Tags: installation
Pre Installation Requirements
The following Software’s must be installed and running before installing and configuring Cognos ReportNet
Note: This document will focus on Oracle Database and Internet Information Services (IIS) Web Server only.
Oracle
IIS
Installation
The steps guide the user to install Cognos ReportNet on a single computer. This installation takes the default path of Cognos. The components that gets installed are
1. ReportNet Server
2. Content Manager
3. Dispatcher
Note: Components can be installed in different systems. For configuration of such installations refer Cognos Documentation.
Post Installation Configuration
The following points must be taken care of before accessing the Cognos ReportNet tools and must follow the same order.
1. Set-up of JDBC Client for Cognos Applications to Content store.
2. Set-up database connection properties.
3. Configure Web Server
Note: This document will focus on Oracle Database and Internet Information Services (IIS) Web Server only.
Set-up of JDBC Client for Cognos Applications to access Content store
Cognos Applications interact with Content store only through JDBC Client. Hence ensure that proprietary JDBC client of Oracle is made available in Cognos default libraries path. Follow the below steps to ensure the same.
1. Rename the classes12.zip file to classes12.jar file (Note: Ensure that the file extension option in explorer window is enabled)
2. Copy the classes12.zip file from Oracle home directory and paste the same under Cognos Default location.
Set-up of Database Connection properties
ReportNet. Hence in order for Cognos applications to work, Cognos ReportNet needs to be configured with Content Store. The following steps guide you to configure content store using Cognos Configuration tool.
For all installations, the database server information must be provided to ensure that ReportNet can connect to the database to use the content store.
Note: The following steps guide to configure only for Oracle Database. For other databases please refer Cognos manual.
1. Open Cognos Configuration from Start -> Cognos ReportNet -> Cognos Configuration
2. Right Click on Content Store under Data Access-> Content Manager and Delete.
3. Right Click, Content manager, and then click New Resource, Database. The following window shows the same.
4. Enter the Name, Type of Database and Click OK
5. Enter the Database Server name, Port Number and Service Name.
6. Enter the User Id and Password.
7. Save the configuration 
8. Stop 
the services.
9. Start 
the services
Configure Web Server (IIS) The following virtual directory needs to be created Cognos Applications to run over Web.
a) Alias Name: crn
b) Alias Name: crn/cgi-bin
c) Alias Name: crn/help
Note: The names of the virtual directories presented in this document are default. The names can be changed but ‘cgi-bin’ and ‘help’ names CANNOT be changed and must remain the same.
Test Installation and Configuration
Test the installation by starting the services using Cognos Configuration. Once started open browser and type the following URL http://hostname/crn
The following Cognos Portal on the browser will ensure that your installation and configuration is correct.
Important Files to look for
The following files are important to look for in case of any configuration problems
Potential Problems & Solutions
Problem 1: The database does not support Unicode Character Set
Solution 1:
1. Check whether the database installed supports UTF-8 Encoding. If not migrate to UTF8 from the current Character set.
2. Re-install database with UTF 8 Encoding
Problem 2: The database connection parameters might be wrong
Solution 2: Ensure the database parameters furnished in Content manager is correct. Test the same through the Client of RDBMS vendor.
Problem: The ReportNet service is stopped.
Solution: The ReportNet services should be started. Go to Cognos configuration and start the services.
Solution: Ensure that the User to connect to Content Store has the Create and Drop Privileges and Connect and Resource Roles .
DPR-ERR-2058 - The dispatcher cannot service the request at this time. The dispatcher is still initializing
Solution: In Cognos Connection in the Content Store node, ensure the Service Name Property (the SID) is not fully qualified.
The JDBC Driver uses the SID, not the fully qualified name.
Solution: Delete the existing content store connection and recreate the same.
DPR-ERR-2058 - The dispatcher cannot service the request at this time. The dispatcher is still initializing
Solution: In this case, the problem was that the Content Manager host and port number were accidentally modified and the port number was incorrect.
