Not able to use Apache 2.2 Web server.

[gppande]

I have installed Cognos 8.4 BI on MS Windows XP Professional version. But I am not able set up Apache Web server 2.2 to work with Cognos. Some how after doing the changes in httpd.conf file the Apache services are not starting up. It gives an error message - "no API module found in the cognos_mod2_2_cognos.dll file". Can someone help please!!!

thanks in advance.

[ducthcogtechie]

Doublecheck your httpd.conf:


#### Cognos 8 lines for apache webserver
#### Paste below lines in the httpd.conf, restart apache NT service

ScriptAlias /cognos8/cgi-bin "C:/Program Files/cognos/c8/cgi-bin/"
<Directory "C:/Program Files/cognos/c8/cgi-bin">
     Options Indexes MultiViews
     AllowOverride None
     Order allow,deny
     Allow from all
</Directory>

Alias /cognos8 "C:/Program Files/cognos/c8/webcontent"
<Directory "C:/Program Files/cognos/c8/webcontent">
     Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks
     AllowOverride None
     Order allow,deny
     Allow from all
</Directory>


#### APACHE MOD INSTEAD OF COGNOS.CGI

# to use the apache MOD add the following LoadModule entry to the list:

LoadModule cognos_module "C:/Program Files/cognos/c8/cgi-bin/mod2_cognos.dll"

# add the following lines to the Location segment:

<Location /cognos8/cgi-bin/mod2_cognos.dll>
    SetHandler cognos-handler
</Location>

# add the following lines to the ifmodule segment:

<IfModule mod_cognos.c>
    CGIBinDir "C:/Program Files/cognos/c8/cgi-bin"
</IfModule>

[gppande]

Thanks a lot!!! I was able to get the error in LoadModule file corrected and was able to start the web server successfully.

But now I am not able to open the main page of Cognos 8.

A) When I go with the URL,
http://localhost:80/cognos8/mod2_2_cognos.dll
I get page not found.

B) When I go with the URL,
http://localhost:80/cognos8/cgi-bin/mod2_2_cognos.dll
I get below error page...

The template file has not been loaded.

ERRPAGE_APPNAME=IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence
ERRPAGE_CONTACTADMIN=Try again or contact your administrator.
ERRPAGE_HELP=Help
ERRPAGE_HTML_TITLE=Error - IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence
ERRPAGE_UNEXPECTED=
LABEL_OK=OK
LANG_ID=en/
error_code=SERVER_NOT_AVAILABLE
error_component=cognoscgi
error_message=The IBM Cognos gateway is unable to connect to the IBM Cognos BI server. The server may be unavailable or the gateway may not be correctly configured.

When I put the external dispatcher URL in my browser, I am able to see the main page of cognos (without images). This indicates that Cognos is running at backend. Then why the "server not available" error message is coming?

I have checked cognos configuration and it seems good to best of my knowledge. Any idea what may be wrong?

[ducthcogtechie]

I see more people posting the same question on the web, with no answers.
i would suggest logging the case with cognos, to see if loading the mod2_2_cognos.dll requires additional settings in the httpd.conf or maybe there are issues with the dll.
Did you try to run the mod2_cognos.dll in your 2.2 apache, just for the fun of it?

[Silvern]

Hi, I faced with the same issue on AIX box.

When I visit http://hostname/cognos8/cgi-bin/mod2_2_cognos.so, got the following error message.

The template file has not been loaded.

ERRPAGE_APPNAME=="CCLMessage" File="../cgi-bin/cognoscgiMsg" Severity="Error" Nesting="0" >
ERRPAGE_CONTACTADMIN=="CCLMessage" File="../cgi-bin/cognoscgiMsg" Severity="Error" Nesting="0" >
ERRPAGE_HELP=="CCLMessage" File="../cgi-bin/cognoscgiMsg" Severity="Error" Nesting="0" >
ERRPAGE_HTML_TITLE=="CCLMessage" File="../cgi-bin/cognoscgiMsg" Severity="Error" Nesting="0" >
ERRPAGE_UNEXPECTED=="CCLMessage" File="../cgi-bin/cognoscgiMsg" Severity="Error" Nesting="0" >
LABEL_OK=="CCLMessage" File="../cgi-bin/cognoscgiMsg" Severity="Error" Nesting="0" >
LANG_ID=="CCLMessage" File="../cgi-bin/cognoscgiMsg" Severity="Error" Nesting="0" >
error_code=SERVER_NOT_AVAILABLE
error_component=cognoscgi
error_message=="CCLMessage" File="../cgi-bin/cognoscgiMsg" Severity="Error" Nesting="0" >

Is there any update available?

[gppande]

Since I was doing it on Windows I moved to IIS

[osd]

Hi Silvern,

Did you ever find an answer to This?

[hugoa]

Hi all,
Guessing above problem is not settled yet, I want you to give the set up I created to make it work for Apache 2.2 on Sun Solaris 10.
Most of it I got from the Cognos docs, but there are some flaws in it regarding the browser URL to the C8 portal, and to my opinion also in the advised gateway URI.

But first the Cognos 8 settings for the Apache configuration:

#
# Cognos 8
#

# Load module to use apache module as alternative for CGI
LoadModule cognos_module <c8_install_location>/cgi-bin/mod2_2_cognos.so

# define Alias and set Directory (security) settings
ScriptAlias /cognos8/cgi-bin "<c8_install_location>/cgi-bin"
<Directory "<c8_install_location>/cgi-bin">
AllowOverride None
Options None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>
Alias /cognos8 "<c8_install_location>/webcontent"
<Directory "/opt/cognos/c84/webcontent">
Options Indexes MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Options None
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>

# server status reports section
<Location /cognos8/cgi-bin/cognos_module>
        SetHandler cognos-handler
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
</Location>

# user directory section
<IfModule mod2_2_cognos.c>
        CGIBinDir "<c8_install_location>/cgi-bin"
</IfModule>

~



That leaves us the gateway URI Cognos 8 configuration. In this URI you can refer to the above defined "cognos_module":
http://<myapachewebserver:portno>/cognos8/cgi-bin/cognos_module
note: the cognos documentation says different. They want you to use the '.dll' or '.so' instead of 'cognos_module'. That is less neat and less robust, to my opinion.

After restarting check portal via your browser:
http://<myapachewebserver:portno>/cognos8/cgi-bin/cognos_module

You should not refer explicitly to the '.so', as in http://webserver/cognos8/cgi-bin/mod2_2_cognos.so because this '.so'  will be interpreted by the web server as if it needs to be executed, and that will cause (http 500) errors.

Best regards and success.