Pros and Cons of Cognos 8.4 32-bit vs 64-bit on 64-bit Windows

[Suraj]

 ???
Hi all,
We are upgrading to Cognos 8.4 and figuring out whether to go with 64-bit or 32-bit cognos.
The upgrade went smoothly on our existing system but we are thinking to upgrade OS to 64-bit if 64-bit Cognos has better performance.
There are not much information about this anywhere.
Has anyone installed Cognos 8.4 64-bit and noticed any difference in performance?
Please reply with any issues going with 64-bit Cognos 8.4 on windows.
Thank you
--
Suraj Neupane

[smiley]

8.4 64 bits is a hybrid release, where as the java stack is 64 bits, but the bibusses are 32 bits (thus run in wow64).
All native client drivers that you need on the server, need to be 32 bits to be talked to by the bibusses.

It only helps to get a cheap way to allocate 16 gig mem, as 64 bits OS standard addition can do that.
(32 bits would require expensive enterprise OS to go over 4 gig).
You would need a 64 bits java stack as from about 1700 concurrent users (for the CM service).

So if you have small server(s), stick with 32 bits all the way.
If big boys, get a cheap 64 bits OS, and then it's irrelevant if you install 32 or 64 bits cognos on it.

[Suraj]

Thank you for reply Smiley.
Yes not all Cognos components are in 64-bit yet.
We don't have a whole lot of users, around 300 or so but only few are active all the time.
So 32-bit may be sufficient. How well does 32-bit congos work with 64-bit OS?
Currently we have 32-bit cognos and 32-bit OS but thinking to at least upgrade OS to 64-bit.
That may help to install multiple instances on same box due to RAM advantage.

[smiley]

Multiple BI instances on a single server are known to be of interest as from 16 cpu's or more (ie cores)
Anything under that is just distroying resources. (unless physically splitting test/accept on a single server)
With 32 bits Cognos on 64 bits os, the only thing that changes is that the java.exe will also run in wow64, where as the bibusses allready did.
Memory usage is known to be bigger for executables that run in wow64, then running in 32 bits code (roughly about 10% extra)

Just doublecheck that ALL your current 32 bits native drivers will install and run on a 64 bits OS, before actually upgrading ;-)

[Suraj]

Will do.
Currently we are on Windows Server 2003 sp2 Standard edition.
Since Cognos upgrade plan is in effect, this will be perfect time to upgrade OS if that's decided.
Otherwise upgrading OS is a big deal here.
I'll research some more before the decision is made.

[ciber]

Hi Suraj Neupane,

I have done a few new BI projects with 64bits OS and 32bits Cognos 8.4.
All projects went well.

I now are working at a project with 64bits OS and 64bits Cognos.
A few reports are not working, but the work fine at a 32bits C8.4 environment.
I don't know why not (yet...), but the same reports works fine within a 32bits C8.4 environment, but not in a 64bits environment.

My advice: stick to Cognos 8.4 32bits!
(Cognos inside adviced it to ...!!!)

Greetz,

ciber

[dairel15]

Moderator edit: This is a Cognos-related forum.  Your original post has been removed.  Please do not post spam.

[RudiHendrix]

And on topic again! (Without spam :))

What we noticed in our installation is that the Cognos website has some 32 bit components. Even though we installed Cognos BI server 64 bit on a Windows server 2003 64 bit server. We had to tell IIS to handle 32 bit applications as well. This can be done by using the following command:

"cscript [Your IIS folder]\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs SET W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 1"
In case it doesn't immediately work please change the last "1" to "true".

[smiley]

The ONLY 64 bits part in the 64 bits release of bi 8.4 is the java stack (java.exe)
All the rest is 32 bits.

[dbamgr]

Hi,

Currently we are in the planning stage to move from Cognos BI 7 to cognos BI 8.4.

Like to know if any one is already running Cognos BI 8.4 on,
-64 bit Window 2003 Server and 64 bit Cognos 8.4

like to know what is your experience? Is it worth to move to 64 bit or not.


Thanks in advance

[RudiHendrix]

We are running Cognos 8.4 on Windows server 2003 64 bit.

I don't see real advantages nor disadvantages.

[Redrichmond]

The only true Cognos 8 product that is 64 bit is TM1.

Thats from a IBM Cognos consultant in Ottawa..

[dbamgr]

Hi,

We heard that Modeling App part cannot run on 64 bit server like (Framework manager, Transformer, datamanager, ETC...). Rest of the Cognos BI is ok. Is this correct or not?


Thanks in advance

[RudiHendrix]

I tried to run Transformer on the 64 bit server. And the apps you mention are all only in 32 bit mode available. I never got Transformer to run.
After some attempts Customer support mentioned to me, that it is not supported.

[Suraj]

Update.
We upgraded to 64-bit Windows server 2003 Enterprise edition on all DEV, Test and production environments couple of months back.
Also, the version of BI server is 64-bit.
So far, everything is working great. Transformer also doesn't have any issues.
From our experience, 64-bit on 64-bit OS didn't cause any issues.