Good read.
http://hermansberghem.blogspot.com/2007/09/how-to-enable-cognos-reports-on.html
Cognos SDK Guide by BI Centre can now be purchased from PayPal
The Cognos SDK Developer Guide is intended to provide a Cognos SDK developer with a workable C# solution that will allow you to:
• Search the Content Store for all package items
• Search the Content Store for all reports that belong to a specified package
• Generate a report’s prompt page
• Execute the report
• Display the report results in a browser window
• Handle soap exceptions and render a meaningful error message to the user
The Cognos SDK Developer Guide will walk you through the steps of generating your ASP.NET C# web solution and guide you through the process of creating your: ASP.NET pages; C# Class Files for Exception handling and Cognos SDK method calls; supporting JavaScript code; deciding upon which Cognos SDK DLLs to reference; and handling basic security by using the web.config.
Visit the Cognos SDK Guide by BI Centre
• Search the Content Store for all package items
• Search the Content Store for all reports that belong to a specified package
• Generate a report’s prompt page
• Execute the report
• Display the report results in a browser window
• Handle soap exceptions and render a meaningful error message to the user
The Cognos SDK Developer Guide will walk you through the steps of generating your ASP.NET C# web solution and guide you through the process of creating your: ASP.NET pages; C# Class Files for Exception handling and Cognos SDK method calls; supporting JavaScript code; deciding upon which Cognos SDK DLLs to reference; and handling basic security by using the web.config.
Visit the Cognos SDK Guide by BI Centre
Cognos SDK Guide by BI Centre can now be purchased from PayPal
The Cognos SDK Developer Guide is intended to provide a Cognos SDK developer with a workable C# solution that will allow you to:
• Search the Content Store for all package items
• Search the Content Store for all reports that belong to a specified package
• Generate a report’s prompt page
• Execute the report
• Display the report results in a browser window
• Handle soap exceptions and render a meaningful error message to the user
The Cognos SDK Developer Guide will walk you through the steps of generating your ASP.NET C# web solution and guide you through the process of creating your: ASP.NET pages; C# Class Files for Exception handling and Cognos SDK method calls; supporting JavaScript code; deciding upon which Cognos SDK DLLs to reference; and handling basic security by using the web.config.
Visit the Cognos SDK Guide by BI Centre
• Search the Content Store for all package items
• Search the Content Store for all reports that belong to a specified package
• Generate a report’s prompt page
• Execute the report
• Display the report results in a browser window
• Handle soap exceptions and render a meaningful error message to the user
The Cognos SDK Developer Guide will walk you through the steps of generating your ASP.NET C# web solution and guide you through the process of creating your: ASP.NET pages; C# Class Files for Exception handling and Cognos SDK method calls; supporting JavaScript code; deciding upon which Cognos SDK DLLs to reference; and handling basic security by using the web.config.
Visit the Cognos SDK Guide by BI Centre
Cognos 8 -- PDF reports not displaying correct results
Hello, do you have any PDF reports that are rendering inconsistent or unexpected results when being run in Report Studio? The first item to check is that you have not downloaded any Adobe updates without confirming that they are compatible with your Cognos 8 instance. You can review the 3rd party software that is supported by Cognos on their support site.
http://support.cognos.com/en/support/products/supported.html
http://support.cognos.com/en/support/products/supported.html
Cognos 8 -- PDF reports not displaying correct results
Hello, do you have any PDF reports that are rendering inconsistent or unexpected results when being run in Report Studio? The first item to check is that you have not downloaded any Adobe updates without confirming that they are compatible with your Cognos 8 instance. You can review the 3rd party software that is supported by Cognos on their support site.
http://support.cognos.com/en/support/products/supported.html
http://support.cognos.com/en/support/products/supported.html
Cognos 8 Oracle - no content store tables created
When initializing a Cognos 8 or Cognos Reportnet content store which is located on a Windows-based Oracle server, the connection tests OK in Cognos Configuration, but when the service is started, no tables are created. This can be caused if the Windows server with Oracle has not been rebooted since Oracle was installed.
In ordre to resolve this issue you should try to reboot the system before the database will be fully operational. There are registry entries, and environment variables that don't become fully visible to the system until this is done. Testing the connection will work, but you will not see any tables created.
In ordre to resolve this issue you should try to reboot the system before the database will be fully operational. There are registry entries, and environment variables that don't become fully visible to the system until this is done. Testing the connection will work, but you will not see any tables created.
Cognos 8 Oracle - no content store tables created
When initializing a Cognos 8 or Cognos Reportnet content store which is located on a Windows-based Oracle server, the connection tests OK in Cognos Configuration, but when the service is started, no tables are created. This can be caused if the Windows server with Oracle has not been rebooted since Oracle was installed.
In ordre to resolve this issue you should try to reboot the system before the database will be fully operational. There are registry entries, and environment variables that don't become fully visible to the system until this is done. Testing the connection will work, but you will not see any tables created.
In ordre to resolve this issue you should try to reboot the system before the database will be fully operational. There are registry entries, and environment variables that don't become fully visible to the system until this is done. Testing the connection will work, but you will not see any tables created.
Cognos 8 -- Oracle connection errors
The error messages noted below may occur when using or creating an Oracle connection from Cognos Connection or from within Framework Manager. The root causes of the problem are similar although the means of generating the message may differ.
Potential Error Messages:
In a Windows environment:
QE-DEF-0285 Logon failure.
QE-DEF-0068 Unable to connect to at least one database during a multi-database attach to 1 database(s) in:
testDataSourceConnection
UDA-SQL-0432 Unable to locate the gateway "cogudaor".
In a UNIX environment:
QE-DEF-0285 Logon failure.
QE-DEF-0068 Unable to connect to at least one database during a multi-database attach to 1 database(s) in:
testDataSourceConnection
UDA-SQL-0432 Unable to locate the gateway "libcogudaor".
For Data Manager the following message may also be displayed:
DS-DBMS-E402: UDA driver reported the following:
UDA-SQL-0432 Unable to locate the gateway "libcogudaor9".
DS-DBMS-E306: UDA driver error connecting to 'Alias Name'.
Depending on the Oracle version the message may also list "libcogudaor10"
Environment:
The "cogudaor" is the Windows gateway for establishing connections to an Oracle data source. On UNIX the gateway will be listed as "libcogudaor".
Root Cause:
Incomplete configuration of the Oracle client. There are many ways that this issue may manifest itself. The items listed below are a means of identifying which areas are causing the connection difficulties.
Solution:
1. Identify that the Oracle Client drivers have been installed on all related Cognos systems. Make sure that the systems are restarted after the Oracle Client drivers have been installed. For Cognos 8 the client driver is required on both the Cognos 8 server and on systems running Framework Manager. Framework Manager establishes it's own connections to isolate resource consumption and prevent latencies on the Cognos 8 server due to long-running queries that may be executed from Framework Manager during model development and testing.
2. Compare the version of the Oracle client driver to those listed for the supported environments of the product version that you are using. Note that Cognos 8 increases the minimum driver version to 9.2.0.1 (Oracle 9i Release 2). Earlier releases of Cognos ReportNet supported older Oracle client drivers. Refer to the following resource to identify the supported driver versions for your Cognos products.
http://support.cognos.com/en/support/products/environments.html
3. Search the system for multiple tnsnames.ora files. It is possible that multiple Oracle clients or tnsnames.ora files exist and the connection string has not been defined within the "active" copy of the tnsnames.ora. If multiple files are located then ensure that the expected connection alias is defined within each tnsnames.ora to eliminate any possible inconsistencies.
The Oracle "tnsping" command can be used to test a given connection alias. Running "tnsping ALIAS_NAME" from a command window will obtain the client driver connection information from the current environment settings and return a success or failure message indicating if the ALIAS_NAME defines a valid Oracle connection. When successful the return message should look like the following:
Attempting to contact (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)
(HOST=yourhostname)(PORT=1521)) OK (50 msec)
Similarly, if the connection can be established on one system in the Cognos 8 environment but fails when tested on another system then ensure that the tnsnames.ora on the failing system contains the same connection string as on a system where the connection is successful. Copying the file or entry within the file to the failing environment will ensure that the connection information is the same in both environments. Following an update to the tnsnames.ora file, test the connection using tnsping on the problem systems to validate the copied connection string.
In some cases a server identified by name may not be resolvable on secondary systems (i.e. if name resolution is not configured or the secondary system is in a secured environment such as a DMZ). In such cases it may be necessary to update the copied tnsnames.ora entry to refer to the Oracle database server using an IP address instead of the server name.
4. Once the tnsnames.ora aliases have been defined and tested, ensure that the alias in the tnsnames.ora file matches the alias in the Cognos 8 connection string. Oracle's SQLPlus will allow you to establish connections based on unqualified aliases while Cognos 8 requires the exact alias name to make the appropriate connection.
For example, if an alias is defined as NAME.DOMAIN.COM then SQLPlus will allow connections using just the NAME portion of the alias. Cognos 8 would require the full NAME.DOMAIN.COM alias to be defined in the connection string.
