Data Manager Catalog Error:

[zak]

Hi everyone,

It's my first post here. I have a issue regarding the Data Manager catalog. I've moved the catalog from Cognos 8 installation to 10.1.1 and it was working absolutely fine for a while. Now every time I try to execute any build (which was working) we get the following error.

Code Select Expand

DM-DBM-0300 An error occurred in the Database Alias file 'memory' (line 12) syntax of lines in the database alias file is:
<environment> <alias> <driver_name> <item_string> [<notes>]

DM-DBM-0300 An error occurred in the Database Alias file 'memory' (line 15) syntax of lines in the database alias file is:
<environment> <alias> <driver_name> <item_string> [<notes>]

databuild -- failed (27-Sep-2012 09:26:51)

Any help would be appreciated. Apparently no one else had this problem before and there isn't much information about the error on the web.

Thanks,
Zak

[MFGF]

Hmmmm. The message is referring to a Database Alias file, which is one of the text-based definition files Data Manager can use in place of a catalog. Very odd. Before the days of the Designer and the Catalog, work in the tool was done by coding definition files - a Database Alias definition file, a Reference definition file, and a Collection Definition and Build Definition for each build. The Database Alias definition file corresponds largely with the Connections folder content in the Catalog (Reference is the Dimensions/Hierarchies/Lookups etc, Collection is the input phase of a build and Build is the output phase). Given the fact your message refers to a Database Alias definition, I would suspect your catalog has got corrupted, and that it's probably in the connections area.

Things you could try:
1. Go to File > Backup Catalog and create a full backup to a text file. Create a new database and set up a new, empty catalog within it, then go to File > Restore Catalog and restore your backup into the new catalog. See if this fixes the issue.
2. Try creating new versions of all your connections in the Connections folder, then modify a build to use the new connections (both source and target). See if the build runs successfully. If so, you will need to modify the remaining builds to use the new connections, then delete the old ones.
3. If you still have a copy of the catalog (or a backup) from Cognos 8, try using this.
4. If all else fails, you could try manually editing the catalog backup you made in Suggestion 1 using Notepad (or similar) and see if you can spot anything obviously amiss with the connections. Be very careful if changing things manually - make sure you have a safe copy beforehand :)

Let us know how you get on. Good luck!!

MF.