Product:
Cognos Controller 10.4.1 web
Microsoft Windows Server 2016

Problem:
Change to use DNS alias to the cognos controller server, and now can not login to the Controller Web,
“Server is not reachable or still initializing, please refresh the page in a few seconds”
If you surf direct to servername, then controller web works, it is only with dns alias that give the error.

Solution:
You need to change to the DNS alias in the file for Controller Web front end.
Stop the IBM Cognos Controller Web UI service
Start NOTEPAD as administrator
Open file D:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\ccr_64\frontend\config.js
Change the server name at line 25 to be the dns alias

“expressJs”: {
“host”: “dnsalias.domain.com”, //interface used by Controller Web UI Service
“port”: “9080”, //port used by Controller Web UI Service

Save the file.
Start the IBM Cognos Controller Web UI service

Test to surf to http://dnsalias.domain.com:9080/ to see if Controller Web works.

Now to surf to server name, should not work instead.

More Information:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/server-not-reachable-or-still-initializing-please-refresh-page-few-seconds-error-launching-controller-web-caused-incorrect-tcp-port-inside-serverxml
https://render-prd-trops.events.ibm.com/support/pages/troubleshooting-server-not-reachable-or-still-initializing-please-refresh-page-few-seconds-error-launching-controller-web
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SS9S6B_10.4.1/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.ctrl_inst.doc/t_contrweb_configure.html

In cmplst.txt you will find this version for controller 10.4.1:

LICENSE_CONTROLLER_version=LICENSE_CONTROLLER-AW64-ML-RTM-10.4.1100.1-0
LICENSE_CONTROLLER_name=IBM Cognos 8 License
SWTAG_CONTROLLER_version=SWTAG_CONTROLLER-AW64-ML-RTM-10.4.1.1-0
SWTAG_CONTROLLER_name=SWTAG CONTROLLER
CONTRL_version=CCR-AW64-ML-RTM-10.4.1100.133-0
CONTRL_name=IBM Cognos Controller

Product:
Planning Analytics 2.0.6
Microsoft Windows 2016 server
Planning Analytics Administration Agent version 1.0.36.736

Problem:
When starting the PAA Agent in windows after change from local system to a windows service account, you get a error. The service account works on the other IBM Cognos TM1 services, only the IBM Planning Analytics Administration Agent that does not start.

Error msg in Windows event log can be:
The IBM Planning Analytics Administration Agent service terminated with the following service-specific error:
Incorrect function.

Solution:
Check that the Windows Service account is local administrator on the Planning Analytics server.
The PA Agent needs more local rights to read the files in folder D:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\tm1_64\paa_agent, than the other IBM Cognos TM1 service does.

You can find the message.log file here D:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\tm1_64\paa_agent\wlp\usr\servers\kate-agent\logs, that can contain more error messages.

The python code that can give some of the message is in folder; d:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\tm1_64\paa_agent\wlp\usr\servers\kate-agent\kateagent\scripts\status.py

More information:

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

Instructions to configure and start PAA Agent:

1. Open Windows “Services” desktop application
2. Stop “IBM Planning Analytics Administration Agent” service, if running
3. Navigate to <PA install directory>\paa_agent\wlp\usr\servers\kate-agent
4. Open the bootstrap.properties file in a text editor
5. Set the full path of directory containing TM1 databases data directories to SERVERS_DIR. Multiple paths must be separated by semicolon.
E.g. SERVERS_DIR=C:\tm1\samples\tm1\;C:\prod\servers\
6. Save and close the bootstrap.properties file
7. Start “IBM Planning Analytics Administration Agent” Windows service
8. PAA Agent is now ready to use

Product:
Cognos Analytics 11.1.3
Planning Analytics 2.0.6
Microsoft Windows 2016 server

Problem:
When run a CA11 report against a Tm1 Cube, you get this error;
XQE-MD-0007 Unable to establish a metadata connection to data source /content/package
DIM-ERR-1007 Det gick inte att efterfråga kubinformation för datakällan. Kontrollera anslutningssträngen och se till att servern är tillgänglig.

Solution:
The user who runs the CA11 report must have access to data in the TM1 cube.
Go in to TM1 Architect, and right click and select Rights – clients/groups dialog.
Check the user belongs to some of the security groups.
For a quick test, mark your user as ADMIN.
Click OK.
And log out from CA11 and in again, try the same report again.

