Product:
Cognos Controller 10.4.2

Microsoft Windows 2019 server

Issue:

How upgrade Cognos Controller to 10.4.2 IF15?

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6528580    (new version 10.4.2 IF16)

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6526468

Suggested solution:

Download the file up_cntrl_winx64h_10.4.2000.1098_ml.tar.gz

IBM Cognos Controller 10.4.2 Interim Fix 15, requires that IBM Cognos Controller 10.4.2 is installed.
If you not have 10.4.2, you need to install that first. https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-installupgrade-controller-serverclient

Follow IBM instructions https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6526240 or

1. Change to the directory where you have downloaded the interim fix.
   
2. Decompress the .tar.gz file. If you are using WinZip®, select the option “use folder names”.
3. Stop Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager (the Default Web Site).
   
4. Shut down the IBM Cognos Controller Consolidation COM+ application through Component Services.
   
5. Stop the following services through the Services Manager.
   
6. Check that you have a back up of the cognos content store and controller database.
7. If your IBM Cognos Controller environment is customized, back up the entire IBM Cognos Controller location.
8. Go to the location where you downloaded and extracted the files.
9. Go to the win64h directory and double-click the issetup.exe file.
   
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. Open IBM Cognos Configuration, save the configuration, and then start the IBM Cognos service.
17. Open Controller Configuration, and check that the values are there, special for Server Authentication and Client Distribution Server Configuration.
    
18. If you have a distributed environment, repeat these steps for all remaining IBM Cognos Controller servers.
19. Start the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager (the Default Web Site).
20. Reboot your windows server.

When you check in Cognos Controller client under help – system information – you see the version number there. Cognos Controller Version depend on the client you have installed.

In the transfer log you can find lines like this:

Condition “File “d:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\ccr_64\fcmweb\wlp\usr\servers\fcm.reports\apps\fcm.reports-rest.war\WEB-INF\lib\log4j-api-2.5.jar” exists” evaluated to true.

Successfully deleted file “d:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\ccr_64\fcmweb\wlp\usr\servers\fcm.reports\apps\fcm.reports-rest.war\WEB-INF\lib\log4j-api-2.5.jar”.

Condition “File “d:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\ccr_64\fcmweb\wlp\usr\servers\fcm.reports\apps\fcm.reports-rest.war\WEB-INF\lib\log4j-core-2.5.jar” exists” evaluated to true.

Successfully deleted file “d:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\ccr_64\fcmweb\wlp\usr\servers\fcm.reports\apps\fcm.reports-rest.war\WEB-INF\lib\log4j-core-2.5.jar”.

The update replace the jar file to later version.

If you upgrade from a version older than 10.4.2, you need to reinstall your cognos controller client to a new version on all users laptops.

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-install-controller-local-client

This version also contain other corrections, here is Controller fix list;

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ibm-cognos-controller-104x-fix-list

More information:

If you have CA11 installed, that also need to be upgraded.

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6526474

Workarounds and Mitigations

IBM is developing a “non-upgrade” option for “On Prem” Cognos Analytics customers that will patch the system and allow customers to remain on their current applicable version.  Cognos Controller customer have to upgrade to latest version, or patch the faulty jar files themselves. But IBM is developing a “no-upgrade” option for “On Prem” customers that will patch the system and allow customers to remain on their current applicable version. Check IBM page https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6528580

Product:
Cognos Controller 10.4.2
Cognos Analytics 11.1.7
Microsoft Windows 2016 server

Issue:
After a windows patch, no one can login to cognos controller.

Error:

An error occurred while trying to access server…

System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: Server was unable to process request. —> System.IndexOutOfRangeException: Index was outside the bounds of the array….

Solution:

Login to Windows server where CA11 and Cognos Controller IIS are.

Check if you can login to Cognos Controller, after above restart of www service.

More information:

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cognos-controller/10.4.2?topic=controller-error-occurred-while-trying-access-server

Product:
Cognos Controller 10.4.2
Microsoft Windows 2016 server

Issue:
Working in a excel file with fgetval formulas, but even do – i is logged into Cognos Controller, the cell show “You have not logged in”.

Solution:

Check if it will update the values if you press F9.

Otherwise check your formulas carefully in your spreadsheet, as if they are wrong you will get this error.

If it is only one spreadsheet that does not work, it is probably a misspelled formula in that sheet.

