7.1.4. IBM Cognos

* System Requirements*

Cognos Server Set-up

Cognos can be installed on the same machine as the EPC application server, or on a different one. In either case Cognos has to be set up first.

Install Cognos 10.2

1. Extract the contents of the zip folder Cognos_10.2.zip
2. Browse to the winx64h folder and run the file issetup.exe.
3. Select the desired language and click Next.
4. Accept the two license agreements and click Next.
5. Choose the default installation directory and click Next.
6. Select Yes to create a new directory.
   
7. Choose Production for your production server deployment.
8. Click Next to accept the default Component Selection.
9. Click Next to accept the default options for creating a shortcut folder.
10. Click Next to skip past the summary screen.
11. Cognos will now install.
12. Once the installation is complete, select the option Start Cognos Configuration and click Finish.
    
13. The Cognos Configuration window will pop up after a few moments.
    

Configure connection to Cognos Content Store

A. connection with SQL User to content store database (SQL Authentication with database)

Note
If using windows Authentication,skip forward to section B

Prerequisite
A SQL user should be created on MSSQL Server; the user should be assigned as owner of the content store Database.

Connect Reporting Server to Database:

1. Locate the following item in the left object tree: Data Access > Content Manager
2. Remove the child connection (if it exists)
3. Right Click on Content Manager item and select the context menu item New Resource > Database
4. In the window that popped up type a name for content store and select “Microsoft SQL Server database” item in the dropdown menu.
5. Click OK.
   
6. Fill in the Database connection settings in the right side panel.
   
   Replace “localhost” with the name of Database Server. Change the port if it is different from the default.
   Edit the User ID and Password, use the SQL user that is the owner of Content Store Database
   Database name – the name of the database created on MSSQL Database server as Content Store.
7. Test the connection: Right Click on the new created Connection in the left object tree and select the option “Test”
   
   If the test passes, continue
   If the test fails, check the settings that you entered in Database Connection configuration

B. Connecting with Domain user to content Store database(Windows Authentication with the database)

Prerequisite: Domain user should be added to MSSQL Server;the user should be assigned as owner of the content store Database:

Connect Reporting Server to Database:

1. Locate the following item in the left object tree: Data Access  Content Manager
2. Remove the child connection (if it exists)
3. Right Click on Content Manager item and select the context menu item New Resource  database
4. In the window that popped up type a name for Content Store and select “MSSQL Server database (Windows Authentication)” item in the dropdown menu. Click OK.
   
5. Fill in the Database connection settings in the right side panel:
   
   Replace “localhost” with the name of Database Server. Change the port if it is different from the default.
   Database name – the name of the database created on MSSQL Database server as Content Store.
6. Test the connection: Right Click on the new created Connection in the left object tree and select the option “Test”
   
   If the test passes, continue
   If the test fails, check the settings that you entered in Database Connection configuration.

IBM reference link: https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21339975

Configure E-mail settings

In order to send reports by e-mail, or receive account and password information, Cognos e-mail settings must be configured.

1. Select the Notification component. The properties will be displayed in the right panel
   
2. Select the value field for the SMTP mail server property. Enter the name of the e-mail server followed by the port number, using the following format: server name:port number.
   
3. Select the Edit icon in the value field for the Account and password property
   
4. Enter the user name and the password for the default sender’s e-mail address. This user account must be valid. Users will receive Cognos notifications from this user account.
   
5. Enter the e-mail address of the default sender. This address must be valid. Users will receive Cognos notifications from this address.
   
6. Click Save to save the configurations
   

Configure Security Settings

In this section, users will connect Cognos with Active Directory.

1. In the left panel of the Cognos Configuration window, select Security > Authentication > Cognos. In the right window, change the value of Allow anonymous access? to False.
   
2. Right-click the Authentication component and select New resource > Namespace…
   
3. Name the new resource ad and make sure that the Active Directory type is selected. Click OK.
   
4. Select the newly created ad resource from the left panel. Enter the Active Directory domain name as the value for the Namespace ID. Take note of the Namespace ID, as it will be needed while installing EPC .Note: The Namespace ID is case-sensitive. Record this information in the Installation Data Collection Sheet.
5. Select the Edit icon in the Binding Credentials value field
   
6. Enter the user name and password of the active directory administrator and click OK. Take NOTE of this information, as it will be needed while installing EPC. This information should be recorded in the Installation Data Collection Sheet.
   
7. Click Save to save the configurations
   
8. Click Start to run the Cognos service. Close the Configurations window once the service has started
   
9. If any errors occur, please verify the accuracy of the data and try again
   

Cognos 10.2: IIS Configuration:

IIS7-For Windows 2008 R2 / Windows 2012 R2 Server

Prerequisites:

1. IIS7 has to be installed on the Host Server (Windows Server) where IBM Cognos is installed
2. Enable the CGI extension in Windows Server Manager. Follow the next steps to enable CGI (if it is not enabled):
   

Steps:

1. Go to Start > Administrative Tools > Server Manager
2. On the right hand side select Roles -> Web Server (IIS) -> “Add Role Services”.
3. Under Application Development ensure ‘CGI’ is listed as ‘Installed’. If not then check it and click Next -> Install.
4. Under Security ensure ‘Windows Authentication’ is listed as ‘Installed’. If not then check it and click Next -> Install.

