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Stop and Start Dispatchers and Services

Stop and Start Dispatchers and Services

You can stop and start dispatchers and services manually. If a service stops responding, you must stop and restart it.

Each dispatcher and service can be

  • started

  • stopped immediately and delete all the requests that are running or queued, without completing those requests

  • stopped after running and queued requests are processed

You can stop or start all dispatchers and services in the IBM Cognos 8 environment at once.

When you start IBM Cognos 8 using the configuration tool, all dispatchers and services start unless they are disabled in the configuration tool. For more information, see the Installation and Configuration Guide.

By default, all services start when you restart the computer on which they are installed.

Stopping a service also stops all its processes. When you stop a dispatcher, all its services are stopped. If the suspended dispatcher has an active Content Manager, all users except administrators are locked out.

After a service is stopped, it has a suspended status System Performance Metrics.

You must have the required permissions to access IBM Cognos Administration functionality. See Secured Functions and Features.

Steps
  1. Start IBM Cognos Connection.

  2. In the upper-right corner, click Launch, IBM Cognos Administration.

  3. On the Status tab, click System.

  4. In the upper-left corner of the Scorecard pane, click the arrow to view the Change view menu and find the dispatchers or services that you want.

    Click All servers, All server groups, or All dispatchers. To select a service, pause your pointer over Services and click the required service.

  5. Click the arrow next to the dispatcher or service, and choose the action that you want to perform.

    Depending on the dispatcher or service, you can do the following:

    Goal Action
    Start all dispatchers in system

    With all servers displayed, in the upper right corner of the Scorecard pane, click the arrow to view the Toolbar actions menu, and then click Start dispatchers.

    Tip: To apply a toolbar action to only some entries, select check boxes for one or more entries and then click the toolbar action that you want.

    Start all dispatchers for a server group

    With all server groups displayed, click the arrow to view the Actions menu next to the server group, and then click Start dispatchers.

    Start all dispatchers for a server

    With all servers displayed, click the arrow to view the actions menu next to the server, and then click Start dispatchers.

    Start a specific dispatcher

    With all dispatchers displayed, click the arrow to view the Actions menu next to the dispatcher, and then click Start.

    Start a specific service

    With all services displayed, click the arrow to view the Actions menu next to the service, and then click Start.

    Stop all dispatchers in system

    With all servers displayed, in the upper right corner of the Scorecard pane, click the arrow to view the Toolbar actions menu, and then click Stop dispatchers immediately or Stop dispatchers after running and queue processed.

    Stop all dispatchers for a server group

    With all server groups displayed, click the arrow to view the Actions menu next to the server group, and then click Stop dispatchers immediately or Stop dispatchers after running and queue processed.

    Stop all dispatchers for a server

    With all servers displayed, click the arrow to view the Actions menu next to the server, and then click Stop dispatchers immediately or Stop dispatchers after running and queue processed.

    Stop a specific dispatcher

    With all dispatchers displayed, click the arrow to view the Actions menu next to the dispatcher, and then click Stop immediately or Stop after running and queue processed.

    Stop a specific service

    With all services displayed, click the arrow to view the Actions menu next to the service, and then click Stop immediately or Stop after running and queue processed.

    A dialog box appears and confirms the action.

  6. Click Close.



--
BI CENTRE
http://bicentre.blogspot.com


Stop and Start Dispatchers and Services

Stop and Start Dispatchers and Services

You can stop and start dispatchers and services manually. If a service stops responding, you must stop and restart it.

Each dispatcher and service can be

  • started

  • stopped immediately and delete all the requests that are running or queued, without completing those requests

  • stopped after running and queued requests are processed

You can stop or start all dispatchers and services in the IBM Cognos 8 environment at once.

When you start IBM Cognos 8 using the configuration tool, all dispatchers and services start unless they are disabled in the configuration tool. For more information, see the Installation and Configuration Guide.

By default, all services start when you restart the computer on which they are installed.

Stopping a service also stops all its processes. When you stop a dispatcher, all its services are stopped. If the suspended dispatcher has an active Content Manager, all users except administrators are locked out.

After a service is stopped, it has a suspended status System Performance Metrics.

You must have the required permissions to access IBM Cognos Administration functionality. See Secured Functions and Features.

Steps
  1. Start IBM Cognos Connection.