More information:

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cognos-controller/10.4.2?topic=excel-cognos-controller-functions-in-microsoft

Product:
Cognos Controller 10.4.2
Cognos Analytics 11.1.7
Microsoft Windows 2019 server

Issue:
When login to Cognos Controller, you get a error, after you select the database. This is a multi-server setup with load balanced Controller and CA11 servers. SSO with Active Directory is used.

Error message:

or

System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: Server was unable to process request. —> System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at Cognos.Controller.Common.CRNBridge.CRNBridge.ValidateUser(String passportId, String[]& membership, String sGuid, String sUser, String& sErrorMessage)….

System.Web.Services.Protocols.WebServiceHandler.CoreProcessRequest()
— End of inner exception stack trace —
at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.ReadResponse(SoapClientMessage message, WebResponse response, Stream responseStream, Boolean asyncCall)
at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.Invoke(String methodName, Object[] parameters)
at CCRRemoteServerProxy.Proxy.Light.WSLight.UserManager_GetCurrentUsers(String sGuid, String sUser)
at FrUserManagerB.RemoteUserManager.GetCurrentUsers…..

or

System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: Server was unable to process request. —> System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at Cognos.Controller.Proxy.ControllerReportNetService.RepNet.GetUserInfo(String sGuid, String sUser, String passportId)
at Cognos.Controller.Proxy.CCRWS.GetUserInfo(String sGuid, String sUser, String passportId)
— End of inner exception stack trace —
at Cognos.Controller.Forms.Common.Main.DoLoginCognos8(Form& frm)
at CCR.AppContext.DoLogin()
at CCR.AppContext.Login()

Suggested Solution:

Check that the Cognos Gateway point to the correct Cognos Dispatcher or correct port in the IIS setup.

Start Internet Information Services (IIS) manager on the Cognos Gateway server.

Click on the Server name and double-click the Configuration Editor icon.

Expand the drop-down list and select webFarms.

Mark Collection and click on the ellipses.

Click on the webFarm element and then the ellipses.

Select the server you want to check, expand the applicationRequestRouting, and see the port number.

Edit the number, if it is wrong.  Check the other servers in the list.
Close the dialog.

Close the collection editor dialog to.

Click Apply in the Configuration Editor.

Close IIS manager.

You can also check the values in applicationHost.config file, under C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\Config folder.

Open the file in Notepad++

The lines for webfarms is at the end of the file.

How the communication probably works;

Check that the ccr.exe.config files WSSURL value point to a Cognos Controller server that is up;

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

On that server; Ensure that Cognos Controller Configuration points to a report server gateway that is up;

http://caservername.domain.com/ibmcognos/bi/v1/disp

On that server; ensure that Cognos Analytics Configuration Dispatchers URI for gateway point to a CA dispatcher (report) server that is up;

http://caservername.domain.com:9300/bi/v1/disp

But also check the IIS server farm, that they point to CA servers that is up and that they use the correct port:9300

The CA11 server cognos configuration, will use the Content Manager URI, to validate that you can login;

http://caservername.domain.com:9300/p2pd/servlet

But also check that the IIS site /ibmcognos/sso have Windows Authentication enabled.

If the IBM Cognos service is not running, then the IIS Server Farm will classify it as unhealthy.

If the dispatcher server is unhealthy, then the CA gateway will not send the request there, and it will time out.

Check that the Windows firewall will allow port 8173 for the IIS communication and port 9300 for Cognos communication.

More information:

https://www.thebestcsharpprogrammerintheworld.com/2014/01/17/configuring-application-request-routing-arr-to-use-a-port-other-than-port-80/

https://serverfault.com/questions/132081/load-balancing-with-arr-iis-on-ports-other-than-80

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/request-failed-http-status-503-service-unavailable-when-launching-controller

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/invalid-login-response-error-when-accessing-cognos-analytics-sso

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/enabling-single-sign-cognos-secured-against-active-directory

https://docuri.com/download/the-active-directory-story_59c1d487f581710b2865bb0f_pdf

In the cognosserver.log file you can see error like this:

ERROR com.ibm.bi.platform.commons.web.BIResponseWrapper [Default Executor-thread-72] NA bi HttpServletResponseCode for /bi/v1/ping is in error: 503

Browse to   http://caservername.domain.com:9300/p2pd/servlet   to check if the content manager is running.

