Cognos user creation

[rahulrepro]

Product : Cognos 10.1.1
Browser : IE
OS: Windows
I able to create group & role in cognos but not user. Is Cognos always fetch user from service provider (LDAP/ADS/etc)?
Is it possible to create new user in cognos (with out LDAP/ADS/etc) ? If yes then please provide the steps.

Thanks in advance.

best regards
Rahul Ghosh

[sunosoft]

You can not create users in Cognos. You have to use external authentication source to create users like AD,LDAP etc. You will have to configure this authentication source in Cognos configuration(content manager). Then you can access this authentication source through Cognos admin portal from where you can bring  groups/users in cognos.

[rahulrepro]

Thanks SK.
Few more question for you. The requirement is to open cognos report from customer application with user preferred language.  Only authenticated user can login customer application. User can open cognos report from customer application(Report URL exposed to customer application and it is working).

1. Is it possible to import all user from (LDAP/AD/etc) to cognos ? or can be new user created through DB script? Then user preferences can be setup via tools (language/time etc).

2. When user open the report from customer application then use id can be set in report url ? It will help to pick correct user preferences.

Note: Not want to authenticate user again for cognos report( as user already authenticated)

Please advice.

[sunosoft]

Just curious to know what is this customer application ? How cognos is being accessed from it ? When you say "report URL is exposed to customer application and it is working" what exactly mean by this ? And how user is getting authenticated in Cognos ?

Is it possible to import all user from (LDAP/AD/etc) to cognos ? or can be new user created through DB script? Then user preferences can be setup via tools (language/time etc).

Its not like you are importing any user in Cognos from AD. Regarding user creation, if AD is the common for your whole organization then all your users would have been already created in AD....What you might have to do is create groups for Cognos in AD...what I do generally is I create two kind of groups in AD one for handling Cognos capabilties like (author,admin,consumer etc) and other for handling visibility on cognos connection like sales,marketing so that I can handle folder security at Cognos connection. Now add users to these groups. After this I create similar groups in cognos namespace and i will make AD groups as members of Cognos namespace groups. After this handle security with Cognos groups. Now all your users added in AD groups(created for Cognos) will be able to access Cognos. Now whenever user will login first time his/her profile will get created in cognos automatically and you can set all preferences for that user. Otherwise you can also create user's profile and set his/her preferences.

Refer below link for dealing with user profiles.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSEP7J_10.2.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.ug_cra.10.2.0.doc/c_userprofiles.html?lang=el

When user open the report from customer application then use id can be set in report url ? It will help to pick correct user preferences.

I don't think there is any need to do like this if you have proper security in place.

Note: Not want to authenticate user again for cognos report( as user already authenticated)

In this case you have to enable SSO in Cognos.

[rahulrepro]

Thanks for message.

Customer application built on .net framework + UI (JS+HTML+CSS) . The url exposed at customer application report page such as

URL -> [http://serverlocation:port/ibmcognos/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi?b_action=cognosViewer&ui.action=run&ui.object=%2fcontent%2fpackage%5b%40name%3d%27EOM_Reports%27%5d%2freport%5b%40name%3d%27BackOrder%20Report%27%5d&ui.name=BackOrder%20Report&run.outputFormat=&run.prompt=true&ui.backURL=%2fibmcognos%2fcgi-bin%2fcognos.cgi%3fb_action%3dxts.run%26m%3dportal%2fcc.xts%26m_folder%3di916DCB7202C64684A16A1BC901131499]

The user details only exist in customer application not in cognos. User logged in customer application through SSO and landed in dashboard. When user clicked on report URL(given in dashboard) a new tab opened where report is running and showing all details correctly (default report language is english).  I belief the report run as(or under) anonymous user in cognos. Till these step everything working as fine as expected.

Complication start when customer requirement is showing the report in user preferred  language( Either English or Spanish). User preferred settings available in user profile under SSO.

