update and re-publishing a package with the same name

[ry1633]

In Cognos Framework Manager (I'm on FM 10.2.1), if I already published a package and want to republish it under the same name.  Will this adversely affect any reports I've written with that package or will I still be OK?

[Michael75]

You are in luck, because IBM Cognos has already thought of this  :)

From your mail, I'm assuming that you have already made your FM changes, but have not yet published them. You should now, in FM, right click on your package, and choose Analyze Publish Impact.

You will then get a first dialogue box which lists the changes FM has detected since the last publication (this must be based on a timestamp comparison it does between source & published packages), and asks you which of these changes you want to check. Normally, it'll be All that you select.

Having made your selection you click on Find Report Dependencies.

Next, you have a menu which lets you choose the scope of your "Publish Impact Analysis", i.e. the folders within your Cognos portal. Make your selection, and click on Search.

Normally, he results of this analysis should be self-explanatory (renamed columns etc.), but post back in case they're not.

[ry1633]

When I get a warning msg at the end that says "1 model version(s) already exist(s) for this package. Publishing will add an additional model version." - is this a bad thing?  And if it is, what do I do?

[cognos810]

Hello ry1633,
It is not a bad thing. You can go ahead and publish the model. The content store will now retain two versions of the model and the reports will automatically run against the newly published model.
However, when you open your report(that uses the package) in report studio the XML specification which also has the model version saved with the report, will update at that time and you will see a message along the same lines. Saving the report will update that as well.

Saving unlimited number of versions will eventually in a really long run become a "bad thing" as you asked, due to high number of objects created in the content store. Ideally, you would set the number of versions to 5 while publishing. In that case upon your 6th publish your 1st published model version will be deleted.

-Cognos810

[ry1633]

OK how do I do that.  Is that a setting for the limit a setting in Framework Manager or Cognos Configuration?

[Michael75]

The setting is on the first screen of the Publish Wizard. If you leave the box Enable model versioning checked, it's the setting Number of model versions...

In my Cognos FM training, given by a Cognos instructor, I was advised to uncheck Enable model versioning, and the other people I've discussed this with since all do the same. But I can't remember what the reasoning was behind this recommendation . . .

[ry1633]

thanks.  I unchecked "enable model versioning" altogether - and it seems to run a lot smoother overall.     I haven't done FM training yet (I'd like to), I've only taken Report Studio training, so I'm wading through FM right now :)

I wonder why your teacher said that is better to leave "enable model versioning" off?

[Michael75]

A couple of months ago I was in a thread (see below) about using the model versioning option of FM, and I made this remark:

In my Cognos FM training, given by a Cognos instructor, I was advised to uncheck Enable model versioning, and the other people I've discussed this with since all do the same. But I can't remember what the reasoning was behind this recommendation . . .

Can anybody cast some light on the pros and cons of using FM model versioning?

Thx, Michael

[MFGF]

A couple of months ago I was in a thread (see below) about using the model versioning option of FM, and I made this remark:

Can anybody cast some light on the pros and cons of using FM model versioning?

Thx, Michael

The pros of using it are that if there are reports that would break as a result of the package changes you have made, you can go ahead and publish the new version with full confidence that all reports linked to the package will continue to run as they did (because they still link to the old version of the package in the content store). When you open a report in a studio, it then re-links it to the new version of the package, and you can make any necessary changes to make it work with the new package version before saving it. This obviously gives you the luxury of updating the reports in a more relaxed fashion than having to rush and fix them all at once. However, the elephant in the corner question is... why would you be making package update changes like this in a production system? The reality is, you wouldn't. You'd publish your new package in the Development environment (where it usually doesn't matter if you temporarily break things) without using model versioning (ie the new version of the package overwrites the old version), then you'd fix the reports in Dev. Once tested you would deploy the package to QA and then eventually to Production using a deployment archive. So usually Model Versioning is not required.

The cons of using model versioning are that things can get very confusing if you don't realise what it means. You update your model to change a data format or to revise a calculation expression, then you republish your package expecting the reports to pick up the changes. Worryingly, they don't. You go back to your model and double-check you made the changes in the right place. You re-publish again and still no luck. You sit and scratch your head and contemplate logging a PMR with IBM because changes to formats and expressions don't seem to publish. Then someone smart like Lynn comes along and explains that each publish has added a new version of the package to the content store and the reports are still pointing to the original version without your changes in. You feel so foolish. You have also bloated up the content store with myriad unnecessary xml versions of the same package.

I used to be an instructor for Cognos - for 10 years. I would explain model versioning and how it works, then advise my students not to use it unless in dire straits (where publishing direct to a live instance is the only option).

Cheers!

MF.

[Lynn]

...
Then someone smart like Lynn comes along and explains that each publish has added a new version of the package to the content store and the reports are still pointing to the original version without your changes in.
....

Shameless flatterer!

I don't use versioning and probably wouldn't even think of it as a culprit for changes not appearing.

[Michael75]

Thanks MF for taking the time to give us a very clear and complete explanation, which I shall bookmark  :)