Need to assign the same Container to different Applications for Publish

[anandmoholkar]

Hi,

I have a container "ABC" assigned to the Application "Application1".

I have one more application "Application2".

Now, I have to assign the container "ABC" to "Application2".


So could you please let me know is this possible ?
If yes, could you please let me know the steps for the same ?

Thanks in advance !!!

Regards,
Anand

[ericlfg]

Hi Anand,

I'm not sure this can be done.  Each publish container, upon creation, is tied to the application it was created for.  There is background code that will prevent a publish container from being dropped from one application and associated with another.  If you try, you will receive a message indicating that the publish container is already associated with another application (even if you go through Tools -> Maintenance -> Validate Publish contatiners) and delete the reference to the app. 

If someone's been able to do it..  I'd certainly want to see it :)

[shaud]

It can  be done. After you remove the publish container from the original application you need to run a 'dry' GTP. Doing this will remove the "background code" that links the publish container and model. When GTP completes you can add the publish container to any other model in the PAD that doesn't already have an existing publish container.

[ericlfg]

Thanks, Shaud!

Definitely going to keep that one in the back of my mind.  I guess my question back to Anand is why you want to use the same publish container for more than 1 application?  The publish process will truncate everything in the container, unless you're doing an incremental publish.  However, if there are structural differences between the 2 applications you're using the single publish container with, the structure would likely change (on account of difference in cubes / dimensions) and the trickle publish wouldn't be available.

[shaud]

No problem.

As far as wanting to use the same publish container, my only thought would be that he wants to preserve his existing datastore and FM package references for his reports. Just a guess.....Anand?

[anandmoholkar]

Thanks Eric and Shaud,

You are right Shaud.. For two years, I have two different Applications.
Actually I want to use the same Container for these applications. So that my FM Package and Reprots are not impacted a lot.

If you have any idea regarding keeping the different version Reports for different years, that will be very helpful !!!

Thanking you again,
Anand

[anandmoholkar]

One small question,
How do we Remove the Publish Container from any Application?

When I go to Publish Options, I could find "Configure" Option.
But there I could find, "Create New"  option.

Could you please let me know, the exact way to remove any Container from the Application ?

[ericlfg]

Hey Anand,

Use the maintenance process in the CAC:

Tools -> Maintenance -> Validate publish containers.  Click the check box next to the application and select delete.  This will not delete the publish container, but rather it's association to the application.

As I'm mostly a planning guy, the reporting question might be better suited for the Cognos 8 thread? 

Cheers

[anandmoholkar]

Thanks Eric,

I could find the option there under Tools.

Now as per the communication from Shaud, I have to run a "Dry GTP" to remove the application association.

Thanks a lot for your posts !!!

Regards,
Anand

[anandmoholkar]

Hi Eric,

I removed the Container from the Tools-->MAintenance--> Validate Publish container.
After that I ran the 'Dry GTP' for the Old Application, so as to remove the Association.When I see the old application, there is No Container set to it.

But, still I am not able to assign the same container for New Application.
I have gone uner following path:
TAble only Publish --> Options --> Configure --> Datastores --> Create New
From the Dropdown list when I select the container, I got the following:

It still shows "The Container has been set to the old application. It cannot be set to the new Application"

Its not allowing me to configure the same container to New Application.

Please help !!!


Thanks in advance,
Anand

[ericlfg]

In my testing I was able to get this to work as Shaud explained.  Try again but use a test container..  there may be an issue behind the scenes.  Even if you're able to get this to function, I'm not sure if this would be a best practice.

As I've indicated before, I would expect that the best practice would be to use 2 contributor publish containers and then a 3rd database that's populated via ETL tools.

[Rutulian]

Hi Anand,

Instead of TAble only Publish --> Options --> Configure --> Datastores --> Create New, try stopping one step earlier - at TAble only Publish --> Options --> Configure --> Datastores, you should have a list of the existing publish datastores.  That's where you'll be able to select the different publish container, if everything's working as we think it should.

Hope that helps,
Alexis

[anandmoholkar]

HI Alex,

When I remove the Application from the Tools--> MAintenance --> VAlidate Publish Container --> Select Container to Delete, then that container is not available on

TAble only Publish --> Options --> Configure --> Datastores --> Table only Publish Container.

Then how can I assign that container to the new Applicaiton ?

Thanks in advance,
Anand

[Rutulian]

Hi Anand,

I don't have SysAdmin on anything at the moment to test on, I think you must be close to a solution because Eric's test was successful.  I can't think what we've missed though - I'd suggest logging a call with Support to step through this with you.

Cheers,
Alexis

[ericlfg]

As an update:

I've been successful with a brand new container.  Using an existing container (and not really sure what the difference is) I receive the same error described more recently by Anand.  So it's looking like this is not a reliable approach -- and I will not suggest that this configuration be used.  I still say that a data warehouse approach with a loading ETL is the best route to take.  Personally I wouldn't implement this solution, so I couldn't suggest it to you, Anand.

I agree with Alexis that a ticket with support should be logged -- Looking at this from another angle, even if you get this to work, I don't know that it would be supported.

Cheers.

[anandmoholkar]

Thanks Alexis and Eric,

I too feel that this way is not a suggested approach by  Cognos IBM.
Surely I will try to have updates from IBM Support regarding this.

Will update regarding the reply frm Support.

Thanks a lot !!
Anand

[kakkaduan]

Don't know if this is still a problem or not, but as I just joined the forums todays I'll go ahead and reply to this anyway :)

1. Remove the Container from  "Tools-->Maintenance--> Validate Publish container --> Delete"

2. Log onto the server where the publish database recides and manually empty table as per below:
delete from [publish_database_name_here].[dbo].[publishparameters]

3. Go to the "new" application: Table only Publish --> Options --> Configure --> Datastores --> Select your publish container from here

4. Make sure to add the publish container to "monitored objects" in order to succesfully run any publish jobs to it.


Please note, as far as I know, this is not a recomended solution but it has always worked for me.


Hope this helps

[shaud]

I originally made the suggestion to try this approach as it accomplished what the poster needed. I never said it was an IBM solution or a method I used in our environment. however, as we all know, sometimes we have to come up with our own solutions to make the software do what we need it to do.