logical name of the database you can use a script like this:
SqlCmd -E -S .\SQLEXPRESS -Q “RESTORE DATABASE [ControllerTEST] FROM DISK=’C:\backup\databases\ControllerLive.bak’ WITH RECOVERY, MOVE ‘ControllerLive’ TO ‘C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL13.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\DATA\ControllerTest.mdf’, MOVE ‘ControllerLive_Log’ TO ‘C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL13.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\DATA\ControllerTest.ldf’ “

You need to update the path to the correct ones for your environment.

After the Controller Database is restored you in most cases need to connect the SQL login with this SQL query that you run in Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio:
Sp_change_users_login ‘update_one’,’frango’,’frango’
Replace frango with the login name you use for your controller database.

Now the controller database is setup as ControllerTest, you need to go to the Cognos Controller server and add this database to Controller.
Inside IBM Cognos Controller Configuration mark the Database Connections tab and click on the NEW icon.
Enter database type to SQL Server.
Enter name to ControllerTest (or what you find most useful for the user to see)
Enter Provider to SQLNCLI11.1
Enter User ID to frango (or the SQL name to login to the database)
Enter Password to xxxxx (the password you have set on the SQL login)
Enter Initial catalog to ControllerTest (the name of the database in SQL)
Enter Data source to servername of the SQL server (and do not use FQDN)
Click on save.
Click on Check.
Click on Run, to start the DBCONV program.

Click on Connect to see version of the database.
If the Current version and upgrade to version number is not the same for Controller DB, then click on upgrade button.
Click on Close.

Go to Report Server and click on the green Check icon.
Then Controller will check if the new database exists in Cognos Connection.
If not, a REPAIR button will appear inside Cognos Controller Configuration.
Click on the REPAIR button (this will only work if the Windows user that is logged into the controller server is system admin inside Cognos Connection).
Report server connections have been created successfully.

Now you should restart the Windows server where Cognos controller are to ensure that the batch routine recognize the new database.

Then when this is done the super user of Cognos Controller should start their Controller client and login to see that the new database is working.

More information:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg22001683
https://www.howtogeek.com/50295/backup-your-sql-server-database-from-the-command-line/
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21347969&aid=5

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Product:
Cognos TM1 10.2.2 (works also in PA 2.0 Local)
Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 server

Problem:
Setup logging of TI processes execution to a Tm1 cube.

Solution:
Create two dimensions and build a cube of them.
Then add an EPILOG script to all TI process that should log information in that cube.

Go into your application – in our text we use planning sample.
In Tm1 Architect select Dimensions – Create New Dimension
Select Insert Element from Edit menu
Enter the following as Element Name
Time
User
Comment
Click OK
Select save from dimension menu and name the dimension to be Sys.Event

In Tm1 Architect select Dimensions – Create New Dimension
Select Insert Element from Edit menu
Enter the following as Element Name
Temp
Click OK
Select save from dimension menu and name the dimension to be Sys.Log

Right click on cubes and select Create new cube
Mark the two dimensions and click on the arrow icon to move them over to the cube.
Enter Cube name to Sys.Log
Click on Create Cube button.

Now you have a cube to view the logging in.

Then you need to paste below code in EPILOG in all TM1 TI process that you need logging in.
It is important you update the sStatusText line in each TI process to explain what has happen.

#—————————————————————————–
# Logging
#
# set sStatusText to information on what file create or values updated
# if the TI process is run by a Chore then the TM1 user is R*+chore name
# otherwise set the sUserText to the user running the chore
# dimensionelementinsertdirect will add the TI process to the dim if it does not exist
# timSt(now, ‘\Y-\m-\d \h:\i’) will create the time in format 2017-05-16 12:43
#—————————————————————————–

sStatusText = ‘ This the comment written to log ‘;
sCubeName = ‘Sys.Log’;

if(SUBST(TM1User(),1,2) @= ‘R*’);
sUserText = ‘Scheduled’;
else;
sUserText = attrs(‘}clients’, TM1User(), ‘}TM1_DefaultDisplayValue’);
If (sUserText @= ”);
sUserText = TM1User();
endif;
endif;

dimensionelementinsertdirect( sCubeName , ”, getProcessName(),’S’);
cellputs(timSt(now, ‘\Y-\m-\d \h:\i’), sCubeName ,’Time’, getProcessName());
cellputs(sUserText , sCubeName ,’User’, getProcessName());
cellputs(sStatusText, sCubeName ,’Comment’, getProcessName());

To test the TI process, you can enter following code in PROLOG tab.
#—————————————————–
# DEBUG LINE ONLY
#——————————————————
V1 = TM1User();
ASCIIOutput(‘c:\temp\tm1logging.txt’, V1, ‘ this is a variable result’ ) ;

Please note that TI process that is run from a scheduled core in TM1 is executed as a special user that have admin rights and is not listed in the Security dialog. If you run same TI process from TM1 Architect – it is processed as the user who logged in to TM1 Architect.

## The below is the smart code that will take the user name and show the Friendly name of it instead of the CAMID(“AD:u:6f2c060820fb2341bbcfd6”)

sUserText = attrs(‘}clients’, TM1User(), ‘}TM1_DefaultDisplayValue’);

## This extra test if it is blank, is for the case there is not a DisplayValue (alias).

If (sUserText @= ”);
sUserText = TM1User();
endif;

Ensure the ‘ character is correct in your code.

More information:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SS9RXT_9.5.0/com.ibm.swg.im.cognos.tm1_ref.9.5.2.doc/tm1_ref_id13786tifun_asciioutput.html