Hi Guys,
Does anyone know how to decide how much memory server requires depending on user load.How to determine statistics and all that stuff.Its very important considering your server needs to be up all the time and also deciding what is the backup plan.
Considering you are asked to plan a cognos architecture from start.How would you do it.You need to give specs for a server, backup server and that server should hold the current users and you need to keep in mind that additional users are going to be added.
1)availability
2)capacity
3)scalability.
You need to keep all this in mind.While planning so depends how you do it.I am working on this architecture and deployement guide is the place to start it.
Monday 7 November 2011
How to publish PDF/Word in cognos connection
Hi Guys,
I have done this before but right now cant recollect how.Will update this post soon
I have done this before but right now cant recollect how.Will update this post soon
Shorten cognos URL from http://server-name/ibmcognos to cognos10?
Hi Guys,
Instead of users typing http://servername/cognos10 everytime or accesing it from favourites .I want them to directly type cognos10 in browser and they should be able to able to access cognos. Now i know this is outside scope of cognos developer.But doing it just for fun .. Just another Geek
:-)
There are 2 things I have done to accomplish this at my company.
1 - Create a DNS Alias for the server -- Domain name service
2 - Set an HTML Redirector on the root web server
The alias allows my users to type in
http://cognos
To get to the cognos environment and since we have pass through authentication it takes them right to their default Cognos view.
The alias translates http://cognos to http://really_long_servername.that.is.fully.qualified
The redirector simply redirects traffic to the server to the Cognos cgi directory
Instead of users typing http://servername/cognos10 everytime or accesing it from favourites .I want them to directly type cognos10 in browser and they should be able to able to access cognos. Now i know this is outside scope of cognos developer.But doing it just for fun .. Just another Geek
:-)
There are 2 things I have done to accomplish this at my company.
1 - Create a DNS Alias for the server -- Domain name service
2 - Set an HTML Redirector on the root web server
The alias allows my users to type in
http://cognos
To get to the cognos environment and since we have pass through authentication it takes them right to their default Cognos view.
The alias translates http://cognos to http://really_long_servername.that.is.fully.qualified
The redirector simply redirects traffic to the server to the Cognos cgi directory
Saturday 5 November 2011
Upgrading Cognos from 8.4 to 10.1
Hi Guys
Will update this with the things to consider later.
Step 1
If you are new to migration.Be sure that you understand each and every option under the Export tab.Usually most developer have only migrated reports from dev to production so are not fully aware of all the options.
Below are the steps that i found from IT toolbox.They are pretty straight forward
Development Phase:
1.Always setup a development or parallel environment first.
2.When you have the products installed create a blank content store.
3.Perform an Entire Content Store export in Cognos Administration.
4.Copy your Deployment file from the current environment to the development environment.
5.Perform an import of the deployment file that you copied over.
6.Check in your new environment that the data sources exist in Cognos Administration. I have seen them not come over before. If not then you need to manually create them.
7.Try running a small sample of reports to compare the output.
8.I usually create a test plan and divide the reports up in the user community. Log any issues that you find and correct them one by one.
9.Once you are happy that all issues are resolved you can move to the production phase of the upgrade.
Production Phase:
1.Export your configuration from Cognos Configuration including the encrypted data to an xml file in the \Program Files\Cognos directory.
2.Perform your vanilla installation of C10. Don't perform configuration tasks yet. If you are leaving C8 in place remember to change the port references from 9300, 9362 and 9399.
3.Once all installation tasks are complete, take the xml created in step 1 and overwrite the file cogstartup.xml in the configuration directory. Beware the C10 installation location is very different from the C8 one.
4.Open Cognos Configuration, save the configuration, test it and then start it. It should have remembered all your settings.
5.On your development environment, perform an entire content store export and copy the deployment file to the production deployment location.
6.Perform the entire content store import and check data sources as above.
7.Check to see if the everyone group is a system administrator, if so then remove them.
Testing or report in Cognos10 once they are migrated
1.You can check the reports manually by dividing it among user groups or tester groups.This task takes long time.You can use Life cycle Manager
Below is the extract from IBM site about Lifecycle manager
Lifecycle Manager connects to the source and target environments, validates and executes reports in both environments, and then compares them. The results of the comparison are presented in a dashboard.
In a benchmark project , you are working in a single IBM Cognos environment. Consider Run 1 as the source environment and Run 2 as the target environment when working in a benchmark project.
VIMP for those guys who have never seen lifecycle manager
" Lifecycle Manager is a Microsoft? Windows? operating system-based application ..."
"Lifecycle Manager is a standalone single-user application that you can install on any computer..."
"Note: Because Lifecycle Manager is a single-user application, there should be only one Web browser session connected to the Lifecycle Manager server at a given time. Multiple browser sessions can lead to loss of data."
Lifecycle Manager is a web application and you access it via the browser. However, don't let that fool you. I do not think Cognos intends for you to install this on a server. I think it is intended to be installed on a user's desktop more like a client side application
Lifecycle Manager
1.tests report output only by comparing results from one release (the source) to another (the target)
2.tests reports created in IBM Cognos Report Studio, IBM Cognos Query Studio, or IBM Cognos Analysis Studio
3.The studios are not used in the testing, only saved report specifications.