CM-SYS-5007 Content Manager build 1.1.162.0 failed to start! Review the Content Manager log files and then contact your system administrator or customer support.]]> CM-CFG-5063 A Content Manager configuration error was detected while connecting to the content store.
Solution: The tables are locked due to previous improper configuration. Solution is to drop the tables manually, save the configuration in Content manager and restart the services.
Solution: Read the below advisory notice from Cognos.
Dear Cognos Customer or Partner:
This is a product advisory regarding the expiry of the JCE Certificate in Cognos ReportNet and Cognos Metrics Designer (Advisory Reference: ADVCRN04_0405).
In June and updaed in july, Cognos posted a product advisory on http://support.cognos.com to notify Cognos ReportNet and Cognos Metrics Manager customers and partners of a potential problem caused by the expiry of the JCE certificate in Sun's Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
Recommended Action(s) To eliminate the potential for failure in Cognos ReportNet or Cognos Metrics Designer operation, we recommend that you determine if your Cognos ReportNet or Cognos Metrics Designer installation relies on JCE version 1.2.1 and if so, download and install the updates for the product applicable to you. Please note that Cognos will not be liable for any loss or damages arising from the failure to implement these recommended action(s). Customers who have a current support contract can view the full JCE product advisory and download and install the updates using their Cognos Support Web account login.
Solution: Read the below below script and make fresh schema using it.
CREATE TABLESPACE TBS_content_store
DATAFILE '/abcd04/sso432/data/content_store_df.dbf'
SIZE 2048 M
AUTOEXTEND ON
;
CREATE TEMPORARY TABLESPACE TEMP TEMPFILE
'/abcd04/sso432/data/temp01.dbf' SIZE 2048M AUTOEXTEND ON NEXT 100M MAXSIZE 10240M
TABLESPACE GROUP ''
EXTENT MANAGEMENT LOCAL UNIFORM SIZE 1M;
CREATE USER content_store
IDENTIFIED BY content_store123
DEFAULT TABLESPACE TBS_content_store
TEMPORARY TABLESPACE temp
;
grant create session to content_store;
grant connect,resource to content_store;
grant create table to content_store;
grant create view to content_store;
grant create synonym,create public synonym to content_store;
grant create procedure to content_store;
grant create trigger to content_store;
grant create sequence to content_store;
Installation Instructions:
Red Hat Supplied iSCSI Initiator:
Find the RPM on the Red Hat Media, then install it using the rpm –ivh command as follows:
# rpm –ivh iscsi-initiator-utils-6.2.0.742-0.5.el5
NOTE: This is the version for Enterprise Linux AS 5. Your version may be different.
An alternative to installing this package manually in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (ES or AS) 5 or greater is to use the “Add/Remove Applications” menu item in the “System Settings” menu. In the details for the “Network Servers” package list, the iscsi-initiator-utils is one of the packages listed. This same choice is available in the same location during the initial install of Red Hat, so this can also be done at that time.
Once installed, there will be a file in the /etc directory named iscsi.conf. If this file does not exist this may indicate a problem with the installation. This file can be created with the following minimal entries:
DiscoveryAddress=
This needs to be set to the Group IP Address of your UIT Array.
SendAsyncText=yes
For the initiator to receive Vendor Specific async events from the target.
Continuous=yes
To globally specify that all discovery sessions be kept open.
Within the iscsi.conf file itself there are many more options available that can be set. You can look through the iscsi.conf file for information on what these variables are and what they are used for.
Once these values are either placed in a newly created /etc/iscsi.conf file, or the respective lines are uncommented and edited where necessary, the iscsi service can be started:
# service iscsi start
To verify that the iscsi service will be started at boot time, the chkconfig command can be used as follows:
# chkconfig –list iscsi
iscsi 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:off 5:off 6:off
By default, the newly added iscsi initiator is not enabled at boot which is the reason for each of the run levels listed to have the service set to off. To enable this at boot, again use the chkconfig command as follows:
# chkconfig –add iscsi
# chkconfig iscsi on
The above two commands first checks to be sure there are the necessary scripts to start and stop the service, then it sets this service to be on for the appropriate runlevels.