If you get the below error when you run a Cognos Analytics 11 report;
QE-DEF-0157 The model or package /content/folder does not exist or you are not allowed to use if because of security settings.

Then it can be that the FM package is deleted.

Click on search icon on the left in Cognos 11, and search for the package name. If you find it, check that the user group the user belongs to have “run” rights, on the package.
More Information:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/dim-err-1007-failed-query-cube-information-data-source-when-using-planning-analytics-data-server-connection
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/dim-err-1007-failed-query-cube-information-data-source-tm1

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/package-permissions-errors-qe-def-0157

Product:
Cognos Controller 10.4.1
Microsoft Windows 2016 server

Problem:
Controller admin try to update users in Maintain – Rights – User dialog, for a installation where CAM security is used. He can not see the connected CAM users in the list.

Solution:
You must be part of Cognos Connection security group Controller Administrators. Only people in this group can change things inside controller security dialog.

When you open the user dialog, you maybe got a message “The user currently logged in is not authorized to use this method”. That means you are not part of the Controller Administrator group.

Add the person to the Controller Administrator group in Cognos. The Controller Administrator group is not the same as the ibm Cognos Controller administrator authorized user license. This is controlled by access to the Maintain menu.

More Information:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/controller-licensing-what-difference-between-administrator-and-non-administrator-user

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SS9S6B_10.4.1/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.ctrl_ug.doc/t_usurrrigh.html#usurrrigh

Product:
Cognos Controller 10.4.1 FAP service
Planning Analytics 2.0.6
Microsoft Windows 2016 server

Problem:
You get a error when run first IP in a new setup of FAP and TM1 instance.

Error in log file D:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\ccr_64\Server\FAP\error.log
10:00:08,849 | ERROR [fap.service.schedule.Scheduler] [schedulerThread], Could not logon to TM1
javax.naming.ConfigurationException: The TM1Server fap is neither in BASIC or in CAM mode
at com.ibm.cognos.fap.common.persistence.tm1.TM1Context.login(TM1Context.java:110)
at com.ibm.cognos.fap.service.schedule.Scheduler.updateDatamarts(Scheduler.java:567)
at com.ibm.cognos.fap.service.schedule.Scheduler.run(Scheduler.java:257)
at com.ibm.cognos.fap.service.schedule.Scheduler$1.run(Scheduler.java:162)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:812)

Solution:
Change to IntegratedSecurityMode=5 from IntegratedSecurityMode=2 in TM1s.cfg file for the TM1 application.

During setup you have been in mode 2 to be able to add the windows service account that is going to be used by the FAP service to login to the TM1 solution. Keep in mind when you setup the DataMart (TM1 server) you need to specify the user login to TM1 with namespaceid\user name as NamespaceID looks in Cognos Configuration (CA11) and user name as you can find it in Cognos Connection. Something like this:

Domain\Lastname Firstname

The field in Edit Data Mart is case sensitive and space sensitive.

More Information:

https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21679216

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SS9S6B_10.4.1/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.ctrl_inst.doc/t_win_conf_cam.html

Product:
Planning Analytics 2.0.8 workspace
Microsoft Windows 2016 datacenter

Problem:
When surf to paw (on a windows 2016) server and you enter name and password for the TM1 native login method. The screen flickers, and nothing happens. You see the blank login screen again.
If you surf from a local computer it works fine, it is only when you surf over a VPN tunnel from a partners laptop, you can not login.
If you surf to the PAW (http://servername.domain.com/) from a server, there is no problem – it works fine.

Solution:
Check your antivirus program – so it is not stopping the connection because it is unsecured.

For example; Bitdefender internet Security can have a policy: Feature: Online Threat Prevention
“Privacy threat blocked
An attempt to send your password unencrypted was about to occur on servername. We blocked the connection to stop your private data from being exposed and tampered with.”

Click on Add to exceptions, and add the PAW server to you internet security programs exceptions list.
Other solution is to add HTTPS to you paw server.
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSD29G_2.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.tm1_inst.2.0.0.doc/t_paw_enable_ssl.html

Ensure also that you are not using the same sub-net as the paw docker network. Normally docker paw network is a 172.x.x.x network.
You update docker network in file C:\ProgramData\docker\config\daemon.json with the following contents:
{
“fixed-cidr”: “192.168.80.0/24”
}

You need to restart docker.

