Product:
Cognos Analytics 11.0.12
Microsoft Windows server 2016

Problem:
When user create a new report and want to add a picture, the default folder is the old /samples/images, but in CA11 the new folder is /webcontent/bi/images in most cases.

Suggested solution:
The default value of the Image picker tool in report studio of CA11, is stored in a JS file.
For version 11.0.12 that file is _WEK_async.js
Copy the file _WEK_async.js from the gateway server at c:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\analytics\webcontent\bi\pat\dialogs to your laptop.
Open the file _WEK_async.js in NOTEPAD++

Change the first occurrence of “../sample/images/” to “../images/” and save the file.
Rename the original _WEK_async.js to _WEK_async.js.org
Copy your new _WEK_async.js file to the folder on the gateway server c:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\analytics\webcontent\bi\pat\dialogs

Start a new browser session from you laptop.
Under internet options clear the cache and cookies, before you test again.

Surf to you https://cognosanalyticsserver/ibmcognos/bi/v1/disp
Start a new report
Choose the blank Layout template.
Expand to image tool on left side and double click it, to add it to the report.
Double click the icon and the default folder should be ../images.

If it does not work – try by restarting the Internet Information Server;
Go to the windows gateway server via RDP.
Start a DOS prompt as administrator
Enter IISRESET to restart the IIS services.

How find the json file
In future versions of CA11 this location of value is in a different file.
You have to start a IE browser, hit F12 and select NETWORK and start to capture. Surf to your CA11 website and create a new report.
Then when you open the image dialog, you will find in the first lines the file that it is using – in the list of files in the DEBUG IE Window.

More information:
https://www.ibm.com/mysupport/s/question/0D55000005IbHW0CAN/default-imgae-picker-url?language=en_US

Product:
Cognos Analytics 11.0.12
Microsoft Windows Server 2016

Issue:
When open up the administration tab from Cognos connection in CA11. You click on the system link on the left in IBM Cognos Administration. You see only the spinning wheel and the text “Working…” for a long time….

Error message:

Suggested solution:
Stop the IBM Cognos services, and start them in correct order slowly.
To make sure that they come up correct.

More information:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21496531

Order to Restart Cognos and TM1 Servers

Product:
Cognos Analytics 11.0.12
Microsoft Windows Server 2016

Problem:
After a reboot the Cognos BI Service does not start.

Error message in Cognos Configuration:
CFG-ERR-0103 Unable to start IBM Cognos service. Execution of the external process returns an error code value of ‘-1’.

Error message in Windows services when starting is that the password is wrong.

Possible solution:
A group policy have removed the service account for Cognos, from the local windows policy:
“Log on as a Service”. Add the Cognos windows service account back to the group.
Go to control panel – administration tools
Go to Local Security Policy
Expand Security settings – Local Policies – User Rights Assignment.
Click on Log on as a service.
Click Add user or group.
Add your user, and click OK all the way.

or you can enter the password again, then it will be automatically added to the group.

More Information:

https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg22002530

Product:
Cognos Analytics 11.0.12
Microsoft Windows Server 2016
Oracle 12 Database

Issue:
After changing the IBM Cognos service to use a windows service account instead of local system, the Cognos Analytics service does not start.

Error Message:
15:42:12, ‘LogService’, ‘StartService’, ‘FAILED’.
15:42:12, ‘LogService’, ‘StartService’, ‘Success’.
15:42:12, CAF-WRN-0010 CAF input validation enabled.
15:42:12, CAF-WRN-0021 CAF Third Party XSS checking disabled.
15:42:17, ‘ContentManager’, ‘getActiveContentManager’, ‘Failure’.
DPR-CMI-4006 Unable to determine the active Content Manager. Will retry periodically.
15:42:17, CM-CFG-5063 A Content Manager configuration error was detected while connecting to the content store. CM-CFG-5036 Content Manager failed to connect to the content store. The connection string is “jdbc:oracle:thin:@servername.domain.com:1521/instancename.domain.com”. The error encountered is: “ORA-00604: error occurred at recursive SQL level 1 ORA-12705: Cannot access NLS data files or invalid environment specified ” Cause: ORA-00604: error occurred at recursive SQL level 1 ORA-12705: Cannot access NLS data files or invalid environment specified Stack trace: java.sql.SQLException: ORA-00604: error occurred at recursive SQL level 1 ORA-12705: Cannot access NLS data files or invalid environment specified at oracle.jdbc.driver.T4CTTIoer.processError(T4CTTIoer.java:450)

Solution:
Change the region settings on the server for the Service account to English (United States).