So I first tried if possible to get the url of page in cognos connection " Run With Options" button (or link). If I got the url then from .net application said url can be called directly. User will be landed in cognos page where language option available. User will select the language option and then run the report.  But I failed to get the url seems the page url not exposed at all.

So looking for possible solution with keeping in mind requirement is
1. report will be open from .net application.
2. Report will be shown as user preferred language.

Thanks for patience and support.

best regards
Rahul

[sunosoft]

Let me go little back....did you setup any authentication source in your Cognos environment or its anonymous access enabled environment ?

[rahulrepro]

No authentication setup configured in Cognos. it is anonymous access enabled environment.

[rahulrepro]

The issue resolved after adding following parameter in cognos report url (at the end). The solution provided by BI Cognos support team.

Sample url
http://localhost/ibmcognos/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi?b_action=cognosViewer&ui.action=run&ui.object=%2fcontent%2fpackage%5b%40name%3d%27Servicing%20Report%27%5d%2freport%5b%40name%3d%27Servicing%20Order%20Create%20Summary%27%5d&ui.name=Servicing%20Order%20Create%20Summary&run.outputFormat=&run.prompt=true&ui.backURL=%2fibmcognos%2fcgi-bin%2fcognos.cgi%3fb_action%3dxts.run%26m%3dportal%2fcc.xts%26m_folder%3di0408669259B24E4BBF40B94936076A87&run.outputLocale=es-ES

Thanks for help.

best regards
Rahul Ghosh

[prikala]

No authentication setup configured in Cognos. it is anonymous access enabled environment.

Be careful with that setup.
"No authentication" might imply every user must be anonymous => no way to control which users have administrator licenses => every anonymous user is an administrator => you might need unlimited number of administrator licenses. Might be expensive...

[vetteheadracer]

If you use Cognos Configuration tool on the server where Cognos is installed under the Authentication section you need to right click and select New resource > Namespace... Put in the Name you want to call it (by default I usually use the LDAP Name) and select Type LDAP - Default values for Active Directory for example.

You need to complete the following fields as a minimum:

Namespace ID - the name of your namespace
Host and port - use the fully qualified domain name : 389
Base Distinguished Name - DC=namespace,DC=com (for example)

Bind user DN and password - CN=system account user name typically,OU=Cognos,etc.,DC=namespace,DC=com

Hope this helps

[cngnaksh]

Hi SK,

I am facing the same issue.

you mentioned that "i will make AD groups as members of Cognos namespace groups".

is this possible with LDAP server when users added into role? if yes then the users added in LDAP role, and i am trying to add the LDPA role as members of Cognos namespace group.

But when I tried to search the role, its not appear to select and add.

select the Cognos group > more> Cognos > Cognos group >Set Memebrs > Add > search > OID> type role name>search-> nothing comes up.

what would be am i missing over here?

Thanks,
Cng

Just curious to know what is this customer application ? How cognos is being accessed from it ? When you say "report URL is exposed to customer application and it is working" what exactly mean by this ? And how user is getting authenticated in Cognos ?



Its not like you are importing any user in Cognos from AD. Regarding user creation, if AD is the common for your whole organization then all your users would have been already created in AD....What you might have to do is create groups for Cognos in AD...what I do generally is I create two kind of groups in AD one for handling Cognos capabilties like (author,admin,consumer etc) and other for handling visibility on cognos connection like sales,marketing so that I can handle folder security at Cognos connection. Now add users to these groups. After this I create similar groups in cognos namespace and i will make AD groups as members of Cognos namespace groups. After this handle security with Cognos groups. Now all your users added in AD groups(created for Cognos) will be able to access Cognos. Now whenever user will login first time his/her profile will get created in cognos automatically and you can set all preferences for that user. Otherwise you can also create user's profile and set his/her preferences.

Refer below link for dealing with user profiles.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSEP7J_10.2.0/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.ug_cra.10.2.0.doc/c_userprofiles.html?lang=el

I don't think there is any need to do like this if you have proper security in place.

In this case you have to enable SSO in Cognos.