5. Attempt to use the Oracle client tools to establish a connection to the Oracle database. Using SQLPlus to establish a connection may provide additional details regarding the failures.
For example, attempting to connect to an Oracle 10G database using a 9i client driver when the 10G client is required may result in the following error message: ORA-12638: Credential retrieval failed
6. If the error message above is occuring in Framework Manager then ensure that the Cognos 8 server is started, accessible, and fully configured. If the Cognos 8 server is unreachable then the connection string information will not be accessible to Framework Manager.
7. If the Oracle client libraries are missing or not accessible then a connection may fail with the above message. For example, if for any reason the oci.dll (located in the Oracle bin directory) is unavailable then the connection will fail.
Ensure that the environment variables for the system are configured to access the Oracle client. For full details on configuration requirements please refer to your Oracle documentation. As a quick reference, on Windows, the Oracle bin directory must be located in the PATH environment variable. On UNIX the Oracle bin must be located in the PATH variable and the lib (or lib32 in when using 32-bit libraries along side of the 64-bit client installation) directory must be added to the library path.
PATH : Include the location of the bin directory located within the Oracle client installation.
ORACLE_HOME : Location of the base directory of the Oracle client installation. (On Windows Systems this may not be necessary for later versions of the Oracle client)
TNS_ADMIN : Directory containing the tnsnames.ora file. The file must have the Oracle instance defined. (This may be optional. In the event that this is not defined the tnsnames.ora file should be obtained from the NETWORK\ADMIN location within the Oracle client install location or ORACLE_HOME)
UNIX library path references:
Solaris: LD_LIBRARY_PATH (Example: LD_LIBRARY_PATH=Oracle_Home/lib32 etc.)
HPUX: SHLIB_PATH
AIX: LIBPATH
If a 3rd party application server (such as WebSphere , WebLogic , Oracle Application Server , SAP NetWeaver , or JBOSS ) is being used for your Cognos 8 environment then it may also be necessary to review the startup scripts and configuration settings of your application server to ensure that the path settings to access the Oracle client libraries are not being reset by startup scripts or defined incorrectly within the 3rd party products. Refer to your application server documentation for details on identifying custom environment settings.
On Windows the 3rd party tools, Dependency Walker, RegMon, and FileMon (RegMon and FileMon are available from SysInternals) can assist in identifying missing or inaccessible files. Dependency Walker can be attached to cogudaor.dll (located in the Cognos bin directory) to identify any inaccessible libraries required for establishing the connection.
On UNIX the ldd command can be used to identify the dependencies of the libcogudaor library (located in the Cognos bin directory).
ldd libcogudaor.(so|a|o)** -- Solaris, HPUX and AIX (depending which utility is installed)
** File extensions depend on operating system.
dump -H libcogudaor.so -- AIX
Using these trace utilities will also identify scenarios where the libraries are being sourced from a location other than the expected Oracle bin directory (i.e. other software or other oracle client installations may be identified in the system PATH environment variable and are being sourced inappropriately for the required Oracle libraries). If multiple Oracle clients are installed on a system ensure that the proper client is listed first in the PATH variable.
Note that in some environments the Oracle client drivers are available in both 64-bit and 32-bit versions. The 32-bit client libraries are required for establishing a connection with Cognos 8. Refer to your Oracle product documentation for the details on installing and configuring your environment to use the 32-bit client libraries.
Also, in some Windows environments the environment variables set during the installation of the Oracle client software may not be immediately accessible to applications running as a service. In such scenarios a reboot of the system may be required to finalize the configuration of the newly-installed Oracle client software.
On rare occasions there have also been issues reported where a Oracle client installation on UNIX does not copy the libclntsh.so to the lib32 directory of the Oracle installation. It is recommended that you contact your software vendor for the appropriate steps to resolve this issue. A copy of the file can be obtained from the temporary files created during the Oracle client installation using the following steps:
1. Locate the file libclntsh.a from the temporary installation directory (i.e. located at /tmp/OraInstall2005-03-22_08-49-34AM/oui/bin/aix/
2. Extract the file shr.o from libclntsh.a archive using the command "ar -xv libclntsh.a"
3. Rename shr.o to libclntsh.so and copy this file to the 32-bit library directory of your Oracle client installation.
Changes to the environment should be followed by a restart of the Cognos products to ensure that the new settings are applied.
8. The connection for Cognos 8 may have been defined without a user ID or password enabled. If these options are not enabled then the user ID and password will not be included in the connection string when estabilishing the Oracle connection and Oracle may reject the attempt as unauthorized. These properties can be located by
9.
1. Selecting Diretory from the Tools menu in Cognos Connection.
2. From the Directory page, select Data Sources and click on the data source that you are using.
3. After clicking on the data source you will be shown the list of connections defined for the data source. For the connection you wish to use, select the Set Properties action and then click on the Connection tab.
4. After clicking on the Pencil icon to edit the connection string you will be presented with the options to enable the use of a User ID and Password for the connection. Ensure that these are checked and then click the OK button twice to commit the changes.
5. Once the User ID and Password are enabled it is also necessary to check the credentials defined for the Signon object. To do so, click on the listed Connection (this is reached by following steps 1 and 2).
6. The Signon objects will now be displayed. If no signons are available then you may need to create one using the New Signon button from the toolbar at the top right of the page. If a signon already exists then click the Set Properties action for the signon and then click the Signon tab.
7. Click the Edit the Signon... link to view the assigned credentials. Retype the User ID and Password using a known valid combination to ensure that the credentials are valid and then click the OK button twice to commit the changes.
8. The connection and signon can be tested by returning to the connection object (steps 1 and 2) and then selecting the Test the Connection action.
10. Additional trace information can be obtained through detailed tracing mechanisms available within Cognos 8. To enable this tracing, rename the CQEconfig.xml.samples file (located in the Cognos 8 configuration directory) to CQEconfig.xml and restart Cognos 8. This change will direct more detailed error messages to the cogserver.log file (located in the Cognos 8 logs directory) and may include additional information not reported in the messages presented through the product user interfaces.
Note: the CQEconfig file should be returned to the orginal file name (with the ".sample" extension) and Cognos 8 restarted when the tracing is complete to disable the detailed logging mechanisms as the detailed logging may impact product performance.
Potential Error Messages:
In a Windows environment:
QE-DEF-0285 Logon failure.
QE-DEF-0068 Unable to connect to at least one database during a multi-database attach to 1 database(s) in:
testDataSourceConnection
UDA-SQL-0432 Unable to locate the gateway "cogudaor".
In a UNIX environment:
QE-DEF-0285 Logon failure.
QE-DEF-0068 Unable to connect to at least one database during a multi-database attach to 1 database(s) in:
testDataSourceConnection
UDA-SQL-0432 Unable to locate the gateway "libcogudaor".
For Data Manager the following message may also be displayed:
DS-DBMS-E402: UDA driver reported the following:
UDA-SQL-0432 Unable to locate the gateway "libcogudaor9".
DS-DBMS-E306: UDA driver error connecting to 'Alias Name'.
Depending on the Oracle version the message may also list "libcogudaor10"
Environment:
The "cogudaor" is the Windows gateway for establishing connections to an Oracle data source. On UNIX the gateway will be listed as "libcogudaor".
Root Cause:
Incomplete configuration of the Oracle client. There are many ways that this issue may manifest itself. The items listed below are a means of identifying which areas are causing the connection difficulties.
Solution:
1. Identify that the Oracle Client drivers have been installed on all related Cognos systems. Make sure that the systems are restarted after the Oracle Client drivers have been installed. For Cognos 8 the client driver is required on both the Cognos 8 server and on systems running Framework Manager. Framework Manager establishes it's own connections to isolate resource consumption and prevent latencies on the Cognos 8 server due to long-running queries that may be executed from Framework Manager during model development and testing.
2. Compare the version of the Oracle client driver to those listed for the supported environments of the product version that you are using. Note that Cognos 8 increases the minimum driver version to 9.2.0.1 (Oracle 9i Release 2). Earlier releases of Cognos ReportNet supported older Oracle client drivers. Refer to the following resource to identify the supported driver versions for your Cognos products.
http://support.cognos.com/en/support/products/environments.html
3. Search the system for multiple tnsnames.ora files. It is possible that multiple Oracle clients or tnsnames.ora files exist and the connection string has not been defined within the "active" copy of the tnsnames.ora. If multiple files are located then ensure that the expected connection alias is defined within each tnsnames.ora to eliminate any possible inconsistencies.
The Oracle "tnsping" command can be used to test a given connection alias. Running "tnsping ALIAS_NAME" from a command window will obtain the client driver connection information from the current environment settings and return a success or failure message indicating if the ALIAS_NAME defines a valid Oracle connection. When successful the return message should look like the following:
Attempting to contact (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)
(HOST=yourhostname)(PORT=1521)) OK (50 msec)
Similarly, if the connection can be established on one system in the Cognos 8 environment but fails when tested on another system then ensure that the tnsnames.ora on the failing system contains the same connection string as on a system where the connection is successful. Copying the file or entry within the file to the failing environment will ensure that the connection information is the same in both environments. Following an update to the tnsnames.ora file, test the connection using tnsping on the problem systems to validate the copied connection string.