More information:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/troubleshooting-planning-analytics-workspace-related-docker-issues
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSD29G_2.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.tm1_inst.2.0.0.doc/c_paw_trbl_cant_access_over_vpn_ip_address.html

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/container-networking/architecture

https://forums.docker.com/t/ip-address-for-container/27454/4

https://www.eiseverywhere.com/file_uploads/b16ad176a58e3a9a360d66f1a4009c4e_Plan_IBMPlanningAnalyticsLocal_SoufianeAzizi.pdf

http://www.pantarhei.at/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/PAW-Local-Distributed-Soufiane-Azizi.pdf

Product:
Planning Analytics 2.0.8
Planning Analytics Workspace 45
Microsoft Windows 2016 server

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ibm-planning-analytics-pa-workspace-and-pa-microsoft-excel-fix-list

Problem:
After a reboot of the server, the docker service does not start. If you login to server and click on start in the service manager it will start. Ensure that you wait 5 min before testing with “start”.

Suggested Solution:
Check the format of the c:\programdata\docker\config\daemon.json file.
If it contain illegal characters, the docker service will not start.

If you enter docker ps or docker version to see running containers you get this message:

If you check the C:\ProgramData\docker\panic.log you may see this:

Failed to fire hook: The interface is unknown lock: = it did not get the response it needed in time, but windows service will try again in a few minutes,  so wait an see if it starts.

If you check the windows event log, you may see this:

Open the file c:\programdata\docker\config\daemon.json in NOTEPAD++
ensure it looks correct, and do not have any errors.


Debug parameter will write more information in the Windows Event log for Docker. When you have issues with Docker, check the Windows Event log for any errors.

You can copy the text in the json file to this site, to validate https://jsonformatter.curiousconcept.com/

There can be other causes, for this problem, that the docker service does not start.

Ensure that one network cards is prioritize, and that your DNS is working from this server.

You need also at least 4 cpu and 32 GB ram on the PAW server.

More information:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/jikuma/2018/03/19/error-pipedocker_engine-access-is-denied-in-the-default-daemon-configuration-on-windows/
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/virtualization/windowscontainers/manage-docker/configure-docker-daemon#set-docker-security-group
https://www.reddit.com/r/docker/comments/82myaw/invalid_character_in_string_escape_code/
https://docs.docker.com/v17.09/engine/admin/#start-the-daemon-manually

https://success.docker.com/article/error-streaming-logs-invalid-character-after-object-key-value-pair

Product:
Planning Analytics 2.0.8
Planning Analytics Workspace 45
Microsoft Windows 2012 server

Problem:
When you surf to your PAW, and go to Administrator page, tab – Databases. It says the Agent is not available.

Solution:
Even do you are on the same server. You need to open the Windows Firewall inbound port 9012 to make the PAW have access to the PA Agent.

Go to Control Panel
Go to Administrative tools
Go to Windows Firewall
Click Inbound Rules
Click New Rule
Select Port
Enter 9012 (and the other TM1 ports) at Specific Local ports
Click next for Allow the connection
Click next to keep that the rule apply to all domains
Enter a name like “Cognos TM1”
Click Finish

Now it should work.

When you check a previous made firewall rule it can look like this;

More Information:

https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSD29G_2.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.tm1_prism_gs.2.0.0.doc/c_paw_administer_servers.html
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSD29G_2.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.tm1_inst.2.0.0.doc/c_tm1_inst_defaultvaluesfortm1installation.html

Product:
Cognos Analytics 11.0.13
Cognos Controller 10.4.1 (10.4.1100.133)
Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 standard server

Problem:
Surf to http://servername/IBMCOGNOS give error HTTP 403, and no Cognos Analytics page.
The website declined to show this webpage – HTTP 403 Forbidden

You may also get a error like this:
Service Unavailable
HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable

Solution:
Above error can be that the Application Pool is using the wrong user;
1) From the Start menu, click Control Panel, and then double click to open Administrative Tools.
2) Double click Internet Information Services.
3) Right click on Application Pools and select Properties.
4) Click the Identity tab.
5) If the predefined option is set to Network Service, change it to Local System, or leave it at ApplicationPoolIdentity.