  2. In the upper-right corner, click Launch, IBM Cognos Administration.

  3. On the Status tab, click System.

  4. In the upper-left corner of the Scorecard pane, click the arrow to view the Change view menu and find the dispatchers or services that you want.

    Click All servers, All server groups, or All dispatchers. To select a service, pause your pointer over Services and click the required service.

  5. Click the arrow next to the dispatcher or service, and choose the action that you want to perform.

    Depending on the dispatcher or service, you can do the following:

    Goal Action
    Start all dispatchers in system

    With all servers displayed, in the upper right corner of the Scorecard pane, click the arrow to view the Toolbar actions menu, and then click Start dispatchers.

    Tip: To apply a toolbar action to only some entries, select check boxes for one or more entries and then click the toolbar action that you want.

    Start all dispatchers for a server group

    With all server groups displayed, click the arrow to view the Actions menu next to the server group, and then click Start dispatchers.

    Start all dispatchers for a server

    With all servers displayed, click the arrow to view the actions menu next to the server, and then click Start dispatchers.

    Start a specific dispatcher

    With all dispatchers displayed, click the arrow to view the Actions menu next to the dispatcher, and then click Start.

    Start a specific service

    With all services displayed, click the arrow to view the Actions menu next to the service, and then click Start.

    Stop all dispatchers in system

    With all servers displayed, in the upper right corner of the Scorecard pane, click the arrow to view the Toolbar actions menu, and then click Stop dispatchers immediately or Stop dispatchers after running and queue processed.

    Stop all dispatchers for a server group

    With all server groups displayed, click the arrow to view the Actions menu next to the server group, and then click Stop dispatchers immediately or Stop dispatchers after running and queue processed.

    Stop all dispatchers for a server

    With all servers displayed, click the arrow to view the Actions menu next to the server, and then click Stop dispatchers immediately or Stop dispatchers after running and queue processed.

    Stop a specific dispatcher

    With all dispatchers displayed, click the arrow to view the Actions menu next to the dispatcher, and then click Stop immediately or Stop after running and queue processed.

    Stop a specific service

    With all services displayed, click the arrow to view the Actions menu next to the service, and then click Stop immediately or Stop after running and queue processed.

    A dialog box appears and confirms the action.

  6. Click Close.



--
BI CENTRE
http://cognos8help.blogspot.com


Application Server Startup Script Fails

Application Server Startup Script Fails

You may have problems running the startup scripts for an application server to deploy the IBM Cognos application if IBM Cognos 8 components are installed in a directory with a name that includes spaces.

To resolve this problem, rename the directory and do not include spaces in the new name. If this solution is not easily handled by the startup scripts, try adding quotation marks around the directory name that includes spaces or use the 8.3 DOS naming convention.

--
BI CENTRE
http://bicentre.blogspot.com


Application Server Startup Script Fails

Application Server Startup Script Fails

You may have problems running the startup scripts for an application server to deploy the IBM Cognos application if IBM Cognos 8 components are installed in a directory with a name that includes spaces.

To resolve this problem, rename the directory and do not include spaces in the new name. If this solution is not easily handled by the startup scripts, try adding quotation marks around the directory name that includes spaces or use the 8.3 DOS naming convention.

--
BI CENTRE
http://cognos8help.blogspot.com


IBM Cognos 8 Services Fail to Restart After a Network Outage

IBM Cognos 8 Services Fail to Restart After a Network Outage

The IBM Cognos Bootstrap Service restarts IBM Cognos 8 services after a network outage for Tomcat installations where a network IP address is specified in the internal dispatcher URI. During the restart, the IBM Cognos 8 services may not initialize successfully, requiring a manual restart after the network is restored.

To resolve the problem, configure the Internal dispatcher URI property in IBM Cognos Configuration to use localhost or the network host name.



--
BI CENTRE
http://bicentre.blogspot.com


IBM Cognos 8 Services Fail to Restart After a Network Outage

IBM Cognos 8 Services Fail to Restart After a Network Outage

The IBM Cognos Bootstrap Service restarts IBM Cognos 8 services after a network outage for Tomcat installations where a network IP address is specified in the internal dispatcher URI. During the restart, the IBM Cognos 8 services may not initialize successfully, requiring a manual restart after the network is restored.

To resolve the problem, configure the Internal dispatcher URI property in IBM Cognos Configuration to use localhost or the network host name.



