Product:
Cognos Controller 10.3.x
Microsoft Windows 2012 server

Problem:
After restore of a backup of a database, when you run the upgrade script in DBCONV you get a error message:

Running DB step: 882 ….
com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException: Cannot create more than one clustered index on table ‘xdbtrickle’. Drop the existing clustered index ‘idx_xdbtrickle_vat1’ before creating another

Solution:

Ask the DBA to drop the two index. And then run the upgrade again.

After the DBA have restored a backup of the Cognos Controller database, you need to go to the controller server, and inside Cognos Controller Configuration add the new database (if it not already exist). Fill in the fields as appropriate. Data source is the SQL host (server).

Click on the green arrow to go to the database conversion.

Click on CONNECT and then on UPGRADE.

When done, and no errors, click on CLOSE.

Then you should in Controller Configuration go to Report Server tab and click on the CHECK icon, to update the data sources in Cognos BI.

The sql commands that give issues are:

IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sysindexes WHERE id = object_id(‘XDBTRICKLE’) AND name = ‘NC_XDBTRICKLE_SEQUENCNO’)
CREATE CLUSTERED INDEX NC_XDBTRICKLE_SEQUENCNO ON xdbtrickle (sequenceno ASC);

IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sysindexes WHERE id = object_id(‘XDBTEXTTRICKLE’) AND name = ‘NC_XDBTEXTTRICKLE_SEQUENCNO’)
CREATE CLUSTERED INDEX NC_XDBTEXTTRICKLE_SEQUENCNO ON xdbtexttrickle (sequenceno ASC);

More information:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-backup-and-restore-db2-databases-use-cognos-controller

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-move-controller-databases-new-database-server-basic-instructions

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

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

Currently Supported Versions of Controller (incl. Interim Fixes):

See more at IBM web site.

Product:
Cognos Controller FAP service 10.4.2
Microsoft Windows 2019 server

Problem:
How do i know if the FAP service stopped working, even do the windows “IBM Cognos FAP Service” is running?

Suggested solution:
Ask the IT department monitor team (splunk) to collect the log file from the FAP service on the TM1 server.
You find the file error.log in folder D:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\ccr_64\Server\FAP

Let there tool scan the file for the keyword ERROR, and if that is found send a e-mail alert to the TM1 people. Next step would be to check the TM1server.log file for more clues. Then they can stop the FAP service and restart it. Also recommended to do a FAP Initial publish at this time.

If the stop have been long, they may need to also do this;

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-perform-fap-reset-sequence-re-synchronise-controller-data-publishing-tm1

There are 3 main components for FAP:

1. Microsoft SQL Server for the Controller machine
2. FAP TM1 Server on the TM1 machine
3. FAP Service Software on the TM1 machine

If any of these machines needs to be rebooted or taken offline for any reason – the order in which the FAP related services is important.  If either TM1 server or database server is shutdown or rebooted – the FAP service on the TM1 server must be restarted.  The order is important – the FAP Service for the Controller server must be started last.

If the ram memory on the TM1 server is to low – you can see this in the error.log file

| ERROR [common.persistence.retry.RetryInterceptor] [pool-2-thread-1], Trial 1 failed for method refreshMdxHierarchy
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException….
Caused by:
com.ibm.cognos.fap.common.exception.LoggedException: Could not create stub TI process: refreshMdxHierarchyProcess….

If the network make FAP service loose contact with the SQL server – you can see this in the error.log file

| ERROR [fap.service.schedule.Scheduler] [schedulerThread], Something severe has happened…..

More information:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/frequently-asked-questions-about-ibm-cognos-controller-extended-fap

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/working-cognos-controller-financial-information-financial-analytical-publisher-fap

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-configure-financial-analytics-publish-fap-allow-publishing-controller-data-planning-analytics

Product:
Cognos Controller Web 10.4.2
Microsoft Windows 2019 server

Problem:
User browse to Controller web and get a message

Server is not reachable or still initializing, please refresh the page in a few seconds

Possible Solution:

Depending on the URL you enter in your Internet Explorer you will succeed or not.

This give above error

http://servername:9080/#!/Login

If you enter the FQDN like this it will work

http://servername.domain.com:9080/#!/Login

The error can also be that you are to fast, the controller web will need some time to start up.

More information:

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SS9S6B_10.4.2/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.ctrl_web_ug.doc/c_web_workflow.html

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/link-planning-analytics-not-configured-when-configure-controller-web-connect-tm1-pa-web-caused-apar-ph19087

Product:

Cognos Controller Web 10.4.2

Microsoft Windows 2019 Server

Problem:
When user browse to Controller Web on URL http://servername.domain.com:9080/ they see a blank page.

Solution:
Inside Internet Options for IE change the value for Compatibility View Settings.

Uncheck both, so this is not used.

Close and then test again.
Controller Web may need in Internet Explorer to Deselect the “Display intranet sites in Compatibility View”.

In some cases the controller web windows server need to be removed from the Internet Options security local intranet zone;

Go in there and remove the servers listed under sites.

