Install Cognos using the graphical user interface method

Install Cognos using the graphical user interface method

Use the IBM Cognos installation wizard to install a Cognos cluster, with either one node or multiple nodes.

When Oracle is used as backend database server, Cognos BI node needs to be installed on a dedicated server where no dmgr or IBM Connections node is installed; otherwise you will encounter a duplicated jdbc driver path problem.

Transformer can be installed on a server different from the Cognos BI server.

When working with SQL Server, ensure only the sqljdbc4.jar file and (not sqljdbc.jar) is put into the JDBC folder, which will be used in later step. If we are working with DB2v10, make sure to use jdbc driver v10.1, FP1 or later. We can find the driver in the DB2 JDBC Driver Versions technote.

If the WAS administrator of dmgr and the local Cognos node are different in either user name or password, the installation will fail. Refer to this technote to work around the problem.

Refer to Deploying a Cognos cluster to set up a Cognos cluster environment with multiple nodes installed.
Complete the following tasks before starting the IBM Cognos installation:
Prepare the Cognos database server on one host, and install the database client for Cognos Transformer on the host where you install Cognos.

Install required OS patches on the Cognos BI Server system. Any required patches must be installed before you attempt to deploy the Cognos server.

Run to preload libraries needed for the setup scripts:

(RedHat Linux 6 64-bit systems) Run to preload libraries needed for the setup scripts:
export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib64/libfreebl3.so

Install Connections on dmgr and when choosing to install the Metrics application in the Cognos configuration panel, select the do later option.
Enable debug mode of the Cognos installation wizard :
For root user to run the Cognos Wizard, go to /var/ibm/InstallationManager/logs and create log.properties file. Add the following information to the file:
InstallOperation=DEBUG
InstallOperation/pause.on_error=true
This property setting prevents the automatic rollback of the wizard and provides adequate time to collect log in case of error.
For nonroot user to run Cognos wizard, create the log.properties file under /home/<nonroot user>/ibm/InstallationManager/logs.
Prepare the Cognos installer for Cognos installation :

For Windows, use IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Server, 64-bit 10.1.1 Windows Multilingual, and IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Transformer 10.1.1 Windows Multilingual.

For IBM AIX , use IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Server, 64-bit, 10.1.1 AIX Multilingual and IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Transformer 10.1.1 AIX Multilingual.

For Linux, use IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Server, 64-bit, 10.1.1 Linux x86 Multilingual and IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Transformer 10.1.1 Linux x86 Multilingual.

Run to start server1 of the WAS profile you created in an early step, such as:

On AIX and Linux:
/opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer/profiles/AppSrv01/bin/startServer.sh server1

On Windows
C:\IBM\WebSphere\AppServer\profiles\AppSrv01\bin\startServer.bat server1

Make sure the time difference between the Cognos node and dmgr is within 5 minutes and the dmgr and Cognos nodes (both primary node and secondary nodes) can see each other.

Extract the Cognos Wizard to the local server.

Choose the install location for Cognos. If we choose to install Cognos Business Intelligence (BI) server, it will be installed under <install location>/CognosBI. If we choose to install Transformer, it will be installed under <install location>/Transformer.

Choose which feature to install. We cannot install the primary BI server and the secondary BI server at the same time. To install the primary BI server and secondary BI server on to the same machine, choose Install instead of Modify to install the secondary BI server. We can install the BI server and Transformer at the same time. The WebSphere Application Server information panel will not show if you only choose to install Transformer.

Enter information for the local node and dmgr on the WAS information panel. We need to start server1 on the node profile to verify the installation process can retrieve node information. The node soap port is detected, but check that it is correct and modify it if incorrect.
make sure we are using the same location to install Primary BI server and Secondary BI server. The Topology panel will not show if you choose to install Transformer only.

Enter the topology information for Cognos on the Topology panel. Use a new cluster name for the primary BI server, an existing cluster for the secondary BI server. Server name needs to be different across the cell.
Web context root should be same across all BI nodes.