--
BI CENTRE
http://cognos8help.blogspot.com


What is Enterprise Change Management?

What is Enterprise Change Management?

Change management is defined as the process, tools and techniques to manage the people side of change. It involves 1) understanding the change that is being implemented, 2) analyzing the people that will be impacted by the change and 3) creating the plans and actions that will help drive the successful implementation of the change from the people-perspective (such as communications, sponsorship, coaching, training, resistance management and reinforcement mechanisms).

Enterprise Change Management is different - it is the deployment of change management or the building of change management competencies across the entire organization. In essence, it is ensuring that change management is done effectively on all projects and changes in the organization. Prosci's research and engagements with organizations show three main elements that define Enterprise Change Management:

  1. A common set of processes and tools for managing change - This is essentially the application of "the process, tools and techniques to manage the people side of change" across all of the changes going on in the organization. It is the repetitive and intentional application of change management.
  2. A leadership competency at all levels of the organization, from supervisors to senior executives - While the first element is tied to projects, this element is tied to the people in the organization. The leadership competency element is the internalization of the role and responsibility for "leading change" by all of the leaders, managers and supervisors in the organization. It requires training and coaching, as well as on-the-job support.
  3. A strategic capability that enables the organization to be flexible, change ready and responsive to marketplace changes - This is more of an outcome of the other two elements. When the organization applies change management to many projects and when individuals build the needed expectations and skill set, the organization can count "change-ready" as one of its core competencies.

The above three elements define Enterprise Change Management. In addition, it is important to note that taking on ECM is itself an endeavor for the organization. There is no magic wand or silver bullet to help an organization become competent at managing change. When an organization becomes serious about building this core competency, it must treat ECM as:

  • A project - Like any other project, the effort to build the competency to manage change requires planning, design and implementation work. To be successful, a structured approach to managing the project is needed, along with the resources and plans for implementing the "competency building" project.
  • A change - For many in the organization, ECM means new behaviors, activities and skill sets. Managing the human component of "deploying change management" will be crucial to the success of the effort. This includes communication, sponsorship and the other tools for managing the human reaction to the competency building effort.
  • An effort that must be driven from the top of the organization - In all five of Prosci's best practices studies, the active and visible involvement of senior leaders was cited as the number one contributor to success. Building the competency to manage change is no different. There needs to be a primary sponsor, a strong sponsor coalition and communication directly from senior leaders about the need for "getting better" at managing change.


--
BI CENTRE
http://bicentre.blogspot.com


What is Enterprise Change Management?

What is Enterprise Change Management?

Change management is defined as the process, tools and techniques to manage the people side of change. It involves 1) understanding the change that is being implemented, 2) analyzing the people that will be impacted by the change and 3) creating the plans and actions that will help drive the successful implementation of the change from the people-perspective (such as communications, sponsorship, coaching, training, resistance management and reinforcement mechanisms).

Enterprise Change Management is different - it is the deployment of change management or the building of change management competencies across the entire organization. In essence, it is ensuring that change management is done effectively on all projects and changes in the organization. Prosci's research and engagements with organizations show three main elements that define Enterprise Change Management:

  1. A common set of processes and tools for managing change - This is essentially the application of "the process, tools and techniques to manage the people side of change" across all of the changes going on in the organization. It is the repetitive and intentional application of change management.
  2. A leadership competency at all levels of the organization, from supervisors to senior executives - While the first element is tied to projects, this element is tied to the people in the organization. The leadership competency element is the internalization of the role and responsibility for "leading change" by all of the leaders, managers and supervisors in the organization. It requires training and coaching, as well as on-the-job support.
  3. A strategic capability that enables the organization to be flexible, change ready and responsive to marketplace changes - This is more of an outcome of the other two elements. When the organization applies change management to many projects and when individuals build the needed expectations and skill set, the organization can count "change-ready" as one of its core competencies.

The above three elements define Enterprise Change Management. In addition, it is important to note that taking on ECM is itself an endeavor for the organization. There is no magic wand or silver bullet to help an organization become competent at managing change. When an organization becomes serious about building this core competency, it must treat ECM as:

  • A project - Like any other project, the effort to build the competency to manage change requires planning, design and implementation work. To be successful, a structured approach to managing the project is needed, along with the resources and plans for implementing the "competency building" project.
  • A change - For many in the organization, ECM means new behaviors, activities and skill sets. Managing the human component of "deploying change management" will be crucial to the success of the effort. This includes communication, sponsorship and the other tools for managing the human reaction to the competency building effort.
  • An effort that must be driven from the top of the organization - In all five of Prosci's best practices studies, the active and visible involvement of senior leaders was cited as the number one contributor to success. Building the competency to manage change is no different. There needs to be a primary sponsor, a strong sponsor coalition and communication directly from senior leaders about the need for "getting better" at managing change.


