by ·0 Comments

Product:
Cognos BI 8.4.1
Windows 2008 R2 Server

Symptom:
User get a error when they try to surf to Cognos connection using an old shortcut on the desktop.
It have worked the other day.

Error message:
404 – File or directory not found

Cause:
The IIS on Windows 2008 server is stopped to allow CGI.

This is simply done by inside Internet information services manager,
go to the server and click on “ISAPI and CGI Restrictions”
on the right side click on “Edit Feature Settings”
in the dialog Edit ISAPI and CGI Restrictions Settings
uncheck “Allow unspecified CGI modules”
and leave “Allow unspecified ISAPI modules” checked
click OK

This will stop all CGI access to the IIS server, if you not have explicit added exceptions in handler mappings.

Solution:
Ensure the user surf to http://servername/cognos8
instead of http://servername/cognos8/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi

Recommendation is to use cognosisapi.dll instead of cognos.cgi on Microsoft Windows server because they use less windows resources.

by ·0 Comments

Product:
Cognos Planning version 8.4.1

Symptom:
The Cognos service for planning or BI does not start, when you click on start in Cognos configuration program.

Error Message:
[Logging]
1. [ ERROR ] IPFTEST-006 Logging failed to connect to Database:jdbc:JSQLConnect://Server_Name:1433/Database_Name

Cause:
The SQL login created for the Cognos Audit or Planning Store are set to change password at first login.

Solution:
In SQL server management studio, right click and select properties for the SQL login used.
Uncheck “User must change password at next login”
Click OK

Now start the Cognos services from Cognos configuration.

by ·0 Comments

Product:
Cognos Controller FAP version 8.5.1
Microsoft Windows 2008 server

Symptom:
When doing a IP (initial publish) for datamart in FAP get error “Could not login to TM1, host …. Server name: …. User name: …

If you have the mouse pointer over the error message a screen tip will say
“could not logon with to CAM with user: tm1servername to ClientCAMURI http://cognoscontroller…..

Cause:
The CAM user we try to connect to the TM1 cube is not set as ADMIN in the TM1 cube.

The TM1 cube security is changed from 1 to 5 in the tm1s.cfg file to allow access from Cognos Connection and use of the Cognos Access Management (CAM) users. But we have forgotten to set the CAM user to be ADMIN.

Possible Solution:

Start Tm1 Architect and open the TM1 cube for FAP.
Right click on the TM1 cube and select Security – Clients/Groups.
Find the CAM user in the list and mark ADMIN under Administrative Group Assignment.
Click OK
Exit Tm1 Architect.

Try to publish again in FAP program.

by ·0 Comments

Product:
Cognos Controller FAP version 8.5.1

Symptom:
When doing a IP (initial publish) for datamart in FAP get error “Could not login to TM1, host …. Server name: …. User name: …

If you have the mouse pointer over the error message a screen tip will say
C8ITKShared (Not found in java.library.path)

You may find a FAPFatalErrorlog file in the FAP folder with this line;
Tue Mar 22 14:24:05 CET 2011 – Fatal error when starting or running FAPService. com.cognos.ccf.c8itk.ITKProxySession (initialization failure)

Cause:
FAP service can not find the TM1 dll files on the server. You need to add the path to the BIN folder to the PATH variable.

Solution:

Installing the TM1 Client (Optional)
This step is required when the Financial Analytics Publisher service and the TM1 application server
reside on different servers.
The TM1 client includes the dll files that are required for the Financial Analytics Publisher server
and the client to communicate with the TM1 server.

Steps to Add a Path for the TM1 Client System Variables
1. In Windows Explorer, right-click on My Computer, and select Properties.
2. Go to the Advanced tab.
3. Click Environment Variables.
4. Under System Variables, select Path, and click Edit.
5. Copy the path to the TM1\bin directory on your client, and paste it in at the end of the shown
path.
6. Click OK to all dialog boxes that follow.

by ·0 Comments

Product:
Cognos BI 10.1.1
Windows 2008 R2 server

Symptom:
After restart of the Cognos BI server you can not get into the Cognos connection or that the Business insight give error :

DPR-ERR-2014 Unable to load balance the request because no nodes in the cluster are available, or no nodes are configured for the service: buxService.