More Information:
The Oracle driver have a NLS setting in registry, the windows region setting need to match this value to make the Cognos service to start.

Start REGEDIT and go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Oracle\KEY_OraClient12Home1] check there the value “NLS_LANG”=”AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8MSWIN1252”.

http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_ora_12705_resolution.htm

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

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

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

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

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

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

Product:
Cognos Analytics 11.0.7
Microsoft Windows 2012 server

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

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

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

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

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

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

Product:
Cognos Analytics 11.0.12 Framework Manager
Microsoft Windows 2012 server

Problem:
When connecting to the Cognos Gateway from Framework Manager, you get an error after login.

Error message:
Script Error
An error has occurred in the script on this page
Line: 43
Char: 3
Error: ‘requirejs’ is undefined
Code: 0
URL: https//caservername.domain.com/ibmcognos/bi?b_action=xts.run&m=portal/ close.xts
Do you want to continue running scripts on this page?

Possible solution:
If SSO is enabled, and the client computer is in a different domain than the server computer, you can get similar errors. Turn off SSO on the IIS server and try again.

If SSO was enabled while running the script tool to setup IIS for CA11, you can disabled it again in IIS Manager. During the execution of the tool, SSO is configured. To disabled it, perform the following:
1. Open IIS Manager.
2. Expand the web site and alias that was created.
3. Single click on the bi folder.
4. Click on URL Rewrite.
5. Find SSO Login. Single click on it and on the right hand action pane, click on disabled Rule.
6. Find Legacy SSO. Single click on it and on the right hand action pane, click on disabled Rule.

Can also be that you have enter the wrong URI for the gateway inside Cognos Configuration for Framework Manager.
Update Gateway URI to be https://caservername.domain.com:443/ibmcognos/bi/v1/disp
Save and try again.

More information:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg22000097

Product:
Cognos Analytics 10.0.12 Framework Manager
Microsoft Windows 2012 server

Problem:
Error when importing certificate file to cognos keystore with IKEYMAN.EXE.

You have setup SSL to the IIS server for the Cognos gateway. To be able to connect with client tools you import certs to cognos keystore.

Go to folder C:\Program Files (x86)\ibm\cognos\model\jre\bin
Click on IKEYMAN.EXE to start the program
Open the certificate store file from folder C:\Program Files (x86)\ibm\cognos\model\configuration\certs
Enter the password
Click Import to import your certificate file
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSD29G_2.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.tm1_inst.2.0.0.doc/t_pa_use_ibmkeymgmt.html

Error message:
An IO exception has occurred
DER input, integer tag error

Solution:
The format of the certificate is wrong, please try a pfx file instead.

Error message:
An IO exception has occurred
invalid keystore format

Solution:
Wrong format selected when you open the file, please try PKSC12 instead.

More information:
https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21339658

Product:
Cognos Analytics 11.0.10
Microsoft Windows Server 2016

Issue:
When you try to insert a picture in a report, I get a error that WebDAV is missing.

Possible Workaround:
Enter the path and name of the picture direct in the dialog.
Enter ../samples/images/alex_active.png

The pictures have moved to C:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\analytics\webcontent\bi\samples\images
from previous folder C:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\c10_64\webcontent\samples\images.

Start File Manager and check where the pictures are stored on your server. Copy any company pictures to a common folder that is accessible from the web.

Install webdav:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg22002398
More Information:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSEP7J_11.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.ug_cr_rptstd.doc/t_cr_rptstd_frmat_rep_insert_graphics.html
The webdav only works on the IIS server:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21984684

Product:
Cognos Analytics 11.0.x
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

Issue:
Before a upgrade, got a error, when doing a Export of Content in Cognos Connection.
This is in a multiserver Cognos BI setup, where there are more than one CM (Content Manager) server – that as best practice are setup to share a file share folder for deployments.

Error messages:
CM-CFG-5081 The deployment folder does not exist in the file system.

Possible solution:
Login to the active Content Manager server.

Check in Cognos Configuration, that Environment – Deployment files location : point to ../deployment. If it points to a file share like \\servername\deployment, then you need to check that the windows services IBM Cognos is run by is a Windows user and not Local System.
Access to file shares is only possible when the IBM Cognos services is run by a Active Directory user account (a service account). If you use local system, then the cognos program can not access file shares on other servers.

Change to ../deployment.
Save and restart the services from inside Cognos Configuration.
Test to run the export again.

Check in folder c:\program files\ibm\cognos\analytics\deployment that the file exists.