Complete the Database information panel.
If we install on a different machine, verify the jdbc driver location is different from Connections for Oracle. Cognos database information needs to be completed for the BI server. Metrics database information needs to be completed for Transformer.
Pay special attention to the description of Metrics local database name, because they differ according to database type.

Complete the Cognos BI Location panel, which only shows if you choose to install the primary BI server or the secondary BI server. Power Cube location must be on shared file system, and must be the same for the primary BI server, the secondary BI server, and the Transformer.

Complete the Cognos Transformer location panel, which only shows if you choose to install Transformer.

Credential details for the Cognos administrator are needed only when only Transformer has been chosen to install.

The BI server URI shows only when Transformer has been chosen to install or the secondary BI server and Transformer have been chosen to install. In the latter case enter the URI of the primary BI server.

The PowerCube location is needed only if only Transformer is selected for installation.

Complete the Cognos mapping user panel, which shows if the primary BI server is selected for installation.

Click Next and then click Install.
After starting the Cognos server, wait at least five minutes before opening the Content Manager's URL.
After installation, check the status of Content Manager at the path <Install location>/CognosBI/configuration/cogstartup.xml, and search for contentManagers. When accessing the URL we see the IBM Cognos Content Manager status response page. It should indicate the current Content Manager's state is "Running".
On the secondary BI server, the Cognos service cannot be started out of box. Configure Content Manager first.
Check the Content Manager URL from cogstartup.xml, and add the secondary BI server Content Manager URL to the cogstartup.xml of the primary BI server.
Add the primary BI server Content Manager URL to the secondary BI server. It needs to be in the following sequence:

Primary BI server Content Manager URL as the first node

The first secondary BI Server Content Manager URL

Follow the same sequence for each secondary BI server.
This needs to be done after the installation of each secondary BI server. For example:
<crn:parameter name="contentManagers" opaque="true">
     <crn:value xsi:type="cfg:array">
       <crn:item xsi:type="xsd:anyURI">http://cognos1.myco.com:9082/cognos/servlet</crn:item>
       <crn:item xsi:type="xsd:anyURI">http://cognos2.myco.com:9086/cognos/servlet</crn:item>
     </crn:value>
   </crn:parameter>
We need to restart the Cognos server after changing cogstartup.xml
If Connections, and BI are installed on a different server, configure SSO via the WAS administrative console as follows

Navigate to Global Security > Single Sign-on (SSO) > General Properties

Select the Enabled option.

Enter the Domain name.

Select the Web inbound security attribute propagation option.

Select the Set security cookies to HTTPOnly to help prevent cross-site scripting attacks option.

Click Apply to save the updates.

Restart the dmgr.
What to do next
After installation, two signons (Cognos administrator signon and Metrics database signon) will be set into the Powercube model files on the Cognos Transformer server. They will be used for PowerCube generation. If change these two signons after the installation:

Update the cognos-setup.properties file with the new signon information,

also fill the passwords which are removed after installation.

Run transformer-logon-set.bat|sh, which is located in the Cognos Install directory. The script needs the Cognos BI server URL as a parameter. We need to pass it in at run time by including it on the command line as shown:
transformer-logon-set.bat|sh -cognos.server.url=http(s)://<cognos_bi_server_doamin>:<cognos_bi_server_port>/<cognos_bi_server_contextroot>

Output from this operation is stored in the /[CognosInstall]/transformer-logon-set.log file. If we encounter an error when running the script, correct the error and run the script again.

If we set the flag removePassword=false instead of accepting the default value of true, then passwords will not be removed and we can just continue to run the next command.

Uninstall Cognos via the graphical user interface wizard
If the Cognos-Metrics installation does not complete properly, we can uninstall the primary BI server, the secondary BI server, and Transformer using the Cognos installation wizard.

Parent topic:
Install Cognos Metrics