More information:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/fix-site-display-issues-with-compatibility-view-in-internet-explorer-11-9a0a3a6e-89be-518f-ff56-c491b528b302

https://hawaiianair.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2613/~/internet-explorer-compatibility-view-%28ie9%2C-10%2C-%26-11%29

Product:

Cognos Controller Web 10.4.2
Microsoft Windows 2019 server

Problem:
After login to database in Controller Web you get a error.

PRS-NOP-1056

The contents of the node operation “append” could not be parsed.

DetailsExpand

org.dom4j.DocumentException : Error on line 3 of document : Open quote is expected for attribute “name” associated with an element type “param”.

Possible Solution:
The ” is in the wrong format in the file variables_CCRWeb.xml

Start Notepad++ as administrator

Open D:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\analytics\templates\ps\portal\variables_CCRWeb.xml

Change to

<CRNenv c_cmd=”://controllerservername.domain.com:9080/#!/CamLogin”>
<cookies>
<param name=”_passport”/>
</cookies>
</CRNenv>

Save and restart the controller web services.

More information:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-configure-controller-web-use-cognos-cam-authentication

Product:
Cognos Controller Web 10.4.2
Microsoft Windows 2019 server

Problem:
At a new installation when browse to the controller web, you get a error after you have logged in.

Error Message:

Server Error in ‘/ibmcognos’ Application.

A potentially dangerous Request.Path value was detected from the client (&).
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.Web.HttpException: A potentially dangerous Request.Path value was detected from the client (&).

Source Error:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

Stack Trace:

[HttpException (0x80004005): A potentially dangerous Request.Path value was detected from the client (&).]
System.Web.HttpRequest.ValidateInputIfRequiredByConfig() +11986128
System.Web.PipelineStepManager.ValidateHelper(HttpContext context) +52

Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:4.0.30319; ASP.NET Version:4.7.3770.0

Possible solution:
Some of the configuration files contain wrong characters. The web server does not like to get the & sign in the URL that is sent in the request between CA11 and CONTROLLER WEB. You get same error in IE or Chrome web browser.
In this case the com.ibm.cognos.fcm.web.properties file had some / replaced with & characters

Ensure that the lines point correct

biUrl=http://servername.domain.com/ibmcognos/bi&v1&disp

should be

biUrl=http://servername.domain.com/ibmcognos/bi/v1/disp

Open D:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\ccr_64\fcmweb\wlp\usr\servers\fcm.web\com.ibm.cognos.fcm.web.properties in notepad++ to edit.

Check also files like D:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\analytics\templates\ps\portal\variables_CCRWeb.xml

More information:

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

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SS9S6B_10.4.2/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.ctrl_inst.doc/t_contrweb_configure.html

Product:
Cognos Controller 10.4.2
Microsoft Windows 2016 server

Problem:
How install FAP client on Citrix server for several different environments?

Solution:
First you must have SQL client installed on the server, as the FAP client talks direct with the SQL database that have the Cognos Controller database and the specific FAP database.
Download sqlncli64.msi and install it.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=50402
Then go to your Cognos Controller server where you have installed FAP,
Copy following files from folder C:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\ccr_64\webcontent\ccr
C1.Win.C1FlexGrid.4.dll
ctrl_ug_fapug_contextlinks.csv
FAPClient.exe
FAPClient.exe.config

Place this files in a separate folder on the citrix server like c:\ibm\fap.

Right-click on FAPClient.exe and create a shortcut to the public desktop for the users.
To be able to pre-populate the login, so the user do not need to write server name every time.

You update the FAPClient.exe.config file with the default values all user should get.

Best is if you copy the FAPClient.exe to a duplicate file called FAPClientQ.exe and then do the same with file FAPclient.exe.config file so you also have a FAPClientQ.exe.config file.
Repeate so you have a set for TEST called FAPClientT.exe and FAPClientT.exe.config, like this:

Open the FAPClientQ.exe.config file in NOTEPAD++ and add the lines for your QAS system database server like:

<setting name=”Server” serializeAs=”String”>
<value>roger2</value>
</setting>
<setting name=”Database” serializeAs=”String”>
<value>FAP</value>
</setting>
<setting name=”User” serializeAs=”String”>
<value>Fastnet</value>

Save the file, and then edit the FAPClientT.exe.config file with the values to your TEST system.

Edit the FAPClient.exe.config with the values for your PRODUCTION system.

When a user start FAPClientQ.exe program, the values in the corresponding config file is used, and the user only have to enter the password to get access to the FAP program.

Create 3 different shortcuts to the .exe files, and present to the user in the Citrix portal.

More information:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-install-fap-client-end-users-desktop-pc

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-installupgrade-controller-serverclient

The values is then saved in the users windows profile in a folder similar to this C:\Users\%user%\AppData\Local\IBM_Corp\FAPClient.exe_Url_kyxu0h5bacedq1foqhff0niw3305yy1o\10.4.2000.145\user.config