Product:
Cognos Controller 10.4.2
CONTRL_UPDATE_version=CCR-AW64-ML-RTM-10.4.2000.1063-0

Microsoft Windows 2019 server

Issue:
You try to unlock a company in Cognos Controller. You get a error message:

“Subquery returned more than 1 value. This is not permitted when the subquery follows =, !=, <, <= , >, >= or when the subquery is used as an expression”

Workaround:

Delete the entire contents of the temporary table ‘sactrlinfo’.

Delete FROM [CCR_UKFPM].[fastnet].[sactrlinfo]

or
Disable the system audit log functionality entirely.

Go to Maintain – System Audit Log – Configuration and deselect:

“Enable tracking of structure change details for System Audit Log > Structures”

“Enable tracking of data change details for Audit Trail”

More information:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/883764

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/375041

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/960392

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/subquery-returned-more-1-value-not-permitted-when-subquery-follows-or-when-subquery-used-expression-when-trying-lockunlock-any-period-change-period-locking-caused-apar-ph12550

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/apar/PH20395

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-track-changes-made-users-controller-database-using-system-audit-log-functionality

Product:
Cognos Controller 10.4.2
Microsoft Windows 10

Issue:
How install Cognos Controller client on my laptop?

Solution:

Find your CCRLocalClient64.msi file from a file share on the server. Recommended to copy the msi file first to your hard-disk and place it in a folder e.g. c:\temp.

Right click on msi file and select Install.

Click Next

Enter the name of your controller server, instead of localhost and press Next.

You should only update the WSS URL line, to something like this:

http://servername.domain.com/ibmcognos/controllerserver

Press next

Press install

If you get a question about allow Cognos Controller to make changes to your computer, click Yes.

Click Finish.

Click on the IBM Cognos Controller icon on the Windows start menu, to start the program.

Select your database to login.

Click on the Excel icon to start your excel session. Can be good, to do this before you go to Data Entry.

Under Help – System Info – menu, can you see the version you have installed.

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/cognos-controller-builds-ccr-name-and-database-version

If you go to Control Panel – Programs and Features, you will see the program installed.

From the control panel you can uninstall Cognos Controller, this you need to do before upgrade to a new version.

You need to have NET Framework 4.7.2 on your laptop for best performance;

https://support.microsoft.com/sv-se/help/4054530/microsoft-net-framework-4-7-2-offline-installer-for-windows

More Information:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-install-controller-local-client

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cognos-controller/10.4.2?topic=1042-installing-configuring-cognos-controller-one-computer

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/troubleshooting-cannot-run-macro-cccomparedb-macro-may-not-when-launch-excel-controller-excel-link-button

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-upgrade-controller-1042x-later-interim-fix-if-fix-pack-patch-level

Inside Microsoft Excel, go to File – Options – Add-ins and check that Controller add ins are active.

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/controller-excel-link-disappears-after-excel-crashes

Product:
Cognos Controller 10.4.2
Microsoft Windows 2019 server

Issue:
One user can not login to the new Cognos Controller setup with CA11, after selecting the database he get a error that he can not reach the CA11 website.

It worked in old version of Cognos Controller (where a different version of Cognos Analytics is used).

Solution:

On the CA11 servers, add the following registry value:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HTTP\Parameters]
"MaxFieldLength"=dword:00032768
"MaxRequestBytes"=dword:01000000

Reboot the windows servers, in correct order, with Cognos Content Manger first.

If a user is member of a lot of AD groups, here login call may be to big for the HTTP settings, therefor a adjustment like this is needed.

More information:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/troubleshooting-controller-client-seems-launch-after-selecting-database-logon-screen-fails-appear

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/troubleshooting-cannot-launch-controller-client-caused-incorrect-selectdb-database-selection-mode-setting

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/controller-logon-window-does-not-appear-or-webpage-cannot-be-found-appears-after-selecting-database-caused-incorrect-report-server-settings

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/order-restart-cognos-analytics-servers-distributed-environment

https://its.uiowa.edu/support/article/109196

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6218316

Other causes can be;

Steps:

1. Logon to Report Server (BI server) as an administrator
2. From the Start Menu, launch “Cognos Configuration“
3. Expand section “Local Configuration – Security – Authentication – Cognos“
4. Ensure that the setting “Allow anonymous access” is set to “False“
5. After making changes, restart the Cognos reporting service.

or

Modify all IIS/SSO settings (for example the ‘Rewrite rules’) to use the lowercase value for the URLs.
All server references in Cognos and IIS must be lowercase.

but all above will give, that all users have the same issue.