In some cases a server identified by name may not be resolvable on secondary systems (i.e. if name resolution is not configured or the secondary system is in a secured environment such as a DMZ). In such cases it may be necessary to update the copied tnsnames.ora entry to refer to the Oracle database server using an IP address instead of the server name.
4. Once the tnsnames.ora aliases have been defined and tested, ensure that the alias in the tnsnames.ora file matches the alias in the Cognos 8 connection string. Oracle's SQLPlus will allow you to establish connections based on unqualified aliases while Cognos 8 requires the exact alias name to make the appropriate connection.
For example, if an alias is defined as NAME.DOMAIN.COM then SQLPlus will allow connections using just the NAME portion of the alias. Cognos 8 would require the full NAME.DOMAIN.COM alias to be defined in the connection string.
5. Attempt to use the Oracle client tools to establish a connection to the Oracle database. Using SQLPlus to establish a connection may provide additional details regarding the failures.
For example, attempting to connect to an Oracle 10G database using a 9i client driver when the 10G client is required may result in the following error message: ORA-12638: Credential retrieval failed
6. If the error message above is occuring in Framework Manager then ensure that the Cognos 8 server is started, accessible, and fully configured. If the Cognos 8 server is unreachable then the connection string information will not be accessible to Framework Manager.
7. If the Oracle client libraries are missing or not accessible then a connection may fail with the above message. For example, if for any reason the oci.dll (located in the Oracle bin directory) is unavailable then the connection will fail.
Ensure that the environment variables for the system are configured to access the Oracle client. For full details on configuration requirements please refer to your Oracle documentation. As a quick reference, on Windows, the Oracle bin directory must be located in the PATH environment variable. On UNIX the Oracle bin must be located in the PATH variable and the lib (or lib32 in when using 32-bit libraries along side of the 64-bit client installation) directory must be added to the library path.
PATH : Include the location of the bin directory located within the Oracle client installation.
ORACLE_HOME : Location of the base directory of the Oracle client installation. (On Windows Systems this may not be necessary for later versions of the Oracle client)
TNS_ADMIN : Directory containing the tnsnames.ora file. The file must have the Oracle instance defined. (This may be optional. In the event that this is not defined the tnsnames.ora file should be obtained from the NETWORK\ADMIN location within the Oracle client install location or ORACLE_HOME)
UNIX library path references:
Solaris: LD_LIBRARY_PATH (Example: LD_LIBRARY_PATH=Oracle_Home/lib32 etc.)
HPUX: SHLIB_PATH
AIX: LIBPATH
If a 3rd party application server (such as WebSphere , WebLogic , Oracle Application Server , SAP NetWeaver , or JBOSS ) is being used for your Cognos 8 environment then it may also be necessary to review the startup scripts and configuration settings of your application server to ensure that the path settings to access the Oracle client libraries are not being reset by startup scripts or defined incorrectly within the 3rd party products. Refer to your application server documentation for details on identifying custom environment settings.
On Windows the 3rd party tools, Dependency Walker, RegMon, and FileMon (RegMon and FileMon are available from SysInternals) can assist in identifying missing or inaccessible files. Dependency Walker can be attached to cogudaor.dll (located in the Cognos bin directory) to identify any inaccessible libraries required for establishing the connection.
On UNIX the ldd command can be used to identify the dependencies of the libcogudaor library (located in the Cognos bin directory).
ldd libcogudaor
** File extensions depend on operating system.
dump -H libcogudaor.so -- AIX
Using these trace utilities will also identify scenarios where the libraries are being sourced from a location other than the expected Oracle bin directory (i.e. other software or other oracle client installations may be identified in the system PATH environment variable and are being sourced inappropriately for the required Oracle libraries). If multiple Oracle clients are installed on a system ensure that the proper client is listed first in the PATH variable.
Note that in some environments the Oracle client drivers are available in both 64-bit and 32-bit versions. The 32-bit client libraries are required for establishing a connection with Cognos 8. Refer to your Oracle product documentation for the details on installing and configuring your environment to use the 32-bit client libraries.
Also, in some Windows environments the environment variables set during the installation of the Oracle client software may not be immediately accessible to applications running as a service. In such scenarios a reboot of the system may be required to finalize the configuration of the newly-installed Oracle client software.
On rare occasions there have also been issues reported where a Oracle client installation on UNIX does not copy the libclntsh.so to the lib32 directory of the Oracle installation. It is recommended that you contact your software vendor for the appropriate steps to resolve this issue. A copy of the file can be obtained from the temporary files created during the Oracle client installation using the following steps:
1. Locate the file libclntsh.a from the temporary installation directory (i.e. located at /tmp/OraInstall2005-03-22_08-49-34AM/oui/bin/aix/
2. Extract the file shr.o from libclntsh.a archive using the command "ar -xv libclntsh.a"
3. Rename shr.o to libclntsh.so and copy this file to the 32-bit library directory of your Oracle client installation.
Changes to the environment should be followed by a restart of the Cognos products to ensure that the new settings are applied.
8. The connection for Cognos 8 may have been defined without a user ID or password enabled. If these options are not enabled then the user ID and password will not be included in the connection string when estabilishing the Oracle connection and Oracle may reject the attempt as unauthorized. These properties can be located by
9.
1. Selecting Diretory from the Tools menu in Cognos Connection.
2. From the Directory page, select Data Sources and click on the data source that you are using.
3. After clicking on the data source you will be shown the list of connections defined for the data source. For the connection you wish to use, select the Set Properties action and then click on the Connection tab.
4. After clicking on the Pencil icon to edit the connection string you will be presented with the options to enable the use of a User ID and Password for the connection. Ensure that these are checked and then click the OK button twice to commit the changes.
5. Once the User ID and Password are enabled it is also necessary to check the credentials defined for the Signon object. To do so, click on the listed Connection (this is reached by following steps 1 and 2).
6. The Signon objects will now be displayed. If no signons are available then you may need to create one using the New Signon button from the toolbar at the top right of the page. If a signon already exists then click the Set Properties action for the signon and then click the Signon tab.
7. Click the Edit the Signon... link to view the assigned credentials. Retype the User ID and Password using a known valid combination to ensure that the credentials are valid and then click the OK button twice to commit the changes.
8. The connection and signon can be tested by returning to the connection object (steps 1 and 2) and then selecting the Test the Connection action.
10. Additional trace information can be obtained through detailed tracing mechanisms available within Cognos 8. To enable this tracing, rename the CQEconfig.xml.samples file (located in the Cognos 8 configuration directory) to CQEconfig.xml and restart Cognos 8. This change will direct more detailed error messages to the cogserver.log file (located in the Cognos 8 logs directory) and may include additional information not reported in the messages presented through the product user interfaces.
Note: the CQEconfig file should be returned to the orginal file name (with the ".sample" extension) and Cognos 8 restarted when the tracing is complete to disable the detailed logging mechanisms as the detailed logging may impact product performance.
Cognos 8 -- Oracle connection errors
The error messages noted below may occur when using or creating an Oracle connection from Cognos Connection or from within Framework Manager. The root causes of the problem are similar although the means of generating the message may differ.
Potential Error Messages:
In a Windows environment:
QE-DEF-0285 Logon failure.
QE-DEF-0068 Unable to connect to at least one database during a multi-database attach to 1 database(s) in:
testDataSourceConnection
UDA-SQL-0432 Unable to locate the gateway "cogudaor".
In a UNIX environment:
QE-DEF-0285 Logon failure.
QE-DEF-0068 Unable to connect to at least one database during a multi-database attach to 1 database(s) in:
testDataSourceConnection
UDA-SQL-0432 Unable to locate the gateway "libcogudaor".
For Data Manager the following message may also be displayed:
DS-DBMS-E402: UDA driver reported the following:
UDA-SQL-0432 Unable to locate the gateway "libcogudaor9".
DS-DBMS-E306: UDA driver error connecting to 'Alias Name'.
Depending on the Oracle version the message may also list "libcogudaor10"
Environment:
The "cogudaor" is the Windows gateway for establishing connections to an Oracle data source. On UNIX the gateway will be listed as "libcogudaor".
Root Cause:
Incomplete configuration of the Oracle client. There are many ways that this issue may manifest itself. The items listed below are a means of identifying which areas are causing the connection difficulties.
Solution:
1. Identify that the Oracle Client drivers have been installed on all related Cognos systems. Make sure that the systems are restarted after the Oracle Client drivers have been installed. For Cognos 8 the client driver is required on both the Cognos 8 server and on systems running Framework Manager. Framework Manager establishes it's own connections to isolate resource consumption and prevent latencies on the Cognos 8 server due to long-running queries that may be executed from Framework Manager during model development and testing.