Background:
You have a two server setup,
One server with Cognos Content Manager and Cognos Gateway (named A)
One server with Cognos Application tier ( for BI reporting, named B )

The Cognos Configuration is pointing the primary dispatcher to the Cognos Content Manager server A, but this server does not have all the functionality installed to handle the dispatcher actions.

If you restart server B, then it will point to server A for actions, and server A have the dispatcher service – but not the associated functions needed to perform all actions.

Boot of Cognos servers:
In all Cognos system the server containing the Cognos Content Manager service must be started first. After that the other Cognos BI serves can be started.

Solution:
All servers and gateway must point to the Cognos BI App Servers dispatcher as the only and primary dispatcher for the gateway. This is on server B.

If you want to use the Content Manager server A as primary dispatcher, you must install the Cognos Application tier there.
Then you need to set Report service and Batch Report service to false in Cognos Configuration on Server A, to prevent the heavy reports to be processed on that server.

by ·0 Comments

Product:
Cognos Controller 8.5 FixPack 1

Symptom:
When you start Cognos Controller client for the first time you get the message
“An error occurred while trying to access the server”

In the Windows Event log you can find this message:
Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Cognos Controller
Event Category: None
Event ID: 0
Date: 2010-05-20
Time: 15:03:37
User: N/A
Computer: COMPUTER
Description:
Error occured at 2010-05-20 15:03:37 in IBM Cognos 8 Controller, Error No=5, Source=FrangoDirect.ConnectionDirect.SetSelectDb#ControllerProxyClient, Description=System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: Server was unable to process request. —> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80040154): Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {114133CF-5DC0-4DB1-8796-4642553B2499} failed due to the following error: 80040154.
at Cognos.Controller.Proxy.CCRWS.ConnectionBusiness_SetSelectDb(String sGuid, String sUser, Boolean bSelectDb)
— End of inner exception stack trace —, HelpFile= HelpContext=0

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Cause:
During the installation of Cognos Controller not all parts was correct installed.
You find this if you look on the Cognos Controller application server in Component Services under Administrative tools.
Expand the Com+ Applications branch and then expand IBMCOGNOSCONTROLLER Components branch – if there is only 30 objects in here then you have the cause of the problem.

Solution:
Uninstall Cognos Controller 8.5 from the Application server.
Install same Cognos Controller 8.5 to the same folder on the Application server.

Then you have all the components in the Component Services.

Cognos Controller 8.5 Fixpack 1 should have 259 Objects in Components Services.

by ·0 Comments

Product:
Cognos Controller 85

Symptom:
Error when you try to start Cognos controller client, after the selection of the database.
“An error occurred while trying to access the server.”

Message in Windows event log:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Cognos Controller
Event Category: None
Event ID: 0
Date: 2010-05-11
Time: 15:03:15
User: N/A
Computer: SERVER
Description:
Error occured at 2010-05-11 15:03:15 in IBM Cognos 8 Controller, Error No=5, Source=FrangoDirect.ConnectionDirect.GetUserInfo#ControllerProxyClient, Description=System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: Server was unable to process request. —> System.ArgumentException: Format of the initialization string does not conform to specification starting at index 0.
at System.Data.Common.DbConnectionOptions.GetKeyValuePair(String connectionString, Int32 currentPosition, StringBuilder buffer, Boolean useOdbcRules, String& keyname, String& keyvalue)
at System.Data.Common.DbConnectionOptions.ParseInternal(Hashtable parsetable, String connectionString, Boolean buildChain, Hashtable synonyms, Boolean firstKey)
at System.Data.Common.DbConnectionOptions..ctor(String connectionString, Hashtable synonyms, Boolean useOdbcRules)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionString..ctor(String connectionString)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionFactory.CreateConnectionOptions(String connectionString, DbConnectionOptions previous)
at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.GetConnectionPoolGroup(String connectionString, DbConnectionPoolGroupOptions poolOptions, DbConnectionOptions& userConnectionOptions)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.ConnectionString_Set(String value)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.set_ConnectionString(String value)
at Cognos.Controller.Proxy.DAL.Xcamusers..ctor(String sGuid, String sUser)
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 —, HelpFile= HelpContext=0

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Cause:
The SQL login that is used to access the Cognos Controller database have a = sign in the password.