Product:
Cognos Controller 10.4.2
Microsoft Windows 2016 server

Issue:
How change from Cognos BI report, to the Controller report engine.

Solution:

To activate the controller report function, you need to change a web.config file.

7. Save changes

8. Browse to the folder: C:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\ccr_64\fcmweb\wlp\etc\

9. As a precaution, create a backup copy of server.env

10. Open the file server.env inside notepad

11.  Add the following line and save changes.  The default location for Java home is: C:/Program Files/IBM/cognos/ccr_64/fcmweb/jre

JAVA_HOME=C:/Program Files/IBM/cognos/ccr_64/fcmweb/jre

12. Make sure that the Windows service ‘IBM Cognos Controller Reports‘ is re-started

Product:

Cognos Controller 10.4.2
Microsoft Windows 10

Issue:

Go into maintain – batch queue – manage

You see a grey line to the left over the dialog. If you move the dialog window, the lines follow the window.

Workaround:

Go to Maintain – User – Personal Defaults.

Click on Layout tab.

Mark “Save Window Size”

Click Save.

Exit Cognos Controller Client program, and login again.

Product:
Cognos Controller 10.4.2
Microsoft Windows 2019 server

Issue:

When press the Schedule Job icon in Optimize Database dialog – the windows is not visible.
The button does not work.
Solution:
Most common is that the controller dialog is outside the screen.

To reset all cognos controller windows to center or top left corner, do this steps inside Cognos Controller client program:

1. Click “Maintain / User / Personal Defaults > tab Layout (2)”
2. Uncheck the box ‘Save Window Size’:

3. Click Save
4. Logoff from Controller, and re-launch the Controller client.

More information:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/hanging-slow-crashing-when-using-controller-triggered-message-appearing-inside-window-located-offscreen-triggered-save-window-size-being-enabled

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/375391

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/blurred-text-andor-strange-looking-fonts-andor-incorrect-display-layout-inside-controller-classic-client-caused-using-display-scaling-not-using-100-scaling-96-dpi-triggered-controller-not-being-high-dpi-aware

The values for Cognos Controller dialog position is stored in the users ccr.config file in there user profile folder, at C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Cognos\ccr.

You can change them in the file — but that is more difficult, than reset them as above.

<WinPos>
<add key=”frmRightsSystemReport-Left” value=”1950″ />
<add key=”frmRightsSystemReport-Top” value=”945″ />
<add key=”frmFormsDefine-Left” value=”390″ />
<add key=”frmFormsDefine-Top” value=”390″ />
<add key=”frmFormsDefine-Width” value=”15225″ />
<add key=”frmFormsDefine-Height” value=”8520″ />
<add key=”frmDefineFormSets-Left” value=”225″ />
<add key=”frmDefineFormSets-Top” value=”525″ />
<add key=”frmDefineFormSets-Width” value=”15675″ />
<add key=”frmDefineFormSets-Height” value=”8925″ />
<add key=”frmOptimize-Left” value=”45″ />
<add key=”frmOptimize-Top” value=”390″ />
<add key=”frmSubmission-Left” value=”45″ />
<add key=”frmSubmission-Top” value=”315″ />
<add key=”frmSubmission-Width” value=”10590″ />
<add key=”frmSubmission-Height” value=”6960″ />
<add key=”frmSubmissionReport-Left” value=”45″ />
<add key=”frmSubmissionReport-Top” value=”330″ />
<add key=”frmScheduleJob-Left” value=”45″ />
<add key=”frmScheduleJob-Top” value=”330″ />
<add key=”frmCompanyStructDef-Left” value=”60″ />
<add key=”frmCompanyStructDef-Top” value=”345″ />
<add key=”frmCompanyStructDef-Width” value=”12105″ />
<add key=”frmCompanyStructDef-Height” value=”11400″ />
</WinPos>

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/window-sizes-changeshrink-and-cannot-be-resized-plus-font-text-size-changes-when-using-java-functions-remote-desktop-caused-using-windows-81-option-let-me-choose-one-scaling-level-all-my-displays