2. Compare the version of the Oracle client driver to those listed for the supported environments of the product version that you are using. Note that Cognos 8 increases the minimum driver version to 9.2.0.1 (Oracle 9i Release 2). Earlier releases of Cognos ReportNet supported older Oracle client drivers. Refer to the following resource to identify the supported driver versions for your Cognos products.
http://support.cognos.com/en/support/products/environments.html
3. Search the system for multiple tnsnames.ora files. It is possible that multiple Oracle clients or tnsnames.ora files exist and the connection string has not been defined within the "active" copy of the tnsnames.ora. If multiple files are located then ensure that the expected connection alias is defined within each tnsnames.ora to eliminate any possible inconsistencies.
The Oracle "tnsping" command can be used to test a given connection alias. Running "tnsping ALIAS_NAME" from a command window will obtain the client driver connection information from the current environment settings and return a success or failure message indicating if the ALIAS_NAME defines a valid Oracle connection. When successful the return message should look like the following:
Attempting to contact (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)
(HOST=yourhostname)(PORT=1521)) OK (50 msec)
Similarly, if the connection can be established on one system in the Cognos 8 environment but fails when tested on another system then ensure that the tnsnames.ora on the failing system contains the same connection string as on a system where the connection is successful. Copying the file or entry within the file to the failing environment will ensure that the connection information is the same in both environments. Following an update to the tnsnames.ora file, test the connection using tnsping on the problem systems to validate the copied connection string.
In some cases a server identified by name may not be resolvable on secondary systems (i.e. if name resolution is not configured or the secondary system is in a secured environment such as a DMZ). In such cases it may be necessary to update the copied tnsnames.ora entry to refer to the Oracle database server using an IP address instead of the server name.
4. Once the tnsnames.ora aliases have been defined and tested, ensure that the alias in the tnsnames.ora file matches the alias in the Cognos 8 connection string. Oracle's SQLPlus will allow you to establish connections based on unqualified aliases while Cognos 8 requires the exact alias name to make the appropriate connection.
For example, if an alias is defined as NAME.DOMAIN.COM then SQLPlus will allow connections using just the NAME portion of the alias. Cognos 8 would require the full NAME.DOMAIN.COM alias to be defined in the connection string.
5. Attempt to use the Oracle client tools to establish a connection to the Oracle database. Using SQLPlus to establish a connection may provide additional details regarding the failures.
For example, attempting to connect to an Oracle 10G database using a 9i client driver when the 10G client is required may result in the following error message: ORA-12638: Credential retrieval failed
6. If the error message above is occuring in Framework Manager then ensure that the Cognos 8 server is started, accessible, and fully configured. If the Cognos 8 server is unreachable then the connection string information will not be accessible to Framework Manager.
7. If the Oracle client libraries are missing or not accessible then a connection may fail with the above message. For example, if for any reason the oci.dll (located in the Oracle bin directory) is unavailable then the connection will fail.
Ensure that the environment variables for the system are configured to access the Oracle client. For full details on configuration requirements please refer to your Oracle documentation. As a quick reference, on Windows, the Oracle bin directory must be located in the PATH environment variable. On UNIX the Oracle bin must be located in the PATH variable and the lib (or lib32 in when using 32-bit libraries along side of the 64-bit client installation) directory must be added to the library path.
PATH : Include the location of the bin directory located within the Oracle client installation.
ORACLE_HOME : Location of the base directory of the Oracle client installation. (On Windows Systems this may not be necessary for later versions of the Oracle client)
TNS_ADMIN : Directory containing the tnsnames.ora file. The file must have the Oracle instance defined. (This may be optional. In the event that this is not defined the tnsnames.ora file should be obtained from the NETWORK\ADMIN location within the Oracle client install location or ORACLE_HOME)
UNIX library path references:
Solaris: LD_LIBRARY_PATH (Example: LD_LIBRARY_PATH=Oracle_Home/lib32 etc.)
HPUX: SHLIB_PATH
AIX: LIBPATH
If a 3rd party application server (such as WebSphere , WebLogic , Oracle Application Server , SAP NetWeaver , or JBOSS ) is being used for your Cognos 8 environment then it may also be necessary to review the startup scripts and configuration settings of your application server to ensure that the path settings to access the Oracle client libraries are not being reset by startup scripts or defined incorrectly within the 3rd party products. Refer to your application server documentation for details on identifying custom environment settings.
On Windows the 3rd party tools, Dependency Walker, RegMon, and FileMon (RegMon and FileMon are available from SysInternals) can assist in identifying missing or inaccessible files. Dependency Walker can be attached to cogudaor.dll (located in the Cognos bin directory) to identify any inaccessible libraries required for establishing the connection.
On UNIX the ldd command can be used to identify the dependencies of the libcogudaor library (located in the Cognos bin directory).
ldd libcogudaor.(so|a|o)** -- Solaris, HPUX and AIX (depending which utility is installed)
** File extensions depend on operating system.
dump -H libcogudaor.so -- AIX
Using these trace utilities will also identify scenarios where the libraries are being sourced from a location other than the expected Oracle bin directory (i.e. other software or other oracle client installations may be identified in the system PATH environment variable and are being sourced inappropriately for the required Oracle libraries). If multiple Oracle clients are installed on a system ensure that the proper client is listed first in the PATH variable.
Note that in some environments the Oracle client drivers are available in both 64-bit and 32-bit versions. The 32-bit client libraries are required for establishing a connection with Cognos 8. Refer to your Oracle product documentation for the details on installing and configuring your environment to use the 32-bit client libraries.
Also, in some Windows environments the environment variables set during the installation of the Oracle client software may not be immediately accessible to applications running as a service. In such scenarios a reboot of the system may be required to finalize the configuration of the newly-installed Oracle client software.
On rare occasions there have also been issues reported where a Oracle client installation on UNIX does not copy the libclntsh.so to the lib32 directory of the Oracle installation. It is recommended that you contact your software vendor for the appropriate steps to resolve this issue. A copy of the file can be obtained from the temporary files created during the Oracle client installation using the following steps:
1. Locate the file libclntsh.a from the temporary installation directory (i.e. located at /tmp/OraInstall2005-03-22_08-49-34AM/oui/bin/aix/
2. Extract the file shr.o from libclntsh.a archive using the command "ar -xv libclntsh.a"
3. Rename shr.o to libclntsh.so and copy this file to the 32-bit library directory of your Oracle client installation.
Changes to the environment should be followed by a restart of the Cognos products to ensure that the new settings are applied.
8. The connection for Cognos 8 may have been defined without a user ID or password enabled. If these options are not enabled then the user ID and password will not be included in the connection string when estabilishing the Oracle connection and Oracle may reject the attempt as unauthorized. These properties can be located by
9.
1. Selecting Diretory from the Tools menu in Cognos Connection.
2. From the Directory page, select Data Sources and click on the data source that you are using.
3. After clicking on the data source you will be shown the list of connections defined for the data source. For the connection you wish to use, select the Set Properties action and then click on the Connection tab.
4. After clicking on the Pencil icon to edit the connection string you will be presented with the options to enable the use of a User ID and Password for the connection. Ensure that these are checked and then click the OK button twice to commit the changes.
5. Once the User ID and Password are enabled it is also necessary to check the credentials defined for the Signon object. To do so, click on the listed Connection (this is reached by following steps 1 and 2).
6. The Signon objects will now be displayed. If no signons are available then you may need to create one using the New Signon button from the toolbar at the top right of the page. If a signon already exists then click the Set Properties action for the signon and then click the Signon tab.
7. Click the Edit the Signon... link to view the assigned credentials. Retype the User ID and Password using a known valid combination to ensure that the credentials are valid and then click the OK button twice to commit the changes.
8. The connection and signon can be tested by returning to the connection object (steps 1 and 2) and then selecting the Test the Connection action.
10. Additional trace information can be obtained through detailed tracing mechanisms available within Cognos 8. To enable this tracing, rename the CQEconfig.xml.samples file (located in the Cognos 8 configuration directory) to CQEconfig.xml and restart Cognos 8. This change will direct more detailed error messages to the cogserver.log file (located in the Cognos 8 logs directory) and may include additional information not reported in the messages presented through the product user interfaces.
Note: the CQEconfig file should be returned to the orginal file name (with the ".sample" extension) and Cognos 8 restarted when the tracing is complete to disable the detailed logging mechanisms as the detailed logging may impact product performance.
Potential Error Messages:
In a Windows environment:
QE-DEF-0285 Logon failure.
QE-DEF-0068 Unable to connect to at least one database during a multi-database attach to 1 database(s) in:
testDataSourceConnection
UDA-SQL-0432 Unable to locate the gateway "cogudaor".
In a UNIX environment:
QE-DEF-0285 Logon failure.
QE-DEF-0068 Unable to connect to at least one database during a multi-database attach to 1 database(s) in:
testDataSourceConnection
UDA-SQL-0432 Unable to locate the gateway "libcogudaor".