--
BI CENTRE
http://cognos8help.blogspot.com


TM1 Backup options

The first backup option that will be demonstrated is a basic process of shutting down the TM1 server, saving the data, and running a backup of the data directory.
The advantage of this method is simplicity in the initial system configuration – no changes need to be made to the configuration file. Also data assurance is guaranteed, no one will be entering data while the system is down and the backup is executing. Additionally, audit logging can be enabled via the TM1 configuration file when using this method for backing up the TM1 system.

The disadvantage of this method is that the TM1 server must be taken offline and shutdown for a period of time. This may or may not be a problem; it will depend on the uptime requirements of each organization. Also, any data entered between backups may be lost if the data directory files become corrupt.

1.  Shutdown the TM1 Server and respond "Yes" to the "Do you want to save changes" prompt. This will save any changed data in RAM to the data directory.

2.   Backup all files in the TM1 Data Directory. There are a number of ways that this can be accomplished using various third-party products or operating system commands. There are also many ways to automate this process using third-party tools and schedulers. In MS-DOS a simple XCOPY command with the appropriate switches will copy all of the TM1 Data Directory files and sub-folders to another location (backup folder, drive, or other media).To verify the location of the TM1 Data Directory, view the TM1 Configuration File: tm1s.cfg.

The Data Directory will be listed next to the DataBaseDirectory item. This is the directory that should be backed up. Be sure to include all sub-directories in the backup.

For many organizations TM1 is a critical application that must be maintained as a 24x7 enterprise application. In these cases, it is not acceptable to shutdown the TM1 Server to perform a backup. TM1 provides organizations the ability to maintain 24x7 uptime and also perform regular backups of the Data Directory. Several changes will need to be made to the default settings of the TM1 Server configuration file (tm1s.cfg) in order to perform a live backup successfully.
The advantages of this method are ease of administration, 24x7 system uptime, and automation can be created within TM1 using Turbo Integrator and Chores. The disadvantages are that there is initial configuration that must be performed and the potential exists for lost data between "Saves" if the Data Directory files become corrupt.
The following steps must be performed in order to run backups from a Live TM1 Server:
1)
Modify the default TM1 Server Configuration file (tm1s.cfg).
a.
Point the Log Files to a location other than the Data Directory by inserting the "LoggingDirectory" parameter in the configuration file. By default, TM1 writes log files to the Data Directory. Since these files will be open and active while the TM1 Server is running, any attempt to back them up will result in a file sharing violation and may cause a backup process to fail.
b.
Verify that the AuditLogOn parameter is set to 'F'. This is the default setting, but if the AuditLogOn parameter is set to 'T' then, as in the case above with the transaction logs, open and active files will be in the Data Directory. Attempting a backup will cause a file sharing violation which may result in a backup failure.
Note the sample tm1s.cfg file below which has been modified to allow for live backups from the TM1 Server.



--
BI CENTRE
http://bicentre.blogspot.com


TM1 Backup options

The first backup option that will be demonstrated is a basic process of shutting down the TM1 server, saving the data, and running a backup of the data directory.
The advantage of this method is simplicity in the initial system configuration – no changes need to be made to the configuration file. Also data assurance is guaranteed, no one will be entering data while the system is down and the backup is executing. Additionally, audit logging can be enabled via the TM1 configuration file when using this method for backing up the TM1 system.

The disadvantage of this method is that the TM1 server must be taken offline and shutdown for a period of time. This may or may not be a problem; it will depend on the uptime requirements of each organization. Also, any data entered between backups may be lost if the data directory files become corrupt.

1.  Shutdown the TM1 Server and respond "Yes" to the "Do you want to save changes" prompt. This will save any changed data in RAM to the data directory.