Then check to be sure the changes took effect:
# chkconfig –list iscsi
iscsi 0:off 1:off 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off
To verify that you can see your iscsi devices, you can run the following command:
# iscsi-ls
************************************************************************
SFNet iSCSI Driver Version … 6.2 (27-July-2009 )
************************************************************************
TARGET NAME : iqn.2001-05.com.UIT:6-8a0900-148270001-987006efd6c43836-pat-rhel5-vol2
TARGET ALIAS : pat-rhel5-vol2
HOST NO : 1
BUS NO : 0
TARGET ID : 5
TARGET ADDRESS : 172.19.50.13:3260
SESSION STATUS : ESTABLISHED AT Thu Dec 1 15:51:50 2009
NO. OF PORTALS : 1
PORTAL ADDRESS 1 : 172.19.50.10:3260,0
SESSION ID : ISID 00023d000001 TSIH 06
************************************************************************
To see greater details of the devices, you can run the above command with the –l option:
# iscsi-ls –s
************************************************************************
SFNet iSCSI Driver Version … 6.2 (27-Jun-2009 )
************************************************************************
TARGET NAME : iqn.2001-05.com.UIT:6-8a0900-148270001-987006efd6c43836-pat-rhel5-vol2
TARGET ALIAS : pat-rhel5-vol2
HOST NO : 1
BUS NO : 0
TARGET ID : 5
TARGET ADDRESS : 172.19.50.13:3260
SESSION STATUS : ESTABLISHED AT Thu Dec 1 15:51:49 2009
NO. OF PORTALS : 1
PORTAL ADDRESS 1 : 172.19.50.10:3260,0
SESSION ID : ISID 00023d000001 TSIH 06
DEVICE DETAILS :
————–
LUN ID : 0
Vendor: EQLOGIC Model: 100E-00 Rev: 2.1
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 05
page83 type3: 0690a018007082143638c4d6ef067098
page80: 3036393041303138303037303832313433363338433444364546303637303938
Device: /dev/sdc
************************************************************************
As can be seen in the example iscsi-ls –l output above, the device in question is mapped to the /dev/sdc device.
Linux-iscsi Sourceforge Initiator:
If you are not running the required update of Red Hat Linux to have their precompiled iSCSI Initiator, you can try to compile the iSCSI Initiator supplied by the Sourceforge linux-iscsi project.
Beyond the required kernel revision as noted above, all development packages need to be installed for the compiling of the initiator as well as the kernel sources. The easiest way to install these items is to us the “Add/Remove Applications” in the “System Settings Menu” from within the Desktop GUI. Depending on the version of Red Hat you are running will determine what you select to be installed:
Red Hat AS 3:
Development Tools (Default packages have all required packages)
Kernel Development (Again, default is fine)
Red Hat AS 4:
Development Tools (Default packages have all required packages)
NOTE: If there is no Kernel Development choice, the Kernel Source files need to be found and installed prior to compilation.
Once these OS packages are installed, it should be as easy as getting the source package from the Sourceforge linux-iscsi project, then making the initiator. Refer to the README file that comes with the source for detailed instructions on how to make the initiator. If there are problems compiling the initiator, check the linux-iscsi Sourceforge project for assistance. You are able to search and post to their mailing lists to get information and assistance with this product.
Persistent Device naming:
Devices using the Red Hat software initiators do not have a persistent naming scheme, but a few ways to setup Persistent Naming for the different versions of Red Hat are as follows:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (ES or AS) 3:
Devlabel (see the devlabel man page):
This will only work on Red Hat kernel’s 2.4.x.
Use devlabel to setup symlinks from known names to the current device name.