For Data Manager the following message may also be displayed:
DS-DBMS-E402: UDA driver reported the following:
UDA-SQL-0432 Unable to locate the gateway "libcogudaor9".
DS-DBMS-E306: UDA driver error connecting to 'Alias Name'.
Depending on the Oracle version the message may also list "libcogudaor10"
Environment:
The "cogudaor" is the Windows gateway for establishing connections to an Oracle data source. On UNIX the gateway will be listed as "libcogudaor".
Root Cause:
Incomplete configuration of the Oracle client. There are many ways that this issue may manifest itself. The items listed below are a means of identifying which areas are causing the connection difficulties.
Solution:
1. Identify that the Oracle Client drivers have been installed on all related Cognos systems. Make sure that the systems are restarted after the Oracle Client drivers have been installed. For Cognos 8 the client driver is required on both the Cognos 8 server and on systems running Framework Manager. Framework Manager establishes it's own connections to isolate resource consumption and prevent latencies on the Cognos 8 server due to long-running queries that may be executed from Framework Manager during model development and testing.
2. Compare the version of the Oracle client driver to those listed for the supported environments of the product version that you are using. Note that Cognos 8 increases the minimum driver version to 9.2.0.1 (Oracle 9i Release 2). Earlier releases of Cognos ReportNet supported older Oracle client drivers. Refer to the following resource to identify the supported driver versions for your Cognos products.
http://support.cognos.com/en/support/products/environments.html
3. Search the system for multiple tnsnames.ora files. It is possible that multiple Oracle clients or tnsnames.ora files exist and the connection string has not been defined within the "active" copy of the tnsnames.ora. If multiple files are located then ensure that the expected connection alias is defined within each tnsnames.ora to eliminate any possible inconsistencies.
The Oracle "tnsping" command can be used to test a given connection alias. Running "tnsping ALIAS_NAME" from a command window will obtain the client driver connection information from the current environment settings and return a success or failure message indicating if the ALIAS_NAME defines a valid Oracle connection. When successful the return message should look like the following:
Attempting to contact (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)
(HOST=yourhostname)(PORT=1521)) OK (50 msec)
Similarly, if the connection can be established on one system in the Cognos 8 environment but fails when tested on another system then ensure that the tnsnames.ora on the failing system contains the same connection string as on a system where the connection is successful. Copying the file or entry within the file to the failing environment will ensure that the connection information is the same in both environments. Following an update to the tnsnames.ora file, test the connection using tnsping on the problem systems to validate the copied connection string.
In some cases a server identified by name may not be resolvable on secondary systems (i.e. if name resolution is not configured or the secondary system is in a secured environment such as a DMZ). In such cases it may be necessary to update the copied tnsnames.ora entry to refer to the Oracle database server using an IP address instead of the server name.
4. Once the tnsnames.ora aliases have been defined and tested, ensure that the alias in the tnsnames.ora file matches the alias in the Cognos 8 connection string. Oracle's SQLPlus will allow you to establish connections based on unqualified aliases while Cognos 8 requires the exact alias name to make the appropriate connection.
For example, if an alias is defined as NAME.DOMAIN.COM then SQLPlus will allow connections using just the NAME portion of the alias. Cognos 8 would require the full NAME.DOMAIN.COM alias to be defined in the connection string.
5. Attempt to use the Oracle client tools to establish a connection to the Oracle database. Using SQLPlus to establish a connection may provide additional details regarding the failures.
For example, attempting to connect to an Oracle 10G database using a 9i client driver when the 10G client is required may result in the following error message: ORA-12638: Credential retrieval failed
6. If the error message above is occuring in Framework Manager then ensure that the Cognos 8 server is started, accessible, and fully configured. If the Cognos 8 server is unreachable then the connection string information will not be accessible to Framework Manager.
7. If the Oracle client libraries are missing or not accessible then a connection may fail with the above message. For example, if for any reason the oci.dll (located in the Oracle bin directory) is unavailable then the connection will fail.
Ensure that the environment variables for the system are configured to access the Oracle client. For full details on configuration requirements please refer to your Oracle documentation. As a quick reference, on Windows, the Oracle bin directory must be located in the PATH environment variable. On UNIX the Oracle bin must be located in the PATH variable and the lib (or lib32 in when using 32-bit libraries along side of the 64-bit client installation) directory must be added to the library path.
PATH : Include the location of the bin directory located within the Oracle client installation.
ORACLE_HOME : Location of the base directory of the Oracle client installation. (On Windows Systems this may not be necessary for later versions of the Oracle client)
TNS_ADMIN : Directory containing the tnsnames.ora file. The file must have the Oracle instance defined. (This may be optional. In the event that this is not defined the tnsnames.ora file should be obtained from the NETWORK\ADMIN location within the Oracle client install location or ORACLE_HOME)
UNIX library path references:
Solaris: LD_LIBRARY_PATH (Example: LD_LIBRARY_PATH=Oracle_Home/lib32 etc.)
HPUX: SHLIB_PATH
AIX: LIBPATH
If a 3rd party application server (such as WebSphere , WebLogic , Oracle Application Server , SAP NetWeaver , or JBOSS ) is being used for your Cognos 8 environment then it may also be necessary to review the startup scripts and configuration settings of your application server to ensure that the path settings to access the Oracle client libraries are not being reset by startup scripts or defined incorrectly within the 3rd party products. Refer to your application server documentation for details on identifying custom environment settings.
On Windows the 3rd party tools, Dependency Walker, RegMon, and FileMon (RegMon and FileMon are available from SysInternals) can assist in identifying missing or inaccessible files. Dependency Walker can be attached to cogudaor.dll (located in the Cognos bin directory) to identify any inaccessible libraries required for establishing the connection.
On UNIX the ldd command can be used to identify the dependencies of the libcogudaor library (located in the Cognos bin directory).
ldd libcogudaor
** File extensions depend on operating system.
dump -H libcogudaor.so -- AIX
Using these trace utilities will also identify scenarios where the libraries are being sourced from a location other than the expected Oracle bin directory (i.e. other software or other oracle client installations may be identified in the system PATH environment variable and are being sourced inappropriately for the required Oracle libraries). If multiple Oracle clients are installed on a system ensure that the proper client is listed first in the PATH variable.
Note that in some environments the Oracle client drivers are available in both 64-bit and 32-bit versions. The 32-bit client libraries are required for establishing a connection with Cognos 8. Refer to your Oracle product documentation for the details on installing and configuring your environment to use the 32-bit client libraries.
Also, in some Windows environments the environment variables set during the installation of the Oracle client software may not be immediately accessible to applications running as a service. In such scenarios a reboot of the system may be required to finalize the configuration of the newly-installed Oracle client software.
On rare occasions there have also been issues reported where a Oracle client installation on UNIX does not copy the libclntsh.so to the lib32 directory of the Oracle installation. It is recommended that you contact your software vendor for the appropriate steps to resolve this issue. A copy of the file can be obtained from the temporary files created during the Oracle client installation using the following steps:
1. Locate the file libclntsh.a from the temporary installation directory (i.e. located at /tmp/OraInstall2005-03-22_08-49-34AM/oui/bin/aix/
2. Extract the file shr.o from libclntsh.a archive using the command "ar -xv libclntsh.a"
3. Rename shr.o to libclntsh.so and copy this file to the 32-bit library directory of your Oracle client installation.
Changes to the environment should be followed by a restart of the Cognos products to ensure that the new settings are applied.
8. The connection for Cognos 8 may have been defined without a user ID or password enabled. If these options are not enabled then the user ID and password will not be included in the connection string when estabilishing the Oracle connection and Oracle may reject the attempt as unauthorized. These properties can be located by
9.
1. Selecting Diretory from the Tools menu in Cognos Connection.
2. From the Directory page, select Data Sources and click on the data source that you are using.
3. After clicking on the data source you will be shown the list of connections defined for the data source. For the connection you wish to use, select the Set Properties action and then click on the Connection tab.
4. After clicking on the Pencil icon to edit the connection string you will be presented with the options to enable the use of a User ID and Password for the connection. Ensure that these are checked and then click the OK button twice to commit the changes.
5. Once the User ID and Password are enabled it is also necessary to check the credentials defined for the Signon object. To do so, click on the listed Connection (this is reached by following steps 1 and 2).
6. The Signon objects will now be displayed. If no signons are available then you may need to create one using the New Signon button from the toolbar at the top right of the page. If a signon already exists then click the Set Properties action for the signon and then click the Signon tab.
7. Click the Edit the Signon... link to view the assigned credentials. Retype the User ID and Password using a known valid combination to ensure that the credentials are valid and then click the OK button twice to commit the changes.
8. The connection and signon can be tested by returning to the connection object (steps 1 and 2) and then selecting the Test the Connection action.
10. Additional trace information can be obtained through detailed tracing mechanisms available within Cognos 8. To enable this tracing, rename the CQEconfig.xml.samples file (located in the Cognos 8 configuration directory) to CQEconfig.xml and restart Cognos 8. This change will direct more detailed error messages to the cogserver.log file (located in the Cognos 8 logs directory) and may include additional information not reported in the messages presented through the product user interfaces.