Allow running CGI extensions on IIS7 Server

1. Open the IIS (Internet Information Services Manager): Start  Administrative Tools  Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager
2. Select the server name (In our example we will be using “RED”) in the tree of IIS Manager
3. Double click on the item “ISAPI and CGI Restrictions” in the centre pane
   
4. Right click in the empty area of the centre pane and select “Add” option from context menu:
   
5. The “Add ISAPI or CGI Restriction” popup window is displayed. Click the “…” button:
   
6. Set the filter to “All files (.)” and browse to the file cognos.cgi, which is located in IBM Cognos installation directory (By default: C:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\c10_64\cgi-bin\cognos.cgi),. Select the file and click the “Open” button:
   
7. In the Description textbox, enter “Cognos-CGI” and check “Allow extension path to execute”. Make sure that the file path has quotation marks as illustrated shown below:
   
8. Right click in the empty area of the centre pane and click “Edit Feature Settings…”
   
9. Check “Allow unspecified CGI modules” and “OK”.
   

Create IBM Cognos 10.2 Virtual Directories

1. In the IIS Manager tree, right-click “Default Web Site”.
   
2. Click “Add Virtual Directory…”
3. In the “Alias:” field, enter “cognos”.
4. The “Add Virtual Directory” is window displayed. Select the “…” button and browse to the webcontent folder of IBM Cognos installation directory (Default location: C:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\c10_64\webcontent).
   
5. Click “OK”.
6. In the IIS Manager tree, right-click “cognos”.
   
7. Click “Add Virtual Directory…”
8. In the “Alias:” field, enter “cgi-bin”.
9. Click “…” and browse to the cgi-bin folder of IBM Cognos installation directory. (Default location: C:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\c10_64\cgi-bin)
   
10. Click “OK”.

Set the CGI extenstion rights for IBM Cognos Virtual Directory

1. In the IIS Manager tree, click “cgi-bin”.
2. Double-click on the “Handler Mappings” icon in the centre pane
   
3. Right-click in the empty space of the centre pane and click “Add Module Mapping…”.
   
4. The “Add Module Mapping” window is displayed. Populate the fields as illustrated below
   
5. Click “Request Restrictions…” In the “Mapping” tab, check “Invoke handler only if request is mapped to:” Click the “File” radio button.
   
6. In the “Verbs” tab, click “All verbs”.
   
7. In the “Access” tab, click the “Execute” radio button
8. Click “OK” in both the “Request Restrictions” and “Add Module Mapping” windows
   
9. Right-click in the empty space of the centre pane and click “Edit Feature Permissions…”
   
10. In the “Edit Feature Permissions”, check “Execute” and click “OK”
    
11. Test the URL http://localhost/cognos in the browser of the server, where IBM Cognos 10.2 is installed.click on Administration IBM Cognos content:
    

Import and Configure the Framework

Before configuring the framework, users must save the framework zipped folder in the following location: C:\Program Files\ibm\cognos\c10_64\deployment. These frameworks can be downloaded from Interfacing’s website. If users have not received the appropriate access information, please contact support@interfacing.com.
• For MSSQL, the framework file is < EPC_Reporting_Framework_v4.zip > (or newer version)

1. Select the Configuration tab. Select Content Administration from the left panel
   
2. Select New Import
   
3. Select the appropriate framework. Click Next.
   
4. Users will be asked for a password in order to decrypt the framework. This password will be provided by Interfacing’s support team at support@interfacing.com.
   
5. If users want to add a description to the framework, enter the appropriate text in the description field. Click Next when finished.
   
6. Select both packages and click Next
   
7. Accept the default settings and click Next
   
8. Review the summary and click Next
   
9. Select Save and run once. Click Finish
   
10. Click Run to execute the import immediately
    
11. Select the checkbox View the details of this import to view the results of the import and click OK
    
12. Once the import is complete, Click Refresh if the details are not displayed immediately.
    
13. Click Close
    If the framework did not successfully import, please contact support at support@interfacing.com
    

Create Data Source Connections

1. Verify that users are in the Configuration tab within the Cognos Administration window. Select Data Source Connections from the left pane.
2. Select the data source. Click on icon New Data Source
3. New Data Source window will open. Specify the name of the connections: * EPC-MSSQL for MSSQL EPC databases * EPC-Workflow for a Workflow databases (optional – if you have Workflow in license).

Note: It is very important to keep the exact connection name for each framework connection. If the data source already exists, please delete the existing one and recreate it

1. Specify the type of the new connection and click Next: * Microsoft SQL Server (OLE DB) for MSSQL framework * Microsoft SQL Server (Native Client) for Workflow framework Uncheck the “Configure JDBC connection” option
   When Configuring the EPC-MSSQL connection, enter the Server name of the actual EPC DB Server. The database name should be epc5r and the user is epcadmin (default).
   When configuring the EPC-Workflow connection, enter the actual name of the Workflow DB Server, database name is teamflowdb and user is ibpmuser (default).
   If using SQL DB authentication, select the signons, check the Password and Create a signon that Everyone in the group can use checkboxes. Enter user credential for Database authentication.
   If Windows Authentication is used for EPC Server databases, make sure that the Cognos Services are started from the name of the Windows user, who is the owner of EPC databases and the select the IBM Cognos software service credentials are selected during the connection configuration.
2. Click on Test the connection

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