A basic add command to setup a devlabel link is as follows:
# devlabel add –d
An example:
sdc –s /dev/iscsi/vollink
# ls –l /dev/iscsi/vollink
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Dec 1 16:31 newvol -> /dev/sdc
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (ES or AS) 4:
Use the udev facility (man udev, man scsi_id):
This is only available on Red Hat EL 4/Kernel 2.6.*
This creates device links to the device files when the device nodes are created. Udev uses a rules file (see man udev) to determine what the link names or device names it should create for different devices.
This is the least elegant of the solutions to configure and there is no straightforward example to provide on how this needs to be setup.
Red Hat may be able to provide additional information on persistent device naming for iSCSI devices using their iSCSI initiator with udev.
Both Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and 4:
Use filesystem LABELs (see the e2label man page):
This will work on all ext2/3 filesystem partitions.
Place an ext2/3 filesystem label on your filesystem partition. Once the Label has been added, use the LABEL identifier to identify the filesystem you want to mount in the fstab (man fstab and/or man mount). Following is an example of using the e2label command and what a resulting line in the fstab file would look like:
# e2label /dev/sdc1 EMC
# mkdir /EMC
# echo “LABEL=EMC /EMC ext3 _netdev,defaults 0 0” >> /etc/fstab
NOTE: _netdev delays the mounting of this filesystem until after the Network has been started and ensures that the filesystem is unmounted before stopping the Network.
# mount –a
# df –k | grep EMC
/dev/sdc1 5166332 43072 4860816 1% /EMC
Red Hat Linux iSCSI Configuration
Supported iSCSI Initiators:
Enterprise Linux (ES or AS) 3 Update 6:
Disc 2 of 4:
iscsi-initiator-utils-6.2-3.i386.rpm
linux-iscsi 3.4.x: Minimum kernel release: 2.4.21
linux-iscsi 3.6.x: Minimum kernel release: 2.4.21
NOTE: Versions of the linux-iscsi Initiator above 3.x are not compatible with the 2.4.x and below kernel release.
Enterprise Linux (ES or AS) 4 Update 2:
Disc 4 of 4:
iscsi-initiator-utils-6.2.0.742-0.5.el5
linux-iscsi:
4.0.2 – Mnimum kernel release: 2.6.10
4.0.1 – minimum kernel Release: 2.6.0
NOTE: Versions of the linux-iscsi Initiator below 4.x are not compatible with the 2.6.x and higher kernel release.The server I need to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux on does not have a floppy drive or CD-rom drive, but it has a USB port. What are the steps to configure a USB pen drive to boot and install Red Hat Enterprise Linux?
To configure a USB flash/pen drive perform the following steps:
1. Format the USB flash drive as one FAT partition.
2. # mkdosfs /dev/
3. Copy the contents of /RedHat/isolinux/ from the first installation CD to the USB flash drive. NOTE: isolinux.bin, boot.cat and TRANS.TBL can be removed or deleted.
4. Rename isolinux.cfg to syslinux.cfg.
5. Copy /RedHat/images/pxeboot/initrd.img from the first installation CD to the USB flash drive.
6. OPTIONAL: To configure any boot settings, edit the syslinux.cfg on the USB flash drive. For example to configure the installation to use a kickstart file shared over NFS,specify the following:
7. # linux ks=nfs:://ks.cfg
8. Make the USB flash drive bootable. Be sure to UNMOUNT the USB flash device.
9. # umount /dev/
10. # syslinux /dev/
11. Install GRUB on the USB flash drive.
12. # mount /dev/ /path/to/local/USB/mount
13. # grub-install --root-directory=/path/to/local/USB/mount /dev/
14. Verify that the USB flash drive has a /boot/grub directory. If it does not, create the directory manually.
15. # cd /path/to/USB/local/mount
16. # mkdir -p /boot/grub
17. Create the grub.conf file. Below is a sample grub.conf:
default=0
timeout=5
root (hd1,0)
title
kernel /vmlinuz
initrd /initrd.img
18. Copy or confirm the created grub.conf file is on the /boot/grub/ directory of the USB flash drive.
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