Note: the CQEconfig file should be returned to the orginal file name (with the ".sample" extension) and Cognos 8 restarted when the tracing is complete to disable the detailed logging mechanisms as the detailed logging may impact product performance.
Tuning Cognos on Oracle
source: http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_tuning_cognos.htm
Just because SQL is generated dynamically, you can still tune it with Materialized Views (using query re-write), Oracle stored outlines (optimizer plan stability) and the Oracle 10g SQL profiles.
Cognos is similar to other OLAP tools (Business Objects, Hyperion) in that it generated ad-hoc SQL and then builds in-RAM "cubes" of the result data.
When building cubes, Cognos will often request aggregated data, and the resulting SQL may have repeating full-table scans.
One of the most effective ways to tune Cognos is to examine the execution plans for the top SQL using a STATSPACK or AWR report. Once the commonalities of the Cognos queries are identified, a few well-placed Materialized views can re-write the Cognos SQL to access the pre-summarized data.
Just because SQL is generated dynamically, you can still tune it with Materialized Views (using query re-write), Oracle stored outlines (optimizer plan stability) and the Oracle 10g SQL profiles.
Cognos is similar to other OLAP tools (Business Objects, Hyperion) in that it generated ad-hoc SQL and then builds in-RAM "cubes" of the result data.
When building cubes, Cognos will often request aggregated data, and the resulting SQL may have repeating full-table scans.
One of the most effective ways to tune Cognos is to examine the execution plans for the top SQL using a STATSPACK or AWR report. Once the commonalities of the Cognos queries are identified, a few well-placed Materialized views can re-write the Cognos SQL to access the pre-summarized data.
Tuning Cognos on Oracle
source: http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_tuning_cognos.htm
Just because SQL is generated dynamically, you can still tune it with Materialized Views (using query re-write), Oracle stored outlines (optimizer plan stability) and the Oracle 10g SQL profiles.
Cognos is similar to other OLAP tools (Business Objects, Hyperion) in that it generated ad-hoc SQL and then builds in-RAM "cubes" of the result data.
When building cubes, Cognos will often request aggregated data, and the resulting SQL may have repeating full-table scans.
One of the most effective ways to tune Cognos is to examine the execution plans for the top SQL using a STATSPACK or AWR report. Once the commonalities of the Cognos queries are identified, a few well-placed Materialized views can re-write the Cognos SQL to access the pre-summarized data.
Just because SQL is generated dynamically, you can still tune it with Materialized Views (using query re-write), Oracle stored outlines (optimizer plan stability) and the Oracle 10g SQL profiles.
Cognos is similar to other OLAP tools (Business Objects, Hyperion) in that it generated ad-hoc SQL and then builds in-RAM "cubes" of the result data.
When building cubes, Cognos will often request aggregated data, and the resulting SQL may have repeating full-table scans.
One of the most effective ways to tune Cognos is to examine the execution plans for the top SQL using a STATSPACK or AWR report. Once the commonalities of the Cognos queries are identified, a few well-placed Materialized views can re-write the Cognos SQL to access the pre-summarized data.
Oracle® Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence Solutions
 | Oracle® Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence Solutions Up-to-date, comprehensive coverage of the Oracle database and business intelligence tools. Data warehouses are the core technology that businesses use to capture, store, and analyze vast amounts of business data, and Oracle has emerged as the leading database platform. |
Oracle® Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence Solutions
| Oracle® Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence Solutions Up-to-date, comprehensive coverage of the Oracle database and business intelligence tools. Data warehouses are the core technology that businesses use to capture, store, and analyze vast amounts of business data, and Oracle has emerged as the leading database platform. |
Cognos 8 Deployment Packages
Hello, I have seen a few posts regarding requests on how to generate deployment packages.
You can review the Admin and Security guide for more info but the quick steps are:
- Cognos Connection
- Tools/Content Administration
- Create new export
- select content store items (reports, permissions, etc..)
- Execute
- This create a .zip file in your C8 install path (defined in Cognos Configuration)
- You would then import this package in your PROD environment.
You will also want to review some of the specific settings such as:
* do i want to execute this task now, or schedule it?
* am i capturing all of the required information? security permissions?
* should i select all content store items as a back up of my environment?
* what items should i unit test when i import my package?
* should i set the folder location of the .zip to be a shared folder and accessible by other team members?
Cognos 8 Deployment Packages
Hello, I have seen a few posts regarding requests on how to generate deployment packages.
You can review the Admin and Security guide for more info but the quick steps are:
- Cognos Connection
- Tools/Content Administration
- Create new export
- select content store items (reports, permissions, etc..)
- Execute
- This create a .zip file in your C8 install path (defined in Cognos Configuration)
- You would then import this package in your PROD environment.
You will also want to review some of the specific settings such as:
* do i want to execute this task now, or schedule it?
* am i capturing all of the required information? security permissions?
* should i select all content store items as a back up of my environment?
* what items should i unit test when i import my package?
* should i set the folder location of the .zip to be a shared folder and accessible by other team members?
Genzyme Corporation Cognos Opportunity!
New Cognos Opportunity in Cambridge, MASS, USA!
Genzyme Corporation, is looking for a Reporting Developer/Analyst. The position will support the Orthopaedics division with business reporting requirements using Cognos. The Reporting Developer/Analyst will also be responsible for maintaining existing Cognos reports, report design, implementing new Cognos functionality, and report unit testing.
...read more
Genzyme Corporation, is looking for a Reporting Developer/Analyst. The position will support the Orthopaedics division with business reporting requirements using Cognos. The Reporting Developer/Analyst will also be responsible for maintaining existing Cognos reports, report design, implementing new Cognos functionality, and report unit testing.
...read more
Genzyme Corporation Cognos Opportunity!
New Cognos Opportunity in Cambridge, MASS, USA!
Genzyme Corporation, is looking for a Reporting Developer/Analyst. The position will support the Orthopaedics division with business reporting requirements using Cognos. The Reporting Developer/Analyst will also be responsible for maintaining existing Cognos reports, report design, implementing new Cognos functionality, and report unit testing.
...read more
Genzyme Corporation, is looking for a Reporting Developer/Analyst. The position will support the Orthopaedics division with business reporting requirements using Cognos. The Reporting Developer/Analyst will also be responsible for maintaining existing Cognos reports, report design, implementing new Cognos functionality, and report unit testing.
...read more
UDA-SOR-0001 Unable to allocate memory
If you experiencing these error messages then the potential cause could be related to you server configuration. You could be requesting all of your report requests through one BiBus process.
QE-DEF-0177 Error executing operation 'sqlOpenResult' Status='-28'
UDA-SQL-0114 The cursor supplied to the operation "APICursor::OpenResult" is inactive.
UDA-SOR-0001 Unable to allocate memory.
One test to resolve this issue would be to increase the settings for the Interactive and Batch report processes. When you optimize the environment, requests are spread over a number of BiBus processes, and the memory issue may no longer occur.
Test 1
1. Log into Cognos Connection as a System Administrator.
2. Select Tools.
3. Select Server Administration.
4. Select the properties of the Dispatcher.
5. Click the Settings tab.
6. In the Category menu, click Tuning.
7. Increase:
Maximum number of processes for the batch report service (start with 2 per CPU)
Maximum number processes for the Interactive report service (start with 2 per CPU)
8. Stop and restart the Cognos service.
Test 2:
You could also try decreasing the sort memory setting in Cognos Configuration to the default value (4 MB). If this setting was changed, then you should research the initial reason as to its change. This setting applies to each BiBusTkServerMain Process, so it gets multiplied by the configured number of Report Processes.
1. Open Cognos Configuration, and select Environment from the Explorer Bar
2. Change the value of the Sort buffer size in MB to a smaller amount.
3. Save the configuration.
4. Stop and restart the Cognos service.
Test 3
You should also confirm that there is free space available on the drive where Cognos8 is installed. During processing of reports temp directory is used to store the information temporarily. It is hard to determine how much free space is required to be used by the Cognos8 temp directory. However, it is recommended to have at least 4 GB of free space on the drive.
QE-DEF-0177 Error executing operation 'sqlOpenResult' Status='-28'
UDA-SQL-0114 The cursor supplied to the operation "APICursor::OpenResult" is inactive.
UDA-SOR-0001 Unable to allocate memory.
One test to resolve this issue would be to increase the settings for the Interactive and Batch report processes. When you optimize the environment, requests are spread over a number of BiBus processes, and the memory issue may no longer occur.
Test 1
1. Log into Cognos Connection as a System Administrator.
2. Select Tools.
3. Select Server Administration.
4. Select the properties of the Dispatcher.
5. Click the Settings tab.
6. In the Category menu, click Tuning.
7. Increase:
Maximum number of processes for the batch report service (start with 2 per CPU)
Maximum number processes for the Interactive report service (start with 2 per CPU)
8. Stop and restart the Cognos service.
Test 2:
You could also try decreasing the sort memory setting in Cognos Configuration to the default value (4 MB). If this setting was changed, then you should research the initial reason as to its change. This setting applies to each BiBusTkServerMain Process, so it gets multiplied by the configured number of Report Processes.
