Active Directory for windows 7

[10e5x]

I would like to have active directory for windows 7 to create and authenticate users for using cognos10 with single sign-on. I dunno what to install at all. Therefore i would like to ask if the below link is getting me what i want?
http://snippetsandhelp.blogspot.sg/2011/01/installing-active-directory-tools-under.html

[bdbits]

Not really. That just installs software to help you query and manage Active Directory.

You will want to read through this: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/cbi/v10r1m1/topic/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.inst_cr_winux.10.1.1.doc/t_inst_activedirectoryserver_process.html#inst_ActiveDirectoryServer_process

[10e5x]

Not really. That just installs software to help you query and manage Active Directory.

You will want to read through this: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/cbi/v10r1m1/topic/com.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.inst_cr_winux.10.1.1.doc/t_inst_activedirectoryserver_process.html#inst_ActiveDirectoryServer_process

Thanks bdbits. Then what about AD LDS? Becuz i am using Windows 7 enterprise edition, with IIS7, using ISAPi. If AD LDS is able to allow me to create user so user can have ownership to their reports, i will move on to install it. And would greatly appreciate if you can give me some resource to guide me along. If AD LDS still not recommended, kindly enlighten me.

Scenario:
Want to set up cognos practical lesson for students in school. They are required to access cognos from home too as assignment will be given to them. In short i want to enable log in (username and password in cognos to authenticate user) so each student has ownership to his/her report.

Thanks alot,
10e5x

[bdbits]

Oh, I see, you are probably looking for https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14683.

I do hope you realize Cognos is not going to support this sort of configuration.  In fact they don't support running Cognos server components on non-server versions of Windows at all. So you may run into problems with no solution. I don't know if AD LDS will work or not, though it probably will. If the native AD connection does not work with it, you could try LDAP. In any case, if Cognos can work with it then you would be able to use it as an authentication provider for logon and assign all the usual security stuff Cognos lets you do.

Are you intending to load this on every student's own computer, or will they be accessing a host on the school/lab network? You really would be better off creating a Windows Server 2008 host or VM, and installing all the server components there. You then have an environment that will be just like what a student will likely encounter in the working world. If you are eligible for Microsoft educational pricing, the cost for the OS is quite inexpensive. I am going to assume you have proper licensing for IBM Cognos already. If not, I believe they have educational pricing as well.

[10e5x]

Oh, I see, you are probably looking for https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14683.

I do hope you realize Cognos is not going to support this sort of configuration.  In fact they don't support running Cognos server components on non-server versions of Windows at all. So you may run into problems with no solution. I don't know if AD LDS will work or not, though it probably will. If the native AD connection does not work with it, you could try LDAP. In any case, if Cognos can work with it then you would be able to use it as an authentication provider for logon and assign all the usual security stuff Cognos lets you do.

Are you intending to load this on every student's own computer, or will they be accessing a host on the school/lab network? You really would be better off creating a Windows Server 2008 host or VM, and installing all the server components there. You then have an environment that will be just like what a student will likely encounter in the working world. If you are eligible for Microsoft educational pricing, the cost for the OS is quite inexpensive. I am going to assume you have proper licensing for IBM Cognos already. If not, I believe they have educational pricing as well.

thanks bdbits. The user size is about 80. And at most is 40 accessing cognos at one go. I will be installing cognos in 1 or 2 pc and act as a web host. I did not install cognos and windows server on a server its becuz one of the cognoiser advice me not to as it will reduce the perfromance and mermory size, so i just listen. Do i really need a server? Its very troublesome for me to get one from school. I need to test run what i have done first, prove the concept then can ask for all the resources i need.

Could u please advice me what should i do now?i already installed cognos with oracle with IIS configured on my windows 7. do i need to redo it on a vm with server 2008? PLEASE HELP!!!:(

[bdbits]

I am not sure if it is still in there, but desktop Windows used to have an artificial limit of 10 simultaneous incoming network connections. Think of this as "concurrent students". With 40 trying to access it at one time, you may have issues. As far as performance, I would take issue with the notion that Cognos is going to run worse on Windows Server than on Windows 7, provided things are configured properly.

Will it work otherwise? Probably. Try it and see how it goes. It's just that Cognos does not test it in such a scenario, and Server versions of Windows are not the same software as Desktop versions. If you do not care to ever get official support, or have no contract, then I suppose it does not matter.

[10e5x]

I am not sure if it is still in there, but desktop Windows used to have an artificial limit of 10 simultaneous incoming network connections. Think of this as "concurrent students". With 40 trying to access it at one time, you may have issues. As far as performance, I would take issue with the notion that Cognos is going to run worse on Windows Server than on Windows 7, provided things are configured properly.

Will it work otherwise? Probably. Try it and see how it goes. It's just that Cognos does not test it in such a scenario, and Server versions of Windows are not the same software as Desktop versions. If you do not care to ever get official support, or have no contract, then I suppose it does not matter.

bdbits, i have set up an active directory on windows server 2008 r2 on a different machine from my cognos. Now i am having trouble configuring the cognos to work with the active directory i set up. I am not sure what to put as namespace id, whether should i change user values...etc. i tried follow few tutorial video and blogs but all returns me the same error, could u please guide me?

[''ibmlab'']
[ ERROR ] CAM-AAA-0146 The namespace 'nypedusg' is not available.
[ ERROR ] CAM-AAA-0064 The function 'Configure' failed.
[ ERROR ] CAM-AAA-0089 The provider is not initialized.
[ ERROR ] ADSI Error HRESULT Returns:
ERROR_DS_SERVER_DOWN
ADSI Error:

System Error:
The server is not operational.

[ ERROR ] CAM-AAA-0124 The Active Directory function call to 'getDomainTreesTopology' failed.

[MFGF]

You are working in a totally unsupported environment, and with a setup that most likely puts you in breach of your license agreement. Cognos 10 is designed and licensed to be installed centrally on one or more servers, and accessed via web browsers and modelling clients (such as Framework Manager) from client machines. Whoever it was that told you not to install Cognos 10 on a server has given you fundamentally wrong advice. Listen to the good folks on here and sort out your architecture first - then you can get support from IBM if you need it. Running Cognos 10 on Windows 7 is not supported, and it's quite likely that you will not manage to get Active Directory to work in thei environment.

MF.

[10e5x]

You are working in a totally unsupported environment, and with a setup that most likely puts you in breach of your license agreement. Cognos 10 is designed and licensed to be installed centrally on one or more servers, and accessed via web browsers and modelling clients (such as Framework Manager) from client machines. Whoever it was that told you not to install Cognos 10 on a server has given you fundamentally wrong advice. Listen to the good folks on here and sort out your architecture first - then you can get support from IBM if you need it. Running Cognos 10 on Windows 7 is not supported, and it's quite likely that you will not manage to get Active Directory to work in thei environment.

MF.

hi MF, thanks for your reply. I heed your advice and have my cognos installed on a linux machine, currently learning to deploy to cloud. As for AD i have set it up on windows server 2008 R2 and configured cognos to use LDAP namespace. Thanks so much.