Deep water - Installing/Configuring Cognos 10.2.1

[kc9400]

Hi all,

I've never setup Cognos from scratch before,  I was looking at setting up apache and am very inexperienced in what I need to do. I've looked around the net and found some guides but they all seem to relate to Cognos 8 and even with attemoting to follow them doesn't work. (with slight alterations as required). The installation is on a Windows Server 2003 machine. The environment is just a test environment for now and should be setting a production one once I've worked it all out (with or without help)  :P

When I try to access the gateway url for cognos the page says it cannot be found.

This is my current changes to Apache 2.4...

httpd.conf file was modified I added:

# cognos

Include conf/extra/cognos10.conf

And created another file:

#

# Cognos 10

#

ScriptAlias /ibm/cognos/c10/cgi-bin "C:/Program Files/ibm/cognos/c10/cgi-bin"

<Directory "C:/Program Files/ibm/Cognos/c10/cgi-bin">

    AllowOverride None

    Options None

    Require all denied

    Require all granted

</Directory>

Alias /c10 "C:/Program Files/ibm/cognos/c10/webcontent"

<Directory "C:/Program Files/ibm/cognos/c10/webcontent">

   Options None

   AllowOverride None

   Require all denied

   Require all granted

</Directory>

<Directory "C:/Program Files/ibm/Cognos/c10/documentation">

    Options None

    AllowOverride None

    Require all denied

    Require all granted

</Directory>



Does anyone have a step by step setup guide or any advice, I'm currently falling flat on my face.

Thanks.

[Grim]

What is the business need to using Apache instead of IIS that comes with Windows?
You can also leverage the more optimized for windows cognosisapi.dll if you use IIS.

PS. Thanks for the blog post idea. I'll eventually post a full how-to guide for Apache with Cognos, but it will be with Linux. ;o)

[kc9400]

Morning, I'm trying to setup the same as an existing setup we have for Cognos 8.4.1 but for 10.2.X

It may not be the best way but as I know that's how it was done before figured it would be a safe bet to try to replicate the existing configuration.



Ok, I attempted to follow this guide:

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/ibm-bi-capabilities/entry/cognos_10_1_installation_and_configuration_steps_on_windows_xp_32_bit1?lang=en

and still had no luck.

When I naviate to http://localhost/ibmcognos it just does an error and the page doesn't display.

I've never done this before and very little experience besides building reports..... does anyone have any recommended training courses I could take?

Based in the United Kingdom.

[Grim]

Well first things first. You should never use localhost. Always use something else (IP, FQDN, or server name at the very least).
So change that in the Apache config and Cognos Config. Now, if you have C8 and C10 on the same machine running at the same time it's not going to work unless you change the ports (Dispatcher, logging, and shutdown) in one or the other.

As for using Apache cause that's what was there before...ok...I guess.  :P I still think you'd be better off with IIS and cognosisapi.dll. :)

For the Apache config - You should be able to copy the exact same configs from C8, and just change the paths to C10. You'll have to bounce the Apache services for the config to take effect.

[kc9400]

The install is on a seperate VM and I've gone over to trying it with IIS instead of Apache.

I'll have a little play and see if I get any joy, cheers for replying.  :)

All advice at this stage is welcome.


Update:

I've changed the gateway to:  'http://cognos10.office.net:80/ibmcognos/cgi-bin/cognosisapi.dll';   cognos10.office.net is the server name. I'm still getting redirected and an error 404 when trying to access the gateway though.

[bdbits]

Just in case you are not aware of it... have you looked through the installation documentation?
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/cbi/v10r2m1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.swg.ba.cognos.inst_cr_winux.10.2.1.doc%2Fc_c8biinstintro.html

[SomeClown]

I've changed the gateway to:  'http://cognos10.office.net:80/ibmcognos/cgi-bin/cognosisapi.dll';   cognos10.office.net is the server name. I'm still getting redirected and an error 404 when trying to access the gateway though.

Edit the webcontent/default.htm and  webcontent/index.html files to change cognos.cgi to cognosisapi.dll  (find/replace - should be only one occurrence in each file).

[kc9400]

I hadn't allowed the CGI and ISAPI in IIS but after doing so it now works, so progress.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

Now I just have to workout how the old production version was setup and we're all good....   :D

I shall definitely have a further read through the installation documentation.

[kc9400]

hmmmmm for some reason when trying run reports through the iframe on IE 10 the page doesn't load but when running them in firefox it works correctly.

I use the Default Action URL from the report properties.

[kc9400]

Ah figured it out, due to an issue with IE setting and allowing mixed content. Needs to setup the SSL.  :D

[MFGF]

I've never done this before and very little experience besides building reports..... does anyone have any recommended training courses I could take?

Based in the United Kingdom.

Glad you got the issue sorted! To answer this, there are a number of IBM partners in the UK who offer official IBM Cognos training courses. I guess it depends where you are based as to which would be the easiest to book up with. If I had to go all "Mystic Meg" and do my clairvoyance party trick, I'd guess... ummm... Hampshire? :)

MF.

[kc9400]

That's some real talent right there  ;D