1. Open Cognos Configuration, and select Environment from the Explorer Bar
2. Change the value of the Sort buffer size in MB to a smaller amount.
3. Save the configuration.
4. Stop and restart the Cognos service.
Test 3
You should also confirm that there is free space available on the drive where Cognos8 is installed. During processing of reports temp directory is used to store the information temporarily. It is hard to determine how much free space is required to be used by the Cognos8 temp directory. However, it is recommended to have at least 4 GB of free space on the drive.
UDA-SOR-0001 Unable to allocate memory
If you experiencing these error messages then the potential cause could be related to you server configuration. You could be requesting all of your report requests through one BiBus process.
QE-DEF-0177 Error executing operation 'sqlOpenResult' Status='-28'
UDA-SQL-0114 The cursor supplied to the operation "APICursor::OpenResult" is inactive.
UDA-SOR-0001 Unable to allocate memory.
One test to resolve this issue would be to increase the settings for the Interactive and Batch report processes. When you optimize the environment, requests are spread over a number of BiBus processes, and the memory issue may no longer occur.
Test 1
1. Log into Cognos Connection as a System Administrator.
2. Select Tools.
3. Select Server Administration.
4. Select the properties of the Dispatcher.
5. Click the Settings tab.
6. In the Category menu, click Tuning.
7. Increase:
Maximum number of processes for the batch report service (start with 2 per CPU)
Maximum number processes for the Interactive report service (start with 2 per CPU)
8. Stop and restart the Cognos service.
Test 2:
You could also try decreasing the sort memory setting in Cognos Configuration to the default value (4 MB). If this setting was changed, then you should research the initial reason as to its change. This setting applies to each BiBusTkServerMain Process, so it gets multiplied by the configured number of Report Processes.
1. Open Cognos Configuration, and select Environment from the Explorer Bar
2. Change the value of the Sort buffer size in MB to a smaller amount.
3. Save the configuration.
4. Stop and restart the Cognos service.
Test 3
You should also confirm that there is free space available on the drive where Cognos8 is installed. During processing of reports temp directory is used to store the information temporarily. It is hard to determine how much free space is required to be used by the Cognos8 temp directory. However, it is recommended to have at least 4 GB of free space on the drive.
QE-DEF-0177 Error executing operation 'sqlOpenResult' Status='-28'
UDA-SQL-0114 The cursor supplied to the operation "APICursor::OpenResult" is inactive.
UDA-SOR-0001 Unable to allocate memory.
One test to resolve this issue would be to increase the settings for the Interactive and Batch report processes. When you optimize the environment, requests are spread over a number of BiBus processes, and the memory issue may no longer occur.
Test 1
1. Log into Cognos Connection as a System Administrator.
2. Select Tools.
3. Select Server Administration.
4. Select the properties of the Dispatcher.
5. Click the Settings tab.
6. In the Category menu, click Tuning.
7. Increase:
Maximum number of processes for the batch report service (start with 2 per CPU)
Maximum number processes for the Interactive report service (start with 2 per CPU)
8. Stop and restart the Cognos service.
Test 2:
You could also try decreasing the sort memory setting in Cognos Configuration to the default value (4 MB). If this setting was changed, then you should research the initial reason as to its change. This setting applies to each BiBusTkServerMain Process, so it gets multiplied by the configured number of Report Processes.
1. Open Cognos Configuration, and select Environment from the Explorer Bar
2. Change the value of the Sort buffer size in MB to a smaller amount.
3. Save the configuration.
4. Stop and restart the Cognos service.
Test 3
You should also confirm that there is free space available on the drive where Cognos8 is installed. During processing of reports temp directory is used to store the information temporarily. It is hard to determine how much free space is required to be used by the Cognos8 temp directory. However, it is recommended to have at least 4 GB of free space on the drive.
Cognos 8 -- automate Framework Manager
We recently had a query about how to automate the functionality of Framework Manager. When you make a modification to your Framework Manager model you are generating a related .log.xml file that gets saved to your project folder. You can use teh BMTScriptPlayer.exe to re-execute your action log, or you can create generic action logs that can be applied to several projects.
Here is an example from a sample project where we updated the parameter map.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<bmtactionlog project="C:\FM Projects\ModelTest\Sales.cpf" templatedir="../templates/bmt/Cr1Model" timestamp="20070919140143053" user="Jack Black" version=" 2.0.1520.0"><transaction saved="false" seq="1" timestamp="20070919140204209"><action seq="1" type="SetActiveLocale"><inputparams><param seq="1" type="i18nstring"><value>en-us</value></param></inputparams><domchanges/><result success="t"><outputparams/></result></action></transaction><transaction saved="false" seq="3" timestamp="20070919140224647"><action seq="1" type="Create"><inputparams><param seq="1" type="integer"><value>15</value></param><param seq="2" type="handle"><mappingpath>parameterMap/[@hidden=true]</mappingpath><value>[].[parameterMaps].[_env]</value></param><param seq="3" type="i18nstring"><value> account.personalInfo.</value></param><param seq="4" type="integer"><value>1</value></param></inputparams><domchanges/><result success="t"><outputparams/></result></action><action seq="2" type="Modify"><inputparams><param seq="1" type="handle"><mappingpath>parameterMapEntry/key</mappingpath><value>/O/key[0]/O/[].[parameterMaps].[_env].[ account.personalInfo.]</value></param><param seq="2" type="i18nstring"><value>account.personalInfo.userId</value></param></inputparams><domchanges/><result success="t"><outputparams/></result></action></transaction></bmtactionlog>
Here are the steps to follow to create a script from the Framework Manager user interface:
1. Ensure anonymous access is enabled.
2. Open Framework Manager.
3. Create a new project and import a data source.
4. Perform any modifications to your model, for example, you could create a parameter map, specify object security etc...
5. Select View Transaction History under the Project menu.
6. Select the checkbox next to the <Project_Name>-xxxxxxxxxx-log transaction list entry.
7. Click Save as Script.
8. Name the script TestScript.xml and click Save.
9. Click Close.
Here are the steps to follow to recreate the project you have just created above:
1. From a Command Prompt window, browse to the <C8_LOCATION>\bin directory.
2. Enter BmtScriptPlayer at the Command Prompt for a list of all the possible options.
3) Enter the following at the command prompt:
BmtScriptPlayer -c c:\temp\test\TestProject.cpf -a c:\temp\TestScript.xml
where:
BmtScriptPlayer is the Script Player application
-c is the option to create a new project
c:\temp\test\TestProject.cpf is the file path of the new project to be created
-a is the option to specify which action log to apply
c:\temp\TestScript.xml is the file path of the script to be applied
4) You have now recreated the project with the changes made to the model.
The XML file can be edited to modify either the actions or the values passed to the Script Player.
Cognos 8 -- automate Framework Manager
We recently had a query about how to automate the functionality of Framework Manager. When you make a modification to your Framework Manager model you are generating a related .log.xml file that gets saved to your project folder. You can use teh BMTScriptPlayer.exe to re-execute your action log, or you can create generic action logs that can be applied to several projects.
Here is an example from a sample project where we updated the parameter map.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<bmtactionlog project="C:\FM Projects\ModelTest\Sales.cpf" templatedir="../templates/bmt/Cr1Model" timestamp="20070919140143053" user="Jack Black" version=" 2.0.1520.0"><transaction saved="false" seq="1" timestamp="20070919140204209"><action seq="1" type="SetActiveLocale"><inputparams><param seq="1" type="i18nstring"><value>en-us</value></param></inputparams><domchanges/><result success="t"><outputparams/></result></action></transaction><transaction saved="false" seq="3" timestamp="20070919140224647"><action seq="1" type="Create"><inputparams><param seq="1" type="integer"><value>15</value></param><param seq="2" type="handle"><mappingpath>parameterMap/[@hidden=true]</mappingpath><value>[].[parameterMaps].[_env]</value></param><param seq="3" type="i18nstring"><value> account.personalInfo.</value></param><param seq="4" type="integer"><value>1</value></param></inputparams><domchanges/><result success="t"><outputparams/></result></action><action seq="2" type="Modify"><inputparams><param seq="1" type="handle"><mappingpath>parameterMapEntry/key</mappingpath><value>/O/key[0]/O/[].[parameterMaps].[_env].[ account.personalInfo.]</value></param><param seq="2" type="i18nstring"><value>account.personalInfo.userId</value></param></inputparams><domchanges/><result success="t"><outputparams/></result></action></transaction></bmtactionlog>
Here are the steps to follow to create a script from the Framework Manager user interface:
1. Ensure anonymous access is enabled.
2. Open Framework Manager.
3. Create a new project and import a data source.
4. Perform any modifications to your model, for example, you could create a parameter map, specify object security etc...