4.Analysis Studio reports are tested only when upgrading from IBM Cognos Business Intelligence 8.2 to 8.3, 8.4, or 10.1.0.
5.does not test any other aspects of the upgrade such as configuration, the studios, IBM Cognos Connection, skins, and customizations
6.tests only Public Folders content
7.does not perform the actual product or report upgrade
8.Upgrade is performed using the standard upgrade mechanisms documented for IBM Cognos BI.
9.does not test embedded HTML items except when they are used to control prompts and parameters
10.HTML items are not rendered in PDF output.
11.does not test embedded JavaScript™ item
12.JavaScript items are not rendered in PDF output.
13.does not test interactive functionality such as drill up, drill down, drill through, HTML links to external content, and bookmarks
14.runs as a single user application, so security by value and similar user dependent items are not tested
15.does not test report views, bursting, and performance or scalability differences
16.does not compare prompt pages
Will update this with the things to consider later.
Step 1
If you are new to migration.Be sure that you understand each and every option under the Export tab.Usually most developer have only migrated reports from dev to production so are not fully aware of all the options.
Below are the steps that i found from IT toolbox.They are pretty straight forward
Development Phase:
1.Always setup a development or parallel environment first.
2.When you have the products installed create a blank content store.
3.Perform an Entire Content Store export in Cognos Administration.
4.Copy your Deployment file from the current environment to the development environment.
5.Perform an import of the deployment file that you copied over.
6.Check in your new environment that the data sources exist in Cognos Administration. I have seen them not come over before. If not then you need to manually create them.
7.Try running a small sample of reports to compare the output.
8.I usually create a test plan and divide the reports up in the user community. Log any issues that you find and correct them one by one.
9.Once you are happy that all issues are resolved you can move to the production phase of the upgrade.
Production Phase:
1.Export your configuration from Cognos Configuration including the encrypted data to an xml file in the \Program Files\Cognos directory.
2.Perform your vanilla installation of C10. Don't perform configuration tasks yet. If you are leaving C8 in place remember to change the port references from 9300, 9362 and 9399.
3.Once all installation tasks are complete, take the xml created in step 1 and overwrite the file cogstartup.xml in the configuration directory. Beware the C10 installation location is very different from the C8 one.
4.Open Cognos Configuration, save the configuration, test it and then start it. It should have remembered all your settings.
5.On your development environment, perform an entire content store export and copy the deployment file to the production deployment location.
6.Perform the entire content store import and check data sources as above.
7.Check to see if the everyone group is a system administrator, if so then remove them.
Testing or report in Cognos10 once they are migrated
1.You can check the reports manually by dividing it among user groups or tester groups.This task takes long time.You can use Life cycle Manager
Below is the extract from IBM site about Lifecycle manager
Lifecycle Manager connects to the source and target environments, validates and executes reports in both environments, and then compares them. The results of the comparison are presented in a dashboard.
In a benchmark project , you are working in a single IBM Cognos environment. Consider Run 1 as the source environment and Run 2 as the target environment when working in a benchmark project.
VIMP for those guys who have never seen lifecycle manager
" Lifecycle Manager is a Microsoft? Windows? operating system-based application ..."
"Lifecycle Manager is a standalone single-user application that you can install on any computer..."
"Note: Because Lifecycle Manager is a single-user application, there should be only one Web browser session connected to the Lifecycle Manager server at a given time. Multiple browser sessions can lead to loss of data."
Lifecycle Manager is a web application and you access it via the browser. However, don't let that fool you. I do not think Cognos intends for you to install this on a server. I think it is intended to be installed on a user's desktop more like a client side application
Lifecycle Manager
1.tests report output only by comparing results from one release (the source) to another (the target)
2.tests reports created in IBM Cognos Report Studio, IBM Cognos Query Studio, or IBM Cognos Analysis Studio
3.The studios are not used in the testing, only saved report specifications.
4.Analysis Studio reports are tested only when upgrading from IBM Cognos Business Intelligence 8.2 to 8.3, 8.4, or 10.1.0.
5.does not test any other aspects of the upgrade such as configuration, the studios, IBM Cognos Connection, skins, and customizations
6.tests only Public Folders content
7.does not perform the actual product or report upgrade
8.Upgrade is performed using the standard upgrade mechanisms documented for IBM Cognos BI.
9.does not test embedded HTML items except when they are used to control prompts and parameters
10.HTML items are not rendered in PDF output.
11.does not test embedded JavaScript™ item
12.JavaScript items are not rendered in PDF output.