Can also be that above user do not have access to NTFS files.

Most common is that the URL rewrite rules are not created, check in IIS on /ibmcognos/bi folder to see if there are any URL Rewrite rules. If the rules are missing, then it may be because there where left overs of old virtual folders in IIS, like controllerbin or controllerhelp.

You most remove them first, then remove SSO and IBMCOGNOS – as below:
– Open IIS
– Click on Application Pools
– Select the Cognos 11 App Pool and stop it
– Stop also any App Pool for Cognos Controller
– Expand everything
– Select the ibmcognos -> controller folder and remove it
– Select the ibmcognos -> controllerbin folder and remove it
– Select the ibmcognos -> controllerserver application and remove it
– Select the ibmcognos -> sso application and remove it
– Select the ibmcognos application and remove it
– Click on Application Pools, select the Cognos app pool, and delete it
– Close IIS

Open your file explorer
– Navigate to the Cognos gateway install directory
– Delete the following web.config files:
cgi-bin\web.config
webcontent\web.config
webcontent\bi\web.config
Then you can run the CA11 install IIS script again.
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/automate-configuration-microsofts-internet-information-service-support-ibm-cognos-analytics

More Information:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-properly-clear-microsofts-internet-information-service-iis-configurations-setup-new-configuration-iis-support-ibm-cognos

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

Product:
Planning Analytics 2.0.6 Workspace
Microsoft Windows 2016 Server

Problem:
How to use OPENSSL to convert certificates from company CA pfx file to the pem format needed by PAW?

Solution:
Download OPENSSL from http://slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html
or from https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/releases/tag/v2.23.0.windows.1 – get the file Git-2.23.0-64-bit.exe Run the installation with all default values.
When installing GIT you will get a local openssl tool, that you can access from the command line:
“c:\program files\git\mingw64\bin\openssl.exe”

If you get a certificatechainfile.pfx file that you should use, you can convert it with the following command in CMD:
openssl  pkcs12  -in  c:\temp\your.pfx  -out  c:\temp\good.pem  -nodes

Then you need to open good.pem in Notepad++ and remove the lines not needed, and save it as pa-workspace.pem. It should have this certs in the file;
—–BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY—–
(Your Private Key: your_domain_name.key)
—–END RSA PRIVATE KEY—–
—–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–
(Your Server certificate: your_domain_name.crt)
—–END CERTIFICATE—–
—–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–
(Your Intermediate certificate: IntermediateCA.crt)
—–END CERTIFICATE—–
—–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—–
(Your Root certificate: TrustedRoot.crt)
—–END CERTIFICATE—–

How setup TLS (SSL) for PAW:

(Do the steps in your TEST environment first, to ensure they work for you.)

Export the root and intermediate certificates first.
Start Internet Explorer and surf to company internal site.
Click on the PAD lock icon.
Click view certificates.
Click Certificate Path tab.

Mark root cert and click view certificate.
Click Details tab.
Click “copy to file” button.
Click Next.

Select Base-64 encoded X.509 (.CER) and click Next.
Browse to your c:\temp folder and enter a name.

Click next and finish.
Repeat above steps for the intermediate cert.

Copy this two cer files to the d:\ibm\paw\config\certs folder.
Rename the cer files to pem.
Start Powershell as administrator.
Go to folder d:\ibm\paw\scripts.
Run .\process_certs.ps1 to include the root cert in the cacerts file.

Stop the paw with command d:\ibm\paw\scripts\paw.ps1 stop.
Go to the d:\ibm\paw\config\ssl folder.
Rename pa-workspace.pem to pa-workspace.pem.org.

If you got a .pfx file from the company that include the privatekey, servercert and  intermediate and root certs. You convert it with this command:
openssl pkcs12 -in your.pfx -out good.pem -nodes

Open good.pem in notepad, and remove lines above the —-BEGIN CERTIFICATE—- but after the —- END line.
Save the file. Now only with the cryptic binary text.

Copy the good.pem file to folder d:\ibm\paw\config\ssl and rename it to pa-workspace.pem

Open d:\ibm\paw\config\paw.ps1 file in notepad++.
Change all HTTP to HTTPS.

