Cognos 64bit ODBC issue

[Speedy]

Hello, apologies if I've posted this in the wrong place.

I work in the IT dept at our company and some of our HR users use Cognos Impromptu 7.5.

We have been upgrading their PCs and I'm running into issues getting Cognos to work. Our PCs now have to run Windows 7 64-bit operating systems. I've been able to install the software without any problems, however when opening a Cognos Impromptu report it gives the error:

"Microsoft ODBC Driver Manager, data source name not found and no default driver specified"

I would expect that this error is referring to the fact that it needs the ODBC details adding to both C:\Windows\SysWOW64\odbcad32 & C:\Windows\System32\odbcad32 however we've already added the required details here, but the error still remains. I'm certain that this part has been done correctly as we've also installed a different program which requires both 32 & 64 bit ODBC drivers which point to the same server and the other program is working fine but Cognos still gives the same error.

Is there anyone out there who has run into similar issues?

We did run across the same issue earlier in the year when we had to upgrade one of our users early, but the IT employee who fixed it or found a workaround has since left the company, so there must be a fix for getting Cognos to work in 64 bit, but I've searched the internet high & low without any success.

If anyone has any experience with the same problem I'd love to know how to fix it please :)

[ianderson]

Impromptu 7.5 is a 32-bit application.  It is stated to work on Win 7 64-bit, but requires 32-bit drivers.

Suggestions:  (mainly obvious so apologies if you've already checked these)

- confirm the database is declared in the catalog with the same name as the DSN you've set up.
- try setting it up as a System DSN if it's not already
- try removing the 64-bit DSN in case this is 'confusing' Impromptu.
- try creating a new catalog against the DSN to see if that works

[Speedy]

Hi thanks very much for the reply.

With your suggestion:
- try creating a new catalog against the DSN to see if that works

Unfortunately I'm not sure how to do that, is that something that has to be done within Cognos? If so, please advise how & where if possible.

I've also come across the advise below on google:
"When creating the ODBC connection the ODBC Data source name must match the DSN name built into catalog. Find the DSN name from the creator of the catalog and create the same System DSN on the Impromptu User machine."

But unfortunately I'm not too sure how to go about doing this, if anyone could walk me through it step by step that would be great. I've found the Catalog menu within Cognos Impromptu, but it only gives me an option to 'Open' but I'm not sure what if anything I need to browse to, or if that's even the Catalog area that is being referred to.

Thanks

[ianderson]

The bit about the ODBC matching the DSN in the catalog is what I was getting at.

It sounds like you're not too familiar with Impromptu, so a couple of basics:

- Every report is written against a catalog. 
- The intended purpose of the catalog is to insulate the report writer from the database layer, and it also allows business logic to be added and re-used across reports.
- Among other things, the catalog stores the database connection information
- Each report is a '.imr' file.
- Each catalog (you may have multiple), is a '.cat' file.
- the report knows which catalog it is related to, so when you open the report, it prompts you to open the required catalog.

So, if the connection information in the catalog doesn't match your DSN, you'll get an error like you're seeing.

You'll need to be using Impromptu Administrator to create/amend a catalog, and not Impromptu User. (there are two different but very similar applications, the administrator version additionally lets you do catalog maintenance).

- From the catalog menu within Impromptu, select 'New'. 
- Give it a filename and description.
- Leave the type as Personal
- In the Database section, Click the Databases button
- You should then see a 'Database Definition Manager' dialog box, with several options for different database types.
- Highlight ODBC, and then click 'New Database'
- In the new dialog that opens, give it a name, and select your ODBC data source from the drop down list.  If you don't see the DSN you expect here, then it's not setup correctly on the pc and your issue is with the DSN itself.
- Assuming you can select it, if it requires id/password info, ensure the User Prompt boxes are ticked, and then click 'Test'
- you'll either get an error or a 'test successful' message.

[Speedy]

Thanks for your suggestions, it turns out it was the cognos.ini file that was causing the issue. On the original .ini file the 'DSN =' didn't match the correct DSN name in ODBC (listed on the bottom line of text on the .ini file).

Problem solved after correcting that  :)