13.does not test interactive functionality such as drill up, drill down, drill through, HTML links to external content, and bookmarks
14.runs as a single user application, so security by value and similar user dependent items are not tested
15.does not test report views, bursting, and performance or scalability differences
16.does not compare prompt pages
How to get more than 65536 records in single excel file in Cognos10
Hi Guys,
As we know excel by default supports only 65536 records in single sheet. In Excel 2007 if you want more that this the data comes in separate tabs so how to get this in a single excel ??
we could try setting the ExcelSpreadSheetSize property in rsvpproperties.xml.sample but i dont think this solves it.Excle 2007 will still show it in separates tabs.
Working on this will update once i find a solution
As we know excel by default supports only 65536 records in single sheet. In Excel 2007 if you want more that this the data comes in separate tabs so how to get this in a single excel ??
we could try setting the ExcelSpreadSheetSize property in rsvpproperties.xml.sample but i dont think this solves it.Excle 2007 will still show it in separates tabs.
Working on this will update once i find a solution
How to create groups and add members in Cognos10
Hi Guys,
I will update this link shortly with screenshots .Working on this
I will update this link shortly with screenshots .Working on this
Friday 4 November 2011
Great site with Lot of cognos learning videos for free
Hi Guys
If you are regular users of cognoise community.You will be already familiar with this site .If not check out the below link its great for anyone from newcomer to advanced developer to learn new things .
You need to login and create a userid to view this.But the registration process takes less than a minute.
http://www.bspsoftware.com/Support/PodcastChannel/tabid/228/Default.aspx
Ignore the Metamanager links.The cognos links are good
Post that i found useful
1) Taking a look at IBM Cognos 10 Active Reports
http://www.bspsoftware.com/Home/tabid/37/Support/PodcastChannel/tabid/228/Default.aspx
Things i liked is - Drillable with bread crumps .You can come back to where you want in drill.Like we have 5 level we can come from 5 to 3 without coming to 4 at all.
2)Moving values like how share market values are displays its flashy.
3)
If you are regular users of cognoise community.You will be already familiar with this site .If not check out the below link its great for anyone from newcomer to advanced developer to learn new things .
You need to login and create a userid to view this.But the registration process takes less than a minute.
http://www.bspsoftware.com/Support/PodcastChannel/tabid/228/Default.aspx
Ignore the Metamanager links.The cognos links are good
Post that i found useful
1) Taking a look at IBM Cognos 10 Active Reports
http://www.bspsoftware.com/Home/tabid/37/Support/PodcastChannel/tabid/228/Default.aspx
Things i liked is - Drillable with bread crumps .You can come back to where you want in drill.Like we have 5 level we can come from 5 to 3 without coming to 4 at all.
2)Moving values like how share market values are displays its flashy.
3)
Thursday 3 November 2011
RSV-DST-0012 An error occurred while saving the output for the burst
I am facing the above issue.I have already tried the IBM standard help for this issue as well as IT toolbox discussion .But no help.I am having a business requirement where i am asked to burst report views in my folders . so i tried similar thing in go sales.
I have created a list with year as 1st column and revenue as 2nd column.Now i want to burst by year . only one query here .But the trick is i want report views created for all the years . I dont have a directory set up on server where the outputs gets saved .Now in my previous company i have saved outputs on file system and it used to work fine .But this time i need to created report views .
So on burst receipient i give list query as the query . Year as data item and type directory entries (Now this is the catch) .Since i dont have a directory set here to save the report outputs and saving them as report view in my folders .I am getting this error ??
Has anyone bursted report views in my folders before??Or we can do only 2 things with burst either email them and save them on directoy (Like C drive ,D drive on server)
Please let me know
Solution -
You cant burst multiple views .When you click on save as report view while bursting .You will get only one report view created and under that report view you will have multiple busted outputs according to your burst group .
How to burst a single burst view with multiple report outputs in it according to burst group
I have attached below screenshot .
When you say burst as email and do not click on send report by email in run with advanced options .Report outputs are created in same report view
Regards
Kapil
I have created a list with year as 1st column and revenue as 2nd column.Now i want to burst by year . only one query here .But the trick is i want report views created for all the years . I dont have a directory set up on server where the outputs gets saved .Now in my previous company i have saved outputs on file system and it used to work fine .But this time i need to created report views .
So on burst receipient i give list query as the query . Year as data item and type directory entries (Now this is the catch) .Since i dont have a directory set here to save the report outputs and saving them as report view in my folders .I am getting this error ??
Has anyone bursted report views in my folders before??Or we can do only 2 things with burst either email them and save them on directoy (Like C drive ,D drive on server)
Please let me know
Solution -
You cant burst multiple views .When you click on save as report view while bursting .You will get only one report view created and under that report view you will have multiple busted outputs according to your burst group .
How to burst a single burst view with multiple report outputs in it according to burst group
I have attached below screenshot .
When you say burst as email and do not click on send report by email in run with advanced options .Report outputs are created in same report view
Regards
Kapil
Wednesday 2 November 2011
RSV-DST-0013 The list of recipients is empty for burst instance . The output for this burst instance was discarded.
Hi Guys
I am facing this issue though i am not giving any mails.Its directory entries that i am trying to burst the report to
I am facing this issue though i am not giving any mails.Its directory entries that i am trying to burst the report to
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