Add last in the file, this two lines:
$env:EnableSSL=”true”

$env:ServerName=”yourPAWservername”

Save the file.
Go to the d:\ibm\paw\ folder.
Run ./Start.ps1 to start the PAW administration.
Click on Validate button. Ensure all URL are correct, does they point to correct CA11 or TM1 servers?
Click on the Update button.
Restart PAW, can also be done from powershell with commando  d:\ibm\paw\scripts\paw.ps1

You must add ibmtm1.arm cert to your CA11 servers:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/configure-datasource-ibm-planning-analytics-20x-ibm-cognos-analytics-1106

You must add SSL (TLS) cert to your TM1WEB servers:

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

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-obtain-planning-analytics-tm1-server-certificate

More Information:

https://knowledge.digicert.com/solution/SO26449.html
https://www.feistyduck.com/
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/how-transform-pem-and-pfx-keystore-public-key-cryptography-standard-12-pkcs12-keystore
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/openssl-command-cheatsheet-b441be1e8c4a/
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSD29G_2.0.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.tm1_inst.2.0.0.doc/t_paw_enable_ssl.html
https://www.sslshopper.com/article-most-common-openssl-commands.html

Common OPENSSL commands (from SSL Shopper):

These commands allow you to generate CSRs, Certificates, Private Keys and do other miscellaneous tasks.

  • Generate a new private key and Certificate Signing Request
    openssl req -out CSR.csr -new -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout privateKey.key
  • Generate a self-signed certificate (see How to Create and Install an Apache Self Signed Certificate for more info)
    openssl req -x509 -sha256 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout privateKey.key -out certificate.crt
  • Generate a certificate signing request (CSR) for an existing private key
    openssl req -out CSR.csr -key privateKey.key -new
  • Generate a certificate signing request based on an existing certificate
    openssl x509 -x509toreq -in certificate.crt -out CSR.csr -signkey privateKey.key
  • Remove a passphrase from a private key
    openssl rsa -in privateKey.pem -out newPrivateKey.pem

Checking Using OpenSSL

If you need to check the information within a Certificate, CSR or Private Key, use these commands. You can also check CSRs and check certificates using SSL Shopper online tools.

  • Check a Certificate Signing Request (CSR)
    openssl req -text -noout -verify -in CSR.csr
  • Check a private key
    openssl rsa -in privateKey.key -check
  • Check a certificate
    openssl x509 -in certificate.crt -text -noout
  • Check a PKCS#12 file (.pfx or .p12)
    openssl pkcs12 -info -in keyStore.p12

Debugging Using OpenSSL

If you are receiving an error that the private doesn’t match the certificate or that a certificate that you installed to a site is not trusted, try one of these commands. If you are trying to verify that an SSL certificate is installed correctly, be sure to check out the SSL Shopper SSL Checker.

  • Check an MD5 hash of the public key to ensure that it matches with what is in a CSR or private key
    openssl x509 -noout -modulus -in certificate.crt | openssl md5
    openssl rsa -noout -modulus -in privateKey.key | openssl md5
    openssl req -noout -modulus -in CSR.csr | openssl md5
  • Check an SSL connection. All the certificates (including Intermediates) should be displayed
    openssl s_client -connect www.paypal.com:443

Converting Using OpenSSL

These commands allow you to convert certificates and keys to different formats to make them compatible with specific types of servers or software. For example, you can convert a normal PEM file that would work with Apache to a PFX (PKCS#12) file and use it with Tomcat or IIS. Use SSL Shopper SSL Converter to convert certificates without messing with OpenSSL.

  • Convert a DER file (.crt .cer .der) to PEM
    openssl x509 -inform der -in certificate.cer -out certificate.pem
  • Convert a PEM file to DER
    openssl x509 -outform der -in certificate.pem -out certificate.der
  • Convert a PKCS#12 file (.pfx .p12) containing a private key and certificates to PEM
    openssl pkcs12 -in keyStore.pfx -out keyStore.pem -nodes

    You can add -nocerts to only output the private key or add -nokeys to only output the certificates.

  • Convert a PEM certificate file and a private key to PKCS#12 (.pfx .p12)
    openssl pkcs12 -export -out certificate.pfx -inkey privateKey.key -in certificate.crt -certfile CAC
    
    https://www.sslshopper.com/ssl-faq.html