5. Select View Transaction History under the Project menu.
6. Select the checkbox next to the <Project_Name>-xxxxxxxxxx-log transaction list entry.
7. Click Save as Script.
8. Name the script TestScript.xml and click Save.
9. Click Close.
Here are the steps to follow to recreate the project you have just created above:
1. From a Command Prompt window, browse to the <C8_LOCATION>\bin directory.
2. Enter BmtScriptPlayer at the Command Prompt for a list of all the possible options.
3) Enter the following at the command prompt:
BmtScriptPlayer -c c:\temp\test\TestProject.cpf -a c:\temp\TestScript.xml
where:
BmtScriptPlayer is the Script Player application
-c is the option to create a new project
c:\temp\test\TestProject.cpf is the file path of the new project to be created
-a is the option to specify which action log to apply
c:\temp\TestScript.xml is the file path of the script to be applied
4) You have now recreated the project with the changes made to the model.
The XML file can be edited to modify either the actions or the values passed to the Script Player.
Looking for an Oracle or SQL Server eBook on BI?
This link is profiling several great prices for eBooks focusing on Business Intelligence.
http://featuredproduct.blogspot.com/2008/01/bi-ebooks.html
http://featuredproduct.blogspot.com/2008/01/bi-ebooks.html
Looking for an Oracle or SQL Server eBook on BI?
This link is profiling several great prices for eBooks focusing on Business Intelligence.
http://featuredproduct.blogspot.com/2008/01/bi-ebooks.html
http://featuredproduct.blogspot.com/2008/01/bi-ebooks.html
Cognos SDK by BI Centre Update -- Default.aspx Show All Packages
The entry point to our Cognos SDK web solution will be Default.aspx. Default.aspx will call the CognosSDK.cs object in order to query the Cognos Content Store for a list of Content Store objects.
http://bicentresdkguide.blogspot.com/2008/01/show-all-packages-in-defaultaspx.html
Cognos SDK by BI Centre Update -- Default.aspx Show All Packages
The entry point to our Cognos SDK web solution will be Default.aspx. Default.aspx will call the CognosSDK.cs object in order to query the Cognos Content Store for a list of Content Store objects.
http://cognos8helpsdkguide.blogspot.com/2008/01/show-all-packages-in-defaultaspx.html
Cognos 8 -- possible report testing elements
Here is a list of some elements that you may want to include in your next Cognos 8 reporting test plans.
§ Test Boolean logic
§ Test loops
§ Test cross-field validation
§ Test cross-references
§ Test initialization
§ Test close-outs (process ends without errors)
§ Test input/output
§ Test SQL
§ Test internal sorts
§ Test invalid entries
§ Test maximum and minimum values
§ Test merging of data (e.g., from files)
§ Test status conditions.
§ Test calculations with valid numeric data.
§ Ensure high-order truncation in receiving numeric fields does not occur.
§ Test that percentages and variances show properly.
§ Test rounding rules.
§ Test the divide by zero function. The component should not terminate or terminate gracefully.
§ Test that negative and positive numbers are handled properly.
- Ensure called component linkage works correctly: make each different type of possible call to the component; detect and handle invalid calling conditions; if optional records are passed, include testing with and without them; test the values in each message field.
Cognos 8 -- possible report testing elements
Here is a list of some elements that you may want to include in your next Cognos 8 reporting test plans.
§ Test Boolean logic
§ Test loops
§ Test cross-field validation
§ Test cross-references
§ Test initialization
§ Test close-outs (process ends without errors)
§ Test input/output
§ Test SQL
§ Test internal sorts
§ Test invalid entries
§ Test maximum and minimum values
§ Test merging of data (e.g., from files)
§ Test status conditions.
§ Test calculations with valid numeric data.
§ Ensure high-order truncation in receiving numeric fields does not occur.
§ Test that percentages and variances show properly.
§ Test rounding rules.
§ Test the divide by zero function. The component should not terminate or terminate gracefully.
§ Test that negative and positive numbers are handled properly.
- Ensure called component linkage works correctly: make each different type of possible call to the component; detect and handle invalid calling conditions; if optional records are passed, include testing with and without them; test the values in each message field.
Cognos 8 -- Cognos Application Firewall (CAF)
Cognos Configuration allows you configure the properties to enable Cognos Application Firewall (CAF). From within Cognos Configuration it is found under the Security section. This will help to provide protection against penetration vulnerabilities, and it acts as a smart proxy for the Cognos product gateways and dispatchers. It works to help prevent the C8 environment from processing malicious data.
Some of the security features of the CAF include: data validation and protection; logging and monitoring; and output protection. The setting for the Cognos Application Firewall is enabled by default.
Cognos 8 -- Cognos Application Firewall (CAF)
Cognos Configuration allows you configure the properties to enable Cognos Application Firewall (CAF). From within Cognos Configuration it is found under the Security section. This will help to provide protection against penetration vulnerabilities, and it acts as a smart proxy for the Cognos product gateways and dispatchers. It works to help prevent the C8 environment from processing malicious data.
Some of the security features of the CAF include: data validation and protection; logging and monitoring; and output protection. The setting for the Cognos Application Firewall is enabled by default.
Promote your Cognos CV for free!
If you're looking for that next Cognos contract then be sure to visit:
http://cognosconsulting.blogspot.com/2008/01/cognos-consulting-will-post-your-cv.html
http://cognosconsulting.blogspot.com/2008/01/cognos-consulting-will-post-your-cv.html
Promote your Cognos CV for free!
If you're looking for that next Cognos contract then be sure to visit:
http://cognosconsulting.blogspot.com/2008/01/cognos-consulting-will-post-your-cv.html
http://cognosconsulting.blogspot.com/2008/01/cognos-consulting-will-post-your-cv.html
Cognos SDK Guide by BI Centre Update -- web.config
This example discusses how the Cognos SDK sample project uses a web.config file in it’s ASP.NET project files to contain secure properties.
http://bicentresdkguide.blogspot.com/2008/01/cognos-sdk-guide-by-bi-centre-webconfig.html
Cognos SDK Guide by BI Centre Update -- web.config
This example discusses how the Cognos SDK sample project uses a web.config file in it’s ASP.NET project files to contain secure properties.
http://cognos8helpsdkguide.blogspot.com/2008/01/cognos-sdk-guide-by-bi-centre-webconfig.html
Cognos and SAP
Here’s an interesting read if you are also dealing with ERPs such as SAP.
http://research.ittoolbox.com/white-papers/backoffice/sap/cognos-reportnet-for-sap-bw-2630
Cognos and SAP
Here’s an interesting read if you are also dealing with ERPs such as SAP.
http://research.ittoolbox.com/white-papers/backoffice/sap/cognos-reportnet-for-sap-bw-2630
Cognos SDK Guide by BI Centre Update -- Exception Handler
Check out the latest update to the Cognos SDK Guide by BI Centre. Today’s entry deals with creating an exception handler class for your Cognos SDK application.
http://bicentresdkguide.blogspot.com/2008/01/exception-handler-class-exhandlercs.html
Cognos SDK Guide by BI Centre Update -- Exception Handler
Check out the latest update to the Cognos SDK Guide by BI Centre. Today’s entry deals with creating an exception handler class for your Cognos SDK application.
http://cognos8helpsdkguide.blogspot.com/2008/01/exception-handler-class-exhandlercs.html
Great article posted on "Report Studio Naming Conventions and Documentation"
I would recommend reading the following article posted at http://wiki.ittoolbox.com/index.php/Report%5FStudio%5FNaming%5FConventions%5Fand%5FDocumentation if you’re starting up a new project.
Great article posted on "Report Studio Naming Conventions and Documentation"
I would recommend reading the following article posted at http://wiki.ittoolbox.com/index.php/Report%5FStudio%5FNaming%5FConventions%5Fand%5FDocumentation if you’re starting up a new project.
Cognos 8 -- predefined roles in Cognos Namespace
Here is a list of the predefined roles that exist in the Cognos namespace. It is a good idea to base your security architecture around these default values, especially when dealing with multiple environments.
| Consumers | Members can read and execute public content, such as reports |
| Query Users | Members have the same access permissions as Consumers. They can also use Query Studio |
| Authors | Members have the same access permissions as Query Users. They can use Report Studio and save public content, such as reports and report outputs |
| Report Administrators | Members can administer the public content, for which they have full access. They can also use Report and Query studio |
| Server Administrators | Members can administer servers, dispatchers and jobs |
| Directory Administrators | Members can administer the contents of namespaces. In the Cognos namespace, they administer groups, accounts, contacts, distribution lists, data sources and printers |
| Metrics Administrators | Members can administer Metric packages and tasks in Cognos Connection |
| Metrics Authors | Members can create and edit scorecard applications in Metric Studio |
| Metrics Users | Members can monitor performance in Metric Studio |
| Portal Administrators | Members can administer the Cognos portlets and third party portlets in Cognos Connection. This includes importing and customizing portlets, defining portlet styles, and setting access permissions for portlets |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)