Upgrading from Cognos 8.3 to 8.4 with new server

[bhassel]

I currently 2 Cognos 8.3 servers (32 bit single servers) running Windows 2003 32 bit.  I am upgrading to Cognos 8.4 and Windows 2008 (64 bit).

I understand that there are components that can not be installed on a 64 bit system.  This bites because even our laptops are 64 bit...

Has anyone already done this?  Are there pitfalls?  should I just stay with 32 bit versions of Cognos?  What's your experience?

Thanks

[smiley]

Why can't you install a 32 bits Framework Manager and Metrics Designer on an x64 laptop?
Even the bibusses remain 32 bits on the server, so you're stuck with wow64 anyway.

The onyl real benefit for the 8.4 release to have 64 bits support, is to buy the relatively cheap 2k3 or 2k8
standard edition 64 bits and to be able to allocate 16 gig mem, instead of the 4 gig limitation in the 32 bits version.

[bhassel]

Why can't you install a 32 bits Framework Manager and Metrics Designer on an x64 laptop?

The IBM-Cognos website (http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/data/library/cognos/page62.html) has the follwing info:

Client Components That Must Be Installed on a 32-bit Windows Computer

The following client components must be installed on a 32-bit Windows computer:
● Framework Manager
● Metric Designer
● IBM Cognos 8 Go! Office
● IBM Cognos 8 Transformer (Windows modeling tool)

Are you able to run those on 64 bits?  The web site page above lists 64 bit installs, 32 bit installs on a 64 bit system and then the Must installs on a 32 bit system.

Even the bibusses remain 32 bits on the server, so you're stuck with wow64 anyway.

The onyl real benefit for the 8.4 release to have 64 bits support, is to buy the relatively cheap 2k3 or 2k8
standard edition 64 bits and to be able to allocate 16 gig mem, instead of the 4 gig limitation in the 32 bits version.

I was shooting for the added memory capability and hopefully performance boost from the 64 bit.  I'm using an older 4 core 32 gigs of memory machine.

I noticed that when I installed there are Cognos configuration tools for both 32 bit and 64 bit.  I'm assuming both configurations need to be maintained.  We're also moving to 8.4 for reasons other than the memory (fixes, workarounds or you just can't do it in 8.3 and below issues).

Thanks

[smiley]

You're right.
Unfortunately Cognos seperates "working" from "not supported".
Their "must be installed' also contradicts their 64 bits statement on 8.4:
http://download.boulder.ibm.com/ibmdl/pub/software/data/cognos/support/en/products/Cognos84_64-bit_Jan2009.pdf

Why not open up a a call to cognos support to get confirmation?

[bhassel]

Why not open up a a call to cognos support to get confirmation?

Now there's a link I'm still trying to find!   ::)

[chandug8]

Hi bhassel,

Could you please send me the steps that you followed in Upgrading from Cognos 8.3 to 8.4.

Thanks a lot.