2.   Backup all files in the TM1 Data Directory. There are a number of ways that this can be accomplished using various third-party products or operating system commands. There are also many ways to automate this process using third-party tools and schedulers. In MS-DOS a simple XCOPY command with the appropriate switches will copy all of the TM1 Data Directory files and sub-folders to another location (backup folder, drive, or other media).To verify the location of the TM1 Data Directory, view the TM1 Configuration File: tm1s.cfg.

The Data Directory will be listed next to the DataBaseDirectory item. This is the directory that should be backed up. Be sure to include all sub-directories in the backup.

For many organizations TM1 is a critical application that must be maintained as a 24x7 enterprise application. In these cases, it is not acceptable to shutdown the TM1 Server to perform a backup. TM1 provides organizations the ability to maintain 24x7 uptime and also perform regular backups of the Data Directory. Several changes will need to be made to the default settings of the TM1 Server configuration file (tm1s.cfg) in order to perform a live backup successfully.
The advantages of this method are ease of administration, 24x7 system uptime, and automation can be created within TM1 using Turbo Integrator and Chores. The disadvantages are that there is initial configuration that must be performed and the potential exists for lost data between "Saves" if the Data Directory files become corrupt.
The following steps must be performed in order to run backups from a Live TM1 Server:
1)
Modify the default TM1 Server Configuration file (tm1s.cfg).
a.
Point the Log Files to a location other than the Data Directory by inserting the "LoggingDirectory" parameter in the configuration file. By default, TM1 writes log files to the Data Directory. Since these files will be open and active while the TM1 Server is running, any attempt to back them up will result in a file sharing violation and may cause a backup process to fail.
b.
Verify that the AuditLogOn parameter is set to 'F'. This is the default setting, but if the AuditLogOn parameter is set to 'T' then, as in the case above with the transaction logs, open and active files will be in the Data Directory. Attempting a backup will cause a file sharing violation which may result in a backup failure.
Note the sample tm1s.cfg file below which has been modified to allow for live backups from the TM1 Server.



--
BI CENTRE
http://cognos8help.blogspot.com


TM1

TM1 is RAM-based system which provides superior performance to disk-based systems by reducing physical disk I/O operations. Since TM1 is RAM-based, a back-up strategy must take this into consideration. In order to back-up all TM1 data that is currently residing in RAM, two approaches can be taken.
The first approach is to shut down the TM1 server and then to respond YES to the save changes confirmation. Once the TM1 server application is closed a backup can be run against that TM1 server's data directory.

The second approach is to leverage the Transaction Logging capabilities in TM1 to perform a live backup against the TM1 Server without the need to shut down the server. When users are working within the TM1 application, any data that is entered is held in RAM until a "Save Data" operation is executed, this will save any in-memory data to the disk files in the data directory. In this case, the administrator would execute a Save Data command and then proceed with a backup of the data directory.

--
BI CENTRE
http://bicentre.blogspot.com


TM1

TM1 is RAM-based system which provides superior performance to disk-based systems by reducing physical disk I/O operations. Since TM1 is RAM-based, a back-up strategy must take this into consideration. In order to back-up all TM1 data that is currently residing in RAM, two approaches can be taken.
The first approach is to shut down the TM1 server and then to respond YES to the save changes confirmation. Once the TM1 server application is closed a backup can be run against that TM1 server's data directory.

The second approach is to leverage the Transaction Logging capabilities in TM1 to perform a live backup against the TM1 Server without the need to shut down the server. When users are working within the TM1 application, any data that is entered is held in RAM until a "Save Data" operation is executed, this will save any in-memory data to the disk files in the data directory. In this case, the administrator would execute a Save Data command and then proceed with a backup of the data directory.

--
BI CENTRE
http://cognos8help.blogspot.com


Analysis Studio -- Nesting items

Dimensions, members, and measures can all be nested in rows or columns in multiple ways. Nesting gives you a way to group items in the analysis.

Nesting dimensions or members in a row or column is useful when you want to see items grouped in a hierarchy. This will enable you to drill down or drill up on the nested items. Nested items can be deleted from an analysis by right clicking on the item in the overview area and selecting Delete from the context menu.

Analysis Studio -- Nesting items

Dimensions, members, and measures can all be nested in rows or columns in multiple ways. Nesting gives you a way to group items in the analysis.

Nesting dimensions or members in a row or column is useful when you want to see items grouped in a hierarchy. This will enable you to drill down or drill up on the nested items. Nested items can be deleted from an analysis by right clicking on the item in the overview area and selecting Delete from the context menu.