Solution:
Change the password used by the SQL login Cognos to the controller database to only contain letters and numbers (e.g. A-Z, 1-9)
Then change in Cognos Controller Configuration for the database connection to the new password for access to the Controller database.
Save the change and restart the Controller Application server to allow the controller services to understand the change in connection to the database.

by ·0 Comments

Product:
Cognos Controller 8.4

Symptom:
It takes long time to start the Cognos Controller Client.

Problem:
It takes exactly 90 seconds between you enter your name and password in Cognos Controller until the program is open and you can start to work with it.

Cause:
The Cognos Controller program is signed with a certificate. During start of Cognos Controller the application will try to contact the certificate authority to check if the certificate is valid. If the computer (or citrix server) where Cognos Controller software is run from does not have internet access, the Cognos Controller program will try for 90 sec before it times out and shows the program anyway.

Solution:
Uncheck the “check for publisher certificate revocation” in Internet Explorer for the user on the server.
Easy is to create a script that set it to all users that logon to the Citrix Server:
The script will set values in the users Windows profile for Internet Explorer.
To make the script run for all persons add it to the file c:\windows\system32\usrlogon.cmd

Create a text file name UNCHECK.REG with this content in the c:\ root;

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WinTrust\Trust Providers\Software Publishing]
“State”=dword:00023e00

Then add the following line to the beginning of the USRLOGON.CMD file

regedit /s c:\uncheck.reg

Save the file.
Ensure that all users have read rights to the file uncheck.reg on the server.

This should also be done on the Cognos Controller Applications server, to ensure fast start of the Cognos Controller Configuration program.

by ·0 Comments

Product:
Cognos BI 8.1 Reportnet

Problem:
How do I erase old transformer mdc cube files from a folder?

Cause:
In many cases you create a new powerplay cube file every night with Cognos transformer. Then you get a lot of MDC files in a folder. But you want the old cube files to be erased.
In the creation process of the powercubes MDC file you add the date in the name as;
BudgetA20100218.mdc

Solution:
Create a batch file that contains below text,
Place the script file erasecube.cmd in the same folder as the mdc cube files.
Run the script as part of the cube build process.
The script will erase all MDC files that do not have today’s date in the name.

……………………………………………………….
Rem checks today date and format it to the variable currentdate
set currentdate=%date:~3,4%%date:~8,2%%date:~11,2%

rem List the cubes to be deleted
dir /B *.mdc | find /V “%currentdate%” > delete.list

rem Deleting the cubes
for /F %%j in (delete.list) do del /Q %%j

rem Deleting the list of used above
del /Q delete.list

…………………………
Ensure you test the script before you use it in production.

You must change the line “set currentdate=%date:~3,4%%date:~8,2%%date:~11,2%”
to get it to work with your regional settings on the computer.

MS-DOS function date:~3,4 where 3 is the position before first character to use, and 4 is the number of characters to use in the date string.

In a MS-DOS prompt on the Cognos server;
Check today’s format by type DATE /T in the prompt
You may see the date as 2010-03-26

Then you need to change the currentdate line to reflect this
set currentdate=%date:~3,4%%date:~8,2%%date:~11,2%
Above may give that variable currentdate is “0-0326”.
You change the line to be like below to get the right format.
set currentdate=%date:~0,4%%date:~5,2%%date:~8,2%

You can check by run above command in MS-DOS box
Then enter %currentdate% to see the value in the variable.
D:\temp>%currentdate%
‘20100326’ is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.